1952 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 10,000 m walking (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	10,000-meter walk
gender	Men
Attendees	23 athletes from 12 countries
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 24, 1952 (preliminary) July 27, 1952 (final)
Medalist John Mikaelsson ( SWE )   Fritz Schwab ( SUI )   Bruno Junk ( URS )

The men's 10,000-meter walk at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki was held on July 24 and 27, 1952 in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki . 23 athletes took part. This discipline was held for the last time at the Olympic Games. From 1956 it was replaced by 20 km street walking .

The Olympic champion was the Swede John Mikaelsson ahead of Fritz Schwab from Switzerland. Bronze went to Bruno Junk from the Soviet Union.

Existing records

World record	42: 39.6 min	Verner Hardmo ( Sweden )	Kumla , Sweden	September 9, 1945
Olympic record	46: 28.4 min	George Goulding ( Canada )	Stockholm final , Sweden	August 11, 1912

Conducting the competition

The walkers completed two preliminary rounds on July 24th. The six best walkers in each preliminary round qualified for the final, which took place on July 27th.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

July 24, 10:00 a.m .: Prelim

July 27, 4:00 p.m .: Final

Preliminary round

Henry Laskau (USA) was disqualified.

Date: July 24, 1952, from 10 a.m. ,

Preliminary round 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Bruno Junk	Soviet Union	45: 05.8 min	OR
2	John Mikaelsson	Sweden	45: 10.0 min
3	Louis Chevalier	France	45: 58.0 min
4th	Gabriel Reymond	Switzerland	46: 35.2 min
5	Donald Keane	Australia	46: 55.2 min
6th	Ivan Yarmysh	Soviet Union	47: 26.0 min
7th	Arne Börjesson	Sweden	47: 32.4 min
8th	Kaare hammer	Norway	49: 08.4 min
9	Ragnvald Thunestvedt	Denmark	50: 42.8 min
DSQ	Allah Ditta	Pakistan
	Roland Hardy	Great Britain
	Henry Laskau	United States

Preliminary round 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	George Coleman	Great Britain	46: 12.4 min
2	Émile Maggi	France	46: 47.8 min
3	Lars Hindmar	Sweden	47: 06.0 min
4th	Fritz Schwab	Switzerland	47: 06.0 min
5	Josef Doležal	Czechoslovakia	47: 06.2 min
6th	Bruno Fait	Italy	47: 23.4 min
7th	Telemaco Arcangeli	Italy	48: 00.2 min
8th	Ragnar Olsen	Norway	49: 03.8 min
9	Price King	United States	51: 08.6 min
DSQ	Lawrence Allen	Great Britain
	Pēteris Zeltiņš	Soviet Union

As in 1948, John Mikaelsson (SWE) won gold.

final

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	John Mikaelsson	Sweden	45: 02.8 min	OR
2	Fritz Schwab	Switzerland	45: 41.0 min
3	Bruno Junk	Soviet Union	45: 41.0 min
4th	Louis Chevalier	France	45: 50.4 min
5	George Coleman	Great Britain	46: 06.8 min
6th	Ivan Yarmysh	Soviet Union	46: 07.0 min
7th	Émile Maggi	France	46: 08.0 min
8th	Bruno Fait	Italy	46: 25.6 min
9	Gabriel Reymond	Switzerland	46: 38.6 min
10	Donald Keane	Australia	47: 37.0 min
DSQ	Lars Hindmar	Sweden
DNS	Josef Doležal	Czechoslovakia

Date: July 27, 1952, 4:00 p.m. ,

The walking competition over 10,000 meters, especially the final, was overshadowed by arbitrary and inconsistent referee decisions. The Czechoslovakian Josef Doležal, two years later European champion at the European Championships in 1954 , had not made a final start.

The 1948 Olympic champion , John Mikaelsson, controlled the competition and sure won the gold medal. In doing so, he improved his own Olympic record achieved in the preliminary fight by just under six tenths of a second. There was a fight for silver between Fritz Schwab and Bruno Junk. Both violated the walking rules several times on the last lap and lapsed into running steps. However, neither the Swiss Schwab nor the Soviet walker Junk was taken out of the race. The difficulties with the regular monitoring on this short walking distance led to the fact that the competition over ten km from 1956 on was replaced by the longer distance over 20 km.

Fritz Schwab's father Arthur Tell Schwab won the silver medal in the 50 km walk at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin .

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, SS 88

Web links

• SportsReference 10k Walk , accessed September 27, 2017
• Official report p. 305, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 27, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 88
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Official report p. 266, engl. (PDF)
3. ↑ SportsReference (English)