1952 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 200 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	200 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	71 athletes from 35 countries
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 22, 1952 (preliminary / quarter-finals) July 23, 1952 (semi-finals / finals)
Medalist Andy Stanfield ( USA )   Thane Baker ( USA )   James Gathers ( USA )

The men's 200-meter run at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki was held on July 22nd and 23rd, 1952 in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki . 71 athletes took part.

The US team celebrated a triple success. Andy Stanfield won ahead of Thane Baker and James Gathers .

Existing records

World record	20.6 s	Andy Stanfield ( USA )	Los Angeles , USA	June 28, 1952
Olympic record	20.7 s	Jesse Owens ( USA )	Final of Berlin , Germany	August 5, 1936

Conducting the competition

The runners competed in eighteen heats on July 22nd. The two winners each qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day. The two fastest athletes in the quarterfinals reached the semifinals, which, like the finals, took place on July 23rd. The best three from the preliminary rounds qualified for the final.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

July 22, 3:00 p.m .: Preliminaries
July 22, 6:50 p.m .: Quarter-finals
July 23, 3:45 p.m .: Semi-finals
July 23, 5:55 p.m .: Final

Prelims

Date: July 22, 1952, 3 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Gerardo Bönnhoff	Argentina	21.6 s	21.72 s
2	Étienne Bally	France	21.9 s	22.03 s
3	Adolf Turakainen	Finland	22.4 s	22.55 s
4th	Hörður Haraldsson	Iceland	22.4 s	22.56 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Thane Baker	United States	21.4 s	21.62 s
2	Levan Sanadze	Soviet Union	22.1 s	22.26 s
3	Stefanos Petrakis	Greece	22.4 s	22.64 s
4th	Willy Eichenberger	Switzerland	22.6 s	22.98 s

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Don McFarlane	Canada	22.8 s	22.94 s
2	Roman Budzyński	Poland	23.1 s	23.37 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Rafael Fortun	Cuba	21.8 s	21.98 s
2	Nick Stacey	Great Britain	21.8 s	22.07 s
3	Fernand Linssen	Belgium	22.3 s	22.37 s
4th	Edward Ajado	Nigeria	22.7 s	22.92 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Theo Saat	Netherlands	22.0 s	22.17 s
2	Werner Zandt	BR Germany	22.1 s	22.23 s
3	Juan Leiva	Venezuela	22.3 s	22.38 s
4th	Fawzi Chaaban	Egypt	22.7 s	22.90 s
5	Eugénio Eleutério	Portugal	23.2 s	23.37 s

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	David Tobacco	Israel	22.4 s	22.60 s
2	Marcel Gerdil	France	22.5 s	22.71 s

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Andy Stanfield	United States	21.8 s	22.00 s
2	Zdobysław Stawczyk	Poland	22.0 s	22.22 s
3	Enrique Beckles	Argentina	22.6 s	22.73 s
4th	Youssef Ali Omar	Egypt	22.8 s	23.26 s
5	Adul Wanasatith	Thailand	23.3 s	23.50 s

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Vladimir Sukharev	Soviet Union	21.9 s	22.08 s
2	Angel García	Cuba	21.9 s	22.14 s
3	Hans Wehrli-Frei	Switzerland	22.2 s	22.35 s
4th	Pauli Tavisalo	Finland	22.3 s	22.45 s
5	Abdul Aziz	Pakistan	22.7 s	23.02 s

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Václav Janeček	Czechoslovakia	21.9 s	21.99 s
2	Peter Kraus	BR Germany	22.0 s	22.06 s
3	Muhammad Aslam	Pakistan	22.2 s	22.14 s
4th	Fred Hammer	Luxembourg	22.4 s	22.63 s

Forward 10

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Brian Shenton	Great Britain	21.9 s	22.12 s
2	Voitto Hellsten	Finland	22.2 s	22.41 s
3	Roby Schaeffer	Luxembourg	22.4 s	22.76 s
4th	Vassilios Sillis	Greece	22.7 s	22.88 s

Forward 11

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Schalk Booysen	South African Union	21.8 s	22.03 s
2	Gerard Mach	Poland	22.1 s	22.16 s
3	Muhammad Sharif Butt	Pakistan	22.3 s	22.34 s
4th	Ásmundur Bjarnason	Iceland	22.4 s	22.51 s
5	Walter Sutton	Canada	22.4 s	22.53 s

Forward 12

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	James Gathers	United States	21.2 s	21.42 s
2	Tomio Hosoda	Japan	22.2 s	22.36 s
3	Henry Brault	France	22.2 s	22.48 s
4th	Luigi Grossi	Italy	22.2 s	22.49 s
5	Muslim arogundation	Nigeria	22.3 s	22.71 s

Forward 13

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	McDonald Bailey	Great Britain	21.4 s	21.66 s
2	Miroslav Horčic	Czechoslovakia	22.4 s	22.52 s
3	Giorgio Sobrero	Italy	22.4 s	22.66 s
4th	Ernst Mühlethaler	Switzerland	23.0 s	23.26 s
5	Eom Par-yong	South Korea	23.0 s	23.41 s

Forward 14

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Rafiu Oluwa	Nigeria	22.8 s	22.89 s
2	Boonterm Pakpuang	Thailand	23.8 s	24.15 s

Forward 15

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Leslie Laing	Jamaica	21.8 s	21.97 s
2	Paul Dolan	Ireland	21.9 s	22.04 s
3	František Brož	Czechoslovakia	22.2 s	22.35 s
4th	Fernando Casimiro	Portugal	22.6 s	22.72 s
5	José Julio Barillas	Guatemala	22.7 s	22.88 s

Forward 16

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Raúl Mazorra	Cuba	22.3 s	22.52 s
2	Bob Hutchinson	Canada	22.4 s	22.66 s
3	Emad El-Din Shafei	Egypt	22.5 s	22.75 s
4th	Arun Sankosik	Thailand	23.5 s	23.64 s

Forward 17

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Edwin Carr	Australia	22.0 s	22.19 s
2	Angel Kolew	Bulgaria	22.0 s	22.24 s

Forward 18

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	John Treloar	Australia	21.5 s	21.75 s
2	Lavy Pinto	India	21.6 s	21.83 s
3	Péter Karádi	Hungary	22.1 s	22.24 s
4th	Lucio Sangermano	Italy	22.1 s	22.38 s

Quarter finals

Theo Saat (NED) failed in the quarterfinals.

Date: July 22, 1952, from 6:50 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	James Gathers	United States	21.4 s	21.64 s
2	Lavy Pinto	India	21.6 s	21.80 s
3	Theo Saat	Netherlands	21.7 s	21.87 s
4th	Zdobysław Stawczyk	Poland	22.0 s	22.12 s
5	Miroslav Horčic	Czechoslovakia	22.1 s	22.44 s
6th	Raúl Mazorra	Cuba	31.0 s	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Thane Baker	United States	21.4 s	21.64 s
2	Rafael Fortun	Cuba	21.7 s	21.98 s
3	Paul Dolan	Ireland	21.9 s	22.15 s
4th	Peter Kraus	BR Germany	21.9 s	22.19 s
5	Voitto Hellsten	Finland	22.4 s	22.61 s
6th	Rafiu Oluwa	Nigeria	22.5 s	22.69 s

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	McDonald Bailey	Great Britain	21.0 s	21.27 s
2	Václav Janeček	Czechoslovakia	21.7 s	21.93 s
3	Edwin Carr	Australia	21.8 s	21.98 s
4th	Schalk Booysen	South African Union	21.9 s	22.09 s
5	Marcel Gerdil	France	22.0 s	22.37 s
6th	Bob Hutchinson	Canada	22.3 s	22.55 s

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Gerardo Bönnhoff	Argentina	21.4 s	21.67 s
2	Nick Stacey	Great Britain	21.5 s	21.79 s
3	Angel Kolew	Bulgaria	21.8 s	22.07 s
4th	Ángel García	Cuba	21.8 s	22.11 s
5	David Tobacco	Israel	21.8 s	22.34 s
6th	Roman Budzyński	Poland	22.4 s	22.51 s

Run 5

The Thai Boonterm Pakpuang did not make it to the quarter-finals.

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Andy Stanfield	United States	20.9 s	21.21 s
2	Leslie Laing	Jamaica	21.4 s	21.74 s
3	Étienne Bally	France	21.8 s	22.02 s
4th	Levan Sanadze	Soviet Union	22.1 s	22.26 s
5	Don McFarlane	Canada	22.1 s	22.33 s

Run 6

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	John Treloar	Australia	21.6 s	21.86 s
2	Werner Zandt	BR Germany	21.7 s	21.87 s
3	Vladimir Sukharev	Soviet Union	21.7 s	21.88 s
4th	Gerard Mach	Poland	21.8 s	22.12 s
5	Brian Shenton	Great Britain	21.9 s	22.24 s
6th	Tomio Hosoda	Japan	22.3 s	22.49 s

Semifinals

Date: July 23, 1952, from 3:45 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Andy Stanfield	United States	21.1 s	21.23 s
2	James Gathers	United States	21.3 s	21.58 s
3	Leslie Laing	Jamaica	21.6 s	21.80 s
4th	Werner Zandt	BR Germany	21.7 s	21.92 s
5	Nick Stacey	Great Britain	21.8 s	21.95 s
6th	Václav Janeček	Czechoslovakia	22.0 s	22.12 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	McDonald Bailey	Great Britain	21.3 s	21.46 s
2	Thane Baker	United States	21.3 s	21.50 s
3	Gerardo Bönnhoff	Argentina	21.5 s	21.75 s
4th	Rafael Fortun	Cuba	21.6 s	21.93 s
5	Lavy Pinto	India	21.7 s	22.01 s
DNF	John Treloar	Australia

final

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Andy Stanfield	United States	20.7 s	20.81 s	ORe
2	Thane Baker	United States	20.8 s	20.97 s
3	James Gathers	United States	20.8 s	21.08 s
4th	McDonald Bailey	Great Britain	21.0 s	21.14 s
5	Leslie Laing	Jamaica	21.2 s	21.45 s
6th	Gerardo Bönnhoff	Argentina	21.3 s	21.59 s

Date: July 23, 1952, 5:55 p.m.

The top favorite was three-time US champion Andy Stanfield. In the final, Stanfield started slightly handicapped by a thigh injury. Thane Baker was the quickest to get off the starting blocks, it even smelled a bit like an early start, but the race continued. Baker was still ahead on the exit of the bend, followed by Stanfield and James Gathers. Now all runners had to struggle with the headwind on the home stretch. Baker's strength slackened and Stanfield pulled past him to win the Olympic gold. Gathers finished third behind Baker.
Times were excellent in the face of the headwind. Stanfield stayed just a tenth of a second above the world record with 20.7 s , setting Jesse Owens' Olympic record of 1936 .

Andrew Stanfield won the ninth gold medal for the USA in the eleventh Olympic final.

Of the 33 medals so far, the US runners alone have won 22.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 64–55

Web links

• SportsReference 200 m , accessed September 25, 2017
• Official report pp. 272–274, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 25, 2017
• Olympic Games Helsinki 1952, Men's 200m Final , published March 21, 2008 on youtube.com, accessed September 25, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF, World Records | German records | the best of all time, 200 m men on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on September 25, 2017
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Official report, page 266, engl. (PDF)
3. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 68