1952 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 3000 m obstacle (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	3000 meter obstacle course
gender	Men
Attendees	35 athletes from 19 countries
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 23, 1952 (heats) July 25, 1952 (final)
Medalist Horace Ashenfelter ( USA )   Vladimir Kazantsev ( URS )   John Disley ( GBR )

The men's 3000 meter obstacle course at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki was held on July 23rd and 25th, 1952 in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki . 35 athletes took part.

The American Horace Ashenfelter became Olympic champion . He won ahead of Vladimir Kazantsev from the Soviet Union and the British John Disley .

Existing records

World best	8: 48.8 min	Vladimir Kazantsev ( Soviet Union )	Moscow , Soviet Union	July 10, 1951
Olympic record	9: 03.8 min	Volmari Iso-Hollo ( Finland )	Berlin , Germany	August 8, 1936

Note: The International Athletics Federation IAAF did not specify details of the number, sequence and nature of the obstacles until 1953 and only from then on kept an official list of world records .

Conducting the competition

The runners started three heats on July 23. The four best athletes each qualified for the final on July 25th.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

According to the official report:

• July 23, 4:35 p.m .: Prelim
• July 25, 4:20 p.m .: Final

Prelims

Date: July 23, 1952, from 4.35 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Vladimir Kazantsev	Soviet Union	8: 58.0 min	8: 58.17 min	OR
2	Günter Heßelmann	BR Germany	9: 05.0 min	9: 05.93 min
3	Gunnar Tjornebo	Sweden	9: 05.4 min	9: 05.59 min
4th	Cahit oil	Turkey	9: 06.0 min	9:06:02 min
5	Jindřich Roudný	Czechoslovakia	9: 06.4 min	9: 06.92 min
6th	Kauko Lusenius	Finland	9: 26.8 min	k. A.
7th	Kenneth Johnson	Great Britain	9: 27.0 min
8th	Drago Štritof	Yugoslavia	9: 28.0 min
9	Victor Firea	Romania	9: 29.2 min
10	Guillermo Solá	Chile	9: 32.2 min
11	Pierre Prat	France	9: 32.8 min
12	Gulzara Singh man	India	9: 48.6 min
DNF	Bill Ashenfelter	United States

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	John Disley	Great Britain	8: 59.4 min	8: 59.59 min
2	Olavi Rinteenpää	Finland	8: 59.4 min	8: 59.71 min
3	József Apró	Hungary	9:00, 4 min	9: 00.60 min
4th	Helmut Gude	BR Germany	9: 04.2 min	9: 04.74 min
5	Fyodor Marulin	Soviet Union	9: 08.4 min	9: 08.73 min
6th	Ali Baghbanbashi	Iran	9: 13.2 min	9: 13.43 min
7th	Jan Kielas	Poland	9: 15.4 min	9: 15.62 min
8th	André Lebrun	France	9: 17.8 min	k. A.
9	Susumu Takahashi	Japan	9: 21.6 min
10	Božidar Ðurašković	Yugoslavia	9: 23.2 min
11	Eric Nilsson	Sweden	9: 25.0 min
12	Browning Ross	United States	9: 44.0 min

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Horace Ashenfelter	United States	8: 51.0 min	8: 51.17 min	OR
2	Mikhail Saltykov	Soviet Union	8: 55.8 min	8: 56.05 min
3	Curt Soederberg	Sweden	9: 02.4 min	9: 02.30 min
4th	Chris Brasher	Great Britain	9: 03.2 min	9: 03.18 min
5	Urho Julin	Finland	9: 09.4 min	9: 09.54 min
6th	László Jeszenszky	Hungary	9: 11.2 min	9: 11.10 min
7th	André Paris	France	9: 30.0 min	k. A.
8th	Robert Schoonjans	Belgium	9: 30.6 min
9	Petar Šegedin	Yugoslavia
DNF	Víctorio Solares	Guatemala

final

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Horace Ashenfelter	United States	8: 45.4 min	8: 45.68 min	WBL / OR
2	Vladimir Kazantsev	Soviet Union	8: 51.6 min	8: 51.52 min
3	John Disley	Great Britain	8: 51.8 min	8: 51.94 min
4th	Olavi Rinteenpää	Finland	8: 55.2 min	8: 55.60 min
5	Curt Soederberg	Sweden	8: 55.6 min	8: 55.87 min
6th	Günter Heßelmann	BR Germany	8: 55.8 min	8: 55.98 min
7th	Mikhail Saltykov	Soviet Union	8: 56.2 min	8: 56.47 min
8th	Helmut Gude	BR Germany	9:01.4 min	9: 01.36 min
9	József Apró	Hungary	9: 04.2 min	9: 04.30 min
10	Cahit oil	Turkey	9:04.4 min	9: 04.73 min
11	Chris Brasher	Great Britain	9: 14.0 min	k. A.
12	Gunnar Tjornebo	Sweden	10: 26.4 min

Date: July 25, 1952, 4:20 p.m.

In the final, the Soviet owner of the world record, Vladimir Kazantsev, was the favorite. Before this final, no one took the American Horace Ashenfelter really seriously, even though he had improved the Olympic record that had just been set up in the run-up to Kazantsev and was not far from the world record .

Immediately after the start, Mikhail Saltikov took the lead and after a short time pulled away a few meters from the field. The passage time for 1000 meters was 2:50 minutes. Ashenfelter soon caught up and took over the lead in turn. The 2000 meters were covered in 5:47 minutes. Saltikov had to be torn down, Kazantsev was the only one who was still in touch with Ashenfelter. At the last moat, Ashenfelter irresistibly increased the pace and crossed the finish line with a clear lead over Kazantsev. The winning time was about three seconds faster than Kasanzew's world record. The Briton John Disley ran for the bronze medal and came dangerously close to the Soviet Russian runner Kazantsev, while Saltikov fell back to seventh place.

Horace Ashenfelter won the first gold medal for the USA in this discipline.

Vladimir Kazantsev won the first Soviet medal over 3000 meters obstacle .

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, SS 86–88

Web links

• SportsReference 3000 m obstacle , accessed September 26, 2017
• Official report pp. 298-300, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 26, 2017
• Olympic Games Helsinki 1952, 3000m Steeple-Chase , published March 21, 2008 on youtube.com, accessed September 26, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Official report p. 266, engl. (PDF)
2. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)