1952 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	71 athletes from 35 countries
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 24, 1952 (preliminary / quarter-finals) July 25, 1952 (semi-finals / final)
Medalist George Rhoden ( JAM )   Herb McKenley ( JAM )   Ollie Matson ( USA )

The men's 400-meter race at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki was held on July 24th and 25th, 1952 in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki . 71 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was George Rhoden from Jamaica. He won ahead of his compatriot Herb McKenley and the American Ollie Matson .

Existing records

World record	45.8 s	George Rhoden ( Jamaica )	Eskilstuna , Sweden	22nd August 1950
Olympic record	46.2 s	Bill Carr ( USA )	Los Angeles final , USA	August 5, 1932

Conducting the competition

The runners started twelve preliminary runs on July 24th. The two winners each qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day. The three fastest athletes from the quarter-finals reached the semi-finals, which, like the final, was held on July 25th. The first three qualified for the final from the preliminary rounds.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

July 24, 3:20 p.m .: Prelim

July 24, 6:35 p.m .: quarter-finals

July 25, 3 p.m .: semi-finals

July 25, 5:05 p.m .: Final

Prelims

Date: July 24, 1952, from 3:20 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Karl-Friedrich Haas	BR Germany	47.5 s	47.58 s
2	Leslie Lewis	Great Britain	47.8 s	47.95 s
3	Edwin Carr	Australia	48.0 s	48.23 s
4th	Zoltán Adamik	Hungary	48.5 s	48.70 s
5	Evelio Planas	Cuba	49.4 s	49.44 s
6th	Abdul Rehman	Pakistan	51.2 s	51.47 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Ardalion Ignatiev	Soviet Union	48.1 s	48.22 s
2	Rolf Back	Finland	48.5 s	48.58 s
3	Rupert Bloch	Austria	49.6 s	49.82 s
4th	Gérard Rasquin	Luxembourg	50.0 s	50.12 s
5	John Anderton	South African Union	50.3 s	50.35 s
6th	Pongee type Ummarttayakul	Thailand	52.9 s	53.23 s

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	47.3 s	47.42 s
2	Jack Carroll	Canada	48.0 s	48.05 s
3	Egon Solymossy	Hungary	49.2 s	49.32 s
4th	Josef Steger	Switzerland	49.2 s	49.35 s
5	Jaakko Suikkari	Finland	50.9 s	50.92 s
6th	Aurang Zeb	Pakistan	51.0 s	51.25 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	Sweden	48.4 s	48.57 s
2	Terry Higgins	Great Britain	48.7 s	48.77 s
3	Junkichi Matoba	Japan	49.4 s	49.57 s
4th	Vassilios Sillis	Greece	49.7 s	49.79 s
5	Dogan Acarbay	Turkey	50.7 s	50.83 s
6th	Ivan Jacob	India	51.3 s	51.48 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Herb McKenley	Jamaica	48.0 s	48.09 s
2	Louis van Biljon	South African Union	48.1 s	48.31 s
3	Roger Moens	Belgium	48.6 s	48.71 s
4th	Ferenc Bánhalmi	Hungary	49.4 s	49.55 s
5	Aria Gill-Glick	Israel	50.2 s	50.27 s
6th	Ernst von Gunten	Switzerland	50.7 s	50.88 s
DSQ	Days Ekfeldt	Sweden

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Times Whitfield	United States	48.6 s	48.68 s
2	Guillermo Gutiérrez	Venezuela	48.7 s	48.82 s
3	Gianni Rocca	Italy	49.2 s	49.51 s
4th	Gösta Brännström	Sweden	50.1 s	50.32 s
5	Javier Souza	Mexico	50.3 s	50.47 s
6th	Emin Doybak	Turkey	51.1 s	51.34 s
7th	Fernando Casimiro	Portugal	52.2 s	52.33 s

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Jacques Degats	France	48.5 s	48.60 s
2	Morris Curotta	Australia	48.7 s	48.87 s
3	Vincenzo Lombardo	Italy	49.3 s	49.53 s
4th	Rudolf Haidegger	Austria	49.9 s	50.01 s
5	Albert Lowagie	Belgium	50.1 s	50.26 s

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Hans Geister	BR Germany	47.9 s	47.99 s
2	Yves Camus	France	48.0 s	48.06 s
3	Milan Fillo	Czechoslovakia	48.7 s	48.91 s
4th	Guðmundur Lárusson	Iceland	49.7 s	49.81 s
5	Sompop Svadanandana	Thailand	53.6 s	53.68 s
6th	Jeremias Stokes	Guatemala	53.6 s	53.81 s

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Gene Cole	United States	48.3 s	48.44 s
2	Alan Dick	Great Britain	48.7 s	48.84 s
3	Edmunds Pīlāgs	Soviet Union	49.2 s	49.29 s
4th	Angel García	Cuba	49.2 s	49.34 s
5	Antoine Uyterhoeven	Belgium	50.0 s	50.21 s
6th	Jean Hamilius	Luxembourg	50.3 s	50.75 s

Forward 10

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	George Rhoden	Jamaica	48.1 s	48.28 s
2	Gerard Mach	Poland	48.5 s	48.64 s
3	Paul Dolan	Ireland	48.5 s	48.81 s
4th	Jean-Pierre Goudeau	France	48.8 s	48.94 s
5	Doug Clement	Canada	50.0 s	50.19 s

Forward 11

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	James Lavery	Canada	48.4 s	48.47 s
2	Yuri Lituev	Soviet Union	48.8 s	49.01 s
3	Frank Rivera	Puerto Rico	49.3 s	49.48 s
4th	Antonio Siddi	Italy	50.9 s	51.03 s

Forward 12

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Ollie Matson	United States	48.1 s	48.17 s
2	Hans Ernst Schneider	Switzerland	48.7 s	48.86 s
3	Argemiro Roque	Brazil	48.9 s	49.05 s
4th	Schalk Booysen	South African Union	49.0 s	49.17 s
5	Jiří David	Czechoslovakia	49.1 s	49.23 s
6th	Fred Hammer	Luxembourg	49.6 s	49.90 s
7th	Ossi Mildh	Finland	50.2 s	50.36 s

Quarter finals

Date: July 24, 1952, from 6:35 p.m.

The Pole Gerard Mach and the Soviet Russian Juri Litujew did not make the quarter-finals.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	46.9 s	46.98 s
2	James Lavery	Canada	47.5 s	47.67 s
3	Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	Sweden	47.8 s	48.08 s
4th	Guillermo Gutiérrez	Venezuela	48.6 s	48.75 s
5	Leslie Lewis	Great Britain	49.0 s	49.09 s
6th	Hans Ernst Schneider	Switzerland	49.2 s	49.32 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	George Rhoden	Jamaica	47.2 s	47.24 s
2	Ollie Matson	United States	47.4 s	47.53 s
3	Karl-Friedrich Haas	BR Germany	47.4 s	47.66 s
4th	Morris Curotta	Australia	48.8 s	48.86 s
5	Rolf Back	Finland	51.1 s	51.53 s

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Times Whitfield	United States	47.6 s	47.74 s
2	Hans Geister	BR Germany	47.7 s	47.81 s
3	Jack Carroll	Canada	47.7 s	47.82 s
4th	Louis van Biljon	South African Union	48.5 s	48.63 s
5	Jacques Degats	France	48.8 s	48.90 s
6th	Alan Dick	Great Britain	49.0 s	49.20 s

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Herb McKenley	Jamaica	47.4 s	47.56 s
2	Gene Cole	United States	47.7 s	47.88 s
3	Ardalion Ignatiev	Soviet Union	48.0 s	48.25 s
4th	Yves Camus	France	48.1 s	48.43 s
5	Terry Higgins	Great Britain	49.1 s	49.22 s

Semifinals

In the final only in sixth and thus last place: Mal Whitfield (USA), bronze medal winner from 1948 and two-time Olympic champion over 800 meters from London and Helsinki

Date: July 25, 1952, from 3 p.m.

The Swede Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt did not make it to the semi-finals.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	46.3 s	46.38 s
2	Karl-Friedrich Haas	BR Germany	46.4 s	46.56 s
3	Times Whitfield	United States	46.4 s	46.64 s
4th	Gene Cole	United States	46.8 s	46.94 s
5	Ardalion Ignatiev	Soviet Union	47.4 s	47.49 s
6th	James Lavery	Canada	47.7 s	47.83 s

Run 2

Silver again for Herb McKenley (JAM) as in 1948

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Herb McKenley	Jamaica	46.4 s	46.53 s
2	George Rhoden	Jamaica	46.5 s	46.61 s
3	Ollie Matson	United States	46.7 s	46.99 s
4th	Hans Geister	BR Germany	46.7 s	47.00 s
5	Jack Carroll	Canada	47.4 s	47.61 s

final

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	George Rhoden	Jamaica	45.9 s	46.09 s	OR
2	Herb McKenley	Jamaica	45.9 s	46.20 s	OR
3	Ollie Matson	United States	46.8 s	46.94 s
4th	Karl-Friedrich Haas	BR Germany	47.0 s	47.22 s
5	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	47.0 s	47.24 s
6th	Times Whitfield	United States	47.1 s	47.30 s

Date: July 25, 1952, from 3 p.m.

The Jamaicans Herb McKenley, George Rhoden and Arthur Wint were considered favorites to win the Olympic gold, and a triple success was expected. McKenley, who was runner-up in the 1948 Olympics behind Wint, wanted to do it right this time and not go too fast. His tactics against Wint also worked brilliantly. He took the lead early in the final, but couldn't keep up the pace. But now it was Rhoden who turned out to be McKenley's toughest opponent. Rhoden overtook Wint before the home stretch, McKenley also passed Wint and caught up with Rhoden again very closely. Both came to the finish hand-stopped at the same time. But it was not enough to win for McKenley. Wint fell back to fifth. With 45.9 s, the two winners set a new Olympic record . The unofficial electronic measurement, however, showed a difference of eleven hundredths of a second between the two runners.

Ollie Matson won the 17th medal in the twelfth Olympic final for the USA with his bronze medal.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 68–70

Web links

• SportsReference 400m , accessed September 25, 2017
• Official report pp. 275-277, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 25, 2017
• Helsinki 1952, George Rhoden, 400m (amateur footage) , published June 4, 2017 on youtube.com, accessed September 25, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 548 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Official report page 266 (engl.)
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)