1952 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m hurdles (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter hurdles
gender	Men
Attendees	40 athletes from 24 countries
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 20, 1952 (preliminary / quarter finals) July 21, 1952 (semi-finals / final)
Medalist Charles Moore ( USA )   Yuri Litujew ( URS )   John Holland ( NZL )

The men's 400-meter hurdles at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki was held on July 20 and 21, 1952 in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki . 40 athletes took part.

The American Charles Moore became Olympic champion . He won ahead of Yuri Litujew from the Soviet Union and John Holland from New Zealand.

Existing records

World record	50.6 s	Glenn Hardin ( USA )	Stockholm , Sweden	July 26, 1934
Olympic record	51.1 s	Roy Cochran ( USA )	London finals , Great Britain	July 31, 1948

Conducting the competition

The runners competed in eight heats on July 20. The three best athletes each qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day. From this, the three winners also reached the semi-finals on July 21st. In the two preliminary rounds, too, the first three runners qualified for the final on the same day.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

According to the official report:

• July 20, 4:10 p.m .: Prelim
• July 20, 7:25 p.m .: quarter-finals
• July 21, 3 p.m .: semi-finals
• July 21, 5:40 p.m .: Final

Prelims

Date: July 20, 1952, from 4.10 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Charles Moore	United States	51.8 s	51.92 s
2	Lars Ylander	Sweden	53.7 s	53.90 s
3	Eitaro Okano	Japan	54.2 s	54.42 s
4th	Rudolf Haidegger	Austria	54.8 s	54.87 s
5	Johny Fonck	Luxembourg	57.8 s	57.93 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Timofei Lunew	Soviet Union	54.3 s	k. A.
2	Lee Yoder	United States	55.2 s
3	Ken Doubleday	Australia	55.4 s
4th	Muhammad Shafi	Pakistan	56.1 s	k. A.
5	Ingi Þorsteinsson	Iceland	56.5 s

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Anatoly Julin	Soviet Union	53.6 s	k. A.
2	Fotis Kosmas	Greece	53.9 s
3	Roland Blackman	United States	54.8 s
4th	Ragnar Graeffe	Finland	55.0 s	k. A.
5	Jörn Gevert	Chile	56.1 s
6th	Emin Doybak	Turkey	56.6 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Yuri Lituev	Soviet Union	53.5 s	53.56 s
2	Rainer Pelkonen	Finland	54.2 s	54.32 s
3	Robert Bart	France	54.5 s	54.64 s
4th	Pedro Yoma	Chile	56.9 s	57.03 s
5	Paulino Ferrer	Venezuela	1: 02.1 min	k. A.

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Ron Wilkie	South African Union	54.5 s	k. A.
2	Arvo Hilli	Finland	54.6 s
3	Rune Larsson	Sweden	55.9 s
4th	Mirza Khan	Pakistan	56.3 s	k. A.

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	John Holland	New Zealand	53.3 s	k. A.
2	Sven-Olov Eriksson	Sweden	54.3 s
3	Angus Scott	Great Britain	54.9 s
4th	Kemal Horulu	Turkey	55.2 s	k. A.
5	Karl Schmid	Switzerland	57.5 s

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	David Gracie	Great Britain	54.2 s	k. A.
2	Wilson Carneiro	Brazil	56.0 s
3	Hans Schwarz	Switzerland	54.9 s
4th	Fernando Fernandes	Portugal	56.8 s	k. A.
5	Dogan Acarbay	Turkey	1: 02.8 min

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Armando Filiput	Italy	53.8 s	k. A.
2	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	53.9 s
3	Antal Lippay	Hungary	54.0 s
4th	Amadeo Francis	Puerto Rico	54.0 s	k. A.
5	Jean Thureau	France	56.7 s

Quarter finals

Date: July 20, 1952, from 7:25 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Charles Moore	United States	50.8 s	50.98 s	OR
2	Anatoly Julin	Soviet Union	52.4 s	52.64 s
3	Armando Filiput	Italy	53.0 s	53.00 s
4th	Robert Bart	France	53.0 s	53.33 s
5	Sven-Olov Eriksson	Sweden	53.8 s	53.96 s
6th	Hans Schwarz	Switzerland	54.0 s	54.09 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	John Holland	New Zealand	52.2 s	52.24 s
2	Lee Yoder	United States	53.3 s	53.40 s
3	David Gracie	Great Britain	53.9 s	53.94 s
4th	Arvo Hilli	Finland	54.0 s	54.28 s
5	Fotis Kosmas	Greece	55.3 s	55.50 s
6th	Wilson Carneiro	Brazil	59.4 s	k. A.

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Yuri Lituev	Soviet Union	52.2 s	52.37 s
2	Antal Lippay	Hungary	52.7 s	52.93 s
3	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	52.8 s	52.94 s
4th	Lars Ylander	Sweden	53.1 s	53.29 s
5	Ron Wilkie	South African Union	54.5 s	54.76 s
6th	Ken Doubleday	Australia	1: 00.2 min	k. A.

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Timofei Lunew	Soviet Union	52.7 s	52.87 s
2	Roland Blackman	United States	52.7 s	52.88 s
3	Rune Larsson	Sweden	53.3 s	53.35 s
4th	Angus Scott	Great Britain	53.4 s	53.69 s
5	Rainer Pelkonen	Finland	53.9 s	54.06 s
6th	Eitaro Okano	Japan	54.4 s	54.42 s

Semifinals

Date: July 21, 1952, from 3 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Yuri Lituev	Soviet Union	51.8 s	51.90 s
2	John Holland	New Zealand	52.0 s	52.22 s
3	Anatoly Julin	Soviet Union	52.1 s	52.28 s
4th	David Gracie	Great Britain	52.4 s	52.65 s
5	Roland Blackman	United States	52.7 s	52.86 s
6th	Rune Larsson	Sweden	53.9 s	54.06 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Charles Moore	United States	52.0 s	52.08 s
2	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	52.9 s	52.98 s
3	Armando Filiput	Italy	53.0 s	52.98 s
4th	Lee Yoder	United States	53.0 s	53.08 s
5	Antal Lippay	Hungary	53.0 s	53.10 s
6th	Timofei Lunew	Soviet Union	53.1 s	53.30 s

final

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Charles Moore	United States	50.8 s	51.06 s	ORe
2	Yuri Lituev	Soviet Union	51.3 s	51.51 s
3	John Holland	New Zealand	52.2 s	52.26 s
4th	Anatoly Julin	Soviet Union	52.8 s	52.81 s
5	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	53.1 s	53.36 s
6th	Armando Filiput	Italy	54.4 s	54.49 s

Date: July 21, 1952, 5:40 p.m.

In the final, Charles Moore, US champion and with 50.7 seconds in the US eliminations, the second athlete after his compatriot Glenn Hardin , who ran under 51 seconds, met the Soviet European champion Yuri Litujew. The American who had already run an Olympic record in the quarter-finals was the favorite . Moore was the first runner to cross the first four hurdles in a 13-man rhythm.
The field remained fairly closed until the fourth hurdle, then Moore switched to the 15-man rhythm and was now the fastest. He gained a head start that grew more and more. But Litujew came again and narrowed the gap. However, Moore had enough reserves and became Olympic champion. In doing so, he equalized his Olympic record again - a time that was only two tenths of a second above the world record . Litujew was rewarded with the silver medal and a new European record.

Charles Moore won the ninth gold medal for the USA in the eleventh Olympic final.
John Holland won the first New Zealand medal, Yuri Litujew the first Soviet medal in this discipline.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, SS 84–86

Web links

• SportsReference 400m hurdles , accessed September 26, 2017
• Official report p. 296f, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 26, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 554 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Official report p. 266, engl. (PDF)
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)