1952 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 400 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	72 athletes from 18 countries
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 26, 1952 (prelims) July 27, 1952 (final)
Medalist  JAM  United States  GER

The men's 4 x 400 meter relay at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki was held on July 26 and 27, 1952 in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki . 18 relays with 72 athletes took part.

The gold medal was won by the Jamaican season with Arthur Wint , Leslie Laing , Herb McKenley and George Rhoden in a new world record, ahead of the US team ( Ollie Matson , Gene Cole , Charles Moore , Mal Whitfield ). Bronze went to the German squadron with Günther Steines , Hans Geister , Heinz Ulzheimer and Karl-Friedrich Haas .

Existing records

World record	3: 08.2 min	USA ( Ivan Fuqua , Edgar Ablowich , Karl Warner , Bill Carr )	Los Angeles , USA	August 7, 1932
Olympic record			Los Angeles final , USA

Conducting the competition

The relays competed on July 26th to three heats. The two best teams each qualified for the final on July 27th.

Note: The qualified relays are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

July 26, 3:45 p.m .: Preliminary
July 27, 5:20 p.m .: Final

Prelims

Date: July 26, 1952, from 3:45 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Jamaica	Herb McKenley Leslie Laing Arthur Wint George Rhoden	3: 12.1 min	3: 12.13 min
2	France	Jean-Pierre Goudeau Robert Bart Jacques Degats Jean-Paul Martin du Gard	3: 12.6 min	3: 12.72 min
3	Sweden	Gösta Brännström Days Ekfeldt Rune Larsson Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	3: 13.4 min	3: 13.55 min
4th	Belgium	Albert Lowagie Antoine Uyterhoeven Roger Moens Fernand Linssen	3: 15.8 min	3: 16.05 min
5	Luxembourg	Roby Schaeffer Jean Hamilius Fred Hammer Gérard Rasquin	3: 16.2 min	3: 16.38 min
6th	Finland	Pauli Tavisalo Ossi Mildh Ragnar Graeffe Rolf Back	3: 16.4 min	3: 16.67 min
7th	Japan	Junkichi Matoba Eitaro Okano Hiroshi Yamamoto Yoshitaka Muroya	3: 20.3 min	3: 20.55 min

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	United States	Ollie Matson Gene Cole Charles Moore Mal Whitfield	3: 11.5 min	3: 12.13 min
2	Great Britain	Leslie Lewis Alan Dick Terry Higgins Nick Stacey	3: 12.5 min	3: 12.67 min
3	Hungary	Ferenc Bánhalmi Lajos Szentgáli Egon Solymossy Zoltán Adamik	3: 13.8 min	3: 13.96 min
4th	Italy	Baldassare Porto Gianni Rocca Luigi Grossi Armando Filiput	3: 15.2 min	3: 15.23 min
5	Switzerland	Hans Ernst Schneider Josef Steger Paul Stalder Ernst von Gunten	3: 15.4 min	3: 15.36 min
6th	Pakistan	Abdul Rehman Muhammad Shafi Mirza Khan Aurang Zeb	3: 23.2 min	k. A.

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	BR Germany	Günther Steines Hans Geister Heinz Ulzheimer Karl-Friedrich Haas	3: 10.5 min	3: 10.57 min
2	Canada	Doug Clement Jack Hutchins Jack Carroll James Lavery	3: 11.2 min	3: 11.49 min
3	Soviet Union	Ardalion Ignatijew Gennadij Slepnjow Edmunds Pīlāgs Juri Litujew	3: 12.5 min	3: 12.65 min
4th	South African Union	Louis van Biljon Ron Wilkie John Anderton Bill Chivell	3: 14.8 min	3: 15.09 min
5	Australia	Ray Weinberg Morris Curotta Ken Doubleday Edwin Carr	3: 15.8 min	3: 16.00 min

final

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Jamaica	Arthur Wint Leslie Laing Herb McKenley George Rhoden	3: 03.9 min	3: 04.04 min	WR
2	United States	Ollie Matson Gene Cole Charles Moore Mal Whitfield	3: 04.0 min	3: 04.21 min
3	BR Germany	Hans Geister Günther Steines Heinz Ulzheimer Karl-Friedrich Haas	3: 06.6 min	3: 06.78 min
4th	Canada	Doug Clement Jack Hutchins Jack Carroll James Lavery	3: 09.3 min	3: 09.37 min
5	Great Britain	Leslie Lewis Alan Dick Terry Higgins Nick Stacey	3: 10.0 min	3: 10.23 min
6th	France	Jean-Pierre Goudeau Robert Bart Jacques Degats Jean-Paul Martin du Gard	3: 10.1 min	3: 10.33 min

Date: July 27, 1952, 5:20 p.m.

The duel that was eagerly awaited in the final was Jamaica against the USA. The Jamaican relay consisted of three absolute top runners: Arthur Wint - gold over 400 meters in 1948 , silver over 800 meters in 1948 and 1952 , Herb McKenley - silver over 400 meters in 1948 and 1952 and George Rhoden - gold over 400 meters in 1952 . Leslie Laing was the weak point. The US team was more evenly cast, but not quite as high-profile as the Jamaica season.

The USA had a better start thanks to Ollie Matson (unofficially 46.7 s), Wint was a tenth of a second behind him. On the second lap, Gene Cole (45.5 s) increased the lead, Jamaica with Laing (47.0 s) was more than ten meters behind. McKenley, however, equalized the deficit with the fastest time ever run in a relay - unofficially 44.6 s compared to 46.3 s of the Olympic champion over 400 meter hurdles Charles Moore. When the last round started, the Jamaicans were now in the lead. On the last round there was a duel between Rhoden (45.5 s) and Mal Whitfield, Olympic champion over 800 meters (45.5 s). The US athlete ran surprisingly well, even attacked Rhoden a couple of times in the last 50 meters, but couldn't get past. Jamaica won the season and pulverized the world record with an improvement of over four seconds. The US season was only a tenth of a second slower. The German team also held up superbly and won the bronze medal with a new European record.

Because of a small mishap before the start, the German relay had to change the order. Günther Steines, who was actually supposed to be the starting runner, noticed with a shock that he had forgotten to put on sports pants when he took off his training pants. Hans Geister was the first to run, while trousers were hastily organized for Steines. It went so quickly that he was able to run as the second starter.

Both the US relay and the third-placed German team also remained below the old world record.

For Jamaica it was the first medal of the season.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, SS 100–102

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 400 m , accessed on September 27, 2017
• Official report p. 303, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 27, 2017
• Jamaica's Heroes Win 4x400m Relay Gold - Helsinki 1952 Olympics , published May 10, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed September 27, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 562 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Official report p. 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. 101
4. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 100f