1952 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 800 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	50 athletes from 32 countries
Competition location	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 20, 1952 (preliminary) July 21, 1952 (semi-finals) July 22, 1952 (final)
Medalist Mal Whitfield ( USA )   Arthur Wint ( JAM )   Heinz Ulzheimer ( GER )

The men's 800 meter race at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki was held from July 20-22, 1952 in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki . Fifty athletes took part.

Olympic champion was US athlete Mal Whitfield ahead of Arthur Wint from Jamaica. Bronze went to Heinz Ulzheimer from Germany.

Existing records

World record	1: 46.6 min	Rudolf Harbig ( German Empire )	Milan , Italy	July 15, 1939
Olympic record	1: 49.2 min	Mal Whitfield ( USA )	London finals , Great Britain	July 31, 1948

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in eight heats on July 20. The three winners each qualified for the semi-finals on July 21st. From these three races, the three best runners reached the final on July 22nd.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

July 20, 4:55 p.m .: Preliminaries
July 21 , 4:40 p.m . : Semi-finals
July 22, 4:50 p.m .: Final

Prelims

Date: July 20, 1952, from 4:55 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	Sweden	1: 55.3 min
2	Albert Webster	Great Britain	1: 55.5 min
3	Gennady Modoj	Soviet Union	1: 55.8 min
4th	Maurice Marshall	New Zealand	1: 56.2 min
5	Johannes Baumgartner	Switzerland	1: 57.1 min
6th	Mohamed Sanni-Thomas	Gold coast	2: 05.8 min

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Times Whitfield	United States	1: 52.5 min
2	Edmund Potrzebowski	Poland	1: 52.6 min
3	Thomas White	Great Britain	1: 52.7 min
4th	Olavi Talja	Finland	1: 52.9 min
5	Turhan Göker	Turkey	1: 55.9 min
6th	Evelio Planas	Cuba	1: 57.6 min

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Jack Hutchins	Canada	1: 54.5 min
2	John Barnes	United States	1: 54.5 min
3	Jenő Bakos	Hungary	1: 54.5 min
4th	Roman Korban	Poland	1: 54.7 min
5	Alam Zeb	Pakistan	1: 56.3 min
6th	Vasilios Mavroidis	Greece	1: 58.7 min

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Reginald Pearman	United States	1: 51.6 min
2	Petro Shevhun	Soviet Union	1: 51.8 min
3	Günther Steines	BR Germany	1: 52.7 min
4th	Louis Desmet	Belgium	1: 52.9 min
5	René Djian	France	1: 54.3 min

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Hans Ring	Sweden	1: 53.6 min
2	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	1: 54.2 min
3	Don MacMillan	Australia	1: 55.0 min
4th	Oscar Soetewey	Belgium	1: 55.4 min
5	Georgi Iwakin	Soviet Union	1: 56.4 min
6th	Frank Rivera	Puerto Rico	1: 57.6 min
7th	Víctorio Solares	Guatemala	2: 01.4 min

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Heinz Ulzheimer	BR Germany	1: 51.4 min
2	Sohan Singh	India	1: 52.0 min
3	Ludvík Liška	Czechoslovakia	1: 52.3 min
4th	John Ross	Canada	1: 52.5 min
5	Argemiro Roque	Brazil	1: 54.1 min
6th	Boonpak Kwancharoen	Thailand	2: 12.6 min

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Audun Boysen	Norway	1: 53.2 min
2	Urban Cleve	BR Germany	1: 53.4 min
3	Frank Evans	Great Britain	1: 53.8 min
4th	Ekrem Koçak	Turkey	1: 54.5 min
5	Filemón Camacho	Venezuela	2: 00.0 min
6th	Aria Gill-Glick	Israel	2: 00.9 min

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Patrick El Mabrouk	France	1: 52.0 min
2	Gunnar Nielsen	Denmark	1: 53.0 min
3	Bill Parnell	Canada	1: 53.1 min
4th	Yoshitaka Muroya	Japan	1: 54.0 min
5	Fred Lüthi	Switzerland	1: 55.0 min
6th	Erkki Rönnholm	Finland	1: 55.7 min
7th	Guðmundur Lárusson	Iceland	1: 56.5 min

Semifinals

Date: July 21, 1952, from 4.40 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Gunnar Nielsen	Denmark	1: 50.0 min	1: 50.02 min
2	Times Whitfield	United States	1: 50.1 min	1: 50.15 min
3	Albert Webster	Great Britain	1: 50.1 min	1: 50.26 min
4th	Audun Boysen	Norway	1: 50.4 min	1: 50.57 min
5	Urban Cleve	BR Germany	1: 51.6 min	1: 51.77 min
6th	Bill Parnell	Canada	1: 52.7 min	1: 52.92 min
7th	Petro Shevhun	Soviet Union	1: 52.8 min	1: 53.25 min
8th	Don MacMillan	Australia	1: 58.4 min	k. A.

Run 2

The Frenchman Patrick El Mabrouk did not make it to the semi-finals.

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	1: 52.7 min	1: 52.88 min
2	Günther Steines	BR Germany	1: 52.9 min	1: 52.99 min
3	Hans Ring	Sweden	1: 53.0 min	1: 53.27 min
4th	John Barnes	United States	1: 53.4 min	1: 53.54 min
5	Thomas White	Great Britain	1: 53.6 min	1: 53.79 min
6th	Ludvík Liška	Czechoslovakia	1: 54.8 min	1: 55.04 min
7th	Gennady Modoj	Soviet Union	1: 55.7 min	1: 56.12 min

Run 3

Olympic Champion Mal Whitfield (USA)

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Heinz Ulzheimer	BR Germany	1: 51.9 min	1: 52.07 min
2	Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	Sweden	1: 52.4 min	1: 52.59 min
3	Reginald Pearman	United States	1: 52.5 min	1: 52.70 min
4th	Jack Hutchins	Canada	1: 52.8 min	1: 52.81 min
5	Edmund Potrzebowski	Poland	1: 53.7 min	1: 54.03 min
6th	Sohan Singh	India	1: 54.9 min	1: 54.84 min
7th	Jenő Bakos	Hungary	1: 55.5 min	1: 55.70 min
8th	Frank Evans	Great Britain	1: 56.8 min	1: 56.99 min

final

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Times Whitfield	United States	1: 49.2 min	1: 49.34 min	ORe
2	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	1: 49.4 min	1: 49.63 min
3	Heinz Ulzheimer	BR Germany	1: 49.7 min	1: 49.78 min
4th	Gunnar Nielsen	Denmark	1: 49.7 min	1: 49.87 min
5	Albert Webster	Great Britain	1: 50.2 min	1: 50.47 min
6th	Günther Steines	BR Germany	1: 50.6 min	1: 50.81 min
7th	Reginald Pearman	United States	1: 52.1 min	1: 52.31 min
8th	Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	Sweden	1: 52.1 min	1: 52.38 min
9	Hans Ring	Sweden	1: 54.0 min	1: 54.23 min

Date: July 22, 1952, 4:50 p.m.

The final turned out to be extremely exciting, especially with regard to the battle for the bronze medal. Malvin Whitfield (USA) and Arthur Wint (JAM), gold and silver medalists in that order in London in 1948 , were the favorites to win. In the beginning, Wint set the pace with long strides, the German runner-up Heinz Ulzheimer followed suit. The 400 meter mark was passed in 54.0 seconds. On the back straight, Whitfield accelerated and moved forward. But it remained tight. In the target curve the order was Whitfield, Wint, Ulzheimer, followed by Günther Steines, the German champion, who now tensed up and fell back. On the home stretch, Whitfield and Wint sprinted for the gold medal, with Whitfield holding the upper hand. Behind it there was a duel for bronze between Ulzheimer and the Dane Gunnar Nielsen. Hand-stopped, they both crossed the finish line four tenths of a second behind the Olympic champion. Ulzheimer had thrown himself over the finish line and in the end it was enough for him to get bronze.

Malvin Whitfield set his own Olympic record with 1: 49.2 minutes .

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 71–73

Web links

• SportsReference 800m , accessed September 25, 2017
• Official report pp. 278–279, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 25, 2017
• Olympics - 1948 London & 1952 Helsinki - 800m - USA Mal Whitfield & JAM Arthur Wint imasportsphile , range 4:07 min to 8:02 min, published on February 18, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed on 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} 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. 72