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Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres sprint event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between July 22 and July 23. There were 71 competitors from 35 nations.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by 0.16 seconds by American Andy Stanfield.[2] Americans also took silver (Thane Baker) and bronze (Jim Gathers) as the United States swept the medals in the event for the third time (1904, 1932).

Men's 200 metres
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Helsinki Olympic Stadium (1930s)
VenueHelsinki Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 22, 1952 (heats and quarterfinals)
July 23, 1952 (semifinals and final)
Competitors71 from 35 nations
Winning time20.7 =OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Andy Stanfield
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Thane Baker
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Jim Gathers
 United States
← 1948
1956 →

Background

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This was the 11th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. One of the six finalists from the 1948 Games returned: sixth-place finisher Leslie Laing of Jamaica. Andy Stanfield, the inaugural world record setter for 200 metres around a curve and winner of three AAU titles, was the favorite.[1]

Bulgaria, Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, South Korea, the Soviet Union, Thailand, and Venezuela each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 11th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

Competition format

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The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 18 heats of between 2 and 5 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 6 heats of 6 athletes each; the 2 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top 3 athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.[1]

Records

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Prior to the competition, the existing world (curved track) and Olympic records were as follows. The world record (straight) was 20.2 seconds.[3]

World record  Andy Stanfield (USA)20.6 Los Angeles, United States28 June 1952
Olympic record  Jesse Owens (USA)20.7 Berlin, Germany5 August 1936

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. Andy Stanfield's hand-timed final run of 20.7 seconds was equal to the Olympic record.

Schedule

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All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round
Tuesday, 22 July 195215:00
18:50		Heats
Quarterfinals
Wednesday, 23 July 195215:45
17:55		Semifinals
Final

Results

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Heats

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The fastest two runners in each of the eighteen heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1

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Heat 2

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Heat 3

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Heat 4

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Heat 5

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RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Theo Saat Netherlands22.17Q
2Werner Zandt Germany22.23Q
3Juan Leiva Venezuela22.38
4Fawzi Chaaban Egypt22.90
5Eugénio Eleutério Portugal23.37

Heat 6

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Heat 7

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Heat 8

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RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Vladimir Sukharev Soviet Union22.08Q
2Angel García Cuba22.14Q
3Hans Wehrli Switzerland22.35
4Pauli Tavisalo Finland22.45
5Abdul Aziz Pakistan23.02

Heat 9

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Heat 10

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Heat 11

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Heat 12

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RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Jim Gathers United States21.42Q
2Tomio Hosoda Japan22.36Q
3Henry Brault France22.48
4Luigi Grossi Italy22.49
5Muslim Arogundade Nigeria22.71

Heat 13

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Heat 14

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Heat 15

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Heat 16

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Heat 17

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Heat 18

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RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1John Treloar Australia21.75Q
2Lavy Pinto India21.83Q
3Péter Karádi Hungary22.24
4Lucio Sangermano Italy22.38
-K. K. Korsah GhanaDNS

Quarterfinals

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The fastest two runners in each of the six heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

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Quarterfinal 2

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RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Thane Baker United States21.64Q
2Rafael Fortún Cuba21.98Q
3Paul Dolan Ireland22.15
4Peter Kraus Germany22.19
5Voitto Hellstén Finland22.61
6Rafiu Oluwa Nigeria22.69

Quarterfinal 3

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Quarterfinal 4

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RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Gerardo Bönnhoff Argentina21.67Q
2Nick Stacey Great Britain21.79Q
3Angel Kolev Bulgaria22.07
4Angel García Cuba22.11
5David Tabak Israel22.34
6Roman Budzyński Poland22.51

Quarterfinal 5

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Quarterfinal 6

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Semifinals

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The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1

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Semifinal 2

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Final

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Standfield's hand-timed results of 20.7 seconds was equal to the Olympic record.

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1st place, gold medalist(s)Andy Stanfield United States20.81=OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Thane Baker United States20.97
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)James Gathers United States21.08
4McDonald Bailey Great Britain21.14
5Les Laing Jamaica21.45
6Gerardo Bönnhoff Argentina21.59

References

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  1. 1 2 3 "200 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's 200 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  3. ↑ Official Report, p. 272.
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