Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay explained

Event:	Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
Games:	1952 Summer
Dates:	July 26 (heats) July 27 (final)
Teams:	18
Nations:	18
Win Value:	3:03.9 (hand) 3:04.04 (automatic)
Gold:	Arthur Wint Leslie Laing Herb McKenley George Rhoden
Goldnoc:	JAM
Silver:	Ollie Matson Gerrard Cole Charles Moore Mal Whitfield
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Günter Steines Hans Geister Heinz Ulzheimer Karl-Friedrich Haas
Bronzenoc:	GER
Prev:	1948
Next:	1956

The men's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place on July 26 & July 27.^[1]

The Jamaican team won the final, with the medalists breaking the 20-year-old world record.

Herb McKenley's third leg of 44.6, credited with pulling Jamaica into contention from 10 metres back, is considered one of the greatest relay legs in history,^[2] and on the last leg, George Rhoden, the 400 metres champion and Mal Whitfield the 800 metres champion, ran virtually shoulder to shoulder, but Rhoden was able to keep the lead, and beat Whitfield by a yard.

Results

Heats

Round One Heat One

Rank	Country	Athletes	Time (hand)	Time (automatic) !	Notes
1			3:12.1	3:12.13	Q
2			3:12.6	3:12.72	Q
3			3:13.4	3:13.55
4			3:15.8	3:16.05
5			3:16.2	3:16.38
6			3:16.4	3:16.67
7			3:20.3	3:20.55

Round One Heat Two

Rank	Country	Athletes	Time (hand)	Time (automatic) !	Notes^[3]
1			3:11.5	3:11.67	Q
2			3:12.5	3:12.67	Q
3			3:13.8	3:13.96
4			3:15.2	3:15.23
5		Hans Ernst Schneider, Josef Steger, Paul Stalder, Ernst von Gunten	3:15.4	3:15.36
6			3:23.2

Round One Heat Three

Rank	Country	Athletes	Time (hand)	Time (automatic) !	Notes
1			3:10.5	3:10.57	Q
2			3:11.2	3:11.49	Q
3			3:12.5	3:12.65
4			3:14.8	3:15.09
5			3:15.8	3:16.00

Final

Rank	Country	Time (hand)	Time (automatic) !	Notes
		3:03.9	3:04.04	WR
		3:04.0	3:04.21
		3:06.6	3:06.78
4		3:09.3	3:09.37
5		3:10.0	3:10.23
6		3:10.1	3:10.33

Key: WR = World record

Notes and References

1. Web site: Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's 4 × 400 metres Relay . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173158/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1952/ATH/mens-4-x-400-metres-relay.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 30 August 2017 . sports-reference.com.
2. Web site: Greatest 4x400m hits and splits – IAAF/BTC World Relays, Bahamas 2015 NEWS World Athletics.
3. Book: THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE GAMES OF THE XV OLYMPIAD HELSINKI 1952 . 1955 . THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE XV OLYMPIAD HELSINKI 1952 . Helsinki, Finland . 6 July 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150826094952/http://olympic-museum.de/o-reports/report1952.htm . 26 August 2015 .