Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon explained

Event:	Men's decathlon
Games:	1952 Summer
Venue:	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Dates:	25–26 July
Competitors:	28
Nations:	16
Win Value:	7,887
Win Label:	Winning score
Longnames:	yes
Gold:	Bob Mathias
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Milt Campbell
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Floyd Simmons
Bronzenoc:	USA
Prev:	1948
Next:	1956

The Men's decathlon at the 1952 Summer Olympics took place on 25 and 26 July, at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Now 21-year-old Bob Mathias from the United States repeated his performances from the previous games by winning the gold medal and setting new world and Olympic records. It was the second time the United States Olympic team earned all three medals in the event, the first one being in the 1936 Olympic Games.^[1]

Mathias ranked first in all three throwing events -- discus, shot put and javelin. He won all of these by over a metre.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

At the end of the competition the following world and Olympic records were set:

Results

Note: All scores are based on the tables used in 1952.

100m

Heat 1

Rank	Time	Points
1	10.78	1034
2	11.28	870
3	11.49	768
4	11.95	650

Heat 2

Rank	Time	Points
1	11.68	678
2	11.82	623
3	13.70	254

Heat 3

Rank	Time	Points
1	11.56	768
2	11.59	768
3	12.22	572

Heat 4

Rank	Time	Points
1	11.45	869
2	11.66	707
3	11.70	678
4	11.93	650

Heat 5

Rank	Time	Points
1	11.52	737
2	11.61	707
3	11.72	678

Heat 6

Rank	Time	Points
1	11.43	800
2	11.53	737
3	11.73	678
4	11.89	623

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Points
1			11.53	768
2			11.60	768

Heat 8

Rank	Time	Points
1	11.08	948
2	11.46	768
3	11.54	737

Heat 9

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Points
1			11.61	737
2			12.10	597

Long Jump

Rank	Distance	Points
1	7.10	818
2	7.09	815
2	7.09	815
4	7.06	804
4	7.06	804
6	6.98	779
7	6.96	773
8	6.90	755
9	6.85	740
10	6.80	725
11	6.76	713
12	6.74	707
13	6.70	695
14	6.66	684
15	6.64	678
16	6.52	645
17	6.48	635
18	6.47	632
19	6.44	624
20	6.38	608
21	6.37	605
21	6.37	605
23	6.22	567
24	6.20	562
25	6.15	550
26	5.80	466
27	5.43	385
28	5.22	341

Shot Put

Rank	Distance	Points
1	15.30	912
2	13.89	759
3	13.26	696
4	13.18	688
5	12.97	669
6	12.90	663
7	12.87	660
8	12.83	656
9	12.73	647
10	12.69	644
11	12.62	637
12	12.40	618
13	12.36	614
14	12.19	599
15	12.01	582
16	11.85	568
17	11.75	560
18	11.71	556
19	11.66	552
20	11.61	548
21	11.56	544
22	11.20	516
23	10.22	437
24	9.52	387
25	9.28	369

High Jump

Rank	Distance	Points
1	1.94	960
2	1.92	930
3	1.90	900
4	1.88	872
5	1.85	832
5	1.85	832
7	1.80	770
8	1.75	711
8	1.75	711
8	1.75	711
8	1.75	711
8	1.75	711
8	1.75	711
14	1.70	656
14	1.70	656
14	1.70	656
14	1.70	656
18	1.65	605
18	1.65	605
18	1.65	605
18	1.65	605
22	1.60	555
22	1.60	555
22	1.60	555
25	1.50	464

400m

Heat 1

Rank	Time	Points
1	50.2	828
2	52.8	654
3	54.7	545

Heat 2

Rank	Time	Points
1	51.2	758
2	51.3	751
3	51.3	751
4	53.4	618

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Points
1			52.8	654
2			54.3	565

Heat 4

Rank	Time	Points
1	50.9	779
2	51.3	751
3	55.2	520

Heat 5

Rank	Time	Points
1	50.3	821
2	51.0	772
3	51.1	765

Heat 6

Rank	Time	Points
1	50.5	807
2	53.0	642
3	53.1	636

Heat 7

Rank	Time	Points
1	52.6	666
2	52.7	660
3	53.9	588

Heat 8

Rank	Time	Points
1	51.2	758
2	56.7	445
3	1:03.9	189

110m Hurdles

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Points
1			16.0	593
2			16.6	489

Heat 2

Rank	Time	Points
1	16.0	593
2	16.6	489
3	16.7	473
4	17.1	413

Heat 3

Rank	Time	Points
1	15.4	716
2	15.8	632
3	15.8	632
4	18.8	208

Heat 4

Rank	Time	Points
1	14.5	953
2	15.0	813
3	15.8	632
4	16.3	540

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Points
1			16.1	575
2			16.4	523

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Points
1			16.1	575
2			16.4	523

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Points
1			14.7	894
2			15.7	652

Heat 8

Rank	Time	Points
1	16.0	593
2	16.4	523
3	16.4	523

Discus Throw

Rank	Distance	Points
1	46.89	838
2	45.84	802
3	42.45	696
4	41.04	656
5	40.50	640
6	40.02	627
7	39.53	613
8	39.30	607
9	38.55	587
10	38.23	578
11	38.08	574
12	38.04	573
13	37.77	566
14	37.20	552
15	37.01	547
16	36.81	541
17	34.51	483
18	34.27	477
19	34.21	476
20	32.98	446
21	30.72	392
22	29.95	374

Pole Vault

Rank	Distance	Points
1	4.20	855
2	4.10	795
3	4.00	745
4	3.80	645
4	3.80	645
6	3.70	596
7	3.60	556
7	3.60	556
9	3.50	516
9	3.50	516
9	3.50	516
9	3.50	516
9	3.50	516
9	3.50	516
9	3.50	516
16	3.40	476
16	3.40	476
16	3.40	476
16	3.40	476
16	3.40	476
21	3.30	438
22	3.00	328

Javelin Throw

Rank	Distance	Points
1	59.21	715
2	57.61	680
3	56.68	660
4	56.68	660
5	55.55	637
6	54.69	620
7	54.54	617
8	54.14	609
9	54.00	606
10	53.57	597
11	52.79	582
12	51.41	554
13	51.39	554
14	51.22	550
15	51.08	548
16	49.80	525
17	49.56	520
18	49.36	517
19	44.83	436
20	43.55	414
21	43.19	408
22	41.31	376

1500m

Heat 1

Rank	Time	Points
1	4:28.0	526
2	4:37.0	441
3	4:38.6	427
4	4:51.8	321
5	4:57.0	283
6	4:58.6	272

Heat 2

Rank	Time	Points
1	4:33.2	475
2	4:57.2	281
3	5:01.0	255
4	5:14.4	175
5	5:14.4	175

Heat 3

Rank	Time	Points
1	4:42.0	396
2	4:47.6	352
3	4:49.8	336
4	4:50.8	328
5	4:53.4	309

Heat 4

Rank	Time	Points
1	4:57.2	281
2	4:58.2	274
3	5:01.8	249
4	5:03.6	238
5	5:07.2	216

Final standings

Pos	Total Points	100m	LJ	SP	HJ	400m	110m H	DT	PV	JT	1500m
	7,887 WR	948	779	912	900	828	894	838	745	715	328
	6,975	1,034	707	759	832	779	953	640	438	617	216
	6,788	737	804	688	930	765	813	566	556	620	309
	6,674	768	815	637	711	758	632	573	645	660	475
	6,449	768	740	696	711	751	575	802	516	609	281
	6,388	768	713	548	960	751	575	613	516	517	427
	6,308	768	755	669	832	666	632	607	516	582	281
	6,118	678	605	644	770	807	593	547	516	606	352
	6,044	768	624	618	711	642	652	476	795	520	238
10	5,937	768	815	556	605	654	523	656	556	408	396
11	5,772	707	725	614	605	751	716	627	476	376	175
12	5,770	707	804	552	555	636	489	578	476	637	336
13	5,725	800	684	568	656	821	208	392	516	554	526
14	5,694	597	695	560	711	445	413	483	855	680	255
15	5,648	678	678	663	605	565	593	587	476	554	249
16	5,604	737	645	516	656	758	632	477	328	414	441
17	5,592	678	608	660	555	654	523	574	516	550	274
18	5,561	650	635	647	555	545	523	541	645	548	272
19	5,530	650	567	582	711	520	489	696	596	436	283
20	5,264	678	632	544	605	660	523	446	476	525	175
21	5,228	623	550	437	656	618	473	374	516	660	321
		572	605	599	656	588	540	552	476	597
		737	818	656	872	772	593
		254	385	369	464	189
		870	773	387	711
		737	562
		768	446
		623	341

External links

Official Olympic Report, la84.org.

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's Decathlon . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175534/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1952/ATH/mens-decathlon.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 25 January 2018 . sports-reference.com.