Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres explained

Event:	Men's 100 metres
Games:	1952 Summer
Venue:	Olympic Stadium Helsinki, Finland
Dates:	20 July 1952 (heats, quarterfinals) 21 July 1952 (semifinals, final)
Competitors:	72
Nations:	33
Win Value:	10.4 seconds (hand) 10.79 seconds (auto)
Gold:	Lindy Remigino
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Herb McKenley
Silvernoc:	JAM
Bronze:	McDonald Bailey
Bronzenoc:	GBR
Prev:	1948
Next:	1956

The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland was held at the Olympic Stadium on 20 and 21 July. Seventy-two athletes from 33 nations competed; each nation was limited to 3 runners. The final was won by American Lindy Remigino, the fourth consecutive victory by a different American.^[1] Herb McKenley won Jamaica's first medal in the men's 100 metres with his silver, while McDonald Bailey's bronze put Great Britain on the podium for the first time since 1928. The final was "probably the closest mass finish in Olympic 100 metre history" with the first four runners all clocking in at 10.4 seconds hand-timed, all six finalists within 0.12 seconds electric-timed (10.79 for first, 10.91 for sixth), and a photo finish necessary to separate the winners.^[2]

Background

This was the twelfth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. None of the medalists from 1948 returned, but sixth-place finisher McDonald Bailey (who had recently tied the world record) did. London bronze medalist Lloyd LaBeach's brother Byron LaBeach represented Jamaica. Other notable entrants were American Art Bragg (who pulled his hamstring before the semifinal) and Jamaican Herb McKenley, who were favorites along with Bailey.^[2]

Bulgaria, Ghana, Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, the Soviet Union, Thailand, and Venezuela were represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first twelve Olympic men's 100 metres events.

Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920 to 1948: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats, of 4–7 athletes each, with the top 2 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 24 quarterfinalists were placed into 4 heats of 6 athletes. The top 3 in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, once again with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final.^[2]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	10.2	Jesse Owens	Chicago, United States	20 June 1936
	10.2	Harold Davis	Compton, United States	6 June 1941
	10.2	Lloyd LaBeach	Fresno, United States	15 May 1948
	10.2	Barney Ewell	Evanston, United States	9 July 1948
	10.2	McDonald Bailey	Belgrade, Yugoslavia	25 August 1951
Olympic record	10.3	Eddie Tolan	Los Angeles, USA	1 August 1932
	10.3	Ralph Metcalfe	Los Angeles, USA	1 August 1932
	10.3	Jesse Owens	Berlin, Germany	2 August 1936
	10.3	Harrison Dillard	London, United Kingdom	31 July 1948

Results

Heats

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

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.92
2	Alan Lillington		11.06
3	Gabriel Lareya		11.18
4	Miroslav Horčic		11.23
5	Ásmundur Bjarnason		11.40
6	Youssef Ali Omar		11.53
7	José Julio Barillas		11.56

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.97
2	Angel Kolev		11.01
3	Paul Dolan		11.12
4	Raúl Mazorra		11.19
5	Robert Hutchinson		11.26
6	Masaji Tajima		11.29
7	Adul Wanasatith		11.61

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.65
2	Carlo Vittori		10.98
3	Mikhail Kazantsev		11.16
4	Hörður Haraldsson		11.31
5	Javier Souza		11.32
6	Stefanos Petrakis		11.33

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			11.05
2	Romeo Galán		11.11
3	Levan Sanadze		11.13
4	Emad El-Din Shafei		11.40
5	Guillermo Gutiérrez		11.42
6	Boonterm Pakpuang		11.85

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.88
2	György Csányi		11.09
3	Emil Kiszka		11.13
4	Pauli Tavisalo		11.30
5	Tomás Paquete		11.45
6	Walter Sutton		11.45

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			11.12
2	Tomio Hosoda		11.14
3	Willy Schneider		11.22
4	Angel Gavrilov		11.29
5	Juan Leiva		11.31

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.93
2	Theo Saat		11.02
3	Muhammad Sharif Butt		11.17
4	Voitto Hellstén		11.36
5	George Acquaah		11.47
6	Mariano Acosta		11.58
7	Wolfango Montanari		12.25

Heat 8

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.93
2	Byron LaBeach		11.09
3	Franco Leccese		11.18
4	Issi Baran		11.32
5	Fritz Griesser		11.54

Heat 9

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			11.03
2	Muhammad Aslam		11.18
3	Don McFarlane		11.25
4	Zdeněk Pospíšil		11.25
5	Edward Ajado		11.25
6	Fawzi Chaaban		11.51
data-sort-value=7	-	Enrique Beckles

Heat 10

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.73
2	Hans Wehrli		11.00
3	Titus Erinle		11.12
4	László Zarándi		11.26
5	Pétur Sigurðsson		11.55
6	Arun Sankosik		11.76

Heat 11

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.73
2	Lavy Pinto		11.00
3	René Bonino		11.00
4	František Brož		11.32
5	Abdul Aziz		11.48
6	Rui Maia		11.79

Heat 12

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.90
2	Alain Porthault		11.04
3	Erich Fuchs		11.19
4	Karim Olowu		11.27

Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.73
2	John Treloar		10.84
3	Alain Porthault		10.99
4	Muhammad Aslam		11.02
5	Byron LaBeach		11.05
data-sort-value=6	-	Angel Kolev

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.68
2	Theo Saat		10.93
3	Lavy Pinto		10.98
4	Étienne Bally		10.98
5	Hans Wehrli		11.05
6	Alan Lillington		11.26

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.69
2	Rafael Fortún		10.90
3	William Jack		10.94
4	Werner Zandt		10.98
5	Romeo Galán		11.08
6	David Tabak		11.10

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.72
2	Art Bragg		10.75
3	Vladimir Sukharev		10.92
4	Tomio Hosoda		11.03
5	György Csányi		11.07
6	Carlo Vittori		11.79

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

Bragg tore a muscle in this semifinal.^[3]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.74
2	Dean Smith		10.78
3	Vladimir Sukharev		10.86
4	Lavy Pinto		10.94
5	Alain Porthault		11.04
6	Art Bragg		11.43

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			10.74
2	Lindy Remigino		10.74
3	John Treloar		10.76
4	Rafael Fortún		10.92
5	William Jack		11.01
6	Theo Saat		11.12

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
			10.79	Photo-determined finish
			10.80
			10.83
4			10.84
5			10.88
6			10.91

Notes and References

1. Web site: Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's 100 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417094446/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1952/ATH/mens-100-metres.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 9 June 2017 . Sports Reference.
2. Web site: 100 metres, Men . Olympedia . 21 July 2020.
3. Official Report, p. 250.