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


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. 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, and a photo finish necessary to separate the winners.

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 did. London bronze medalist Lloyd LaBeach's brother Byron LaBeach represented Jamaica. Other notable entrants were American Art Bragg and Jamaican Herb McKenley, who were favorites along with Bailey.
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 1920–1948: 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.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
World record10.2 Jesse OwensChicago, United States20 June 1936
World record10.2 Harold DavisCompton, United States6 June 1941
World record10.2 Lloyd LaBeachFresno, United States15 May 1948
World record10.2 Barney EwellEvanston, United States9 July 1948
World record10.2 McDonald BaileyBelgrade, Yugoslavia25 August 1951
Olympic record10.3 Eddie TolanLos Angeles, USA1 August 1932
Olympic record10.3 Ralph MetcalfeLos Angeles, USA1 August 1932
Olympic record10.3 Jesse OwensBerlin, Germany2 August 1936
Olympic record10.3 Harrison DillardLondon, United Kingdom31 July, 1948

Results

Heats

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

Heat one

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1John Treloar10.92
2Alan Lillington11.06
3Gabriel Lareya11.18
4Miroslav Horčic11.23
5Ásmundur Bjarnason11.40
6Youssef Ali Omar11.53
7José Julio Barillas11.56

Heat two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Étienne Bally10.97
2Angel Kolev11.01
3Paul Dolan11.12
4Raúl Mazorra11.19
5Robert Hutchinson11.26
6Masaji Tajima11.29
7Adul Wanasatith11.61

Heat three

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1McDonald Bailey10.65
2Carlo Vittori10.98
3Mikhail Kazantsev11.16
4Hörður Haraldsson11.31
5Javier Souza11.32
6Stefanos Petrakis11.33

Heat four

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1William Jack11.05
2Romeo Galán11.11
3Levan Sanadze11.13
4Emad El-Din Shafei11.40
5Guillermo Gutiérrez11.42
6Boonterm Pakpuang11.85

Heat five

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Herb McKenley10.88
2György Csányi11.09
3Emil Kiszka11.13
4Pauli Tavisalo11.30
5Tomás Paquete11.45
6Walter Sutton11.45

Heat six

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1David Tabak11.12
2Tomio Hosoda11.14
3Willy Schneider11.22
4Angel Gavrilov11.29
5Juan Leiva11.31

Heat seven

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Vladimir Sukharev10.93
2Theo Saat11.02
3Muhammad Sharif Butt11.17
4Voitto Hellstén11.36
5George Acquaah11.47
6Mariano Acosta11.58
7Wolfango Montanari12.25

Heat eight

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Rafael Fortún10.93
2Byron LaBeach11.09
3Franco Leccese11.18
4Issi Baran11.32
5Fritz Griesser11.54

Heat nine

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Werner Zandt11.03
2Muhammad Aslam11.18
3Don McFarlane11.25
4Zdeněk Pospíšil11.25
5Edward Ajado11.25
6Fawzi Chaaban11.51
-Enrique Beckles

Heat ten

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Art Bragg10.73
2Hans Wehrli11.00
3Titus Erinle11.12
4László Zarándi11.26
5Pétur Sigurðsson11.55
6Arun Sankosik11.76

Heat eleven

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Lindy Remigino10.73
2Lavy Pinto11.00
3René Bonino11.00
4František Brož11.32
5Abdul Aziz11.48
6Rui Maia11.79

Heat twelve

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Dean Smith10.90
2Alain Porthault11.04
3Erich Fuchs11.19
4Karim Olowu11.27

Quarterfinals

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

Quarterfinal one

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1McDonald Bailey10.73
2John Treloar10.84
3Alain Porthault10.99
4Muhammad Aslam11.02
5Byron LaBeach11.05
-Angel Kolev

Quarterfinal two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Lindy Remigino10.68
2Theo Saat10.93
3Lavy Pinto10.98
4Étienne Bally10.98
5Hans Wehrli11.05
6Alan Lillington11.26

Quarterfinal three

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Dean Smith10.69
2Rafael Fortún10.90
3William Jack10.94
4Werner Zandt10.98
5Romeo Galán11.08
6David Tabak11.10

Quarterfinal four

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Herb McKenley10.72
2Art Bragg10.75
3Vladimir Sukharev10.92
4Tomio Hosoda11.03
5György Csányi11.07
6Carlo Vittori11.79

Semifinals

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

Semifinal one

Bragg tore a muscle in this semifinal.
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1McDonald Bailey10.74
2Dean Smith10.78
3Vladimir Sukharev10.86
4Lavy Pinto10.94
5Alain Porthault11.04
6Art Bragg11.43

Semifinal two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Herb McKenley10.74
2Lindy Remigino10.74
3John Treloar10.76
4Rafael Fortún10.92
5William Jack11.01
6Theo Saat11.12

Final

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
Lindy Remigino10.79Photo-determined finish
Herb McKenley10.80
McDonald Bailey10.83
4Dean Smith10.84
5Vladimir Sukharev10.88
6John Treloar10.91