Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump


The Men's long jump at the 1952 Olympic Games took place on July 21 at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. American athlete Jerome Biffle won the gold medal.

Summary

came into the Olympics having been the best long jumper in the world for the previous 3 years and the third man to jump 8 meters ever. But Brown's 41 competition win streak ended at the US Olympic Trials, where he barely qualified for Helsinki. In wet conditions, everyone was having trouble with their run up.
In the first round Meredith "Flash" Gourdine took the early lead with a 7.38m. Jerome Biffle, a former NCAA Champion at the University of Denver, was in second place with 7.21m and Ary de Sá was in third with 7.15m. In the second round Ödön Földessy jumped into second place with a 7.23m. In the third round the medals were decided, Gourdine getting a 7.53m to extend his lead, then Biffle carefully came down the runway to leap to take the lead. That 7.57 would be well within Brown's range but he and Henk Visser failed to get a legal jump in. Biffle also was unable to get another jump in, while Gourdine made three solid attempts but was unable to improve his mark, giving Biffle the gold. Földessy got off a 7.30m in the fifth round to assure himself the bronze medal while de Sá tied Földessy's 7.23 and would have had the tie breaking edge without the 7.30.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Results

Qualifying round

Qualifying Performance 7.20 or at least 13 best performers advance to the Final.
RankGroupNameNationalityMarkRemarks
1AMeredith Gourdine7.41Q
2AJerome Biffle7.40Q
3BNeville Price7.36Q
4AGeorge Brown7.32Q
5AÖdön Földessy7.25Q
6AAry de Sá7.24Q
7BHenk Visser7.21Q
8BMasaji Tajima7.13q
9BKarl-Erik Israelsson7.10q
10APaul Faucher7.10q
11BPentti Snellman7.09q
=12ALeonid Grigoryev7.09q
=12BJorma Valtonen7.09q
14BCarlos Vera7.07
15BFelix Würth6.99
16BSylvanus Williams6.98
17BJorma Valkama6.97
18BKarim Olowu6.96
19AToni Breder6.88
20ABrígido Iriarte6.82
21AHenryk Grabowski6.77
22ANikolay Andryushchenko6.74
23BGeraldo de Oliveira6.71
24BPat Leane6.40
25BKamtorn Sanidwong5.31
AAvni Akgün
BKhandadash Madatov

Final

NM — No Mark