Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres
The men's 800 metres event at the 1952 Olympics took place between July 20 and July 22. The final was won by the American Mal Whitfield.[1]
Men's 800 metres at the Games of the XV Olympiad | ||||||||||
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Dates | July 20 (heats) July 21 (semifinals) July 22 (final) | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics | ||
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Track events | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | |
800 m | men | |
1500 m | men | |
5000 m | men | |
10,000 m | men | |
80 m hurdles | women | |
110 m hurdles | men | |
400 m hurdles | men | |
3000 m steeplechase | men | |
4×100 m relay | men | women |
4×400 m relay | men | |
Road events | ||
Marathon | men | |
10 km walk | men | |
50 km walk | men | |
Field events | ||
Long jump | men | women |
Triple jump | men | |
High jump | men | women |
Pole vault | men | |
Shot put | men | women |
Discus throw | men | women |
Javelin throw | men | women |
Hammer throw | men | |
Combined events | ||
Decathlon | men | |
Summary
Starting from a waterfall start, most competitors were allowed to and chose to use a crouch start. Returning silver medalist Arthur Wint sprinted to the lead with Heinz Ulzheimer moving into a tight marking position with Gunnar Nielsen and Günther Steines sprinting to keep up. On the home stretch for the first time, defending champion Mal Whitfield moved forward, past the other chasers into a marking position on Ulzheimer. Wint continued to lead down the backstretch, then Whitfield accelerated past Ulzheimer, who turned to look, then at the beginning of the turn, Wint. It was a deja vu for Wint, seeing Whitfield ahead of him on the final turn of the Olympics. The first five were separated from the rest of the pack, Whitfield pulling away to defend his championship. Wint couldn't make any progress on Whitfield but held off the battle behind him. Steines lost ground, getting passed by a big rush by Albert Webster, but Nielsen pressed Ulzheimer to the line, Ulzheimer taking bronze with a lean then in the next step doing a face plant to the track.
Whitfield equalled the Olympic record he had set in London four years earlier, meaning he ran exactly the same time 1:49.2 in both races. Wint was a tenth of a second faster. Whitfield became the second man after Douglas Lowe to defend the 800 metres title. Peter Snell and David Rudisha have since equalled the feat.
Results
Heats
The first round was held on July 20. The first three runners from each heat advanced to the semifinals.
Heat 1
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lars Wolfbrandt | 1:55.3 | ||
2 | Albert Webster | 1:55.5 | ||
3 | Gennady Modoy | 1:55.8 | ||
4 | Maurice Marshall | 1:56.2 | ||
5 | Johannes Baumgartner | 1:57.1 | ||
6 | Mohamed Sanni-Thomas | 2:05.8 |
Heat 2
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mal Whitfield | 1:52.5 | ||
2 | Edmund Potrzebowski | 1:52.6 | ||
3 | Tom White | 1:52.7 | ||
4 | Olavi Talja | 1:52.9 | ||
5 | Turhan Göker | 1:55.9 | ||
6 | Evelio Planas | 1:57.6 |
Heat 3
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jack Hutchins | 1:54.5 | ||
2 | John Barnes | 1:54.5 | ||
3 | Jenő Bakos | 1:54.5 | ||
4 | Roman Korban | 1:54.7 | ||
5 | Alam Zeb | 1:56.3 | ||
6 | Vasilios Mavrodis | 1:58.7 |
Heat 4
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Reggie Pearman | 1:51.6 | ||
2 | Petro Chevhun | 1:51.8 | ||
3 | Günther Steines | 1:52.7 | ||
4 | Louis Desmet | 1:52.9 | ||
5 | René Djian | 1:54.3 |
Heat 5
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hans Ring | 1:53.6 | ||
2 | Arthur Wint | 1:54.2 | ||
3 | Don MacMillan | 1:55.0 | ||
4 | Oscar Soetewey | 1:55.4 | ||
5 | Georgy Ivakin | 1:56.4 | ||
6 | Frank Rivera | 1:57.6 | ||
7 | Víctorio Solares | 2:01.4 |
Heat 6
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Heinz Ulzheimer | 1:51.4 | ||
2 | Sohan Singh | 1:52.0 | ||
3 | Ludvík Liška | 1:52.3 | ||
4 | John Ross | 1:52.5 | ||
5 | Arqemiro Roque | 1:54.1 | ||
6 | Lucien Demuynck | 1:57.4 | ||
7 | Boonpak Kwancharoen | 2:12.6 |
Heat 7
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Audun Boysen | 1:53.2 | ||
2 | Urban Cleve | 1:53.4 | ||
3 | Frank Evans | 1:53.8 | ||
4 | Ekrem Koçak | 1:54.5 | ||
5 | Filemón Camacho | 2:00.0 | ||
6 | Arie Gill-Glick | 2:00.9 |
Heat 8
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Patrick El Mabrouk | 1:52.0 | ||
2 | Gunnar Nielsen | 1:53.0 | ||
3 | Bill Parnell | 1:53.1 | ||
4 | Yoshitaka Muroya | 1:54.0 | ||
5 | Fred Lüthi | 1:55.0 | ||
6 | Erkki Rönnholm | 1:55.7 | ||
7 | Guðmundur Lárusson | 1:56.5 |
Semifinals
The fastest three runners in each of the three heats advanced to the final round.
Heat one
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Gunnar Nielsen | 1:50.0 | ||
2 | Mal Whitfield | 1:50.1 | ||
3 | Albert Webster | 1:50.1 | ||
4 | Audun Boysen | 1:50.4 | ||
5 | Urban Cleve | 1:51.6 | ||
6 | Bill Parnell | 1:52.7 | ||
7 | Pyotr Chevgun | 1:52.8 | ||
8 | Don MacMillan | 1:58.4 | ||
Heat two
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Arthur Wint | 1:52.7 | ||
2 | Günther Steines | 1:52.9 | ||
3 | Hans Ring | 1:53.0 | ||
4 | John Barnes | 1:53.4 | ||
5 | Tom White | 1:53.6 | ||
6 | Ludvík Liška | 1:54.8 | ||
7 | Gennady Modoy | 1:55.7 | ||
Heat three
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Heinz Ulzheimer | 1:51.9 | ||
2 | Lars Wolfbrandt | 1:52.4 | ||
3 | Reggie Pearman | 1:52.5 | ||
4 | Jack Hutchins | 1:52.8 | ||
5 | Edmund Potrzebowski | 1:53.7 | ||
6 | Sohan Singh | 1:54.9 | ||
7 | Jenő Bakos | 1:55.5 | ||
8 | Frank Evans | 1:56.8 | ||
Final
Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mal Whitfield | 1:49.2 | =OR | ||
Arthur Wint | 1:49.4 | |||
Heinz Ulzheimer | 1:49.7 | |||
4 | Gunnar Nielsen | 1:49.7 | ||
5 | Albert Webster | 1:50.2 | ||
6 | Günther Steines | 1:50.6 | ||
7 | Reggie Pearman | 1:52.1 | ||
8 | Lars Wolfbrandt | 1:52.1 | ||
9 | Hans Ring | 1:54.0 |
References
- "Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2017.