1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland, from July 19 to August 3, 1952.
Helsinki had been earlier selected to host the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II. It is the northernmost city at which a summer Olympic Games have been held. These were the first games to be held in a non-Indo-European language speaking country. It was also the Olympic Games at which the most number of world records were broken until it was surpassed by the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Thailand, and Saarland made their Olympic debuts in Helsinki 1952. The United States won the most gold and overall medals.
: Stamp for the Helsinki Olympics, 1952.
Host city selection
Helsinki was chosen as the host city over bids from Amsterdam, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, and Philadelphia at the 40th IOC Session on June 21, 1947, in Stockholm, Sweden. Minneapolis and Los Angeles finished tied for second in the final voting.The voting results in chart below:
Highlights
- These were the final Olympic Games organised under the IOC presidency of Sigfrid Edström.
- Israel made its Olympic debut. The Jewish state had been unable to participate in the 1948 Games because of its 1947–1949 Palestine war. A previous Palestine Mandate team had boycotted the 1936 Games in protest of the Nazi regime.
- Indonesia made its Olympic debut with three athletes.
- The newly established People's Republic of China participated in the Olympics for the first time, although only one swimmer of its 40-member delegation arrived in time to take part in the official competition. The PRC would not return to the Summer Olympics until Los Angeles 1984.
- The Republic of China withdrew from the Games on July 20, in protest of the IOC decision to allow athletes from the People's Republic of China to compete.
- For the first time, a team from the Soviet Union participated in the Olympics. The first gold medal for the USSR was won by Nina Romashkova in the women's discus throwing event. She described her feelings: Only after I had felt a heavy golden circle in my hand, I realized what happened. I am the first Soviet Olympic Champion, you know, the first record-holder of the 15th Olympiad...Tears were stinging my eyes. How happy I was!... In Russian:Только ощутив в руке тяжелый золотой кружок, я осознала, что произошло. Ведь я первая советская олимпийская чемпионка, первая рекордсменка XV Олимпиады... Слезы щипали глаза. Как я была счастлива!...
- The Soviets turned the athletic competition into a metaphor for political propaganda: “Every record won by our sportsmen, every victory in international contests, graphically demonstrates to the whole world the advantages and strength of the Soviet system.”
- The first meeting between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in football is still the most famous one. On the political level, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the Yugoslav leader Josip Tito split in 1948, which resulted in Yugoslavia being excluded from the Communist Information Bureau. The origin of the conflict was Tito's refusal to submit to Stalin's interpretations and visions of politics and in process becoming a Soviet satellite state. Before the match, both Tito and Stalin sent telegrams to their national teams, which showed just how important it was for the two head of states. Yugoslavia led 5–1, but a Soviet comeback in the last 15 minutes resulted in a 5–5 draw. The match was replayed, Yugoslavia winning 3–1. The defeat to the archrivals hit Soviet football hard, and after just three games played in the season, CDKA Moscow, who had made up most of the USSR squad, was forced to withdraw from the league and later disbanded. Furthermore, Boris Arkadiev, who coached both USSR and CDKA, was stripped of his Merited Master of Sports of the USSR title.
- The Olympic Flame was lit by two Finnish heroes, runners Paavo Nurmi and Hannes Kolehmainen. Nurmi first lit the cauldron inside the stadium, and later the flame was relayed to the stadium tower where Kolehmainen lit it. Only the flame in the tower was burning throughout the Olympics.
- Hungary's Golden Team won the football tournament, beating Yugoslavia 2–0 in the final.
- Germany and Japan were invited after being barred in 1948. Following the post-war occupation and partition, three German states had been established. Teams from the Federal Republic of Germany and the Saarland participated; the German Democratic Republic was absent. Though they won 24 medals, the fifth-highest total at the Games, German competitors failed to win a gold medal for the only time.
- Rules in equestrianism now allowed non-military officers to compete, including women. Lis Hartel of Denmark became the first woman in the sport to win a medal.
- Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia won three gold medals in the 5000 m, 10,000 m and the Marathon.
- The India national field hockey team won its fifth consecutive gold under captaincy of Kunwar Digvijay Singh
- Bob Mathias of the United States became the first Olympian to successfully defend his decathlon title with a total score of 7,887 points.
- Josy Barthel of Luxembourg pulled a major surprise by winning the 1500 m.
- Eva Perón, the celebrated First Lady of Argentina, died of cancer in July 1952 while the Olympics were taking place, so a memorial was held at the Games for the Argentine team.
Sports
- Aquatics
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- *
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- *Road
- *Track
- *Dressage
- *Eventing
- *Show jumping
- *Freestyle
- *Greco-Roman
Demonstration sports
- Handball
- Pesäpallo
Venues
- Hämeenlinna – Modern pentathlon
- Harmaja – Sailing
- Helsinki Football Grounds – Football
- Huopalahti – Shooting
- Käpylä – Cycling
- Kotka – Football
- Laakso – Equestrian
- Lahti – Football
- Liuskasaari – Sailing
- Malmi Rifle Range – Shooting
- Maunula – Cycling
- Meilahti – Rowing
- Messuhalli – Basketball, boxing, gymnastics, weightlifting, wrestling
- Olympic Stadium – Athletics, Equestrian, Football
- Pakila – Cycling
- Ruskeasuo Equestrian Hall – Equestrian
- Swimming Stadium – Diving, Swimming, Water polo
- Taivallahti – Canoeing
- Tali Race Track – Equestrian
- Tampere – Football
- Tennis Palace – Basketball
- Turku – Football
- Velodrome – Cycling, Field hockey
- Westend Tennis Hall – Fencing
Participating NOCs
Japan and Germany were both reinstated and permitted to send athletes after being banned for 1948 for their instigation of World War II. Due to the division of Germany, German athletes from Saar entered a separate team for the only time. Only West Germany would provide athletes for the actual Germany team, since East Germany refused to participate in a joint German team.
| Participating :Category:Nations at the 1952 Summer Olympics|National Olympic Committees |