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 (10.79 for first, 10.91 for sixth), 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 (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.

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.

Records

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

World record 10.2 Jesse Owens Chicago, United States20 June 1936 10.2 Harold DavisCompton, United States6 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 John Treloar 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 Étienne Bally 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 McDonald Bailey 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 - Ray Weinberg

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 William Jack 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 - Heinz Fütterer

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Herb McKenley 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 - Noel Flanagan

Heat 6

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

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Vladimir Sukharev 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 Rafael Fortún 10.93 2 Byron LaBeach 11.09 3 Franco Leccese 11.18 4 Issi Baran 11.32 5 Fritz Griesser 11.54 - K. K. Korsah - Morris Curotta

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Werner Zandt 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 - Enrique Beckles - Bo Åhlen

Heat 10

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Art Bragg 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 - Radovan Pejin

Heat 11

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lindy Remigino 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 Dean Smith 10.90 2 Alain Porthault 11.04 3 Erich Fuchs 11.19 4 Karim Olowu 11.27 - Louis Crowe - Roy Fearon - Neville Price

Quarterfinals

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

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 McDonald Bailey 10.73 2 John Treloar 10.84 3 Alain Porthault 10.99 4 Muhammad Aslam 11.02 5 Byron LaBeach 11.05 - Angel Kolev

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lindy Remigino 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 Dean Smith 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 Herb McKenley 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.Official Report, p. 250.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 McDonald Bailey 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 Herb McKenley 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 Lindy Remigino 10.79 Photo-determined finish Herb McKenley 10.80 McDonald Bailey 10.83 4 Dean Smith 10.84 5 Vladimir Sukharev 10.88 6 John Treloar 10.91

References