The men's 200 metres sprint event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between July 22 and July 23. There were 71 competitors from 35 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by 0.16 seconds by American Andy Stanfield. Americans also took silver (Thane Baker) and bronze (Jim Gathers) as the United States swept the medals in the event for the third time (1904, 1932).

Background

This was the 11th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. One of the six finalists from the 1948 Games returned: sixth-place finisher Leslie Laing of Jamaica. Andy Stanfield, the inaugural world record setter for 200 metres around a curve and winner of three AAU titles, was the favorite.

Bulgaria, Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, South Korea, the Soviet Union, Thailand, and Venezuela each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 11th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

Competition format

The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 18 heats of between 2 and 5 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 6 heats of 6 athletes each; the 2 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top 3 athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world (curved track) and Olympic records were as follows. The world record (straight) was 20.2 seconds.Official Report, p. 272.

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. Andy Stanfield's hand-timed final run of 20.7 seconds was equal to the Olympic record.

Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round Tuesday, 22 July 1952 15:0018:50 HeatsQuarterfinals Wednesday, 23 July 1952 15:4517:55 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Heats

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

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Gerardo Bönnhoff 21.72 2 Étienne Bally 22.03 3 Adolf Turakainen 22.55 4 Hörður Haraldsson 22.56 - Neville Price

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Thane Baker 21.62 2 Levan Sanadze 22.26 3 Stefanos Petrakis 22.64 4 Willy Eichenberger 22.98 - Roy Fearon

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Don McFarlane 22.94 2 Roman Budzyński 23.37 - Álvaro Dias - Lexie Tynan - Herb McKenley

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Rafael Fortún 21.98 2 Nick Stacey 22.07 3 Fernand Linssen 22.37 4 Edward Ajado 22.92 - Angel Gavrilov

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Theo Saat 22.17 2 Werner Zandt 22.23 3 Juan Leiva 22.38 4 Fawzi Chaaban 22.90 5 Eugénio Eleutério 23.37

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 David Tabak 22.60 2 Marcel Gerdil 22.71 - Cirilo McSween - Ion Moina - Morris Curotta

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Andy Stanfield 22.00 2 Zdobysław Stawczyk 22.22 3 Enrique Beckles 22.73 4 Youssef Ali Omar 23.26 5 Adul Wanasatith 23.50

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Vladimir Sukharev 22.08 2 Angel García 22.14 3 Hans Wehrli 22.35 4 Pauli Tavisalo 22.45 5 Abdul Aziz 23.02

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Václav Janeček 21.99 2 Peter Kraus 22.06 3 Muhammad Aslam 22.14 4 Fred Hammer 22.63 - Romeo Galán

Heat 10

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Brian Shenton 22.12 2 Voitto Hellstén 22.41 3 Roby Schaeffer 22.76 4 Vasilios Sillis 22.88 - José da Conceição

Heat 11

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Schalk Booysen 22.03 2 Gerard Mach 22.16 3 Muhammad Sharif Butt 22.34 4 Ásmundur Bjarnason 22.51 5 Walter Sutton 22.53

Heat 12

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jim Gathers 21.42 2 Tomio Hosoda 22.36 3 Henry Brault 22.48 4 Luigi Grossi 22.49 5 Muslim Arogundade 22.71

Heat 13

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 McDonald Bailey 21.66 2 Miroslav Horčic 22.52 3 Giorgio Sobrero 22.66 4 Ernst Mühlethaler 23.26 5 Eom Par-yong 23.41

Heat 14

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Rafiu Oluwa 22.89 2 Boonterm Pakpuang 24.15 - Leo Lickes - George Acquaah - George Rhoden

Heat 15

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Les Laing 21.97 2 Paul Dolan 22.04 3 František Brož 22.35 4 Fernando Casimiro 22.72 5 José Julio Barillas 22.88

Heat 16

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Raúl Mazorra 22.52 2 Robert Hutchinson 22.66 3 Emad El-Din Shafei 22.75 4 Aroon Sankosik 23.64 - Béla Goldoványi

Heat 17

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Edwin Carr, Jr. 22.19 2 Angel Kolev 22.24 - Feodosiy Golubev - Gustavo Ehlers

Heat 18

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Treloar 21.75 2 Lavy Pinto 21.83 3 Péter Karádi 22.24 4 Lucio Sangermano 22.38 - K. K. Korsah

Quarterfinals

The fastest two runners in each of the six heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jim Gathers 21.64 2 Lavy Pinto 21.80 3 Theo Saat 21.87 4 Zdobysław Stawczyk 22.12 5 Miroslav Horčic 22.44 6 Raúl Mazorra 31.00

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Thane Baker 21.64 2 Rafael Fortún 21.98 3 Paul Dolan 22.15 4 Peter Kraus 22.19 5 Voitto Hellstén 22.61 6 Rafiu Oluwa 22.69

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 McDonald Bailey 21.27 2 Václav Janeček 21.93 3 Edwin Carr, Jr. 21.98 4 Schalk Booysen 22.09 5 Marcel Gerdil 22.37 6 Robert Hutchinson 22.55

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Gerardo Bönnhoff 21.67 2 Nick Stacey 21.79 3 Angel Kolev 22.07 4 Angel García 22.11 5 David Tabak 22.34 6 Roman Budzyński 22.51

Quarterfinal 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Andy Stanfield 21.21 2 Les Laing 21.74 3 Étienne Bally 22.02 4 Levan Sanadze 22.26 5 Don McFarlane 22.33 — Boonterm Pakpuang

Quarterfinal 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Treloar 21.86 2 Werner Zandt 21.87 3 Vladimir Sukharev 21.88 4 Gerard Mach 22.12 5 Brian Shenton 22.24 6 Tomio Hosoda 22.49

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Andy Stanfield 21.23 2 Jim Gathers 21.58 3 Les Laing 21.80 4 Werner Zandt 21.92 5 Nick Stacey 21.95 6 Václav Janeček 22.12

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 McDonald Bailey 21.46 2 Thane Baker 21.50 3 Gerardo Bönnhoff 21.75 4 Rafael Fortún 21.93 5 Lavy Pinto 22.01 - John Treloar DNF

Final

Standfield's hand-timed results of 20.7 seconds was equal to the Olympic record.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes Andy Stanfield 20.81 Thane Baker 20.97 James Gathers 21.08 4 McDonald Bailey 21.14 5 Les Laing 21.45 6 Gerardo Bönnhoff 21.59

References