Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

Men's marathon at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Zátopek and Gorno
Venue	Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki
Dates	July 27, 1952
Competitors	66 from 32 nations
Winning time	2:23:03.2 OR
Medalists
Emil Zátopek   Czechoslovakia Reinaldo Gorno   Argentina Gustaf Jansson   Sweden
←  1948 1956  →

The marathon at the 1952 Summer Olympics was held on 27 July on a course running from the Helsinki Olympic Stadium to Korso, Helsinki Rural Municipality (now Vantaa) and back. ^[1] Sixty-six athletes from 32 nations competed. ^[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at three since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The winning margin was 2 minutes 31.8 seconds.

The event was won by Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia, the nation's first Olympic marathon medal. Zátopek completed a long distance triple that has never been matched: the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres, and marathon golds in a single Games. Reinaldo Gorno's silver medal put Argentina on the marathon podium for the second straight Games, and the third of the four times Argentina had competed. Sweden took its first marathon medal since 1900, as Gustaf Jansson matched the nation's best result to date in the event. Great Britain's three-Games marathon medal streak ended.

Official Video

Approximately halfway through the race, Zátopek famously pulled alongside pre-race favorite Jim Peters and asked him, "Jim, is this pace too fast?" Peters replied, "No, it isn't fast enough." Peters later said he was joking, but Zátopek accelerated into the lead and won by more than two and a half minutes. Peters failed to finish. ^[3]

Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1948 marathon included defending champion Delfo Cabrera of Argentina and sixth- through eighth-place finishers Syd Luyt of South Africa, Gustav Östling of Sweden, and John Systad of Norway. The favorite was Jim Peters of Great Britain, the 1951 and 1952 Polytechnic Marathon winner who had broken the world record at the 1952 race. Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia had never run a marathon before, but had won the 5000 metres and 10000 metres earlier in the Games and decided to enter the marathon. ^[2]

Egypt, Guatemala, Pakistan, and the Soviet Union each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its 12th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format and course

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a "straight out-and-back course, starting and finishing at the Olympic Stadium" and going to Korso. ^[2] The full length of the road was hard-surfaced. ^[4]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1952 Summer Olympics. ^[5]

World record	Jim Peters  (GBR)	2:20:42	Shepherd's Bush, England	14 June 1952
Olympic record	Sohn Kee-chung  (JPN)	2:29:19.2	Berlin, Germany	9 August 1936

Emil Zátopek set a new Olympic best at 2:23:03.2.

Schedule

The day was "fairly cool." ^[2]

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

Date	Time	Round
Sunday, 27 July 1952	15:25	Final

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
	Emil Zátopek	Czechoslovakia	2:23:03.2	OR
	Reinaldo Gorno	Argentina	2:25:35.0
	Gustaf Jansson	Sweden	2:26:07.0
4	Choi Yun-Chil	South Korea	2:26:36.0
5	Veikko Karvonen	Finland	2:26:41.8
6	Delfo Cabrera	Argentina	2:26:42.4
7	József Dobronyi	Hungary	2:28:04.8
8	Erkki Puolakka	Finland	2:29:35.0
9	Geoffrey Iden	Great Britain	2:30:42.0
10	Wally Hayward	South Africa	2:31:50.2
11	Syd Luyt	South Africa	2:32:41.0
12	Gustaf Östling	Sweden	2:32:48.4
13	Victor Dyrgall	United States	2:32:52.4
14	Luis Celedón	Chile	2:33:45.8
15	Adrien van de Zande	Netherlands	2:33:50.0
16	Viktor Olsen	Norway	2:33:58.4
17	Mikko Hietanen	Finland	2:34:01.0
18	Charles Dewachtere	Belgium	2:34:32.0
19	Bill Keith	South Africa	2:34:38.0
20	Yakov Moskachenkov	Soviet Union	2:34:43.8
21	Mihály Esztergomi	Hungary	2:35:10.0
22	Doroteo Flores	Guatemala	2:35:40.0
23	Jean Simonet	Belgium	2:35:43.0
24	Jakob Kjersem	Norway	2:36:14.0
25	Katsuo Nishida	Japan	2:36:19.0
26	Keizo Yamada	Japan	2:38:11.2
27	Feodosy Vanin	Soviet Union	2:38:22.0
28	Grigory Suchkov	Soviet Union	2:38:28.8
29	Henry Norrström	Sweden	2:38:57.4
30	Dieter Engelhardt	Germany	2:39:37.2
31	Cristea Dinu	Romania	2:39:42.2
32	Jean Leblond	Belgium	2:40:37.0
33	Choi Chung-Sik	South Korea	2:41:23.0
34	John Systad	Norway	2:41:29.8
35	Jaroslav Šourek	Czechoslovakia	2:41:40.4
36	Tom Jones	United States	2:42:50.0
37	Robert Prentice	Australia	2:43:13.4
38	Muhammad Havlidar Aslam	Pakistan	2:43:38.2
39	Adolf Gruber	Austria	2:45:02.0
40	Paul Collins	Canada	2:45:58.0
41	Vasile Teodosiu	Romania	2:46:00.8
42	Erik Simonsen	Denmark	2:46:41.4
43	Ludwig Warnemünde	Germany	2:50:00.0
44	Ted Corbitt	United States	2:51:09.0
45	Claude Smeal	Australia	2:52:23.0
46	Asfò Bussotti	Italy	2:52:55.0
47	Winand Osiński	Poland	2:54:38.2
48	Olaf Sørensen	Denmark	2:55:21.0
49	Joseph West	Ireland	2:56:22.8
50	Rudolf Morgenthaler	Switzerland	2:56:33.0
51	Abdelgani Abdel Fattah	Egypt	2:56:56.0
52	Surat Mathur	India	2:58:09.2
53	Artidoro Berti	Italy	2:58:36.2
—	Ahmet Aytar	Turkey	DNF
	Franjo Krajčar	Yugoslavia	DNF
	Hong Jong-O	South Korea	DNF
	Muhammad Ben Aras	Pakistan	DNF
	Lionel Billas	France	DNF
	Constantin Radu	Romania	DNF
	Corsino Fernández	Argentina	DNF
	Raúl Inostroza	Chile	DNF
	Luis Velásquez	Guatemala	DNF
	Stan Cox	Great Britain	DNF
	Jim Peters	Great Britain	DNF
	Egilberto Martufi	Italy	DNF
	Yoshitaka Uchikawa	Japan	DNF
—	Hans Frischknecht	Switzerland	DNS
	Les Perry	Australia	DNS

References

1. "Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's Marathon". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
2. "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
3. Burnton, Simon (June 22, 2012). "50 stunning Olympic moments No 41: Emil Zatopek the triple-gold winner". The Guardian. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
4. Kolkka, Sulo, ed. (1952). The Official Report of The Organising Committee For The Games Of The XV Olympiad Helsinki 1952. Helsinki: The Organising Committee For The XV Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2015-08-26.
5. "Men's World Record Times - 1949 to 1955". www.marathonguide.com. Retrieved 2021-09-01.