Summer Olympiad (1952)

The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, celebrated in Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki had been elected as the host city over rival bids from Amsterdam and five American cities: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Philadelphia.  The 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki started in spectacular fashion with Pavvo Nurmi, and then aged 55, entering the stadium with the Olympic flame and lighting the cauldron on the ground. Then, young football players carried the torch up to the top of the stadium tower, where 62-year-old Hannes Kolehmainen lighted another Olympic cauldron. It seemed appropriate that the most impressive achievements in Helsinki should be those of another long-distance runner, Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia, who became the only person in Olympic history to win the 5,000, 10,000 and marathon at the same Olympics. The Soviet Union entered the Olympics for the first time. Although their athletes were housed in a separate "village", warnings that Cold War rivalries would lead to clashes proved unfounded. Particularly impressive were the Soviet women gymnasts who won the team competition easily, beginning a streak that would continue for forty years until the Soviet Union broke up into separate republics. One of the first women allowed to compete against men in the equestrian dressage was Lis Hartel of Denmark. Despite being paralyzed below the knees after an attack of polio, Hartel, who had to be helped on and off her horse, won a silver medal. Lars Hall, a carpenter from Sweden, became the first nonmilitary winner of the modern pentathlon. Back in 1924, Bill Havens had been chosen to represent the United States in coxed eights rowing, but declined in order to stay home with his wife, who was expecting their first child. Twenty-eight years later, that child, Frank Havens, won a gold medal in the Canadian singles 10,000m canoeing event.

Opening date: 19 July 1952

Closing date: 03 August 1952

Ceremonies

Official opening of the Games by: President Juho Paasikivi

Lighting the Olympic Flame by: Paavo Nurmi et Hannes Kolehmainen (athletics)

Olympic Oath by: Heikki Savolainen (gymnastics)

Official Oath by: The first officials' oath was sworn at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

Participations

69 NOCs (Nations)
4,955 athletes (519 women, 4,436 men)
149 events

Country of the host city: Finland (FIN)

Candidate cities: Los Angeles (USA), Amsterdam (NED), Minneapolis (USA), Detroit (USA), Chicago (USA) and Philadelphia (USA)

Sports

• Aquatics
• Athletics
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Canoe / Kayak
• Cycling
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Football
• Gymnastics
• Hockey
• Modern Pentathlon
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling

Demonstration sports

•        Field handball
•       Finnish baseball

Highlights

• To the enjoyment of the Finnish crowd, two Finnish heroes, runners Paavo Nurmi and Hannes Kolehmainen, lighted the Olympic Flame.

• Emil Zatopek (CZE-athletics) produced one of the greatest performances in distance running history. He won the 5,000m, successfully defended his 10,000m title and then took his third gold medal in his first-ever marathon race to complete a triple which remains unique in Olympic history.

• Karoly Takacs (HUN-shooting) won the gold medal and beat the world record by ten points, shooting with his left hand. A member of the Hungarian pistol shooting team in 1938, a defective grenade exploded in his right hand - his pistol hand - and shattered it completely. He then taught himself to shoot with his left hand.

• Bob Mathias (USA-athletics) was the first person to win two successive Olympic decathlon titles. After a first gold medal in 1948 when, as a 17-year-old, he became the youngest-ever winner of an Olympic track and field event, he set the world record defending his title.

Facts

• A 30-minute presentation by each city, abstentions by IOC members from countries involved, voting up to the point of obtaining an absolute majority. Cities who were interested- Athens (GRE), Lausanne (SUI), Stockholm (SUI)

• The USSR and Israel came to the Olympic Games for the first time.

• The first commemorative coin of the modern Olympic Games was made in 1951-52.

• The art competition was replaced by exhibitions  in Summer Olympic Games 1952.

• Germany came back under the aegis of a new National Olympic Committee (NOC), that of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). East German had also created a new NOC but did not send any athletes.

• 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.