Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

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Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
DatesJuly 26 (heats)
July 27 (final)
Competitors from 18 nations
Teams18
Winning time3:03.9 (hand)
3:04.04 (automatic)
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Arthur Wint
Leslie Laing
Herb McKenley
George Rhoden
 Jamaica
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Ollie Matson
Gerrard Cole
Charles Moore
Mal Whitfield
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Günter Steines
Hans Geister
Heinz Ulzheimer
Karl-Friedrich Haas
 Germany
← 1948
1956 →

The men's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place on July 26 & July 27.[1]

The Jamaican team won the final, with the medalists breaking the 20-year-old world record.

Herb McKenley's third leg of 44.6, credited with pulling Jamaica into contention from 10 metres back, is considered one of the greatest relay legs in history,[2] and on the last leg, George Rhoden, the 400 metres champion and Mal Whitfield the 800 metres champion, ran virtually shoulder to shoulder, but Rhoden was able to keep the lead, and beat Whitfield by a yard.

Results[]

Heats[]

Round One Heat One[]

Video on YouTube Heat 1 amateur film
Rank Country Athletes Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes
1  Jamaica Arthur Wint, Les Laing, Herb McKenley, George Rhoden 3:12.1 3:12.13 Q
2  France Jean-Pierre Goudeau, Robert Bart, Jacques Degats, Jean-Paul Martin du Gard 3:12.6 3:12.72 Q
3  Sweden Gösta Brännström, Tage Ekfeldt, Rune Larsson, Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt 3:13.4 3:13.55
4  Belgium Albert Lowagie, Antoine Uyterhoeven, Roger Moens, Fernand Linssen 3:15.8 3:16.05
5  Luxembourg Roby Schaeffer, Jean Hamilius, Fred Hammer, Gérard Rasquin 3:16.2 3:16.38
6  Finland Pauli Tavisalo, Ossi Mildh, Ragnar Graeffe, Rolf Back 3:16.4 3:16.67
7  Japan Junkichi Matoba, Eitaro Okano, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Yoshitaka Muroya 3:20.3 3:20.55

Round One Heat Two[]

Rank Country Athletes Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes[3]
1  United States Ollie Matson, Gene Cole, Charlie Moore, Mal Whitfield 3:11.5 3:11.67 Q
2  Great Britain Les Lewis, Alan Dick, Terry Higgins, Nick Stacey 3:12.5 3:12.67 Q
3  Hungary Ferenc Bánhalmi, Lajos Szentgáli, Egon Solymossy, Zoltán Adamik 3:13.8 3:13.96
4  Italy Baldassare Porto, Gianni Rocca, Luigi Grossi, Armando Filiput 3:15.2 3:15.23
5  Switzerland Hans Ernst Schneider, Josef Steger, Paul Stalder, Ernst von Gunten 3:15.4 3:15.36
6  Pakistan Abdul Rehman, Muhammad Shafi, Mirza Khan, Aurang Zeb 3:23.2

Round One Heat Three[]

Rank Country Athletes Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes
1  Germany Hans Geister, Günther Steines, Heinz Ulzheimer, Karl-Friedrich Haas 3:10.5 3:10.57 Q
2  Canada Doug Clement, Jack Hutchins, Jack Carroll, James Lavery 3:11.2 3:11.49 Q
3  Soviet Union Ardalion Ignatyev, Gennady Slepnyov, Edmunds Pīlāgs, Yury Lituyev 3:12.5 3:12.65
4  South Africa Louis van Biljon, Ron Wilkie, John Anderton, Bill Chivell 3:14.8 3:15.09
5  Australia Ray Weinberg, Morris Curotta, Ken Doubleday, Edwin Carr Jr. 3:15.8 3:16.00

Final[]

Video on YouTube Official film of the final
Rank Country Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Jamaica 3:03.9 3:04.04 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  United States 3:04.0 3:04.21
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Germany 3:06.6 3:06.78
4  Canada 3:09.3 3:09.37
5  Great Britain 3:10.0 3:10.23
6  France 3:10.1 3:10.33

Key: WR = World record

References[]

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's 4 × 400 metres Relay". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  2. ^ http://www.iaaf.org/news/news/world-relays-fastest-4x400m-splits[bare URL]
  3. ^ THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE GAMES OF THE XV OLYMPIAD HELSINKI 1952. Helsinki, Finland: THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE XV OLYMPIAD HELSINKI 1952. 1955. Archived from the original on 26 August 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
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