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

Men's 400 metres
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Venue Olympic Stadium
Dates July 24 (heats and quarterfinals)
July 25 (semifinals and final)
Medalists
  George Rhoden
Jamaica
  Herb McKenley
Jamaica
  Ollie Matson
United States
«1948 1956»
Athletics at the
1952 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m   men   women
200 m men women
400 m men
800 m men
1500 m men
5000 m men
10,000 m men
80 m hurdles women
110 m hurdles men
400 m hurdles men
3000 m
steeplechase		 men
4×100 m relay men women
4×400 m relay men
Road events
Marathon men
10 km walk men
50 km walk men
Field events
Long jump men women
Triple jump men
High jump men women
Pole vault men
Shot put men women
Discus throw men women
Javelin throw men women
Hammer throw men
Combined events
Decathlon men

The men's 400 metres sprint event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between July 24 and July 25.

Contents

Results

Heats

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

Heat one

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Karl-Friedrich Haas Germany 47.58
2 Les Lewis Great Britain 47.95
3 Edwin Carr, Jr. Australia 48.23
4 Zoltán Adamik Hungary 48.70
5 Evelio Planas Cuba 49.44
6 Abdul Rehman Pakistan 51.47

Heat two

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Ardalion Ignatyev Soviet Union 48.22
2 Rolf Back Finland 48.58
3 Rupert Blöch Austria 49.82
4 Gérard Rasquin Luxembourg 50.12
5 John Anderton South Africa 50.35
6 Pongamat Amatayakul Thailand 53.23

Heat three

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Arthur Wint Jamaica 47.42
2 Jack Carroll Canada 48.05
3 Egon Solymossy Hungary 49.32
4 Josef Steger Switzerland 49.35
5 Jaakko Suikkari Finland 50.92
6 Aurang Zeb Pakistan 51.25

Heat four

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt Sweden 48.57
2 Terry Higgins Great Britain 48.77
3 Junkichi Matoba Japan 49.57
4 Vasilios Sillis Greece 49.79
5 Doğan Acarbay Turkey 50.83
6 Ivan Jacob India 51.48

Heat five

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Herb McKenley Jamaica 48.09
2 Louis van Biljon South Africa 48.31
3 Roger Moens Belgium 48.71
4 Ferenc Bánhalmi Hungary 49.55
5 Arie Gill-Glick Israel 50.27
6 Ernst von Gunten Switzerland 50.88
- Tage Ekfeldt Sweden DQ

Heat six

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Mal Whitfield United States 48.68
2 Guillermo Gutiérrez Venezuela 48.82
3 Gianni Rocca Italy 49.51
4 Gösta Brännström Sweden 50.32
5 Javier Souza Mexico 50.47
6 Emin Doybak Turkey 51.34
7 Fernando Casimiro Portugal 52.33

Heat seven

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Jacques Degats France 48.60
2 Morris Curotta Australia 48.87
3 Vincenzo Lombardo Italy 49.53
4 Rudolf Haidegger Austria 50.01
5 Albert Lowagie Belgium 50.26

Heat eight

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Hans Geister Germany 47.99
2 Yves Camus France 48.06
3 Milan Filo Czechoslovakia 48.91
4 Guðmundur Lárusson Iceland 49.81
5 Sompop Svadanandana Thailand 53.68
6 Jeremias Stokes Guatemala 53.81

Heat nine

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Gene Cole United States 48.44
2 Alan Dick Great Britain 48.84
3 Edmunds Pīlāgs Soviet Union 49.29
4 Angel García Cuba 49.34
5 Antoine Uyterhoeven Belgium 50.21
6 Jean Hamilius Luxembourg 50.75

Heat ten

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Jean Hamilius Jamaica 48.28
2 Gerard Mach Poland 48.64
3 Paul Dolan Ireland 48.81
4 Jean-Pierre Goudeau France 48.94
5 Doug Clement Canada 50.19

Heat eleven

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 James Lavery Canada 48.47
2 Yuriy Lituyev Soviet Union 49.01
3 Francisco Rivera Puerto Rico 49.48
4 Antonio Siddi Italy 51.03

Heat twelve

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Ollie Matson United States 48.17
2 Hans Ernst Schneider Switzerland 48.86
3 Argemiro Roque Brazil 49.05
4 Schalk Booysen South Africa 49.17
5 Jiří David Czechoslovakia 49.23
6 Fred Hammer Luxembourg 49.90
7 Ossi Mildh Finland 50.36

Quarterfinals

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

Heat one

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Arthur Wint Jamaica 46.98
2 James Lavery Canada 47.67
3 Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt Sweden 48.08
4 Guillermo Gutiérrez Venezuela 48.75
5 Les Lewis Great Britain 49.09
6 Hans Ernst Schneider Switzerland 49.32

Heat two

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 George Rhoden Jamaica 47.24
2 Ollie Matson United States 47.53
3 Karl-Friedrich Haas Germany 47.66
4 Morris Curotta Australia 48.86
5 Rolf Back Finland 51.53

Heat three

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Mal Whitfield United States 47.74
2 Hans Geister Germany 47.81
3 Jack Carroll Canada 47.82
4 Louis van Biljon South Africa 48.63
5 Jacques Degats France 48.90
6 Alan Dick Great Britain 49.20

Heat four

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Herb McKenley Jamaica 47.56
2 Gene Cole United States 47.88
3 Ardalion Ignatyev Soviet Union 48.25
4 Yves Camus France 48.43
5 Terry Higgins Great Britain 49.22

Semifinals

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

Heat one

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Arthur Wint Jamaica 46.38
2 Karl-Friedrich Haas Germany 46.56
3 Mal Whitfield United States 46.64
4 Gene Cole United States 46.94
5 Ardalion Ignatyev Soviet Union 47.49
6 James Lavery Canada 47.83

Heat two

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Herb McKenley Jamaica 46.53
2 George Rhoden Jamaica 46.61
3 Ollie Matson United States 46.99
4 Hans Geister Germany 47.00
5 Jack Carroll Canada 47.61

Final

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
George Rhoden Jamaica 46.09 OR
Herb McKenley Jamaica 46.20
Ollie Matson United States 46.94
4 Karl-Friedrich Haas Germany 47.22
5 Arthur Wint Jamaica 47.24
6 Mal Whitfield United States 47.30

Key: OR = Olympic record; DQ = Disqualified

References

Men's
1896 • 1900 • 1904 • 1908 • 1912 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008
Women's
1896 • 1900 • 1904 • 1908 • 1912 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008