1952 Summer Olympics

Games of the XV Olympiad

Host city	Helsinki, Finland
Nations participating	69
Athletes participating	4,925 (4,407 men, 518 women)
Events	149 in 17 sports
Opening ceremony	July 19, 1952
Closing ceremony	August 3, 1952
Officially opened by	Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Athlete's Oath	Heikki Savolainen
Olympic Torch	Paavo Nurmi and Hannes Kolehmainen
Stadium	Olympiastadion

The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were held in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki had been elected as the host city over rival bids from Amsterdam, Athens, Lausanne, and Stockholm and five American cities: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Philadelphia on the 40th IOC session on June 21, 1947. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics but they were canceled due to World War II.

[edit] Highlights

Paavo Nurmi and the Olympic Flame

To the enjoyment of the Finnish crowd, the Olympic Flame was lit by two heroes, runners Paavo Nurmi and Hannes Kolehmainen.
For the first time, a team from the USSR participated in the Olympics. The first gold medal for the USSR was won by Nina Romashkova in the women's Discus Throwing event, and the Soviet women's gymnastics team won the first of its eight consecutive gold medals.
Hungary, a country with a mere 10 million inhabitants, won an astonishing 42 medals at these games, coming in third place behind the United States and the USSR with one of the most outstanding exhibitions ever.
Germany was allowed to compete again after being barred from participation in 1948, but only West German athletes took part.
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.
Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia won three gold medals in the 5,000m, 10,000m and the Marathon.
Bob Mathias of the United States became the first Olympian to successfully defend his decathlon title with a total score of 7,887 points.
Josy Barthel of the tiny country of Luxembourg pulled a major surprise by winning the 1500 m.
Hungary's Golden Team won the football tournament in style, beating Yugoslavia 2-0 in the final.

Participating nations. Pictured in blue are nations participating for the first time.

A total of 69 nations participated in these Games, up from 59 in the 1948 Games. Twelve nations made their first Olympic appearance in 1952: The Bahamas, Gold Coast (now Ghana), Guatemala, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Netherlands Antilles, Nigeria, Saar, Soviet Union (USSR), Thailand, and Vietnam.

Main article: 1952 Summer Olympics medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games.

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