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Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games:
Men's 400 metres
Athletics at the 1952 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games
Host City: Helsinki, Finland
Location: Olympic Stadium
Date Started: July 24, 1952
Date Finished: July 25, 1952
| Gold: |  George Rhoden |
| Silver: | Herb McKenley |
| Bronze: |  Ollie Matson |
Summary
The world record holder was Jamaica’s George Rhoden, who had run 45.8 in 1950 in Finland. His biggest rival was his countryman, Herb McKenley, the defending silver medalist who had been favored in 1948. The defending champion, Arthur Wint, was also back and Jamaican sweep was a possibility. In the final, Wint led early, which was unusual for him, but could not maintain the pace. Rhoden caught Wint just before the homestretch and quickly had a big lead. But McKenley closed very quickly and almost caught him by the line, with Wint fading to fifth place. The third-place finisher, Ollie Matson, was later a star running back in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams.
Final Standings
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Rhoden | 25 | Jamaica | JAM | Gold | OR |
| 2 | Herb McKenley | 30 | Jamaica | JAM | Silver | |
| 3 | Ollie Matson | 22 | United States | USA | Bronze | |
| 4 | Karl-Friedrich Haas | 20 | Germany | GER | ||
| 5 | Arthur Wint | 32 | Jamaica | JAM | ||
| 6 | Mal Whitfield | 27 | United States | USA | ||
| 4 h1r3/4 | Gene Cole | 23 | United States | USA | ||
| 4 h2r3/4 | Hans Geister | 23 | Germany | GER | ||
| 5 h1r3/4 | Ardalion Ignatyev | 21 | Soviet Union | URS | ||
| 5 h2r3/4 | Jack Carroll | 21 | Canada | CAN | ||
| 6 h1r3/4 | James Lavery | 23 | Canada | CAN | ||
| 4 h1r2/4 | Guillermo Gutiérrez | 25 | Venezuela | VEN | ||
| 4 h2r2/4 | Morris Curotta | 23 | Australia | AUS | ||
| 4 h3r2/4 | Louis van Biljon | 24 | South Africa | RSA | ||
| 4 h4r2/4 | Yves Camus | 22 | France | FRA | ||
| 5 h1r2/4 | Les Lewis | 27 | Great Britain | GBR | ||
| 5 h2r2/4 | Rolf Back | 24 | Finland | FIN | ||
| 5 h3r2/4 | Jacques Degats | 22 | France | FRA | ||
| 5 h4r2/4 | Terry Higgins | 24 | Great Britain | GBR | ||
| 6 h1r2/4 | Hans Ernst Schneider | 25 | Switzerland | SUI | ||
| 6 h3r2/4 | Alan Dick | 22 | Great Britain | GBR | ||
| 1 h4r1/4 | Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt | 23 | Sweden | SWE | ||
| 2 h10r1/4 | Gerard Mach | 25 | Poland | POL | ||
| 2 h11r1/4 | Yury Lituyev | 27 | Soviet Union | URS | ||
| 3 h1r1/4 | Edwin Carr, Jr. | 23 | Australia | AUS | ||
| 3 h2r1/4 | Rupert Blöch | 23 | Austria | AUT | ||
| 3 h3r1/4 | Egon Solymossy | 30 | Hungary | HUN | ||
| 3 h4r1/4 | Junkichi Matoba | 21 | Japan | JPN | ||
| 3 h5r1/4 | Roger Moens | 22 | Belgium | BEL | ||
| 3 h6r1/4 | Gianni Rocca | 23 | Italy | ITA | ||
| 3 h7r1/4 | Vincenzo Lombardo | 20 | Italy | ITA | ||
| 3 h8r1/4 | Milan Filo | 23 | Czechoslovakia | TCH | ||
| 3 h9r1/4 | Edmunds Pīlāgs | 25 | Soviet Union | URS | ||
| 3 h10r1/4 | Paul Dolan | 25 | Ireland | IRL | ||
| 3 h11r1/4 | Francisco Rivera | 24 | Puerto Rico | PUR | ||
| 3 h12r1/4 | Argemiro Roque | 28 | Brazil | BRA | ||
| 4 h1r1/4 | Zoltán Adamik | 23 | Hungary | HUN | ||
| 4 h2r1/4 | Gérard Rasquin | 24 | Luxembourg | LUX | ||
| 4 h3r1/4 | Josef Steger | 27 | Switzerland | SUI | ||
| 4 h4r1/4 | Vasilios Sillis | 23 | Greece | GRE | ||
| 4 h5r1/4 | Ferenc Bánhalmi | 29 | Hungary | HUN | ||
| 4 h6r1/4 | Gösta Brännström | 25 | Sweden | SWE | ||
| 4 h7r1/4 | Rudolf Haidegger | 29 | Austria | AUT | ||
| 4 h8r1/4 | Guðmundur Lárusson | 26 | Iceland | ISL | ||
| 4 h9r1/4 | Angel García | 32 | Cuba | CUB | ||
| 4 h10r1/4 | Jean-Pierre Goudeau | 19 | France | FRA | ||
| 4 h11r1/4 | Antonio Siddi | 29 | Italy | ITA | ||
| 4 h12r1/4 | Schalk Booysen | 24 | South Africa | RSA | ||
| 5 h1r1/4 | Evelio Planas | 22 | Cuba | CUB | ||
| 5 h2r1/4 | John Anderton | 22 | South Africa | RSA | ||
| 5 h3r1/4 | Jaakko Suikkari | 26 | Finland | FIN | ||
| 5 h4r1/4 | Doğan Acarbay | 25 | Turkey | TUR | ||
| 5 h5r1/4 | Arie Gill-Glick | 22 | Israel | ISR | ||
| 5 h6r1/4 | Javier Souza | 22 | Mexico | MEX | ||
| 5 h7r1/4 | Albert Lowagie | 22 | Belgium | BEL | ||
| 5 h8r1/4 | Sompop Svadanandana | 19 | Thailand | THA | ||
| 5 h9r1/4 | Antoine Uyterhoeven | 22 | Belgium | BEL | ||
| 5 h10r1/4 | Doug Clement | 18 | Canada | CAN | ||
| 5 h12r1/4 | Jiří David | 29 | Czechoslovakia | TCH | ||
| 6 h1r1/4 | Abdul Rehman | 23 | Pakistan | PAK | ||
| 6 h2r1/4 | Pongamat Amatayakul | 18 | Thailand | THA | ||
| 6 h3r1/4 | Aurang Zeb | 29 | Pakistan | PAK | ||
| 6 h4r1/4 | Ivan Jacob | 24 | India | IND | ||
| 6 h5r1/4 | Ernst von Gunten | 30 | Switzerland | SUI | ||
| 6 h6r1/4 | Emin Doybak | Turkey | TUR | |||
| 6 h8r1/4 | Jeremias Stokes | 19 | Guatemala | GUA | ||
| 6 h9r1/4 | Jean Hamilius | 25 | Luxembourg | LUX | ||
| 6 h12r1/4 | Fred Hammer | 22 | Luxembourg | LUX | ||
| 7 h6r1/4 | Fernando Casimiro | 21 | Portugal | POR | ||
| 7 h12r1/4 | Ossi Mildh | 22 | Finland | FIN | ||
| AC h5r1/4 | Tage Ekfeldt | 26 | Sweden | SWE |
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