Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games:

Brazil's Adhemar da Silva had equaled the world record in 1950 and broken it in 1951, and had won the 1951 Pan American Games. He was co-favorite with Soviet Leonid Shcherbakov, the 1950 European Champion. But da Silva dominated the event. He produced four jumps beyond Shcherbakov's best of 15.98 (52-5¼), highlighted by two world records – 16.12 (52-10¾) in round two and 16.22 (53-2¾) in round five. Sixteen metres had only been jumped three times prior to Helsinki, but da Silva did it four times in his series, also getting 16.09 (52-9½) in round four and 16.05 (52-8) in the final round. Venezuela's Asnoldo Devonish was in second after 15.52 (50-11) in round two, but Shcherbakov surpassed him with his fourth round jump.