Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump

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Men's long jump
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Jerome Biffle (1950)
VenueHelsinki Olympic Stadium
DateJuly 21
Competitors27 from 19 nations
Winning distance7.57
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jerome Biffle
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Meredith Gourdine
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ödön Földessy
 Hungary
← 1948
1956 →
Video on YouTube amateur film

The men's long jump at the 1952 Olympic Games took place on July 21 at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Twenty-seven athletes from 19 nations competed.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. American athlete Jerome Biffle won the gold medal.[2] It was the United States' sixth consecutive and 11th overall victory in the men's long jump. Hungary earned its first long jump medal with Ödön Földessy's bronze.

Summary

In the first round Meredith "Flash" Gourdine took the early lead with a 7.38m. Jerome Biffle, a former NCAA Champion at the University of Denver, was in second place with 7.21m and Ary de Sá was in third with 7.15m. In the second round Ödön Földessy jumped into second place with a 7.23m. In the third round the medals were decided, Gourdine getting a 7.53m to extend his lead, then Biffle carefully came down the runway to leap 7.57 m (24 ft 10 in) to take the lead. That 7.57 would be well within Brown's range but he and Henk Visser failed to get a legal jump in. Biffle also was unable to get another jump in, while Gourdine made three solid attempts but was unable to improve his mark, giving Biffle the gold. Földessy got off a 7.30m in the fifth round to assure himself the bronze medal while de Sá tied Földessy's 7.23 and would have had the tie breaking edge without the 7.30.

Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The only returning finalist from the 1948 Games was eighth-place finisher Felix Würth of Austria. George Brown of the United States came into the Olympics having been the best long jumper in the world for the previous 3 years and the third man to jump 8 meters ever. But Brown's 41 competition win streak ended at the US Olympic Trials, where he barely qualified for Helsinki. In wet conditions, everyone was having trouble with their run up.[1]

Nigeria, Saar, the Soviet Union, Thailand, Turkey, and Venezuela each made their first appearance in the event. The United States appeared for the 12th time, the only nation to have long jumpers at each of the Games thus far.

Competition format

The 1952 competition used a two-round format with a divided final. The qualifying round gave each competitor three jumps to achieve a distance of 7.20 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. The final provided each jumper with three jumps; the top six jumpers received an additional three jumps for a total of six, with the best to count (qualifying round jumps were not considered for the final).[1][3]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Jesse Owens (USA) 8.13 Ann Arbor, United States 25 May 1935
Olympic record  Jesse Owens (USA) 8.06 Berlin, Germany 4 August 1936

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round
Monday, 21 July 1952 10:00
16:10
Qualifying
Final

Results

Qualifying round

Qualifying Performance 7.20 (Q) or at least 13 best performers (q) advance to the Final.

Rank Group Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 A Meredith Gourdine  United States 7.19 7.41 7.41 Q
2 A Jerome Biffle  United States 6.73 7.40 7.40 Q
3 B Neville Price  South Africa X 7.11 7.36 7.36 Q
4 A George Brown  United States 7.32 7.32 Q
5 A Ödön Földessy  Hungary 7.15 7.25 7.25 Q
6 A Ary de Sá  Brazil 7.24 7.24 Q
7 B Henk Visser  Netherlands 7.03 7.21 7.21 Q
8 B Masaji Tajima  Japan 7.04 X 7.13 7.13 q
9 B Karl-Erik Israelsson  Sweden 5.26 6.98 7.10 7.10 q
10 A Paul Faucher  France 7.00 6.66 7.10 7.10 q
11 B Pentti Snellman  Finland 6.89 X 7.09 7.09 q
12 A Leonid Grigoryev  Soviet Union 7.09 X X 7.09 q
B Jorma Valtonen  Finland X 7.09 X 7.09 q
14 B Carlos Vera  Chile 6.54 6.82 7.07 7.07
15 B Felix Würth  Austria 6.99 X X 6.99
16 B Sylvanus Williams  Nigeria X 6.85 6.98 6.98
17 B Jorma Valkama  Finland 6.97 X X 6.97
18 B Karim Olowu  Nigeria 6.84 6.96 6.89 6.96
19 A Toni Breder  Saar 6.87 6.68 6.88 6.88
20 A Brígido Iriarte  Venezuela X 6.82 6.82
21 A Henryk Grabowski  Poland 6.72 X 6.77 6.77
22 A Nikolay Andryushchenko  Soviet Union X 6.74 X 6.74
23 B Geraldo de Oliveira  Brazil X 6.42 6.71 6.71
24 B Pat Leane  Australia 6.35 6.40 5.18 6.40
25 B Kamtorn Sanidwong  Thailand 5.31 4.43 X 5.31
A Avni Akgün  Turkey X X X No mark
B Khandadash Madatov  Soviet Union X X X No mark
A José Julio Barillas  Guatemala DNS
A Boris Brnad  Yugoslavia DNS
A Francisco Castro  Puerto Rico DNS
A Asnoldo Devonish  Venezuela DNS
A Álvaro Dias  Portugal DNS
A Roy Fearon  Guatemala DNS
A Paulino Ferrer  Venezuela DNS
B Günther Jobst  Germany DNS
B Sebastián Junqueras  Spain DNS
B Mikhail Mikhail  Greece DNS
B Vasilios Sakellarakis  Greece DNS

Final

Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jerome Biffle  United States 7.21 X 7.57 X X X 7.57
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Meredith Gourdine  United States 7.38 6.58 7.53 7.49 7.36 7.51 7.53
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ödön Földessy  Hungary 7.04 7.23 X 7.17 7.30 7.12 7.30
4 Ary de Sá  Brazil 7.15 6.77 7.06 7.22 7.20 7.23 7.23
5 Jorma Valtonen  Finland X 7.06 7.16 X X 6.97 7.16
6 Leonid Grigoryev  Soviet Union x 7.14 6.92 5.55 x 6.67 7.14
7 Karl-Erik Israelsson  Sweden X X 7.10 Did not advance 7.10
8 Paul Faucher  France X 6.96 7.02 Did not advance 7.02
9 Pentti Snellman  Finland X 6.88 7.02 Did not advance 7.02
10 Masaji Tajima  Japan X 7.00 X Did not advance 7.00
11 Neville Price  South Africa 6.40 X X Did not advance 6.40
George Brown  United States X X X Did not advance No mark
Henk Visser  Netherlands X X X Did not advance No mark

References

  1. ^ a b c "Long Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's Long Jump". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 313.

External links