Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 80 metres hurdles

The Women's 80 metres hurdles at the 1952 Summer Olympics took place on July 24 and July 25 at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Australian athlete Shirley Strickland de la Hunty earned the gold medal, setting new World and Olympic records.[1]

Women's 80 metres hurdles
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
VenueHelsinki Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 23 (heats and semifinals)
July 24 (final)
Competitors33 from 21 nations
Medalists
Shirley Strickland de la Hunty  Australia
Maria Golubnichaya  Soviet Union
Maria Sander  Germany
Video on YouTube amateur film

Summary

Suffering from skin boils, defending champion Fanny Blankers-Koen was dropping out of other events to save herself for this event. In the first heat, Shirley Strickland set the Olympic record at 11.0. Strickland improved upon that with a 10.8 in the semi final round, joined by Maria Sander and Jean Desforges also running 10.9. It would have been a world record race but instead was wind aided.

In the final, Blankers-Koen blasted out to a clear early lead over the first hurdle. Still leading she hit the second hurdle hard and was knocked off stride. She quit after jumping the third hurdle, this was the last race of her career. Meanwhile Strickland was left with a metre lead on the closest chaser Sander. At the sixth hurdle, Sander lost her stride and struggled, leaving Maria Golubnichaya in silver position but more than 2 metres behind Strickland. And those positions held, Strickland well ahead of Golubnichaya, a slowing Sander leaning across the finish line to hold off her teammate Anneliese Seonbuchner for bronze.

Results

Heats

The first round was held on July 23. The two fastest runners qualified for the semifinals.

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Shirley Strickland de la Hunty Australia11.0=OR
2Milena Greppi Italy11.7
3Miyo Miyashita Japan11.8
4Colette Elloy France11.9
5Jorun Askersrud Tangen Norway12.2

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Fanny Blankers-Koen Netherlands11.2
2Edna Maskell South Africa11.6
3Klára Soós Hungary11.9
4Hilde Antes Saar12.0
5Nilima Ghose India12.9

Heat 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Elene Gokieli Soviet Union11.5
2Pam Seaborne Great Britain11.5
3Wilhelmina Lust Netherlands11.6
4Seija Pöntinen Finland11.8
5Pui Wah Tang Singapore12.8

Heat 4

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Jean Desforges Great Britain11.4
2Anneliese Seonbuchner Germany11.4
3Luella Law Canada11.8
4Helene Bielansky Austria11.8
5Sylvi Keskinen Finland12.4
6Leah Horowitz-Ravid Israel12.4

Heat 5

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Maria Sander Germany11.3
2Claudie Flament France11.5
3Anna Aleksandrova Soviet Union11.5
4Maria Musso Italy11.9
5Constance Darnowski United States12.1
6Aino Autio Finland12.1

Heat 6

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Maria Golubnichaya Soviet Union11.1
2Wanda dos Santos Brazil11.3
3Yvette Monginou France11.3
4Elfriede Steurer Austria11.4
5Pauline Threapleton-Wainwright Great Britain11.9
6Gretel Bolliger Switzerland12.3

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on the July 23, the same day as the preliminary round. The first three runners from each heat qualified for the final.

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Shirley Strickland de la Hunty Australia10.8Due to excessive wind assistance during the race,
this result did not count as a new World Record.[2]
2Maria Sander Germany10.9
3Jean Desforges Great Britain10.9
4Elene Gokieli Soviet Union11.1
5Edna Maskell South Africa11.2
6Milena Greppi Italy11.4

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Maria Golubnichaya Soviet Union11.2
2Fanny Blankers-Koen Netherlands11.3
3Anneliese Seonbuchner Germany11.4
4Pam Seaborne Great Britain11.4
5Wanda dos Santos Brazil11.4
6Claudie Flament France11.6

Final

The final was held on July 24.

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
Shirley Strickland de la Hunty Australia10.9WR
Maria Golubnichaya Soviet Union11.1
Maria Sander Germany11.1
4Anneliese Seonbuchner Germany11.2
5Jean Desforges Great Britain11.6
Fanny Blankers-Koen NetherlandsDNF

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Women's 80 metres Hurdles". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  2. Official Olympic Report Archived 2008-04-11 at the Wayback Machine, la84.org.
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