Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1952 Summer Olympics took place between 26 and 27 July at the Helsinki Swimming Stadium.[1] There were 61 competitors from 33 nations.[2] Nations had been limited to three swimmers each since the 1924 Games. The event was won by Clarke Scholes of the United States, the nation's second consecutive and seventh overall victory in the men's 100 metre freestyle (most of any nation). Japan, absent from the 1948 Games after World War II, returned to the podium in the event with Hiroshi Suzuki's silver. Göran Larsson earned Sweden's first medal in the event since 1908 with his bronze.

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Clarke Scholes
VenueHelsinki Swimming Stadium
Dates26–27 July
Competitors61 from 33 nations
Winning time57.4
Medalists
Clarke Scholes
 United States
Hiroshi Suzuki
 Japan
Göran Larsson
 Sweden
Swimming at the
1952 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
200 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4×100 mwomen
4×200 mmen

Background

This was the 11th appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.[2]

Two of the eight finalists from the 1948 Games returned: bronze medalist Géza Kádas of Hungary and fifth-place finisher (and European champion) Alex Jany of France. There was no clear front-runner this year; Dick Cleveland was the closest to a favorite.[2]

Ceylon, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Israel, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, the Soviet Union, venezuela, and Vietnam each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 11th appearance, having competed at each edition of the event to date.

Competition format

The competition used a three-round (heats, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule was new, introducing a major change from the format used from 1912 to 1948. A swimmer's place in the heat was no longer used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 9 heats of 6 or 7 swimmers each. The top 24 swimmers advanced to the semifinals. There were 3 semifinals of 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1952 Summer Olympics.

World record Alan Ford (USA)55.4New Haven, United States29 June 1948
Olympic record Wally Ris (USA)57.3London, United Kingdom31 July 1948

Clarke Scholes broke the Olympic record in the first semifinal with 57.1 seconds.

Schedule
Date Time Round
Saturday, 26 July 195217:00Heats
Sunday, 27 July 1952 
17:00		Semifinals
Final

Results

Heats

The 24 fastest swimmers from nine heats advanced to the semifinals.

RankHeatSwimmerNationTimeNotes
16Göran Larsson Sweden57.5Q
24Dick Cleveland United States57.8Q
35Ronald Gora United States58.0Q
1Yoshihiro Hamaguchi Japan58.0Q
4Hiroshi Suzuki Japan58.0Q
63Rex Aubrey Australia58.2Q
1Aldo Eminente France58.2Q
88Toru Goto Japan58.3Q
6Clarke Scholes United States58.3Q
109Géza Kádas Hungary58.4Q
114Carlo Pedersoli Italy58.8Q
123Lev Balandin Soviet Union58.9Q
3Alex Jany France58.9Q
7Jack Wardrop Great Britain58.9Q
155György Ipacs Hungary59.1Q
8Joris Tjebbes Netherlands59.1Q
172Ronald Roberts Great Britain59.5Q
9Thomas Welsh Great Britain59.5Q
193John Durr South Africa1:00.0Q
6Nicasio Silverio Cuba1:00.0Q
9Vladimir Skomarovsky Soviet Union1:00.0Q
228Endel Edasi Soviet Union1:00.1Q
233Cheung Kin Man Hong Kong1:00.3Q
247Lucien Beaumont Canada1:00.4Q
252Olle Johansson Sweden1:00.5
1René Muñiz Mexico1:00.5
1Iosif Novac Romania1:00.5
282Neo Chwee Kok Singapore1:00.6
2Frank O'Neill Australia1:00.6
305Juan Lanz Mexico1:00.9
5Michel Vandamme France1:00.9
329Peter Salmon Canada1:01.0
335Pentti Ikonen Finland1:01.1
344Haroldo Lara Brazil1:01.2
4Federico Zwanck Argentina1:01.2
368Dennis Ford South Africa1:01.3
377Alberto Isaac Mexico1:01.4
9Lars Svantesson Sweden1:01.4
397Marcello Trabucco Argentina1:01.5
406Roberto Queralt Spain1:01.6
415Oscar Saiz Venezuela1:01.7
426Aram Boghossian Brazil1:02.0
5Abdel Aziz El-Shafei Egypt1:02.0
1Leo Telivuo Finland1:02.0
458Per Olsen Norway1:02.1
468Alfonso Buonocore Italy1:02.3
7Dorri El-Said Egypt1:02.3
486Mauno Valkeinen Finland1:02.5
491Ricardo Conde Spain1:02.6
4Fernando Madeira Portugal1:02.6
513Hernán Avilés Chile1:02.8
522Francisco Monteiro Hong Kong1:03.1
537Guilherme Patroni Portugal1:03.7
542Robert Cook Bermuda1:04.1
8Geoffrey Marks Ceylon1:04.1
563Walter Bardgett Bermuda1:04.4
579José Valdes Guatemala1:04.5
586Nguyễn Văn Phan Vietnam1:05.0
591Nahum Buch Israel1:05.6
607Michel Currat Switzerland1:07.2
614Isaac Mansoor India1:10.8

Semifinals

The 8 fastest swimmers advanced to the final.

RankHeatSwimmerNationTimeNotes
11Clarke Scholes United States57.1Q, OR
23Ronald Gora United States57.7Q
33Rex Aubrey Australia57.8Q
2Géza Kádas Hungary57.8Q
1Göran Larsson Sweden57.8Q
62Hiroshi Suzuki Japan58.0Q
71Aldo Eminente France58.3QSO
3Toru Goto Japan58.3QSO
1Yoshihiro Hamaguchi Japan58.3QSO
102Dick Cleveland United States58.6
112Lev Balandin Soviet Union58.8
123Alex Jany France58.9
1Carlo Pedersoli Italy58.9
143Lucien Beaumont Canada59.3
153György Ipacs Hungary59.4
1Jack Wardrop Great Britain59.4
173Ronald Roberts Great Britain59.5
181Endel Edasi Soviet Union59.8
2Joris Tjebbes Netherlands59.8
201Nicasio Silverio Cuba59.9
212John Durr South Africa1:00.2
222Thomas Welsh Great Britain1:00.3
232Cheung Kin Man Hong Kong1:00.9
243Vladimir Skomarovsky Soviet Union1:01.1
Swim-off

Because there were 3 swimmers with the same swim time, a tie-breaking heat was held. The two fastest swimmers advanced to the final.

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
1Toru Goto Japan58.5Q
2Aldo Eminente France58.8Q
3Yoshihiro Hamaguchi Japan59.1

Final
RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Clarke Scholes United States57.4
Hiroshi Suzuki Japan57.4
Göran Larsson Sweden58.2
4Toru Goto Japan58.5
5Géza Kádas Hungary58.6
6Rex Aubrey Australia58.7
7Aldo Eminente France58.7
8Ronald Gora United States58.8

References
  1. "Swimming at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  2. "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
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