Olympic Games

History-1952

The Helsinki Games: a rousing success

The Helsinki Olympics were a model of organization and efficiency — so much so that some suggested permanently staging the Olympics in Scandinavia

Last Updated: Friday, August 7, 2009 | 2:51 PM ET

CBC Sports

Czech Emil Zatopek during the Olympic 5000m in Helsinki. During his career he was a four-time Olympic champion (1948, 10000m - 1952, 5000m, 10000m, and marathon) and established 18 world records. (CORR/AFP/Getty Images)

Finland was a natural choice to host the Olympics in 1952. Along with Sweden, Finland was the greatest overachiever in the first half-century of the Games, routinely winding up in the top five in the medal standings despite its population.

At the very least, the International Olympic Committee could feel confident that Helsinki would take staging the Games very seriously. Indeed, the Helsinki Games were considered a rousing success. Like the 1912 Stockholm Games, the Helsinki Olympics were a model of organization and efficiency — so much so that some suggested permanently staging the Olympics in Scandinavia.

The Cold War and the medal race

That's not to say these Games were free of politics. The Cold War was deepening in 1952, the year the Soviet Union chose to send its first team to the Olympics — 40 years after Russia's last Olympic appearance. The Finns had some reason to be resentful. After all, the Soviets had invaded Finland twice during the Second World War.

But the Soviets were much more interested in trumping the Americans. They built an Olympic Village in Helsinki specifically for the Communist Bloc countries and erected a prominent scoreboard focused on the Soviets' new rivalry with the United States. Before the space race really took flight, the Cold War propaganda war was fought through the medal race.

Relations between the Soviet and American athletes were not warm, but not overtly hostile, either. The Americans ultimately prevailed in the medal standings, but the Soviets finished a close second. The Soviet female gymnasts made a particularly strong impression, beginning a period of dominance that would last four decades.

A host of countries from Bahamas to Vietnam made their Olympic debuts, as well, but the highest-profile return, aside from the reconstituted Russians, was Germany's. The Germans were not invited to the 1948 London Olympics, but made the trip to Helsinki, ostensibly as a single team unifying West and East Germany, although virtually all the athletes were West German.

Even a briefly independent region of Germany called Saar had its own Olympic committee, even if only for one Olympiad.

From Nurmi to Zatopek

But during the opening the focus was on Finland's rich athletic heritage. The legendary Paavo Nurmi, now 55, ran into the stadium with the Olympic torch and passed it to the original Flying Finn, 62-year-old Hannes Kolehmainen, who lit the Olympic Flame. Nurmi, perhaps the world's greatest distance runner, won nine gold medals in the 1920s, while Kolehmainen swept the 5,000 metres and 10,000m in 1912.

Emil Zatopek may have been from Czechoslovakia, but he was the star of the 1952 Games and proved himself the heir to Nurmi. He won the 10,000m, the 5,000m and the marathon, an event he had never run before. It's the only time that feat has ever been accomplished, and it seems unlikely to be repeated.

First, Zatopek defended his 10,000m gold from 1948 in grand style, beating Alain Mimoun — an Algerian running for France — by 100m in an world-record time of 29:17.00. Mimoun nearly caught Zatoped, known as the Locomotive, a few days later in the 5,000m, but the Czech held off Mimoun's finishing kick to win in 14:06.06 — an Olympic record.

That day made for a double celebration in the Zatopek family; his wife, Dana, had just set an Olympic record in winning the women's javelin gold medal.

Most impressive of all was Zatopek's win in the marathon. Despite never running a marathon before, Zatopek took the lead halfway through the race and appeared to coast to victory, even to the point of visiting with spectators along with route. His legions of fans included the Jamaican 4x400m relay team, who hoisted him up and carried him to his wife to celebrate.

Other stars

Most of the other men's track and field events were won by the U.S., as usual:

• Bob Mathias, now a worldly 21 years old, successfully defended his decathlon gold and broke his own world record in the process.
• Mal Whitfield won his second 800m gold medal.
• Harrison Dillard won his third and fourth career gold medals in the 110m hurdles and 4x100m relay.
• Lindy Remigino upset Herb McKenley of Jamaica by centimetres in the 100m.

The biggest upset, though, came in the 1,500m. Roger Bannister, who was feted this on the 50^th anniversary of his becoming the first man to break the four-minute barrier in the mile, was a favourite along with German Werner Lueg and American Robert McMillen.

But an unheralded Josef Barthel of Luxembourg ran the race of his life for the gold. IOC officials had to scour their files for the music to the Luxembourg anthem, holding up the medal ceremony.

Overall, though, the biggest track star of Games aside from Zatopek was probably Marjorie Jackson, who became the first of a string of Australian women sprint superstars and set world records in the 100m and 200m.

There was also an abundance of compelling human interest stories in Helsinki:

• Denmark's Lis Hartel, one of the first female competitors in equestrian dressage, had been paralyzed below the knees since a bout of polio. She had to be assisted in getting on and off her horse, but she won a silver medal.
• Bill Havens earned a spot on the U.S. rowing team for the 1924 Olympics, but stayed home to attend the birth of his son, Frank. In 1952, that same Frank Havens won the gold medal in the 10,000m canoeing event.
• Finnish gymnast Heikki Savolainen delivered the Olympic oath and won a bronze medal in the team event — the seventh medal of his career, 24 years after he won his first Olympic medal in 1928.

There was a dearth of Canadian stars, however. Georges Genereux won Canada's only gold medal, in trapshooting.