The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1952 Summer Olympics took place July 20–21, 1952 at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. There were 40 competitors from 24 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by American Charles Moore. It was the nation's third consecutive and eighth overall victory in the event. The Soviet Union, in its debut, and New Zealand each earned their first medal in the men's 400 metres hurdles, with Yuriy Lituyev's silver and John Holland's bronze, respectively.

Background

This was the 10th time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

One of the six finalists from the 1948 Games returned: bronze medalist Rune Larsson of Sweden. The favorite was Charles Moore of the United States, the four-time AAU champion and the second man to run the race under 51 seconds. His biggest competition was expected to be Yuriy Lituyev of the Soviet Union.

Iceland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Puerto Rico, the Soviet Union, and Venezuela each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 10th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every edition of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition expanded to a four-round format from the three-round format used since 1908: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.

There were 8 first-round heats of between 4 and 6 athletes each, with the top 3 hurdlers in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. There were 4 quarterfinal heats with 6 athletes each. The top 3 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. The 12 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 6 athletes each, with the top 3 in each semifinal advancing to the 6-man final.

Records

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

Charles Moore bettered the Olympic record with a time of 50.8 seconds in the first quarterfinal, then matched his own new record in the final.

Schedule

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

Date Time Round Sunday, 20 July 1952 16:1019:25 HeatsQuarterfinals Monday, 21 July 1952 15:0017:40 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Heats

The first round was held on July 20. The three fastest runners from each heat qualified for the quarterfinals.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Charles Moore 51.8 51.92 2 Lars Ylander 53.7 53.90 3 Eitaro Okano 54.2 54.42 4 Rudolf Haidegger 54.8 54.87 5 Johny Fonck 57.8 57.93 – José Fórmica –

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Timofey Lunev 54.3 2 Dewey Lee Yoder Jr 55.2 3 Ken Doubleday 55.4 4 Muhammad Shafi 56.1 5 Ingi Þorsteinsson 56.5 – Zvonko Sabolović

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Anatoly Yulin 53.6 2 Fotios Kosmas 53.9 3 Roland Blackman 54.8 4 Ragnar Graeffe 55.0 5 Jörn Gevert 56.1 6 Emin Doybak 56.6

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Yuriy Lituyev 53.5 53.56 2 Rainer Pelkonen 54.2 54.32 3 Robert Bart 54.5 54.64 4 Pedro Yoma 56.8 57.03 5 Paulino Ferrer 1:02.1 – – Samuel Andersón –

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ron Wilke 54.5 2 Arvo Hilli 54.6 3 Rune Larsson 55.9 4 Mirza Khan 56.3

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Holland 53.3 2 Sven-Olov Eriksson 54.3 3 Angus Scott 54.9 4 Kemal Horulu 55.2 5 Karl Schmid 57.5

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 David Gracie 54.2 2 Wilson Carneiro 56.0 3 Hans Schwarz 56.3 4 Fernando Fernandes 56.8 5 Doğan Acarbay 1:02.8

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Armando Filiput 53.8 2 Harry Whittle 53.9 3 Antal Lippay 54.0 4 Amadeo Francis 54.0 5 Jean Thureau 56.7

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were held on July 20. The three fastest runners from each heat qualified for the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Charles Moore 50.8 50.98 , 2 Anatoly Yulin 52.4 52.64 3 Armando Filiput 53.0 53.00 4 Robert Bart 53.0 53.33 5 Sven-Olov Eriksson 53.8 53.96 6 Hans Schwarz 54.0 54.09

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 John Holland 52.2 52.24 2 Dewey Lee Yoder Jr 53.3 53.40 3 David Gracie 53.9 53.94 4 Arvo Hilli 54.0 54.28 5 Fotios Kosmas 55.3 55.50 6 Wilson Carneiro 59.4 –

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Yuriy Lituyev 52.2 52.37 2 Antal Lippay 52.7 52.93 3 Harry Whittle 52.8 52.94 4 Lars Ylander 53.1 53.29 5 Ron Wilke 54.5 54.76 6 Ken Doubleday 1:00.2 –

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Timofey Lunev 52.7 52.87 2 Roland Blackman 52.7 52.88 3 Rune Larsson 53.3 53.35 4 Angus Scott 53.4 53.69 5 Rainer Pelkonen 53.9 54.06 6 Eitaro Okano 54.4 54.42

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on July 21. The three fastest runners from each heat qualified for the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Yuriy Lituyev 51.8 51.90 2 John Holland 52.0 52.22 3 Anatoly Yulin 52.1 52.28 4 David Gracie 52.4 52.65 5 Roland Blackman 52.7 52.86 6 Rune Larsson 53.9 54.06

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Charles Moore 52.0 52.08 2 Harri Whittle 52.9 52.98 3 Armando Filiput 53.0 52.98 4 Dewey Lee Yoder Jr 53.0 53.08 5 Antal Lippay 53.0 53.10 6 Timofey Lunev 53.1 53.30

Final

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes Charles Moore 50.8 51.06 Yuriy Lituyev 51.3 51.51 John Holland 52.2 52.26 4 Anatoliy Yulin 52.8 52.81 5 Harry Whittle 53.1 53.36 6 Armando Filiput 54.4 54.49

Results summary

Rank Athlete Nation Heats Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Notes Charles Moore 51.8 50.8 52.0 50.8 Yuriy Lituyev 53.5 52.2 51.8 51.3 John Holland 53.3 52.2 52.0 52.2 4 Anatoliy Yulin 53.6 52.4 52.1 52.8 5 Harry Whittle 53.9 52.8 52.9 53.1 6 Armando Filiput 53.8 53.0 53.0 54.4 7 David Gracie 54.2 53.9 52.4 Did not advance 8 Roland Blackman 54.8 52.7 52.7 9 Dewey Lee Yoder Jr 55.2 53.3 53.0 10 Antal Lippay 54.0 52.7 53.0 11 Timofey Lunev 54.3 52.7 53.1 12 Rune Larsson 55.9 53.3 53.9 13 Robert Bart 54.5 53.0 Did not advance 14 Lars Ylander 53.7 53.1 15 Angus Scott 54.9 53.4 16 Sven-Olov Eriksson 54.3 53.8 17 Rainer Pelkonen 54.2 53.9 18 Arvo Hilli 54.6 54.0 Hans Schwarz 56.3 54.0 20 Eitaro Okano 54.2 54.4 21 Ron Wilke 54.5 54.5 22 Fotios Kosmas 53.9 55.3 23 Wilson Carneiro 56.0 59.4 24 Ken Doubleday 55.4 1:00.2 25 Amadeo Francis 54.0 Did not advance 26 Rudolf Haidegger 54.8 27 Ragnar Graeffe 55.0 28 Kemal Horulu 55.2 29 Jörn Gevert 56.1 Muhammad Shafi 56.1 31 Mirza Khan 56.3 32 Ingi Þorsteinsson 56.5 33 Emin Doybak 56.6 34 Jean Thureau 56.7 35 Fernando Fernandes 56.8 Pedro Yoma 56.8 37 Karl Schmid 57.5 38 Johny Fonck 57.8 39 Paulino Ferrer 1:02.1 40 Doğan Acarbay 1:02.8

References