Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
Men's 4 × 400 metres relayat the Games of the XV Olympiad
Dates July 26 (heats) July 27 (final) Competitors from 18 nations Teams 18 Winning time 3:03.9 (hand) 3:04.04 (automatic)
The men's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place on July 26 & July 27.[1]
The Jamaican team won the final, with the medalists breaking the 20-year-old world record.
Herb McKenley 's third leg of 44.6, credited with pulling Jamaica into contention from 10 metres back, is considered one of the greatest relay legs in history,[2] and on the last leg, George Rhoden , the 400 metres champion and Mal Whitfield the 800 metres champion , ran virtually shoulder to shoulder, but Rhoden was able to keep the lead, and beat Whitfield by a yard.
Results
Heats
Round One Heat One
Video on YouTube Heat 1 amateur film
Rank
Country
Athletes
Time (hand)
Time (automatic)
Notes
1
Jamaica
Arthur Wint , Les Laing , Herb McKenley , George Rhoden
3:12.1
3:12.13
Q
2
France
Jean-Pierre Goudeau , Robert Bart , Jacques Degats , Jean-Paul Martin du Gard
3:12.6
3:12.72
Q
3
Sweden
Gösta Brännström , Tage Ekfeldt , Rune Larsson , Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt
3:13.4
3:13.55
4
Belgium
Albert Lowagie , Antoine Uyterhoeven , Roger Moens , Fernand Linssen
3:15.8
3:16.05
5
Luxembourg
Roby Schaeffer , Jean Hamilius , Fred Hammer , Gérard Rasquin
3:16.2
3:16.38
6
Finland
Pauli Tavisalo , Ossi Mildh , Ragnar Graeffe , Rolf Back
3:16.4
3:16.67
7
Japan
Junkichi Matoba , Eitaro Okano , Hiroshi Yamamoto , Yoshitaka Muroya
3:20.3
3:20.55
Round One Heat Two
Rank
Country
Athletes
Time (hand)
Time (automatic)
Notes[3]
1
United States
Ollie Matson , Gene Cole , Charlie Moore , Mal Whitfield
3:11.5
3:11.67
Q
2
Great Britain
Les Lewis , Alan Dick , Terry Higgins , Nick Stacey
3:12.5
3:12.67
Q
3
Hungary
Ferenc Bánhalmi , Lajos Szentgáli , Egon Solymossy , Zoltán Adamik
3:13.8
3:13.96
4
Italy
Baldassare Porto , Gianni Rocca , Luigi Grossi , Armando Filiput
3:15.2
3:15.23
5
Switzerland
Hans Ernst Schneider , Josef Steger , Paul Stalder , Ernst von Gunten
3:15.4
3:15.36
6
Pakistan
Abdul Rehman , Muhammad Shafi , Mirza Khan , Aurang Zeb
3:23.2
Round One Heat Three
Rank
Country
Athletes
Time (hand)
Time (automatic)
Notes
1
Germany
Hans Geister , Günther Steines , Heinz Ulzheimer , Karl-Friedrich Haas
3:10.5
3:10.57
Q
2
Canada
Doug Clement , Jack Hutchins , Jack Carroll , James Lavery
3:11.2
3:11.49
Q
3
Soviet Union
Ardalion Ignatyev , Gennady Slepnyov , Edmunds Pīlāgs , Yury Lituyev
3:12.5
3:12.65
4
South Africa
Louis van Biljon , Ron Wilke , John Anderton , Bill Chivell
3:14.8
3:15.09
5
Australia
Ray Weinberg , Morris Curotta , Ken Doubleday , Edwin Carr Jr.
3:15.8
3:16.00
Final
Video on YouTube Official film of the final
Key : WR = World record
References
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