# Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1952 Olympics took place between July 20 and July 22. Fifty athletes from 32 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by the American Mal Whitfield.
Whitfield's win was his second (making him the second man to repeat in the 800 metres), as well as the third consecutive (in a streak that would reach four) and sixth overall victory for the United States. Only 0.2 seconds after Whitfield, Arthur Wint became the fifth man to earn a second medal of any color in the 800 metres, repeating his 1948 silver. Heinz Ulzheimer was the third German man to win an 800 metres medal, with the nation taking bronze in 1908 and 1928 as well as Ulzheimer's in 1952.

## Summary

Starting from a waterfall start, most competitors were allowed to and chose to use a crouch start. Returning silver medalist Arthur Wint sprinted to the lead with Heinz Ulzheimer moving into a tight marking position with Gunnar Nielsen and Günther Steines sprinting to keep up. On the home stretch for the first time, defending champion Mal Whitfield moved forward, past the other chasers into a marking position on Ulzheimer. Wint continued to lead down the backstretch, then Whitfield accelerated past Ulzheimer, who turned to look, then at the beginning of the turn, Wint. It was a deja vu for Wint, seeing Whitfield ahead of him on the final turn of the Olympics. The first five were separated from the rest of the pack, Whitfield pulling away to defend his championship. Wint couldn't make any progress on Whitfield but held off the battle behind him. Steines lost ground, getting passed by a big rush by Albert Webster, but Nielsen pressed Ulzheimer to the line, Ulzheimer taking bronze with a lean then in the next step doing a face plant to the track.
Whitfield equalled the Olympic record he had set in London four years earlier, meaning he ran exactly the same time 1:49.2 in both races. Wint was a tenth of a second faster. Whitfield became the second man after Douglas Lowe to defend the 800 metres title. Peter Snell and David Rudisha have since equalled the feat.

## Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Only two of the finalists from the 1948 Games returned, but they were the top two: gold medalist Mal Whitfield of the United States and silver medalist Arthur Wint of Jamaica.
Cuba, Ghana, Guatemala, Israel, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, the Soviet Union, Thailand, and Venezuela appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their 11th appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

## Competition format

The event used the three-round format introduced in 1912. There were eight first-round heats, each with between 5 and 7 athletes; the top three runners in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were three semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top three runners in each semifinal advanced to the nine-man final.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1948 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Rudolf Harbig (GER) | 1:46.6 | Milan, Italy | 15 July 1939 |
| Olympic record | Mal Whitfield (USA) | 1:49.2 | London, United Kingdom | 2 August 1948 |
Mal Whitfield repeated his own Olympic record with a time of 1:49.2 in the final.

## Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 20 July 1952 | 16:55 | Round 1 |
| Monday, 21 July 1952 | 16:40 | Semifinals |
| Tuesday, 22 July 1952 | 16:50 | Final |

## Results
### Round 1

The first round was held on July 20. The first three runners from each heat advanced to the semifinals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lars Wolfbrandt | Sweden | 1:55.3 | Q |
| 2 | Albert Webster | Great Britain | 1:55.5 | Q |
| 3 | Gennady Modoy | Soviet Union | 1:55.8 | Q |
| 4 | Maurice Marshall | New Zealand | 1:56.2 | |
| 5 | Johannes Baumgartner | Switzerland | 1:57.1 | |
| 6 | Mohamed Sanni-Thomas | Ghana | 2:05.8 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mal Whitfield | United States | 1:52.5 | Q |
| 2 | Edmund Potrzebowski | Poland | 1:52.6 | Q |
| 3 | Tom White | Great Britain | 1:52.7 | Q |
| 4 | Olavi Talja | Finland | 1:52.9 | |
| 5 | Turhan Göker | Turkey | 1:55.9 | |
| 6 | Evelio Planas | Cuba | 1:57.6 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jack Hutchins | Canada | 1:54.5 | Q |
| 2 | John Barnes | United States | 1:54.5 | Q |
| 3 | Jenő Bakos | Hungary | 1:54.5 | Q |
| 4 | Roman Korban | Poland | 1:54.7 | |
| 5 | Alam Zeb | Pakistan | 1:56.3 | |
| 6 | Vasilios Mavrodis | Greece | 1:58.7 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Reggie Pearman | United States | 1:51.6 | Q |
| 2 | Petro Chevhun | Soviet Union | 1:51.8 | Q |
| 3 | Günther Steines | Germany | 1:52.7 | Q |
| 4 | Louis Desmet | Belgium | 1:52.9 | |
| 5 | René Djian | France | 1:54.3 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hans Ring | Sweden | 1:53.6 | Q |
| 2 | Arthur Wint | Jamaica | 1:54.2 | Q |
| 3 | Don MacMillan | Australia | 1:55.0 | Q |
| 4 | Oscar Soetewey | Belgium | 1:55.4 | |
| 5 | Georgy Ivakin | Soviet Union | 1:56.4 | |
| 6 | Frank Rivera | Puerto Rico | 1:57.6 | |
| 7 | Víctorio Solares | Guatemala | 2:01.4 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Heinz Ulzheimer | Germany | 1:51.4 | Q |
| 2 | Sohan Singh | India | 1:52.0 | Q |
| 3 | Ludvík Liška | Czechoslovakia | 1:52.3 | Q |
| 4 | John Ross | Canada | 1:52.5 | |
| 5 | Arqemiro Roque | Brazil | 1:54.1 | |
| 6 | Lucien Demuynck | Belgium | 1:57.4 | |
| 7 | Boonpak Kwancharoen | Thailand | 2:12.6 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Audun Boysen | Norway | 1:53.2 | Q |
| 2 | Urban Cleve | Germany | 1:53.4 | Q |
| 3 | Frank Evans | Great Britain | 1:53.8 | Q |
| 4 | Ekrem Koçak | Turkey | 1:54.5 | |
| 5 | Filemón Camacho | Venezuela | 2:00.0 | |
| 6 | Arie Gill-Glick | Israel | 2:00.9 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Patrick El Mabrouk | France | 1:52.0 | Q |
| 2 | Gunnar Nielsen | Denmark | 1:53.0 | Q |
| 3 | Bill Parnell | Canada | 1:53.1 | Q |
| 4 | Yoshitaka Muroya | Japan | 1:54.0 | |
| 5 | Fred Lüthi | Switzerland | 1:55.0 | |
| 6 | Erkki Rönnholm | Finland | 1:55.7 | |
| 7 | Guðmundur Lárusson | Iceland | 1:56.5 | |

### Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the three heats advanced to the final round.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gunnar Nielsen | Denmark | 1:50.0 | Q |
| 2 | Mal Whitfield | United States | 1:50.1 | Q |
| 3 | Albert Webster | Great Britain | 1:50.1 | Q |
| 4 | Audun Boysen | Norway | 1:50.4 | |
| 5 | Urban Cleve | Germany | 1:51.6 | |
| 6 | Bill Parnell | Canada | 1:52.7 | |
| 7 | Pyotr Chevgun | Soviet Union | 1:52.8 | |
| 8 | Don MacMillan | Australia | 1:58.4 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Arthur Wint | Jamaica | 1:52.7 | Q |
| 2 | Günther Steines | Germany | 1:52.9 | Q |
| 3 | Hans Ring | Sweden | 1:53.0 | Q |
| 4 | John Barnes | United States | 1:53.4 | |
| 5 | Tom White | Great Britain | 1:53.6 | |
| 6 | Ludvík Liška | Czechoslovakia | 1:54.8 | |
| 7 | Gennady Modoy | Soviet Union | 1:55.7 | |

#### Semifinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Heinz Ulzheimer | Germany | 1:51.9 | Q |
| 2 | Lars Wolfbrandt | Sweden | 1:52.4 | Q |
| 3 | Reggie Pearman | United States | 1:52.5 | Q |
| 4 | Jack Hutchins | Canada | 1:52.8 | |
| 5 | Edmund Potrzebowski | Poland | 1:53.7 | |
| 6 | Sohan Singh | India | 1:54.9 | |
| 7 | Jenő Bakos | Hungary | 1:55.5 | |
| 8 | Frank Evans | Great Britain | 1:56.8 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Mal Whitfield | United States | 1:49.2 | =OR |
| | Arthur Wint | Jamaica | 1:49.4 | |
| | Heinz Ulzheimer | Germany | 1:49.7 | |
| 4 | Gunnar Nielsen | Denmark | 1:49.7 | |
| 5 | Albert Webster | Great Britain | 1:50.2 | |
| 6 | Günther Steines | Germany | 1:50.6 | |
| 7 | Reggie Pearman | United States | 1:52.1 | |
| 8 | Lars Wolfbrandt | Sweden | 1:52.1 | |
| 9 | Hans Ring | Sweden | 1:54.0 | |