# Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres sprint event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between July 22 and July 23. There were 71 competitors from 35 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by 0.16 seconds by American Andy Stanfield. Americans also took silver (Thane Baker) and bronze (Jim Gathers) as the United States swept the medals in the event for the third time (1904, 1932).

## Background

This was the 11th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. One of the six finalists from the 1948 Games returned: sixth-place finisher Leslie Laing of Jamaica. Andy Stanfield, the inaugural world record setter for 200 metres around a curve and winner of three AAU titles, was the favorite.
Bulgaria, Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, South Korea, the Soviet Union, Thailand, and Venezuela each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 11th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

## Competition format

The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 18 heats of between 2 and 5 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 6 heats of 6 athletes each; the 2 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top 3 athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world (curved track) and Olympic records were as follows. The world record (straight) was 20.2 seconds.
| World record | Andy Stanfield (USA) | 20.6 | Los Angeles, United States | 28 June 1952 |
| Olympic record | Jesse Owens (USA) | 20.7 | Berlin, Germany | 5 August 1936 |
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. Andy Stanfield's hand-timed final run of 20.7 seconds was equal to the Olympic record.

## Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Tuesday, 22 July 1952 | 15:00 18:50 | Heats Quarterfinals |
| Wednesday, 23 July 1952 | 15:45 17:55 | Semifinals Final |

## Results
### Heats

The fastest two runners in each of the eighteen heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gerardo Bönnhoff | Argentina | 21.72 | Q |
| 2 | Étienne Bally | France | 22.03 | Q |
| 3 | Adolf Turakainen | Finland | 22.55 | |
| 4 | Hörður Haraldsson | Iceland | 22.56 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Thane Baker | United States | 21.62 | Q |
| 2 | Levan Sanadze | Soviet Union | 22.26 | Q |
| 3 | Stefanos Petrakis | Greece | 22.64 | |
| 4 | Willy Eichenberger | Switzerland | 22.98 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Don McFarlane | Canada | 22.94 | Q |
| 2 | Roman Budzyński | Poland | 23.37 | Q |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 21.98 | Q |
| 2 | Nick Stacey | Great Britain | 22.07 | Q |
| 3 | Fernand Linssen | Belgium | 22.37 | |
| 4 | Edward Ajado | Nigeria | 22.92 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Theo Saat | Netherlands | 22.17 | Q |
| 2 | Werner Zandt | Germany | 22.23 | Q |
| 3 | Juan Leiva | Venezuela | 22.38 | |
| 4 | Fawzi Chaaban | Egypt | 22.90 | |
| 5 | Eugénio Eleutério | Portugal | 23.37 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | David Tabak | Israel | 22.60 | Q |
| 2 | Marcel Gerdil | France | 22.71 | Q |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andy Stanfield | United States | 22.00 | Q |
| 2 | Zdobysław Stawczyk | Poland | 22.22 | Q |
| 3 | Enrique Beckles | Argentina | 22.73 | |
| 4 | Youssef Ali Omar | Egypt | 23.26 | |
| 5 | Adul Wanasatith | Thailand | 23.50 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Vladimir Sukharev | Soviet Union | 22.08 | Q |
| 2 | Angel García | Cuba | 22.14 | Q |
| 3 | Hans Wehrli | Switzerland | 22.35 | |
| 4 | Pauli Tavisalo | Finland | 22.45 | |
| 5 | Abdul Aziz | Pakistan | 23.02 | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Václav Janeček | Czechoslovakia | 21.99 | Q |
| 2 | Peter Kraus | Germany | 22.06 | Q |
| 3 | Muhammad Aslam | Pakistan | 22.14 | |
| 4 | Fred Hammer | Luxembourg | 22.63 | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Brian Shenton | Great Britain | 22.12 | Q |
| 2 | Voitto Hellstén | Finland | 22.41 | Q |
| 3 | Roby Schaeffer | Luxembourg | 22.76 | |
| 4 | Vasilios Sillis | Greece | 22.88 | |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Schalk Booysen | South Africa | 22.03 | Q |
| 2 | Gerard Mach | Poland | 22.16 | Q |
| 3 | Muhammad Sharif Butt | Pakistan | 22.34 | |
| 4 | Ásmundur Bjarnason | Iceland | 22.51 | |
| 5 | Walter Sutton | Canada | 22.53 | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jim Gathers | United States | 21.42 | Q |
| 2 | Tomio Hosoda | Japan | 22.36 | Q |
| 3 | Henry Brault | France | 22.48 | |
| 4 | Luigi Grossi | Italy | 22.49 | |
| 5 | Muslim Arogundade | Nigeria | 22.71 | |

#### Heat 13

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 21.66 | Q |
| 2 | Miroslav Horčic | Czechoslovakia | 22.52 | Q |
| 3 | Giorgio Sobrero | Italy | 22.66 | |
| 4 | Ernst Mühlethaler | Switzerland | 23.26 | |
| 5 | Eom Par-yong | South Korea | 23.41 | |

#### Heat 14

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rafiu Oluwa | Nigeria | 22.89 | Q |
| 2 | Boonterm Pakpuang | Thailand | 24.15 | Q |

#### Heat 15

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Les Laing | Jamaica | 21.97 | Q |
| 2 | Paul Dolan | Ireland | 22.04 | Q |
| 3 | František Brož | Czechoslovakia | 22.35 | |
| 4 | Fernando Casimiro | Portugal | 22.72 | |
| 5 | José Julio Barillas | Guatemala | 22.88 | |

#### Heat 16

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Raúl Mazorra | Cuba | 22.52 | Q |
| 2 | Robert Hutchinson | Canada | 22.66 | Q |
| 3 | Emad El-Din Shafei | Egypt | 22.75 | |
| 4 | Aroon Sankosik | Thailand | 23.64 | |

#### Heat 17

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Edwin Carr, Jr. | Australia | 22.19 | |
| 2 | Angel Kolev | Bulgaria | 22.24 | |

#### Heat 18

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Treloar | Australia | 21.75 | Q |
| 2 | Lavy Pinto | India | 21.83 | Q |
| 3 | Péter Karádi | Hungary | 22.24 | |
| 4 | Lucio Sangermano | Italy | 22.38 | |

### Quarterfinals

The fastest two runners in each of the six heats advanced to the semifinal round.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jim Gathers | United States | 21.64 | Q |
| 2 | Lavy Pinto | India | 21.80 | Q |
| 3 | Theo Saat | Netherlands | 21.87 | |
| 4 | Zdobysław Stawczyk | Poland | 22.12 | |
| 5 | Miroslav Horčic | Czechoslovakia | 22.44 | |
| 6 | Raúl Mazorra | Cuba | 31.00 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Thane Baker | United States | 21.64 | Q |
| 2 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 21.98 | Q |
| 3 | Paul Dolan | Ireland | 22.15 | |
| 4 | Peter Kraus | Germany | 22.19 | |
| 5 | Voitto Hellstén | Finland | 22.61 | |
| 6 | Rafiu Oluwa | Nigeria | 22.69 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 21.27 | Q |
| 2 | Václav Janeček | Czechoslovakia | 21.93 | Q |
| 3 | Edwin Carr, Jr. | Australia | 21.98 | |
| 4 | Schalk Booysen | South Africa | 22.09 | |
| 5 | Marcel Gerdil | France | 22.37 | |
| 6 | Robert Hutchinson | Canada | 22.55 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gerardo Bönnhoff | Argentina | 21.67 | Q |
| 2 | Nick Stacey | Great Britain | 21.79 | Q |
| 3 | Angel Kolev | Bulgaria | 22.07 | |
| 4 | Angel García | Cuba | 22.11 | |
| 5 | David Tabak | Israel | 22.34 | |
| 6 | Roman Budzyński | Poland | 22.51 | |

#### Quarterfinal 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andy Stanfield | United States | 21.21 | Q |
| 2 | Les Laing | Jamaica | 21.74 | Q |
| 3 | Étienne Bally | France | 22.02 | |
| 4 | Levan Sanadze | Soviet Union | 22.26 | |
| 5 | Don McFarlane | Canada | 22.33 | |
| — | Boonterm Pakpuang | Thailand | DNS | |

#### Quarterfinal 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Treloar | Australia | 21.86 | Q |
| 2 | Werner Zandt | Germany | 21.87 | Q |
| 3 | Vladimir Sukharev | Soviet Union | 21.88 | |
| 4 | Gerard Mach | Poland | 22.12 | |
| 5 | Brian Shenton | Great Britain | 22.24 | |
| 6 | Tomio Hosoda | Japan | 22.49 | |

### Semifinals

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

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andy Stanfield | United States | 21.23 | Q |
| 2 | Jim Gathers | United States | 21.58 | Q |
| 3 | Les Laing | Jamaica | 21.80 | Q |
| 4 | Werner Zandt | Germany | 21.92 | |
| 5 | Nick Stacey | Great Britain | 21.95 | |
| 6 | Václav Janeček | Czechoslovakia | 22.12 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 21.46 | Q |
| 2 | Thane Baker | United States | 21.50 | Q |
| 3 | Gerardo Bönnhoff | Argentina | 21.75 | Q |
| 4 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 21.93 | |
| 5 | Lavy Pinto | India | 22.01 | |
| - | John Treloar | Australia | | DNF |

### Final

Standfield's hand-timed results of 20.7 seconds was equal to the Olympic record.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Andy Stanfield | United States | 20.81 | =OR |
| | Thane Baker | United States | 20.97 | |
| | James Gathers | United States | 21.08 | |
| 4 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 21.14 | |
| 5 | Les Laing | Jamaica | 21.45 | |
| 6 | Gerardo Bönnhoff | Argentina | 21.59 | |