# Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland was held at the Olympic Stadium on 20 and 21 July. Seventy-two athletes from 33 nations competed; each nation was limited to 3 runners. The final was won by American Lindy Remigino, the fourth consecutive victory by a different American. Herb McKenley won Jamaica's first medal in the men's 100 metres with his silver, while McDonald Bailey's bronze put Great Britain on the podium for the first time since 1928. The final was "probably the closest mass finish in Olympic 100 metre history" with the first four runners all clocking in at 10.4 seconds hand-timed, all six finalists within 0.12 seconds electric-timed (10.79 for first, 10.91 for sixth), and a photo finish necessary to separate the winners.

## Background

This was the twelfth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. None of the medalists from 1948 returned, but sixth-place finisher McDonald Bailey (who had recently tied the world record) did. London bronze medalist Lloyd LaBeach's brother Byron LaBeach represented Jamaica. Other notable entrants were American Art Bragg (who pulled his hamstring before the semifinal) and Jamaican Herb McKenley, who were favorites along with Bailey.
Bulgaria, Ghana, Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, the Soviet Union, Thailand, and Venezuela were represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first twelve Olympic men's 100 metres events.

## Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920 to 1948: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats, of 4–7 athletes each, with the top 2 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 24 quarterfinalists were placed into 4 heats of 6 athletes. The top 3 in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, once again with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | 10.2 | Jesse Owens | Chicago, United States | 20 June 1936 |
| World record | 10.2 | Harold Davis | Compton, United States | 6 June 1941 |
| World record | 10.2 | Lloyd LaBeach | Fresno, United States | 15 May 1948 |
| World record | 10.2 | Barney Ewell | Evanston, United States | 9 July 1948 |
| World record | 10.2 | McDonald Bailey | Belgrade, Yugoslavia | 25 August 1951 |
| Olympic record | 10.3 | Eddie Tolan | Los Angeles, USA | 1 August 1932 |
| Olympic record | 10.3 | Ralph Metcalfe | Los Angeles, USA | 1 August 1932 |
| Olympic record | 10.3 | Jesse Owens | Berlin, Germany | 2 August 1936 |
| Olympic record | 10.3 | Harrison Dillard | London, United Kingdom | 31 July 1948 |

## Results
### Heats

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

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Treloar | Australia | 10.92 | Q |
| 2 | Alan Lillington | Great Britain | 11.06 | Q |
| 3 | Gabriel Lareya | Ghana | 11.18 | |
| 4 | Miroslav Horčic | Czechoslovakia | 11.23 | |
| 5 | Ásmundur Bjarnason | Iceland | 11.40 | |
| 6 | Youssef Ali Omar | Egypt | 11.53 | |
| 7 | José Julio Barillas | Guatemala | 11.56 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Étienne Bally | France | 10.97 | Q |
| 2 | Angel Kolev | Bulgaria | 11.01 | Q |
| 3 | Paul Dolan | Ireland | 11.12 | |
| 4 | Raúl Mazorra | Cuba | 11.19 | |
| 5 | Robert Hutchinson | Canada | 11.26 | |
| 6 | Masaji Tajima | Japan | 11.29 | |
| 7 | Adul Wanasatith | Thailand | 11.61 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 10.65 | Q |
| 2 | Carlo Vittori | Italy | 10.98 | Q |
| 3 | Mikhail Kazantsev | Soviet Union | 11.16 | |
| 4 | Hörður Haraldsson | Iceland | 11.31 | |
| 5 | Javier Souza | Mexico | 11.32 | |
| 6 | Stefanos Petrakis | Greece | 11.33 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | William Jack | Great Britain | 11.05 | Q |
| 2 | Romeo Galán | Argentina | 11.11 | Q |
| 3 | Levan Sanadze | Soviet Union | 11.13 | |
| 4 | Emad El-Din Shafei | Egypt | 11.40 | |
| 5 | Guillermo Gutiérrez | Venezuela | 11.42 | |
| 6 | Boonterm Pakpuang | Thailand | 11.85 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 10.88 | Q |
| 2 | György Csányi | Hungary | 11.09 | Q |
| 3 | Emil Kiszka | Poland | 11.13 | |
| 4 | Pauli Tavisalo | Finland | 11.30 | |
| 5 | Tomás Paquete | Portugal | 11.45 | |
| 6 | Walter Sutton | Canada | 11.45 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | David Tabak | Israel | 11.12 | Q |
| 2 | Tomio Hosoda | Japan | 11.14 | Q |
| 3 | Willy Schneider | Switzerland | 11.22 | |
| 4 | Angel Gavrilov | Bulgaria | 11.29 | |
| 5 | Juan Leiva | Venezuela | 11.31 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Vladimir Sukharev | Soviet Union | 10.93 | Q |
| 2 | Theo Saat | Netherlands | 11.02 | Q |
| 3 | Muhammad Sharif Butt | Pakistan | 11.17 | |
| 4 | Voitto Hellstén | Finland | 11.36 | |
| 5 | George Acquaah | Ghana | 11.47 | |
| 6 | Mariano Acosta | Argentina | 11.58 | |
| 7 | Wolfango Montanari | Italy | 12.25 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 10.93 | Q |
| 2 | Byron LaBeach | Jamaica | 11.09 | Q |
| 3 | Franco Leccese | Italy | 11.18 | |
| 4 | Issi Baran | Finland | 11.32 | |
| 5 | Fritz Griesser | Switzerland | 11.54 | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Werner Zandt | Germany | 11.03 | Q |
| 2 | Muhammad Aslam | Pakistan | 11.18 | Q |
| 3 | Don McFarlane | Canada | 11.25 | |
| 4 | Zdeněk Pospíšil | Czechoslovakia | 11.25 | |
| 5 | Edward Ajado | Nigeria | 11.25 | |
| 6 | Fawzi Chaaban | Egypt | 11.51 | |
| - | Enrique Beckles | Argentina | DSQ | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Art Bragg | United States | 10.73 | Q |
| 2 | Hans Wehrli | Switzerland | 11.00 | Q |
| 3 | Titus Erinle | Nigeria | 11.12 | |
| 4 | László Zarándi | Hungary | 11.26 | |
| 5 | Pétur Sigurðsson | Iceland | 11.55 | |
| 6 | Arun Sankosik | Thailand | 11.76 | |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lindy Remigino | United States | 10.73 | Q |
| 2 | Lavy Pinto | India | 11.00 | Q |
| 3 | René Bonino | France | 11.00 | |
| 4 | František Brož | Czechoslovakia | 11.32 | |
| 5 | Abdul Aziz | Pakistan | 11.48 | |
| 6 | Rui Maia | Portugal | 11.79 | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dean Smith | United States | 10.90 | Q |
| 2 | Alain Porthault | France | 11.04 | Q |
| 3 | Erich Fuchs | Germany | 11.19 | |
| 4 | Karim Olowu | Nigeria | 11.27 | |

### Quarterfinals

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

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 10.73 | Q |
| 2 | John Treloar | Australia | 10.84 | Q |
| 3 | Alain Porthault | France | 10.99 | Q |
| 4 | Muhammad Aslam | Pakistan | 11.02 | |
| 5 | Byron LaBeach | Jamaica | 11.05 | |
| - | Angel Kolev | Bulgaria | DSQ | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lindy Remigino | United States | 10.68 | Q |
| 2 | Theo Saat | Netherlands | 10.93 | Q |
| 3 | Lavy Pinto | India | 10.98 | Q |
| 4 | Étienne Bally | France | 10.98 | |
| 5 | Hans Wehrli | Switzerland | 11.05 | |
| 6 | Alan Lillington | Great Britain | 11.26 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dean Smith | United States | 10.69 | Q |
| 2 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 10.90 | Q |
| 3 | William Jack | Great Britain | 10.94 | Q |
| 4 | Werner Zandt | Germany | 10.98 | |
| 5 | Romeo Galán | Argentina | 11.08 | |
| 6 | David Tabak | Israel | 11.10 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 10.72 | Q |
| 2 | Art Bragg | United States | 10.75 | Q |
| 3 | Vladimir Sukharev | Soviet Union | 10.92 | Q |
| 4 | Tomio Hosoda | Japan | 11.03 | |
| 5 | György Csányi | Hungary | 11.07 | |
| 6 | Carlo Vittori | Italy | 11.79 | |

### Semifinals

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

#### Semifinal 1

Bragg tore a muscle in this semifinal.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 10.74 | Q |
| 2 | Dean Smith | United States | 10.78 | Q |
| 3 | Vladimir Sukharev | Soviet Union | 10.86 | Q |
| 4 | Lavy Pinto | India | 10.94 | |
| 5 | Alain Porthault | France | 11.04 | |
| 6 | Art Bragg | United States | 11.43 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 10.74 | Q |
| 2 | Lindy Remigino | United States | 10.74 | Q |
| 3 | John Treloar | Australia | 10.76 | Q |
| 4 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 10.92 | |
| 5 | William Jack | Great Britain | 11.01 | |
| 6 | Theo Saat | Netherlands | 11.12 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Lindy Remigino | United States | 10.79 | Photo-determined finish |
| | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 10.80 | |
| | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 10.83 | |
| 4 | Dean Smith | United States | 10.84 | |
| 5 | Vladimir Sukharev | Soviet Union | 10.88 | |
| 6 | John Treloar | Australia | 10.91 | |