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

Men's 800 metres at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Dates	July 20 (heats) July 21 (semifinals) July 22 (final)
Medalists
Mal Whitfield United States   Arthur Wint Jamaica   Heinz Ulzheimer Germany

Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
10 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Decathlon		men

The men's 800 metres event at the 1952 Olympics took place between July 20 and July 22. The final was won by American Mal Whitfield.

Results

Heats

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

Heat 1

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

Heat 2

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

Heat 3

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

Heat 4

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

Heat 5

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Hans Ring	Sweden	1:53.6
2	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	1:54.2
3	Don MacMillan	Australia	1:55.0
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	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Heinz Ulzheimer	Germany	1:51.4
2	Sohan Singh	India	1:52.0
3	Ludvík Liška	Czechoslovakia	1:52.3
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	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Audun Boysen	Norway	1:53.2
2	Urban Cleve	Germany	1:53.4
3	Frank Evans	Great Britain	1:53.8
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	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Patrick El Mabrouk	France	1:52.0
2	Gunnar Nielsen	Denmark	1:53.0
3	Bill Parnell	Canada	1:53.1
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.

Heat one

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Gunnar Nielsen	Denmark	1:50.0
2	Mal Whitfield	United States	1:50.1
3	Albert Webster	Great Britain	1:50.1
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

Heat two

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	1:52.7
2	Günther Steines	Germany	1:52.9
3	Hans Ring	Sweden	1:53.0
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

Heat three

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Heinz Ulzheimer	Germany	1:51.9
2	Lars Wolfbrandt	Sweden	1:52.4
3	Reggie Pearman	United States	1:52.5
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	Name	Nationality	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

References

• 1952 Summer Olympics results: Men's 800 metres, from http://www.sports-reference.com/; retrieved 2010-08-21.