Equestrian Dressage at the 1952 Summer Olympics

The biggest news in 1952 Olympic equestrianism was the change in the eligibility rules. Prior to 1952 equestrian competitors had to be military officers, and this was highlighted in 1948 when Sweden’s Gehnäll Persson was found to be “only” a sergeant, and he and his Swedish team was disqualified in the dressage.

Beginning in Helsinki equestrian competition was opened to civilians. Further, women were allowed to compete in 1952 in the dressage, and four did, and in coming years, all the equestrian events would be opened to women. Dressage was held at the Ruskeasuon liikuntapuisto, or Ruskeasuo Sports Park, with team and individual events held concurrently over two days. Henri Saint Cyr won the individual dressage and led Sweden to the team gold medal, with the exact same team that had “won” in 1948, before Persson’s disqualification. Saint Cyr and the same Sweden team would defend these titles at the 1956 Stockholm Equestrian Olympics.