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| Event type

100 metres Freestyle, Men

Date26 – 27 July 1952
StatusOlympic
LocationHelsingin Uimastadion, Helsinki
Participants60 from 33 countries

A record entry of 60 swimmers from 33 different nations started the 100m Freestyle heats but that did not mean that standards were diluted, 49 times of under 60 seconds were recorded which was nearly double the total from 1948. Although no one swimmer was superior to the rest, the American Dick Cleveland emerged as a tentative favourite after showing excellent form prior to the Games but Cleveland was to disappoint and went out at the semi-final stage along with European champion Alex Jany of France. Göran Larsson of Sweden made a quick start in the final but was passed by the blonde haired American Clark Scholes before the half way mark. Scholes was put under pressure by Hiroshi Suzuki of Japan as they raced towards the finish but he held out to win the gold medal although the official times of the two were identical. Larsson finished third whilst just a third of a second separated the other five finalists.

Carlo Pedersoli, an Italian who reached the semi-final, had already made his film début with a minor role in “Quo Vadis” and would go on to a career in movies, most notably as a star in Italian “spaghetti westerns” of the 1960’s under the name “Bud Spencer”.

PosSwimmerNOCR1SFFinal
1Clarke ScholesUSA58.3 (2 h6)57.1 (1 h1)57.4 (1)Gold
2Hiroshi SuzukiJPN58.0 (2 h4)58.0 (2 h2)57.4 (2)Silver
3Göran LarssonSWE57.5 (1 h6)57.8 (2 h1)58.2 (3)Bronze
4Toru GotoJPN58.3 (1 h8)58.3 (3 h3)58.5 (4)
5Géza KádasHUN58.4 (1 h9)57.8 (1 h2)58.6 (5)
6Rex AubreyAUS58.2 (1 h3)57.8 (2 h3)58.7 (6)
7Aldo EminenteFRA58.2 (2 h1)58.3 (4 h1)58.7 (7)
8Ronald GoraUSA58.0 (1 h5)57.7 (1 h3)58.8 (8)
9Yoshihiro HamaguchiJPN58.0 (1 h1)58.3 (3 h1)
10Dick ClevelandUSA57.8 (1 h4)58.6 (3 h2)
11Lev BalandinURS58.9 (3 h3)58.8 (4 h2)
=12Alex JanyFRA58.9 (2 h3)58.9 (4 h3)
=12Carlo PedersoliITA58.8 (3 h4)58.9 (5 h1)
14Lucien BeaumontCAN1:00.4 (2 h7)59.3 (5 h3)
=15Jack WardropGBR58.9 (1 h7)59.4 (6 h1)
=15György IpacsHUN59.1 (2 h5)59.4 (6 h3)
17Ronald RobertsGBR59.5 (1 h2)59.5 (7 h3)
=18Joris TjebbesNED59.1 (2 h8)59.8 (5 h2)
=18Endel EdasiURS1:00.1 (3 h8)59.8 (7 h1)
20Nicasio SilverioCUB1:00.0 (3 h6)59.9 (8 h1)
21John DurrRSA1:00.0 (4 h3)1:00.2 (6 h2)
22Douglas WelshGBR59.5 (2 h9)1:00.3 (7 h2)
23Cheung Kin ManHKG1:00.3 (5 h3)1:00.9 (8 h2)
24Vladimir SkomarovskyURS1:00.0 (3 h9)1:01.1 (8 h3)
=25René MuñizMEX1:00.5 (4 h1)
=25Iosif NovacROU1:00.5 (3 h1)
=25Olle JohanssonSWE1:00.5 (2 h2)
=28Frank O'NeillAUS1:00.6 (4 h2)
=28Neo Chwee KokSGP1:00.6 (3 h2)
=30Michel VandammeFRA1:00.9 (4 h5)
=30Juan LansMEX1:00.9 (3 h5)
32Peter SalmonCAN1:01.0 (4 h9)
33Pentti IkonenFIN1:01.1 (5 h5)
=34Federico ZwanckARG1:01.2 (4 h4)
=34Haroldo LaraBRA1:01.2 (5 h4)
36Dennis FordRSA1:01.3 (4 h8)
37Lars SvantessonSWE1:01.4 (5 h9)
38Marcelo TrabuccoARG1:01.5 (4 h7)
39Roberto QueraltESP1:01.6 (4 h6)
40Óscar SaizVEN1:01.7 (6 h5)
=41Aram BoghossianBRA1:02.0 (5 h6)
=41Leo TelivuoFIN1:02.0 (5 h1)
=41Abdel Aziz El-ShafeiEGY1:02.0 (7 h5)
44Per OlsenNOR1:02.1 (5 h8)
=45Dorri Abdel KaderEGY1:02.3 (5 h7)
=45Alfonso BuonocoreITA1:02.3 (6 h8)
47Mauno ValkeinenFIN1:02.5 (6 h6)
=48Ricardo CondeESP1:02.6 (6 h1)
=48Fernando MadeiraPOR1:02.6 (6 h4)
50Hernán AvilésCHI1:02.8 (6 h3)
51Sonny MonteiroHKG1:03.1 (5 h2)
52Guilherme PatronePOR1:03.7 (6 h7)
=53Robert CookBER1:04.1 (6 h2)
=53Geoffrey MarksSRI1:04.1 (7 h8)
55Walter BardgettBER1:04.4 (7 h3)
56José ValdésGUA1:04.5 (6 h9)
57Nguyễn Văn PhanVNM1:05.0 (7 h6)
58David BuchISR1:05.6 (7 h1)
59Michel CurratSUI1:07.2 (7 h7)
60Isaac MansoorIND1:10.8 (7 h4)
DNSWu ChuanyuCHN– (DNS h4)
DNSAlberto IsaacMEX– (DNS h2)
DNSRoar WoldumNOR– (DNS h9)
DNSSachin NagIND– (DNS h9)
DNSO. PatiagaITA– (DNS h7)
DNSLars KroghNOR– (DNS h6)

Round One (26 July 1952 — 17:00)

Fastest 24 advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
15Yoshihiro HamaguchiJPN58.0Q
22Aldo EminenteFRA58.2Q
36Iosif NovacROU1:00.5
41René MuñizMEX1:00.5
53Leo TelivuoFIN1:02.0
67Ricardo CondeESP1:02.6
74David BuchISR1:05.6

Heat Two

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
15Ronald RobertsGBR59.5Q
27Olle JohanssonSWE1:00.5
36Neo Chwee KokSGP1:00.6
41Frank O'NeillAUS1:00.6
54Sonny MonteiroHKG1:03.1
63Robert CookBER1:04.1
DNS2Alberto IsaacMEX

Heat Three

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
13Rex AubreyAUS58.2Q
27Alex JanyFRA58.9Q
32Lev BalandinURS58.9Q
46John DurrRSA1:00.0Q
55Cheung Kin ManHKG1:00.3Q
64Hernán AvilésCHI1:02.8
71Walter BardgettBER1:04.4

Heat Four

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
13Dick ClevelandUSA57.8Q
28Hiroshi SuzukiJPN58.0Q
32Carlo PedersoliITA58.8Q
44Federico ZwanckARG1:01.2
51Haroldo LaraBRA1:01.2
67Fernando MadeiraPOR1:02.6
76Isaac MansoorIND1:10.8
DNS5Wu ChuanyuCHN

Heat Five

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
14Ronald GoraUSA58.0Q
22György IpacsHUN59.1Q
31Juan LansMEX1:00.9
43Michel VandammeFRA1:00.9
56Pentti IkonenFIN1:01.1
67Óscar SaizVEN1:01.7
75Abdel Aziz El-ShafeiEGY1:02.0

Heat Six

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
12Göran LarssonSWE57.5Q
24Clarke ScholesUSA58.3Q
33Nicasio SilverioCUB1:00.0Q
46Roberto QueraltESP1:01.6
57Aram BoghossianBRA1:02.0
68Mauno ValkeinenFIN1:02.5
71Nguyễn Văn PhanVNM1:05.0
DNS5Lars KroghNOR

Heat Seven

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
13Jack WardropGBR58.9Q
25Lucien BeaumontCAN1:00.4Q
37Alberto IsaacMEX1:01.4
41Marcelo TrabuccoARG1:01.5
52Dorri Abdel KaderEGY1:02.3
66Guilherme PatronePOR1:03.7
74Michel CurratSUI1:07.2
DNS7O. PatiagaITA

Heat Eight

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
16Toru GotoJPN58.3Q
24Joris TjebbesNED59.1Q
31Endel EdasiURS1:00.1Q
47Dennis FordRSA1:01.3
52Per OlsenNOR1:02.1
65Alfonso BuonocoreITA1:02.3
73Geoffrey MarksSRI1:04.1

Heat Nine

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
14Géza KádasHUN58.4Q
28Douglas WelshGBR59.5Q
32Vladimir SkomarovskyURS1:00.0Q
41Peter SalmonCAN1:01.0
56Lars SvantessonSWE1:01.4
63José ValdésGUA1:04.5
DNS5Sachin NagIND
DNS7Roar WoldumNOR

Semi-Finals (27 July 1952)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Clarke ScholesUSA57.1QOR
2Göran LarssonSWE57.8Q
3Yoshihiro HamaguchiJPN58.3q
4Aldo EminenteFRA58.3q
5Carlo PedersoliITA58.9
6Jack WardropGBR59.4
7Endel EdasiURS59.8
8Nicasio SilverioCUB59.9

Heat Two

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Géza KádasHUN57.8Q
2Hiroshi SuzukiJPN58.0Q
3Dick ClevelandUSA58.6
4Lev BalandinURS58.8
5Joris TjebbesNED59.8
6John DurrRSA1:00.2
7Douglas WelshGBR1:00.3
8Cheung Kin ManHKG1:00.9

Heat Three

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Ronald GoraUSA57.7Q
2Rex AubreyAUS57.8Q
3Toru GotoJPN58.3q
4Alex JanyFRA58.9
5Lucien BeaumontCAN59.3
6György IpacsHUN59.4
7Ronald RobertsGBR59.5
8Vladimir SkomarovskyURS1:01.1

Swim-Off

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Toru GotoJPN58.5Q
2Aldo EminenteFRA58.8Q
3Yoshihiro HamaguchiJPN59.1

Final (27 July 1952 — 17:00)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Clarke ScholesUSA57.4
2Hiroshi SuzukiJPN57.4
3Göran LarssonSWE58.2
4Toru GotoJPN58.5
5Géza KádasHUN58.6
6Rex AubreyAUS58.7
7Aldo EminenteFRA58.7
8Ronald GoraUSA58.8