Canadian Singles, 10,000 metres, Men

Both American Frank Havens and Canadian Norm Lane, the 1948 Olympic silver and bronze medalists respectively, journeyed to the 1952 Summer Olympics to compete in the C-1 10000 in the hope of improving their results from London. There they would be challenged by Robert Boutigny of France, the reigning World Champion and 1948 Olympic bronze medalist in the C-1 1000, as well as Sweden’s Bengt Backlund, the 1950 World bronze medalist and representative of the defending Olympic champion nation. The great Josef Holeček of Czechoslovakia had been the most recent World runner-up, but he did not compete in this event and his country sent Alfréd Jindra instead. Jindra led the race for most of the course, but tired in the final stretch and was passed by Havens and Hungarian Gábor Novák, who won gold and silver respectively, leaving the Czechoslovakian with bronze. Havens father Bill had been selected to represent the United States as a rower at the 1924 Summer Olympics, but elected to remain home in order to be with his wife when she gave birth to Frank and never again got the opportunity to compete at the Games. Thus, according to the International Olympic Committee, “[a]fter celebrating his victory, Havens sent his father an emotional telegram that read: ‘I’m bringing home the gold medal that you should have won.’”