HELSINKI OLYMPIC GAMES 1952
19th July – 3rd August

The XVth Olympic Games held in Helsinki, Finland, saw the Soviet Union entering the games for the 1st time, although Russia had last entered a team in 1912, when they represented the then Tsarist Empire, this time however, they were representing the communist Soviet Union and the Soviets refused to be accommodated alongside athletes from capitalist countries in the Olympic village at Kapyla. They originally planned to base their athletes in Leningrad and fly them to Helsinki as and when they needed them to compete, but a separate Olympic village was found for the eastern bloc countries at Otaniemi.

The Helsinki games also saw the debuts of Israel & South Korea, with the Koreans having previously taken part in the 1948 games in London as part of a united Korean team, but due to internal conflict within that nation a split had developed between North & South Korea.

Korea was a focal point of the “cold war” that had developed between the United States and the Soviet Union, and there was a danger of it spilling over into the games as they became involved in the conflict between North and South Korea. The approach of the Helsinki games was almost overshadowed by this situation with the team officials of both the U.S & the Soviet Union considering any victory achieved by their athletes as proof of the superiority of their own social system.

Helsinki was also the 1st time since World War II that teams from Japan & Germany participated in a summer Olympic games, although it was not a united German team that entered, as the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic could not agree on a selection process which resulted in the East German athletes not travelling to the games at all.

With West German athletes representing Germany in Helsinki, an independent German region, Saarland, who had their own national Olympic committee, were given permission to enter their own team at the games.

The games themselves however, were extremely friendly and the worries of the “cold war” developing even further were unfounded, indeed, by the end of the games the Soviet Union officials had opened their village for all athletes.

For the Finnish hosts though, the high point of the games came at the opening ceremony on Saturday 19th July, as the great Finnish long distance runner Paavo Nurmi who was featured on the official poster for the games, carried the Olympic torch into the stadium and lit the Olympic flame in a cauldron on the field before passing the torch over to another great Finnish long distance hero, Hannes Kohlemainen, the winner of 3 gold medals in the 1912 games in Stockholm, who then proceeded to light the official Olympic flame at the top of the stadium.

The opening ceremony was disrupted when a German peace activist, Barbara Rotbraut-Pleyer, ran to the speaker’s rostrum to deliver her message for world peace, earning herself the nickname of “The Peace Angel” from the world’s press.

More than 100 Olympic records were broken at Helsinki, and there were many outstanding performances, none more so than those produced by Emil Zatopek, “The Czech Express,” who won 3 gold medals in the 5,000 metres(in which Britain’s Chris Chattaway fell before getting up to finish 5th) 10,000 metres and the marathon, all within a week. Zatopek’s wife, Dana Zatopkova, also won gold at the games in the javelin, on the same day that Zatopek won the first of his gold medals in the 5,000 metres, making them the only husband & wife to win gold medals at the same Olympic Games.

Other notable performances came from the Australian track & field athlete Marjorie Jackson, who won the 100metres & 200metres, with her time of 11.5 seconds for the 100m being a new world record, Soviet gymnast Viktor Chukarin, who took 4 gold medals & 2 silvers and the American decathlete Bob Mathias who became the 1st decathlete to successfully defend an Olympic title, which he did by recording the largest winning margin in Olympic history & setting a new world record points score in the process. The greatest personal achievement though was that of the Danish rider Lis Hartel, who was paralysed below the knees after an attack of polio in 1944, when she was a 23 year old expectant mother, & who had to be lifted on & off her horse, Jubilee, in the dressage event in which she won a silver medal. She won another in 1956.

Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands was one of the unluckiest women of the Helsinki games. The “Flying Housewife,” winner of four gold medals at the London games of 1948 had fallen ill but still entered the 80-metre hurdles. In the final she struck the second hurdle, fell and stopped running. The winner, Shirley Strickland de la Hunty of Australia, made a new world record: 10.9 seconds.

The Closing Ceremony of the Helsinki Games took place on Sunday 3rd August and was a simple affair. The Olympic flame was extinguished to the sound of the Olympic fanfare, and the Olympic flag was lowered as an orchestra and choir performed the hymn of the Helsinki Games. The flags of the participating nations followed the Olympic flag out of the Stadium as the Finnish national anthem brought the ceremonies to a close.

The last Olympic medals of the Helsinki Games were decided in the afternoon of the closing day in the Olympic Stadium. Pierre Jonqueres d'Oriola of France won the individual gold in equestrian show jumping. In the team competition Great Britain won its only gold medal of the Games.

The Finns took great pride in having organised a great Olympic Games. The medal tally of the host nation was also excellent: 6 gold, 3 silver and 13 bronze. The mood was mixed with a touch of sadness during the closing ceremony; however, as everyone knew that the Olympic Summer Games would probably never again be awarded to such a small country.