The

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 6. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 195 ...

, officially known as the ''VI Olympic Winter Games'', took place in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, from 14 to 25 February 1952. A total of 694 athletes representing 30

National Olympic Committees A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

(NOCs) participated in the Games, taking part in 22 events from 6

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

. From the thirteen NOCs that collected at least one medal, eight secured at least one gold. Ten NOCs won more than one medal, and among these, Norway was the most successful with sixteen medals, including seven golds. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(eleven medals, four golds) and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

(nine medals, three golds) finished second and third in the medal table, respectively. Norway's

Hjalmar Andersen Hjalmar "Hjallis" Johan Andersen (12 March 1923 – 27 March 2013) was a speed skater from Norway who won three gold medals at the 1952 Winter Olympic Games of Oslo, Norway. He was the only triple gold medalist at the 1952 Winter Olympics, and ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Mirl Buchner Annemarie "Mirl" Buchner-Fischer (; 16 February 1924 – 9 November 2014) was a German Alpine skier. She was born in Ettal. At the 1952 Olympics in Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of ...

were the top medal winners, with three medals each. The

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

got its first Winter Olympics medals, when

Kees Broekman Cornelis "Kees" Broekman (2 July 1927 – 8 November 1992) was a Dutch speed skater. At the 1952 Olympics in Oslo Broekman was silver medalist on both the 5000 meter and the 10000 meter, the first ever Winter Olympic medals for the Netherlands. ...

and

Wim van der Voort Willem "Wim" van der Voort (24 March 1923 – 23 October 2016) was a Dutch speed skater. At the 1952 Olympics in Oslo Van der Voort was the silver medalist in the men's 1500 meters, finishing 0.2 seconds behind Hjalmar Andersen Hjalmar "Hj ...

won three silver medals between them in

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marath ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

made their Winter Olympic Games debuts in Oslo, but neither nation won a medal.

Highlights

Oslo was the first Scandinavian city to host a Winter Olympics. Athletes from the host nation won more medals than any other nation. Truck driver Hjalmar Andersen won three out of the four speed skating events, and

Simon Slåttvik Simon Kaurin Slåttvik (24 July 1917 – 7 May 2001) was a Norwegian skier. He competed at the 1952 Winter Olympics in the Nordic combined and 18 km cross-country skiing and won the gold medal in the former event. Earlier he won a Nordic comb ...

and

Sverre Stenersen Sverre Stenersen (18 June 1926 – 17 December 2005) was a Norwegian Nordic combined skier who dominated the event throughout the 1950s. His biggest triumphs were winning individual gold medals at the 1954 World Championships and 1956 Olympics. H ...

won gold and bronze in

nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever 1924 Winter Olympics, Winter Olympic ...

. Ski jumpers

Arnfinn Bergmann Arnfinn Bergmann (14 October 1928 – 13 February 2011) was a ski jumper from Norway. He won the individual large hill event at the 1952 Olympics and 1952 Holmenkollen ski festival and placed third at the 1950 World Championships. In 1956 he wa ...

and

Torbjørn Falkanger Torbjørn Falkanger (8 October 1927 in Trondheim – 16 July 2013) was a Norwegian ski jumper who was active in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Falkanger earned a silver medal at the 1952 Winter Olympics in ski jumping and also won the Ho ...

placed first and second, and only

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

jumper

Karl Holmström Karl "Bratt-Kalle" Holmström (21 March 1925 – 22 June 1974) was a Swedish ski jumper who won a bronze medal in the individual large hill at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most popul ...

prevented a Norwegian sweep. After a 16-year hiatus from Olympic competition

made a triumphant return, winning seven medals and three golds. They won gold medals in both two- and four-man bobsleigh events. The results for both events were identical with the United States and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

taking silver and bronze. The other gold medal for Germany went to the husband and wife figure skating pair of

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

and Ria Falk, who won the mixed pairs competition.

of Germany was the only other triple medalist when she won three medals in alpine skiing, placing second in the downhill and third in the slalom and giant slalom.

from the

placed second in the 1,500 meter speed skating events and his countryman

placed second in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races. These were the first-ever Dutch medals at the Winter Olympics. Great Britain's lone medal was won by

Jeannette Altwegg Jeannette Eleanor Wirz CBE (née Altwegg; 8 September 1930 – 18 June 2021) was a British figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She was the 1952 Olympic champion, the 1948 Olympic bronze medalist, the 1951 World champion, and a ...

, who became only the second British woman to win the ladies' figure skating competition.

Dick Button Richard Totten Button (born July 18, 1929) is an American former figure skater and skating analyst. He is a two-time Olympic champion (1948, 1952) and five-time consecutive World champion (1948–1952). He is also the only non-European man to ha ...

and

James Grogan James David "Jim" Grogan (December 7, 1931 – July 3, 2000) was an American figure skater who won a bronze medal at the 1952 Oslo Olympics. He also won four silver medals at the United States Figure Skating Championships and at the World Figu ...

of the United States won gold and bronze in the men's figure skating event. Button became the first figure skater to land a triple jump in competition when he performed the triple loop in the men's free skate program. Finnish athletes won nine medals and three golds at the Games. They dominated the cross-country events, winning eight out of a possible twelve medals. A women's race was added to the cross-country program for the first time and Finnish skiers

Lydia Wideman Lydia Wideman (later ''Wideman-Lehtonen'', 17 May 1920 – 13 April 2019) was a cross-country skier from Finland and the first female Olympic medalist in cross-country skiing. In 1952 she competed in thirteen 10 km races and won all of the ...

Mirja Hietamies Mirja Kyllikki Hietamies-Eteläpää (7 January 1931 – 14 March 2013)Mirja Eteläpää
hs.fi (obituary in ...

and

Siiri Rantanen Siiri Johanna "Äitee" Rantanen ( Lintunen, born 14 December 1924) is a Finnish retired cross-country skier. She competed in the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics and won a medal in each of them: a gold and a bronze in the 3 × 5 km relay in 19 ...

swept the event.

Veikko Hakulinen Veikko Johannes Hakulinen (4 January 1925 – 24 October 2003) was a Finnish cross-country skier, triple champion in both the Olympics and World Championships. He also competed in biathlon, orienteering, ski-orienteering, cross-country running, ...

won the 50-kilometer men's race to begin an Olympic career that would culminate in seven medals, three of them gold. The ice hockey tournament was won by

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Their gold medal game against the United States ended in a tie, and International rules at the time did not allow for overtime, so the gold medal was awarded to Canada on goal differential. Canada had won all but one Olympic hockey tournament thus far, but in 1956 the Soviet team entered the competition and ended Canadian dominance.

Medal table

The medal table is based on information provided by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC) and is consistent with IOC convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a nation is an entity represented by a NOC). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically. There was a tie for third place in the men's 500-metre event in speed skating, therefore two bronze medals were awarded.

Notes

* The IOC medal table currently shows medals won by both "Germany" and "

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

(1950–1990, GER since)", which have been combined here. The official report for these Games refers to Germany, not

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

or FRG.

References

External links

* * *
Oslo 1952
– official report, digitized copy online {{featured list

Medal table The Olympic medal table is a method of sorting the medal placements of countries in the modern-day Olympics and Paralympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not officially recognize a ranking of participating countries at the Olympic ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...