The men's discus throw event at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

took place on 22 July at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Thirty-two athletes from 20 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by

Sim Iness Simeon "Sim" Garland Iness (July 9, 1930 – May 23, 1996) was an American discus thrower who won a gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics, breaking the Olympic record several times in the process. Next year he set a new world record at 57.93 m. ...

of the United States, the nation's eighth victory in the men's discus throw. Defending champion

Adolfo Consolini Adolfo Consolini (5 January 1917 – 20 December 1969) was an Italian discus thrower. He competed at the 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics and finished in 1st, 2nd, 6th and 17 place, respectively. While winning the gold medal in 1948 he set an O ...

of Italy took silver, becoming the fourth man to win two medals in the event. American

James Dillion James Leo "Jim" Dillion (May 2, 1929 – September 16, 2010)
auburntigers.com was an American

won bronze.

Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Eight of the top nine finishers from the 1948 Games returned: gold medalist

and silver medalist Giuseppe Tosi of Italy, bronze medalist Fortune Gordien of the United States, fifth-place finisher Ferenc Klics of Hungary, sixth-place finisher Veikko Nyqvist and ninth-place finisher Arvo Huutoniemi of Finland, seventh-place finisher (and 1936 finalist)

Nikolaos Syllas Nikolaos Syllas ( el, Νικόλαος Σύλλας; 30 November 1914 – 16 August 1986) was a Greek athlete who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics, in the 1948 Summer Olympics, and in the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, ...

of Greece, and eighth-place finisher

Stein Johnson Sten ("Stein") Jean Johnson (20 October 1921 – 28 April 2012) was a Norwegian speed skating trainer and Athletics (sport), athlete. He was born in Bergen and is the nephew of Sonja Johnsson. Johnson was a competitor in discus throw in the 1 ...

of Norway. Consolini, also the 1950 European champion, was favored to repeat. The American team was also strong, as usual, with Gordien holding the world record and

winning the U.S. Olympic trials. Australia, Iceland, Israel, and the Soviet Union each made their debut in the men's discus throw. The United States made its 12th appearance, having competed in every edition of the Olympic men's discus throw to date.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 46.00 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top six competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.Official Report, p. 318.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. The three medalists (

, and

James Dillion James Leo "Jim" Dillion (May 2, 1929 – September 16, 2010)
auburntigers.com was an American

) all bettered the old Olympic record. Iness was the first to do so, throwing 53.47 metres in the first set of throws in the final. Iness improved on his new record with 54.60 metres in the second set and 55.03 metres in the third.

Schedule

All times are

Eastern European Summer Time Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...

(

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)

Results

Qualifying round

Qualification: Qualifying Performance 46.00 advance to the final.

Final

References

External links

Official Olympic Report
''la84.org''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics At The 1952 Summer Olympics - Men's Discus Throw Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics Discus throw at the Olympics Men's events at the 1952 Summer Olympics