The men's

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event at the 1952 Olympic Games in

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was held at the

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on 20 and 21 July. Seventy-two athletes from 33 nations competed; each nation was limited to 3 runners. The final was won by

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Lindy Remigino Lindy John Remigino (June 3, 1931 – July 11, 2018) was an American track and field athlete, the 1952 Olympic 100 m champion. Life and career Remigino was born in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. He was named after aviator Charles Lindbergh. In 195 ...

, the fourth consecutive victory by a different American.

Herb McKenley The Hon. Herbert Henry McKenley OM (10 July 1922 – 26 November 2007) was a Jamaican track and field sprinter. He competed at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics in six events in total, and won one gold and three silver medals. Born in Pleasant Vall ...

won Jamaica's first medal in the men's 100 metres with his silver, while

McDonald Bailey Emmanuel McDonald Bailey (8 December 1920 – 4 December 2013) was a British and Trinidadian athlete, who was born in Williamsville, Trinidad and Tobago. Bailey won a bronze medal in the 1946 Central American and Caribbean Games. He competed f ...

's bronze put Great Britain on the podium for the first time since 1928. The final was "probably the closest mass finish in Olympic 100 metre history" with the first four runners all clocking in at 10.4 seconds hand-timed, all six finalists within 0.12 seconds electric-timed (10.79 for first, 10.91 for sixth), and a photo finish necessary to separate the winners.

Background

This was the twelfth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. None of the medalists from 1948 returned, but sixth-place finisher

(who had recently tied the world record) did. London bronze medalist

Lloyd LaBeach Lloyd Barrington LaBeach (28 June 1922 – 19 February 1999) was a Panamanian sprinter, who won two bronze medals during the 1948 Summer Olympics, the first Olympic medals for Panama and for Central America. He also competed in the lon ...

's brother

Byron LaBeach Byron LaBeach (11 October 1930 – 12 December 2021) was a Jamaican sprinter who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics. Life and career LaBeach was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on 11 October 1930. He also won gold medals at the Central American a ...

represented Jamaica. Other notable entrants were American Art Bragg and Jamaican

, who were favorites along with Bailey. Bulgaria, Ghana, Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, the Soviet Union, Thailand, and Venezuela were represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first twelve Olympic men's 100 metres events.

Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920 to 1948: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats, of 4–7 athletes each, with the top 2 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 24 quarterfinalists were placed into 4 heats of 6 athletes. The top 3 in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, once again with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

Results

Heats

The fastest two runners in each of the twelve heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 6

Heat 7

Heat 8

Heat 9

Heat 10

Heat 11

Heat 12

Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1

Bragg tore a muscle in this semifinal.Official Report, p. 250.

Semifinal 2

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 metres Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics 100 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1952 Summer Olympics