Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's triple jump

The men's triple jump at the 1952 Olympic Games took place on 23 July at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Thirty-five athletes from 23 nations competed.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. Brazilian athlete Adhemar da Silva won the gold medal, breaking the world record twice.[2] It was Brazil's first medal and first victory in the men's long jump. All three of the nations represented on the podium were relatively new to the event in the Olympics; Brazil had sent triple jumpers in 1948 (including da Silva), but the Soviet Union (Leonid Shcherbakov's silver) and Venezuela (Asnoldo Devonish's bronze) each won medals in their first appearance.

Men's triple jump
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Adhemar da Silva (1956)
VenueHelsinki Olympic Stadium
DateJuly 23
Competitors35 from 23 nations
Winning distance16.22 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)Adhemar da Silva
 Brazil
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Leonid Shcherbakov
 Soviet Union
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)Asnoldo Devonish
 Venezuela
← 1948
1956 →

Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning finalists from the 1948 Games were gold medalist Arne Åhman of Sweden, fourth-place finisher Preben Larsen of Denmark, fifth-place finisher Geraldo de Oliveira of Brazil, sixth-place finisher Valle Rautio of Finland, and eighth-place finisher Adhemar da Silva of Brazil. The last of these, da Silva, had been very successful in the intervening four years; he tied the world record in 1950 and broke it in 1951, as well as winning the Pan American championship. He was "co-favorite" with European champion Leonid Shcherbakov of the Soviet Union.[1]

Belgium, Egypt, Ghana, Puerto Rico, Saar, the Soviet Union, and Venezuela each made their first appearance in the event. The United States competed for the 12th time, having competed at each of the Games so far.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936. In the qualifying round, each jumper received three attempts to reach the qualifying distance of 14.55 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. In the final round, each athlete had three jumps; the top six received an additional three jumps, with the best of the six to count.[1][3]

Records

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

World record  Adhemar da Silva (BRA)16.01 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil30 September 1951
Olympic record  Naoto Tajima (JPN)16.00 Berlin, Germany6 August 1936

Adhemar da Silva jumped further than his own world record four times: 16.12 in the second jump in the final round, 16.09 in the fourth, 16.22 in the fifth, and 16.05 in the sixth.

Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

DateTimeRound
Wednesday, 23 July 195210:00
15:00
Qualifying
Final

Results

Qualifying

Those achieving the qualifying performance of 14.55 metres advanced to the final.

RankGroupAthleteNation123DistanceNotes
1AAdhemar da Silva  Brazil15.3215.32Q
2AAsnoldo Devonish  Venezuela14.2215.2415.24Q
3BLeonid Shcherbakov  Soviet Union15.0515.05Q
4AJim Gerhardt  United States14.9814.98Q
5AReino Hiltunen  FinlandX14.8214.82Q
6AYoshio Iimuro  Japan14.8114.81Q
7BArne Åhman  Sweden13.2314.7214.72Q
8BRune Nilsen  Norway14.6514.65Q
9BZygfryd Weinberg  Poland14.4614.6514.65Q
10BGeraldo de Oliveira  Brazil14.6414.64Q
11APreben Larsen  Denmark14.6214.62Q
12BTadashi Yamamoto  Japan13.9014.3014.6014.60Q
13BRui Ramos  Portugal13.91X14.5914.59Q
14AWalter Ashbaugh  United States14.5914.59Q
BRoger Norman  Sweden14.5914.59Q
16AJacques Boulanger  FranceX14.3714.4914.49
17BJosé da Conceição  Brazil14.25X14.4614.46
18AChoi Yeong-gi  South Korea12.1114.3814.4414.44
19AMalik M'Baye  France14.3413.8614.3914.39
20AKeizo Hasegawa  JapanX14.3914.1814.39
21BGeorge Shaw  United States13.6414.39X14.39
22BPentti Uusihauta  FinlandXX14.3814.38
23BValle Rautio  Finland14.14XX14.14
24BRade Radovanović  Yugoslavia13.42X14.1314.13
25AWilliam Laing  Ghana13.8914.0913.9514.09
26BVasilios Sakellarakis  Greece14.0513.7313.6814.05
27AEugénio Lopes  Portugal13.6714.0513.5514.05
28AStanisław Kowal  Poland14.03XX14.03
29AWilli Burgard  Saar13.47X13.8613.86
30ANikola Dagorov  Bulgaria13.3912.1613.8213.82
31BFelix Würth  Austria13.65X13.5313.65
32AAkin Altiok  Turkey13.1412.9813.6213.62
33AWalter Herssens  Belgium13.5213.0313.1113.52
34AFawzi Chaaban  Egypt12.85X13.4513.45
35AFrancisco Castro  Puerto Rico13.3513.2713.3713.37
AVladimir Filippov  Soviet UnionDNS
BMikhail Mikhail  GreeceDNS
BNeville Price  South AfricaDNS
BHéctor Román  Puerto RicoDNS
BKamtorn Sanidwong  ThailandDNS
BOscar Simón  SpainDNS

Final

Medal ceremony

Devonish was injured and did not jump after the second round.

RankAthleteNation123456DistanceNotes
Adhemar da Silva  Brazil15.9516.12 WR15.5416.0916.22 WR16.0516.22WR
Leonid Shcherbakov  Soviet Union15.0715.2615.1815.9815.84X15.98
Asnoldo Devonish  Venezuela15.0415.5215.52
4Walter Ashbaugh  United States15.0515.3914.5614.5015.38X15.39
5Rune Nilsen  Norway15.1314.21X14.70XX15.13
6Yoshio Iimuro  Japan14.99XXX14.6613.7014.99
7Geraldo de Oliveira  BrazilX14.9512.66Did not advance14.95
8Roger Norman  Sweden14.89X12.66Did not advance14.89
9Reino Hiltunen  Finland14.85X14.40Did not advance14.85
10Zygfryd Weinberg  Poland14.76XXDid not advance14.76
11Jim Gerhardt  United States14.6914.2814.06Did not advance14.69
12Rui Ramos  Portugal14.6913.8212.15Did not advance14.69
13Preben Larsen  Denmark14.62X14.19Did not advance14.62
14Tadashi Yamamoto  JapanXX14.57Did not advance14.57
15Arne Åhman  SwedenXX14.05Did not advance14.05

References