Olympic Series

HELSINKI – 1952 OLYMPICS GAMES

The1952 Olympic Games were faced with perplexing issues. The first was the question of Soviet participation for the first time, in a host nation that had suffered greatly at the hands of its troublesome neighbor. Then, there were Germany and Japan, both banned from the 1948 Games. West Germany was now firmly in the Western bloc. A separate East German team first competed in 1968: until then, the two countries sent what was, in theory, at least, a joint delegation. As for China, invitations went to both the People’s Republic and Chiang Kai- Shek’s Taipei: fifty athletes from the former arrived five days before the Games ended. The latter stayed away in protest.

The Finn’s managed, with astonishing efficiency, to keep politics – and business, for that matter – away from the stadium. They embodied the spirit of the Olympics so well, with such warmth, thoughtfulness, enthusiasm, fair play, and organizational competence that some supported the idea of making Helsinki the permanent venue for future Olympic Games.

The fortnight began by ridiculing the Olympic Committee: at the opening ceremony, the great Johan ‘Hannes’ Kohlemainen, now 62, received the Olympic torch from Paavo Nurmi, aged 55,-the same Nurmi banned from the Games twenty years earlier because of supposed professionalism. Finland had never forgiven the IOC, and on that alone, the long ovation had all the piquancy of revenge- a discreet expression of nationalist sentiment, and the only such display during an otherwise model Games.

Zatopek Takes Gold in His Most Spectacular Victory Ever

The Helsinki 5000 meters, the peak of athletic achievement, will go down in history as one of sport’s most savage contests, fought to the bitter end, but also as a superior human challenge in which the human physique, supercharged by a desire that is almost innate, was pushed to its very limits. To comprehend what really happened on the final lap of the greatest 5,000 ever – perhaps the greatest track race ever – one would have to see the entire event replayed many, many times. It was a brutal war between four great athletes whose fortunes surged and ebbed from one moment to the next. Each saw his hopes shattered, restored, and then shattered again as the race progressed. The crowd of 70,000 lost all sense of self or reason.

It was an astonishing feat for three men – and there would have been four, if Chataway had not fallen 80 meters from the finish – to complete 5,000 meters inside 14:10 mins. Yet even the combined efforts of the foursome were eclipsed by the intensity of the tragedy, to use the word in its ancient sense of grandeur and nobility. The art of running, as mastered by Emily Zatopek, was to inflict pain with carefully- calibrated cruelty. His brutality was expertly dosed to break his opponent’s rhythm, crush their spirits and steer them into despair. Only an athlete of Zatopek’s abilities would dare mete out this sort of punishment. Zatopek alone could ennoble his rivals by allowing them to demonstrate their remarkable talents even as he destroyed them. Zatopek won Gold medals in 5,000 and 10,000 meters and the Marathon.

The Games in Brief

Opening Date                                                        19th  July 1952

Closing Date                                                         03 Aug 1952

Host Nation                                                           Finland

Nations Represented                                             69

Athletes                                                                4,925(518 women,4,407 men)

Sports                                                                  19(8 open to women)

Games officially opened by                                President Juho Paasikivi of Finland

Olympic FlameLit By                                         Paavo Nurmi and Hannes Kolehmainen

Olympic Oath Taken BY                                    Heikki Savolainen (gymnastics)

IOC President                                                    Sigfrid Edstrom (Sweden)

These Games took place in the middle of the Cold War, and the arrival of the Soviet Union for the first time led to various precautions being put in place. These proved unnecessary as the atmosphere that reigned in Helsinki really brought people together.

PS -: Matter researched from the Olympics Games Museum in Laussane.

Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal

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