Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

The men's 110 metres hurdles event at the 1952 Summer Olympic Games took place July 23 and July 24. Thirty athletes from 20 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by the American Harrison Dillard. Dillard's compatriots, Jack Davis and Arthur Barnard, took 2nd and 3rd place. It was the fourth of nine consecutive American victories, and the tenth overall gold medal for the United States in the 110 metres hurdles. It was also the second of four consecutive American podium sweeps, and the sixth overall sweep by the United States in the event.

Men's 110 metres hurdles at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Left-right: Davis, Dillard, Barnard
Venue	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Dates	July 23 (heats) July 24 (semifinals, final)
Competitors	30 from 20 nations
Winning time	13.7 OR
Medalists
Harrison Dillard  United States Jack Davis  United States Arthur Barnard  United States

Video on YouTube amateur film
Video on YouTube Official film

Summary

This was the completion of the fabled story. Harrison Dillard failed to qualify in this event at the US Olympic Trials four years earlier, but succeeded in qualifying in a secondary event, the 100 meters, which he then won at the 1948 Olympics. After the long wait, this was his second chance to run the hurdles. American World Record holder Dick Attlesey had suffered career ending injuries earlier in the season and was not here. Dillard equalled the Olympic record of 13.9 in the first heat.

In the final, Jack Davis popped out of his blocks early in the first attempt to get the race started. In this era, a first false start only merited a warning, not disqualification. On the second start, fearing disqualification, Davis was pinned in his blocks. Dillard was out fast in the center of the track, gaining a full metre lead on Davis and Arthur Barnard by the second barrier. From there, Davis separated from Barnard and was slowly chipping away at Dillard's lead with each flight of hurdles. Barnard was also separating from the rest of the contenders. Davis was not able to catch Dillard, but did make it close, both men getting the same hand time 13.7, both getting credit for a new Olympic record. But new experimental fully automatic timing showed Dillard with a 13.91 and Davis with a 14.00. Barnard finished 4 tenths of a second later, another 4 tenths of a second faster than the rest of the world. This was the sixth time USA has swept the 110 metres hurdles. They would do it again in the next two Olympics for a total of eight.

Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1948 returned. Harrison Dillard of the United States was again a favorite to start the year. In 1948, he had fallen at the U.S. Olympic trials and failed to qualify in the event (though he did qualify in the 100 metres flat—eventually winning the gold medal in that event in London). His primary competition, world record holder Dick Attlesey, was injured and did not make it through the U.S. trials. Arthur Barnard and Jack Davis, however, completed an American team that once again was deep and expected to make a run for a podium sweep.

Cuba, Egypt, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Soviet Union, and Venezuela each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 12th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition used the basic three-round format introduced in 1908. The first round consisted of six heats, with 5 or 6 hurdlers each (before withdrawals; heat 5, for example, had only three starters). The top two hurdlers in each heat advanced to the semifinals. The 12 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 6 hurdlers each; the top three hurdlers in each advanced to the 6-man final.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1952 Summer Olympics.

World record	Richard Attlesey (USA)	13.5	Helsinki, Finland	10 July 1950
Olympic record	William Porter (USA)	13.9	London, United Kingdom	4 August 1948

Harrison Dillard matched the Olympic record in the first heat, then broke it in the final. He and Jack Davis were both officially clocked at 13.7 seconds.

Schedule

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

Date	Time	Round
Wednesday, 23 July 1952	15:00	Round 1
Thursday, 24 July 1952	15:00 18:20	Semifinals Final

Results

Round 1

The first round was held on July 23. The two fastest runners from each heat qualified to the semifinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	2	Harrison Dillard	United States	13.9	14.03	Q, =OR
2	3	Sergey Popov	Soviet Union	14.8	14.99	Q
3	6	Olivier Bernard	Switzerland	15.1	15.29
4	1	Erdal Barkay	Turkey	15.2	15.34
5	4	Edmundo Ohaco	Chile	15.4	15.61
6	5	Olli Alho	Finland	15.4	15.63

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	4	Yevhen Bulanchyk	Soviet Union	14.4	14.65	Q
2	6	Edmond Roudnitska	France	14.9	15.11	Q
3	3	Estanislao Kocourek	Argentina	15.0	15.20
4	2	Risto Syrjänen	Finland	15.4	15.63
5	1	Juan Lebrón	Puerto Rico	15.4	15.71
6	5	Fouad Yazgi	Egypt	16.1	16.26

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	3	Jack Davis	United States	14.0	14.23	Q
2	6	Stanko Lorger	Yugoslavia	14.8	15.08	Q
3	1	Samuel Anderson	Cuba	15.1	15.24
4	4	Wolfgang Troßbach	Germany	15.1	15.24
5	2	Téofilo Davis	Venezuela	15.7	15.96
—	5	Sebastián Junqueras	Spain	DNS	—

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	4	Ken Doubleday	Australia	14.5	14.65	Q
2	6	Jack Parker	Great Britain	14.8	15.08	Q
3	2	Gordon Crosby	Canada	14.8	15.11
4	5	Téofilo Colón	Puerto Rico	15.2	15.48
—	1	Mikhail Mikhail	Greece	DNS	—
	3	Imre Retezar	Hungary	DNS	—

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	3	Ray Weinberg	Australia	14.4	14.62	Q
2	5	Väinö Suvivuo	Finland	14.9	15.21	Q
3	4	Jörn Gevert	Chile	15.2	15.44
—	2	Hakan Eper	Turkey	DNS	—
	1	Wilson Carneiro	Brazil	DNS	—

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	6	Arthur Barnard	United States	14.4	14.61	Q
2	4	Peter Hildreth	Great Britain	14.7	14.94	Q
3	5	Michitaka Kinami	Japan	15.0	15.31
4	2	Ingi Þorsteinsson	Iceland	15.6	15.76
5	1	Jacques Dohen	France	15.7	16.02
6	3	Johny Fonck	Luxembourg	16.1	16.35

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on July 24. The three fastest runners advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	4	Harrison Dillard	United States	14.0	14.15	Q
2	6	Arthur Barnard	United States	14.2	14.44	Q
3	5	Ken Doubleday	Australia	14.5	14.74	Q
4	1	Sergey Popov	Soviet Union	14.7	15.04
5	3	Edmond Roudnitska	France	14.9	15.15
6	2	Peter Hildreth	Great Britain	14.9	15.15

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	3	Jack Davis	United States	14.4	14.62	Q
2	1	Yevhen Bulanchyk	Soviet Union	14.4	14.70	Q
3	6	Ray Weinberg	Australia	14.6	14.99	Q
4	5	Stanko Lorger	Yugoslavia	14.9	15.09
5	4	Väinö Suvivuo	Finland	14.9	15.31
6	2	Jack Parker	Great Britain	15.0	15.31

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
	4	Harrison Dillard	United States	13.7	13.91	OR
	1	Jack Davis	United States	13.7	14.00	OR
	5	Arthur Barnard	United States	14.1	14.40
4	2	Yevhen Bulanchyk	Soviet Union	14.5	14.73
5	3	Ken Doubleday	Australia	14.7	14.82
6	6	Ray Weinberg	Australia	14.8	15.15