Sporting highlights
The track and field star of Helsinki 1952 was the great Czech long-distance runner, Emil Zátopek.
A 10,000m gold medallist and 5,000m runner-up in London four years earlier, Zátopek successfully defended his Olympic title in the longer of the two events, winning by a full 100 metres and setting a new Olympic record.
Another Olympic record came his way when he took gold in the 5,000m, but his most outstanding achievement came in the marathon, an event he had never competed in before. After making a last-minute decision to enter the race, Zátopek kept pace with the then world record holder, Great Britain’s Jim Peters, before surging clear in the latter stages to win by a considerable margin and set yet another Olympic record. A pioneer in interval training, the Czech athlete is the only person to have won all three events at the same Olympic Games.
Australian sprinter Marjorie Jackson was nearly as successful as Zátopek. A firm favourite in the women’s 100m, especially after the legendary Dutch runner Fanny Blankers-Koen was taken ill in the semi-finals, Jackson lived up to expectations by setting a new world record en route to the gold medal. This was the first Olympic athletics title won by an Australian woman in the 20th century. Jackson quickly secured a second gold and another world record in the 200m, though a fumbled baton cost her a third medal in the 4x100m relay. At just 20 years old, Jackson retired from track and field before the next Olympic Games and later entered politics. She took part in the Opening Ceremony at Sydney 2000, helping to carry the Olympic flag.
In football, Hungary were crowned Olympic champions. Boasting legendary players such as József Bozsik, Nándor Hidegkuti, Sándor Kocsis and Ferenc Puskás, the Magnificent Magyars – to use one of their many nicknames – revolutionised football. Adopting a groundbreaking 4-2-4 formation, the Hungarians paved the way for the “total football” played by the great Netherlands sides of the 1970s, boasting players capable of playing in different positions. The dominant force of the day, the Magyars conceded just two goals and scored 20 on their way to Olympic gold. The firmest of favourites to win the World Cup in Switzerland two years later, they fell to a shock 3-2 defeat by West Germany, signalling the end of an era.
Another notable performer at Helsinki 1952 was US boxer Floyd Patterson, who won middleweight gold and went on to become the first two-time world heavyweight champion. His compatriot, John Davis, continued a remarkable 14-year winning streak by winning weightlifting gold in the super-heavyweight category. In the equestrian competitions, meanwhile, women competed alongside men in mixed events for the first time. Denmark’s Lis Hartel won silver in the dressage despite being paralysed below the knees.