Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's shot put

Men's shot put
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
VenueHelsinki Olympic Stadium
Dates21 July (qualifying and final)
Medalists
 Parry O'Brien
United States
 Darrow Hooper
United States
 Jim Fuchs
United States
Athletics at the
1952 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m   men   women
200 m men women
400 m men
800 m men
1500 m men
5000 m men
10,000 m men
80 m hurdles women
110 m hurdles men
400 m hurdles men
3000 m
steeplechase		 men
4×100 m relay men women
4×400 m relay men
Road events
Marathon men
10 km walk men
50 km walk men
Field events
Long jump men women
Triple jump men
High jump men women
Pole vault men
Shot put men women
Discus throw men women
Javelin throw men women
Hammer throw men
Combined events
Decathlon men

The men's shot put event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. The competition was held on 21 July at Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The finals were swept by the United States, with Americans Parry O'Brien taking the gold medal, Darrow Hooper earning silver and Jim Fuchs receiving his second consecutive bronze medal in the event.

While recuperating from surgery to deal with a knee injury, Fuchs developed a technique he called "the sideways glide" which enabled him to compete without pain and gain greater distance on his tosses. Fuchs, who was the world record holder at the time of the games, was nursing a pulled ligament in his right hand, which interfered with his ability to compete.[1] In the years after his bronze medal performance at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Fuchs was the best shot putter in the world, winning 88 consecutive meets and setting four world records in a stretch of 14 months.[2]

Using a technique that became known as the "O'Brien glide", Parry O'Brien broke Fuchs's consecutive meet winning streak and started a streak of his own that ran from July 1952 to June 1956 in which he won 116 consecutive meets and set 17 world records, in addition to becoming the first person to break through the distances of 18 meters, 60 feet and 19 meters.[3] Parry would go on to repeat his gold medal performance at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and win a silver medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, before falling just out of the medals in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[4]

Hooper beat both O'Brien and Fuchs in the 1952 Final Trials with a throw of 17.41m (57–1⅝), a distance that would have won him a gold medal if he had been able to repeat it in Helsinki.[5] In the first round of the final O'Brien reached a distance of 17.41 (57–1½), which gave him the lead, holding on until the final round when Hooper's 17.39 (57–0¾) put him just two centimeters short of a gold medal.[6]

Results

Qualifying round

Qualification: Qualifying Performance 14.60 (Q) advance to the Final.

Rank Athlete Nationality Result Notes
1 Parry O'Brien United States 16.05
2 Oto Grigalka Soviet Union 15.90
3 Roland Nilsson Sweden 15.81
4 Darrow Hooper United States 15.48
5 Jim Fuchs United States 15.29
5 Jiří Skobla Czechoslovakia 15.29
7 Georgy Fyodorov Soviet Union 15.16
8 Per Stavem Norway 15.12
9 Alois Schwabl Austria 15.00
10 Angiolo Profeti Italy14.93
11 Tadeusz Krzyżanowski Poland 14.90
12 John Savidge Great Britain 14.89
13 Lucien Guillier France 14.62
14 Aapo Perko Finland 14.50
15 Toivo Telen Finland 14.30
16 Ramón Rosario Puerto Rico 14.21
17 Kaarto Rask Finland 14.08
18 Konstantinos Giataganas Greece 14.05
19 John Giles Great Britain 13.73
20 Nuri Turan Turkey 13.00

WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

DNF = did not finish | DNS = did not start | DQ = disqualification | NM = no mark (i.e. no valid result) | Q = qualification by place in heat | q = qualification by overall place

Final

Rank Athlete Nationality123456 Result Notes
1st Parry O'Brien[4] United States 17.41 17.21 16.79 16.87 17.12 16.53 17.41 OR
2nd Darrow Hooper[5] United States 17.02 16.59 17.08 16.90 16.93 17.39 17.39
3rd Jim Fuchs[7] United States 16.93 x x x 17.06 x 17.06
4 Oto Grigalka Soviet Union 16.53 16.78 15.91 16.27 16.29 16.33 16.78
5 Roland Nilsson Sweden 16.55 16.08 16.33 x x x 16.55
6 John Savidge Great Britain 16.17 16.18 x 16.19 16.03 x 16.19
7 Georgy Fyodorov Soviet Union 15.98 16.01 16.06 16.06
8 Per Stavem Norway 15.14 16.02 15.31 16.02
9 Jiří Skobla Czechoslovakia 15.73 15.60 15.92 15.92
10 Tadeusz Krzyżanowski Poland 15.08 14.57 14.32 15.08
11 Lucien Guillier France 13.94 14.46 14.84 14.84
12 Angiolo Profeti Italy 14.59 14.00 14.74 14.74
13 Alois Schwabl Austria 14.43 14.20 14.45 14.45

Key: OR = Olympic record

References

  1. ↑ Danzig, Allison. "4 Olympic Titles Won By U. S.; Soviet Leads; United States Takes Four Track and Field Tests Before 55,000 at Olympics REMIGINO WINS 100 IN BLANKET FINISH At the Olympics: A Photo Finish, a Grand-Slam Presentation and a Pole Vault Qualifier", The New York Times, 22 July 1952. Accessed 19 October 2010.
  2. ↑ Douglas, Martin. "James E. Fuchs, Shot-Put Innovator, Dies at 82", The New York Times, 17 October 2010. Accessed 18 October 2010
  3. ↑ Elliott, Helene. "Parry O'Brien, 75; champion revolutionized shotput throw", Los Angeles Times, 23 April 2007. Accessed 19 October 2010.
  4. 1 2 Parry O'Brien, Sports-Reference.com. Accessed 19 October 2010.
  5. 1 2 Darrow Hooper, Sports-Reference.com. Accessed 19 October 2010.
  6. ↑ Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's Shot Put, SportsReference.com. Accessed 19 October 2010.
  7. ↑ Jim Fuchs, Sports-Reference.com. Accessed 19 October 2010.
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