1952 Summer Olympics

Multi-sport event in Helsinki, Finland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The 1952 Summer Olympics (Finnish: Kesäolympialaiset 1952; Swedish: Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (Finnish: XV olympiadin kisat; Swedish: Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 (Swedish: Helsingfors 1952), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland.

Quick facts: Host city, Nations, Athletes, Events, Opening...
Games of the XV Olympiad
A soild blue background is intruded on its left side by a structure, shaded in white, representing the tower and stand of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The Olympic rings, also white, lie at the top of the blue background, partly obscured by the stadium's tower. The word "1952" is written in white in the middle of the blue background, while "XV Olympia Helsinki" is written in blue, beneath the image.
Emblem of the 1952 Summer Olympics
Host cityHelsinki, Finland
Nations69
Athletes4,932 (4,411 men, 521 women)
Events149 in 17 sports (23 disciplines)
Opening19 July 1952
Closing3 August 1952
Opened by
Cauldron
StadiumHelsingin Olympiastadion
Summer
Winter
Close

After Japan declared in 1938 that it would be unable to host 1940 Olympics in Tokyo due to the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War, Helsinki had been selected to host the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were then cancelled due to World War II. Tokyo eventually hosted the games in 1964. Helsinki is the northernmost city at which a summer Olympic Games have been held. With London hosting the 1948 Olympics, 1952 is the most recent time when two consecutive summer Olympic Games were held entirely in Europe. The 1952 Summer Olympics was the last of the two consecutive Olympics to be held in Northern Europe, following the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway.

They were also the Olympic Games at which the most world records were broken until they were surpassed by the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.[2] The Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Thailand, and Saarland made their Olympic debuts at the 1952 Games. The United States won the most gold and overall medals.

Olympia-1952.jpg
Finnish postage stamp featuring the Helsinki Olympic Stadium issued in 1951[lower-alpha 1]