Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon
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The marathon at the 1952 Summer Olympics was held on 27 July on a course running from the Helsinki Olympic Stadium to Korso, Helsinki Rural Municipality (now Vantaa) and back.[1] Sixty-six athletes from 32 nations competed.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at three since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The winning margin was 2 minutes 31.8 seconds.
Men's marathon at the Games of the XV Olympiad | ||||||||||
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Venue | Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki | |||||||||
Dates | July 27 | |||||||||
Competitors | 66 from 32 nations | |||||||||
Winning time | 2:23:03.2 OR | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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The event was won by Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia, the nation's first Olympic marathon medal. Zátopek completed a long distance triple that has never been matched: the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres, and marathon golds in a single Games. Reinaldo Gorno's silver medal put Argentina on the marathon podium for the second straight Games, and the third of the four times Argentina had competed. Sweden took its first marathon medal since 1900, as Gustaf Jansson matched the nation's best result to date in the event. Great Britain's three-Games marathon medal streak ended.
Approximately halfway through the race, Zátopek famously pulled alongside pre-race favorite Jim Peters and asked him, "Jim, is this pace too fast?" Peters replied, "No, it isn't fast enough." Peters later said he was joking, but Zátopek accelerated into the lead and won by more than two and a half minutes. Peters failed to finish. [3]