Great Britain at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Flag of the United Kingdom
IOC code	GBR
NOC	British Olympic Association
inHelsinki
Competitors	257 (213 men and 44 women) in 18 sports
Flag bearer	Harold Whitlock
Medals Ranked 18th	Gold 1 Silver 2 Bronze 8 Total 11
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games

Great Britain, represented by theBritish Olympic Association (BOA), the previous host of the1948 Summer Olympics inLondon, competed at the1952 Summer Olympics inHelsinki,Finland. 257 competitors, 213 men and 44 women, took part in 127 events in 18 sports.^[1] In 1952, they achieved their only gold medal during the last event of the last day of competition inHelsinki. Along with 1904 and 1996, this is Great Britain's lowest gold medal count.

Medals by sport

Sport				Total
Equestrian	1	0	0	1
Athletics	0	1	4	5
Sailing	0	1	0	1
Cycling	0	0	1	1
Swimming	0	0	1	1
Field hockey	0	0	1	1
Wrestling	0	0	1	1
Total	1	2	8	11

• Harry Llewellyn,Duggie Stewart, andWilf White — Equestrian, Jumping Team Competition

• Sheila Lerwill — Athletics, Women's High Jump
• Charles Currey — Sailing, Men's Finn Individual Competition

• McDonald Bailey — Athletics, Men's 100 metres
• John Disley — Athletics, Men's 3000m Steeplechase
• Heather Armitage,Sylvia Cheeseman,Jean Desforges, andJune Foulds-Paul — Athletics, Women's 4 × 100 metres Relay
• Shirley Cawley — Athletics, Women's long jump
• Donald Burgess,George Newberry,Alan Newton, andRonald Stretton — Cycling, Men's 4000m Team Pursuit
• Helen Gordon — Swimming, Women's 200m Breaststroke
• Kenneth Richmond — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle Heavyweight
• Denys Carnill,John Cockett,John Conroy,Graham Dadds,Derek Day,Dennis Eagan,Robin Fletcher,Roger Midgley,Richard Norris,Neil Nugent,Anthony Nunn,Anthony Robinson, andJohn Taylor — Field Hockey, Men's Team Competition

Men's 100 metres

• McDonald Bailey

• First Round — 10.4s
• First Round — 10.5s
• Semifinals — 10.5s
• Final — 10.4s (→Bronze Medal)

Men's Hammer Throw

• Duncan Clark

• Qualifying Round — 50.69m
• Final Round — 51.07m (→ 18th place)

Women's discus throw

• Suzanne Allday

• Qualifying Round — 36.37 m
• Final — 37.96 m (→ 15th place)

Men's Flyweight:

• David Dower

1. First Round – DefeatedAbdelamid Boutefnouchet ofFrance (3–0)
2. Second Round – DefeatedLeslie Donovan Perera Handunge ofCeylon (3–0)
3. Third Round – Lost toAnatoli Bulakov ofSoviet Union (1–2)

Men's Bantamweight:

• Thomas Nicholls

1. First Round – Lost toPentti Olavi Hämäläinen ofFinland (0–3)

Men's Featherweight:

• Percival Lewis

1. First Round – Lost toGeorghe Ilie ofRomania (0–3)

Men's Lightweight:

• Frederick Reardon

1. First Round – DefeatedRoger Cuche ofSwitzerland (KO 3R)
2. Second Round – DefeatedAleksandr Zasuhin ofSoviet Union (0–3)
3. Third Round – Lost toAleksy Antkiewicz ofPoland (0–3)

Men's Light Welterweight:

• Peter Waterman

1. First Round – DefeatedOscar Juan Galardo ofArgentina (2–1)
2. Second Round – Lost toAlexander Grant Webster ofSouth Africa (0–3)

Men's Welterweight:

• John Maloney

1. First Round – Lost toJúlius Torma ofCzechoslovakia (1–2)

Men's Light Middleweight:

• Bernard Foster

1. First Round – Lost toPetar Stankoff Spassoff ofBulgaria (1–2)

Men's Middleweight:

• Terence Gooding

1. First Round – DefeatedMoustafa Mohamed Fahim ofEgypt (2–1)
2. Second Round – Lost toBoris Georgiev Nikolov ofBulgaria (2–1)

Men's Light Heavyweight:

• Henry Cooper

1. Second Round – Lost toAnatoli Perov ofSoviet Union (1–2)

Men's Heavyweight:

• Edgar Hearn

1. First Round – DefeatedJosé Victorio Sartor ofArgentina (2–1)
2. Third Round – Lost toIlkka Rickhard Koski ofFinland (0–3)

Road Competition

Men's Individual Road Race (190.4 km)

• Desmond Robinson — 5:18:08.9 (→ 26th place)
• Brian Robinson — 5:18:08.9 (→ 27th place)
• Graham Vines — 5:22:33.2 (→ 31st place)
• Leslie Ingman — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Track Competition

Men's 1.000m Time Trial

• Donald McKellow

• Final — 1:13.3 (→ 5th place)

Men's 1.000m Sprint Scratch Race

• Cyril Peacock — 4th place

Men's 4.000m Team Pursuit

• Alan Newton,Donald Burgess,George Newberry, andRonald Stretton

• Bronze Medal Match — defeated France (→Bronze Medal)

Men

Women

17 fencers, 14 men and 3 women, represented Great Britain in 1952.

Men's foil

• René Paul
• Luke Wendon
• Raymond Paul

Men's team foil

• René Paul,Luke Wendon,Emrys Lloyd,Raymond Paul,Harry Cooke,Allan Jay

Men's épée

• Allan Jay
• Ronald Parfitt
• René Paul

Men's team épée

• René Paul,Allan Jay,Christopher Grose-Hodge,Ronald Parfitt,Raymond Harrison,Charles de Beaumont

Men's sabre

• William Beatley
• Bob Anderson
• Olgierd Porebski

Men's team sabre

• Roger Tredgold,Olgierd Porebski,Bob Anderson,William Beatley,Luke Wendon

Women's foil

• Mary Glen-Haig
• Gillian Sheen
• Patricia Buller

TheBritish Gymnastics team competed in 15 events and was made up of 14 gymnasts, (6 men and 8 women), includingFrank Turner andGeorge Weedon, both of whom had competed in the1948 Summer Olympics.

Three male pentathletes represented Great Britain in 1952.

Individual

• Leon Lumsdaine
• John Hewitt
• Jervis Percy

Team

• Leon Lumsdaine
• John Hewitt
• Jervis Percy

Great Britain had 23 male rowers participate in six out of sevenrowing events in 1952.^[2]

Men's single sculls – Fourth

• Tony Fox

Men's double sculls

• John MacMillan (born 1932)
• Peter Brandt

Men's coxless pair – Fourth

• David Callender
• Christopher Davidge

Men's coxless four – Fourth

• Harry Almond
• John Jones
• James Crowden
• Adrian Cadbury

Men's coxed four – Fourth

• John MacMillan (born 1928)
• Graham Fisk
• Laurence Guest
• Peter de Giles
• Paul Massey (cox)

Men's eight – Fourth

• David Macklin
• Alastair MacLeod
• Nicholas Clack
• Roger Sharpley
• Edward Worlidge
• Brian Lloyd
• William Windham
• David Jennens
• John Hinde (cox)

Twelve shooters represented Great Britain in 1952.

25 m pistol

• Henry Steele
• Henry Swire

50 m pistol

• Ronald Guy
• William White

300 m rifle, three positions

• John Pearson
• Jocelyn Barlow

50 m rifle, three positions

• Steffen Cranmer
• Charles Hyde

50 m rifle, prone

• Charles Hyde
• Steffen Cranmer

100m running deer

• Cyril Mackworth-Praed
• Ingram Capper

Trap

• Enoch Jenkins
• Charles Lucas

Men

Ranks given are within the heat.

Women

Ranks given are within the heat.

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Angela Barnwell	100 m freestyle	1:07.6	3Q	1:07.2	3Q	1:08.6	8
Jean Botham		1:10.5	4	Did not advance
Lillian Preece		1:10.0	4	Did not advance
Lillian Preece	400 m freestyle	5:32.1	5	Did not advance
Daphne Wilkinson		5:16.6	2Q	5:27.2	5	Did not advance
Grace Wood		5:31.2	4	Did not advance
Margaret McDowall	100 m backstroke	1:17.5	3Q	—		1:18.4	7
Pauline Musgrave		1:19.6	3	—		Did not advance
Elenor Gordon	200 m breaststroke	2:58.6	1Q	2:57.8	2	2:57.6
Valerie Harris		3:04.6	3	Did not advance
Jean Wrigley		3:04.5	3Q	3:03.2	6	Did not advance
Phyllis Linton Jean Botham Angela Barnwell Lillian Preece	4 × 100 m freestyle	4:36.0	2Q	—		4:37.8	5

• Nations at the 1952 Summer Olympics
• Great Britain at the Summer Olympics by year
• 1952 in British sport

• Use British English from August 2023
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from February 2015
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata