15. Olympic Summer Games
Olympic Medals in the games of 1952 in Helsinki
459 Medals in 19 Sports in 149 Events
At the opening ceremony on July 19, 69 nations had already moved into the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Like 70,000 spectators, they waited to see who would carry the Olympic torch to the stadium. There were rumors and guesswork. Finally an elderly, bald man came to the stadium with his torch in running dress. The audience cried out with enthusiasm: it was Paavo Nurmi, the Finnish folk hero, the record Olympian! He had won a total of 9 gold and 3 silver medals from 1920 to 1928 and was the most successful participant of all the Olympic Games from 1896 to 1948. He had achieved incredible things. For unachievable tasks, the well-known saying was: "I'm not the Nurmi!". The 55-year-old ran through the stadium with ease and finally lit the Olympic flame. It was the first time that the Olympic flame was lit by a superstar.
Japan and Germany were allowed to take part again after the Second World War. The IOC wanted an all-German team. But the GDR refused. Finally two German teams competed: the Federal Republic of Germany and the Saarland. Saarland was part of the French zone of occupation after the Second World War until the end of 1956, in 1957 it became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Saarland could not win medals.
The situation in the Soviet Union that took part in the Helsinki Games for the first time was completely different. She won 71 medals. A shock for the United States, which just won 5 more medals. From now on, the cold war was also fought on the sporting level. Both superpowers had only one goal in the Olympics: to be the most successful nation! Every means was right for that. Doping was practiced on a large scale, regardless of the health and possible consequential damage to the athletes. There were also scandals and manipulations in the coming decades.
It was curious that Germany finished fifth with 24 medals in terms of the total number. The blemish was that there was not a single gold medal! Never again should a nation win so many medals without a gold medal. It was also the only time that Germany remained without a gold medal at summer games.
Carlo Pedersoli was eliminated fifth in the 100m freestyle swim. This event would not be worth mentioning if he had not become world famous after his sporting career as actor Bud Spencer.