Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), the previous host of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 257 competitors, 213 men and 44 women, took part in 127 events in 18 sports. In 1952, they achieved their only gold medal during the last event of the last day of competition in Helsinki. Along with 1904 and 1996, this is Great Britain's lowest gold medal count.
Medallists + Medals by sportSportTotalEquestrian1001Athletics0145Sailing0101Cycling0011Swimming0011Field hockey0011Wrestling0011Total12811
Gold Harry Llewellyn, Duggie Stewart, and Wilf White — Equestrian, Jumping Team Competition
Silver Sheila Lerwill — Athletics, Women's High Jump Charles Currey — Sailing, Men's Finn Individual Competition
Bronze McDonald Bailey — Athletics, Men's 100 metres John Disley — Athletics, Men's 3000m Steeplechase Heather Armitage, Sylvia Cheeseman, Jean Desforges, and June Foulds-Paul — Athletics, Women's 4 × 100 metres Relay Shirley Cawley — Athletics, Women's long jump Donald Burgess, George Newberry, Alan Newton, and Ronald 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, and John Taylor — Field Hockey, Men's Team Competition
Athletics
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)
Boxing
Men's Flyweight: David Dower First Round – Defeated Abdelamid Boutefnouchet of France (3–0) Second Round – Defeated Leslie Donovan Perera Handunge of Ceylon (3–0) Third Round – Lost to Anatoli Bulakov of Soviet Union (1–2)
Men's Bantamweight: Thomas Nicholls First Round – Lost to Pentti Olavi Hämäläinen of Finland (0–3)
Men's Featherweight: Percival Lewis First Round – Lost to Georghe Ilie of Romania (0–3)
Men's Lightweight: Frederick Reardon First Round – Defeated Roger Cuche of Switzerland (KO 3R) Second Round – Defeated Aleksandr Zasuhin of Soviet Union (0–3) Third Round – Lost to Aleksy Antkiewicz of Poland (0–3)
Men's Light Welterweight: Peter Waterman First Round – Defeated Oscar Juan Galardo of Argentina (2–1) Second Round – Lost to Alexander Grant Webster of South Africa (0–3)
Men's Welterweight: John Maloney First Round – Lost to Július Torma of Czechoslovakia (1–2)
Men's Light Middleweight: Bernard Foster First Round – Lost to Petar Stankoff Spassoff of Bulgaria (1–2)
Men's Middleweight: Terence Gooding First Round – Defeated Moustafa Mohamed Fahim of Egypt (2–1) Second Round – Lost to Boris Georgiev Nikolov of Bulgaria (2–1)
Men's Light Heavyweight: Henry Cooper Second Round – Lost to Anatoli Perov of Soviet Union (1–2)
Men's Heavyweight: Edgar Hearn First Round – Defeated José Victorio Sartor of Argentina (2–1) Third Round – Lost to Ilkka Rickhard Koski of Finland (0–3)
Canoeing
Cycling
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, and Ronald Stretton Bronze Medal Match — defeated France (→ Bronze Medal)
Diving
Men AthleteEventPreliminaryFinalPointsRankPointsRankTotalRankPeter Elliott3 m springboard61.8520Did not advancePeter Heatly63.1716Did not advanceAnthony Turner71.365 Q80.547151.907Peter Heatly10 m platform67.7812Did not advanceAnthony Turner64.3419Did not advance
Women AthleteEventPreliminaryFinalPointsRankPointsRankTotalRankDorothy Drew3 m springboard51.2811Did not advanceAnn Long54.826 Q54.008108.828Charmain Welsh59.143 Q57.246116.385Valerie Lloyd-Chandos10 m platform35.3912Did not advanceAnn Long43.236 Q19.96563.195Diana Spencer43.167 Q17.60760.767
Equestrian
Fencing
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
Football
Gymnastics
The British Gymnastics team competed in 15 events and was made up of 14 gymnasts, (6 men and 8 women), including Frank Turner and George Weedon, both of whom had competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics.
Hockey
Modern pentathlon
Three male pentathletes represented Great Britain in 1952.
Individual Leon Lumsdaine John Hewitt Jervis Percy
Team Leon Lumsdaine John Hewitt Jervis Percy
Rowing
Great Britain had 23 male rowers participate in six out of seven rowing events in 1952.
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)
Sailing
Shooting
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
Swimming
Men Ranks given are within the heat. AthleteEventHeatSwim-offSemifinalFinalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankRonald Roberts100 m freestyle 59.5 1 Q colspan=2 59.5 7 Did not advanceJack Wardrop 58.9 1 Q colspan=2 59.4 6 Did not advanceThomas Welsh 59.5 2 Q colspan=2 1:00.3 7 Did not advanceRonald Burns400 m freestyle 4:55.2 5 colspan=2 Did not advancePeter Head 5:04.2 5 colspan=2 Did not advanceJack Wardrop 4:43.7 1 Q colspan=2 4:41.1 3 Q 4:39.9 5Bob Sreenan1500 m freestyle 19:59.2 4 colspan=4 Did not advanceJohn Brockway100 m backstroke 1:08.8 1 Q colspan=2 1:09.0 5 Did not advanceBert Wardrop 1:09.9 3 QSO 1:07.8 1 Q 1:08.6 4 Q 1:07.8 6Brian Barnes200 m breaststroke 2:48.6 5 colspan=2 Did not advanceRoy BothamRonald BurnsThomas WelshJack Wardrop4 × 200 m freestyle 8:59.7 2 Q colspan=4 8:52.9 6
Women Ranks given are within the heat. AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankAngela Barnwell100 m freestyle 1:07.6 3 Q 1:07.2 3 Q 1:08.6 8Jean Botham 1:10.5 4 Did not advanceLillian Preece 1:10.0 4 Did not advanceLillian Preece400 m freestyle 5:32.1 5 Did not advanceDaphne Wilkinson 5:16.6 2 Q 5:27.2 5 Did not advanceGrace Wood 5:31.2 4 Did not advanceMargaret McDowall100 m backstroke 1:17.5 3 Q colspan=2 1:18.4 7Pauline Musgrave 1:19.6 3 colspan=2 Did not advanceElenor Gordon200 m breaststroke 2:58.6 1 Q 2:57.8 2 2:57.6 Valerie Harris 3:04.6 3 Did not advanceJean Wrigley 3:04.5 3 Q 3:03.2 6 Did not advancePhyllis LintonJean BothamAngela BarnwellLillian Preece4 × 100 m freestyle 4:36.0 2 Q colspan=2 4:37.8 5
Water polo
Weightlifting
Wrestling
References