South Africa at the 1952 Summer Olympics

South Africa at the
1952 Summer Olympics
South Africa at the; 1952 Summer Olympics
IOC code	RSA; (ZAF used at these Games)
NOC	South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee
in Helsinki
Competitors	64 (60 men and 4 women) in 13 sports
Flag bearer	Schalk Booysen
Medals; Ranked 12th	Gold 2 Silver 4 Bronze 4 Total 10
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
	1904; 1908; 1912; 1920; 1924; 1928; 1932; 1936; 1948; 1952; 1956; 1960; 1964–1988; 1992; 1996; 2000; 2004; 2008; 2012; 2016; 2020; 2024;

The Union of South Africa competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 64 competitors, 60 men and 4 women, took part in 59 events in 13 sports.^[2]

Medalists

Gold

Esther Brand — Athletics, Women's High Jump
Joan Harrison — Swimming, Women's 100m Backstroke

Silver

Daphne Hasenjager — Athletics, Women's 100 metres
Theunis van Schalkwyk — Boxing, Men's Light Middleweight
George Estman, Robert Fowler, Thomas Shardelow, and Alfred Swift — Cycling, Men's 4.000m Team Pursuit
Raymond Robinson and Thomas Shardelow — Cycling, Men's 2.000m Tandem

Bronze

Willie Toweel — Boxing, Men's Flyweight
Leonard Leisching — Boxing, Men's Featherweight
Andries Nieman — Boxing, Men's Heavyweight
Raymond Robinson — Cycling, Men's 1.000m Time Trial

Athletics

South Africa was represented in athletics by 10 men and 4 women.

Men:

100 metres - Neville Price (did not compete)
200 metres - Schalk Booysen (4th place in Heat 3); Neville Price (did not compete)
400 metres - Louis van Biljon (4th place in Quarterfinal 3); Schalk Booysen (4th place in Heat 12); John Anderton (5th place in Heat 2)
1500 metres - Athol Jennings (6th place in Heat 3)
10,000 metres - Bill Keith (28th place); Syd Luyt (did not compete)
Marathon - Wally Hayward (10th place); Syd Luyt (11th place); Bill Keith (19th place)
400 metres hurdles - Ron Wilke (5th place in Quarterfinal 3)
4 × 400 metres relay - 4th place in Heat 3
Louis van Biljon, Ron Wilke, John Anderton, Bill Chivell; Schalk Booysen (DNS)
Long jump - Neville Price (11th place)
Triple jump - Neville Price (did not compete)

Women:

100 metres - Daphne Hasenjäger (2nd place) Silver Medal
Edna Maskell (5th place in Quarterfinal 4)
200 metres - Daphne Hasenjäger (6th place)
80 metres hurdles - Edna Maskell (5th place in Semifinal 1)
High jump - Esther Brand (1st place) Gold Medal
Shot put - Esther Brand (did not compete)
Discus throw - Esther Brand (20th place in qualifying round)

Boxing

South Africa was represented in boxing by 8 men.

Flyweight - Willie Toweel (=3rd place) Bronze Medal
Bantamweight - Lennie von Graevenitz (=5th place)
Featherweight - Len Leisching (=3rd place) Bronze Medal
Lightweight - Johnny van Rensburg (=17th place)
Light welterweight - Grant Webster (=5th place)
Welterweight - Hendrik van der Linde (=9th place)
Light middleweight - Theunis van Schalkwyk (2nd place) Silver Medal
Heavyweight - Dries Niemann (=3rd place) Bronze Medal

Cycling

South Africa was represented in cycling by 5 men.

Road Competition

Men's Individual Road Race (190.4 km)

George Estman — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Alfred Swift — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Robert Fowler — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Track Competition

Men's 1.000m Time Trial

Raymond Robinson

Final — 1:13.0 (→ Bronze Medal)

Men's 1.000m Sprint Scratch Race

Raymond Robinson — 5th place

Men's 4.000m Team Pursuit

Alfred Swift, George Estman, Robert Fowler, and Thomas Shardelow

Final — Lost to Italy (→ Silver Medal)

Diving

One male diver represented South Africa in 1952.

Men's 3m Springboard

Willem Welgemoed

Preliminary Round — 61.64 points (→ 22nd place)

Gymnastics

South Africa was represented in gymnastics by three men in 7 out of 8 events, not having enough competitors to take part in the team all-around.

Individual all-around - Ronnie Lombard (139th place); Jack Wells (169th place); Rolf Yelseth (171st place)
Floor exercise - Ronnie Lombard (=164th place); Jack Wells (=166th place); Rolf Yelseth (177th place)
Horizontal bar - Ronnie Lombard (=98th place); Rolf Yelseth (141st place); Jack Wells (166th place)
Parallel bars - Rolf Yelseth (161st place); Ronnie Lombard (163rd place); Jack Wells (=173rd place)
Pommel horse - Ronnie Lombard (=129th place); Rolf Yelseth (=162nd place)
Rings - Rolf Yelseth (=127th place); Jack Wells (147th place); Ronnie Lombard (=163rd place)
Vault - Jack Wells (=79th place); Ronnie Lombard (=98th place); Rolf Yelseth (174th place)

Modern pentathlon

One male pentathlete represented South Africa in 1952.

Harry Schmidt

Rowing

South Africa had five male rowers participating in two out of seven rowing events in 1952.^[3]

Men's single sculls

Ian Stephen

Men's coxless four

Sailing

South Africa entered two of the five sailing classes with four men.

One Person Dinghy - Hellmut Stauch (16th place)
5.5 metres (Shoveller) (7th place)

Eric Beningfield, Joe Ellis-Brown, Noel Horsfield

Shooting

One male shooter represented South Africa in 1952.

50 m rifle, prone

William Murless

Swimming

South Africa was represented in 8 of the 11 swimming events by five men and one woman.^[4]

Men's 100 metre freestyle

John Durr (21); Dennis Ford (36)

Men's 400 metre freestyle

Peter Duncan (4); Graham Johnston (10); Dennis Ford (17)

Men's 1500 metres freestyle

Peter Duncan (7); Graham Johnston (17); Dennis Ford (18)

Men's 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay

Graham Johnston; Dennis Ford; John Durr; Peter Duncan; South Africa - 7th

Men's 100 metre backstroke

Lin Meiring (8)

Women's 100 metre freestyle

Joan Harrison (4)

Women's 400 metre freestyle

Joan Harrison (9)

Women's 100 metre backstroke

Joan Harrison (1) (→

Gold Medal)

Water polo

The South African men's water polo team finished in 9th place.

William Aucamp, Ron Meredith, Gerald Goddard, Douglas Melville, Johnnie van Gent, Des Cohen, Solly Yach, Dennis Pappas; Frank Butler, Luis González (did not compete)

Weightlifting

South Africa was represented in weightlifting by four men.

Featherweight - James van Rensburg (18th place)
Lightweight - Barrie Engelbrecht (13th place)
Light-heavyweight - Issy Bloomberg (6th place)
Middle-heavyweight - Theunis Jonck (8th place)

Wrestling

South Africa was represented by 5 male wrestlers.

Men's freestyle

Flyweight - Louis Baise (6th place)
Lightweight - Blondie Pienaar (place not known)
Welterweight - Cyril Martin (place not known)
Middleweight - Calie Reitz (=6th place)
Light-Heavyweight - Jan Theron (6th place)

References

^ "Schalk Booysen". olympedia.org. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
^ "South Africa at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "South Africa Rowing at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
^ Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XV Olympiad, Helsinki, 1952, pp. 558–605 (online version at LA1984.org)