The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1952 Olympic Games

1952 Summer Olympics

The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II...

 took place between July 26 and 27 at the Swimming Stadium

Helsinki Swimming Stadium

Helsinki Swimming Stadium is an outdoors swimming venue in Helsinki, Finland, located in the Eläintarha area to the northeast of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.-History:...

. This swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event used freestyle swimming

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl

Front crawl

The front crawl, forward crawl, or freestyle is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is nearly universally used during a freestyle swimming competition, hence the synonymously used term "freestyle". It is one of two...

 or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Clarke Scholes Clarke Scholes Clarke Currie Scholes was an American swimmer who won an Olympic gold medal in the 100 meter freestyle at the 1952 Games of Helsinki; he also won gold at the 1955 Pan American Games....		57.4
	Hiroshi Suzuki Hiroshi Suzuki (swimmer) was a freestyle swimmer from Japan. At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, he represented Japan winning two silver medals: one in the individual 100m freestyle and the other as a member of the 4x200m freestyle relay team.-References:*...		57.4
	Göran Larsson Göran Larsson (swimmer) Göran Larsson was a Swedish freestyle swimmer.He was born in Uppsala and died in Haninge.He won a bronze medal in 100 m freestyle at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, with the time of 57.5 seconds....		58.2
4	Toru Goto Toru Goto was a freestyle swimmer from Japan, who represented his native country at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. There he won a silver medal as a member of the 4x200m freestyle relay team, alongside Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, Hiroshi Suzuki and Teijiro Tanikawa....		58.5
5	Géza Kádas Géza Kádas Géza Kádas was a Hungarian swimmer and Olympic medalist. He participated at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, and a bronze medal in 100 metre freestyle in 1948....		58.6
6	Rex Aubrey		58.7
7	Aldo Eminente Aldo Eminente Aldo Eminente is a French swimmer and olympic medalist. He competed at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, where he received a bronze medal in 4 x 200 m freestyle relay with the French swimming team .-External links:*...		58.7
8	Ronald Gora Ronald Gora Ronald Francis Gora was an American swimmer, competing in the freestyle events.Gora competed for his native country at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. He won the gold medal in the men's 4×200 m freestyle relay event at the 1951 Pan American Games, alongside Dick Cleveland, Burwell...		58.8