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Australia 1952 Olympic Team

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25.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 12. Wednesday 30th July 1952. Swimming. Fencing. Boxing. Helsinki and Käpylä Village If time, I recommend you read the diary note of John Treloar below. Helsinki was chosen for the 1940 Olympics after Japan pulled out in July 1938. Finland had less than two years to prepare and completed most venues in that time. Helsinki had a population of 381,000, the smallest city to host the Olympic Games. Finland had a population of just over four million...Continue reading

24.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 14. Friday 1st August 1952. Some swimming semi-finals and Lonkero - the Finnish answer to a drinking problem and not one of overconsumption. I get a mention in my Dad’s diary. I was late. Check it out below. Judy Joy Davies and Denise Norton missed out qualifying for the 400m freestyle. John Davies was in bed awaiting his final the following day and many of the team had headed off to explore Europe. ...Continue reading

24.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 8. Saturday 26th July 1952. 200m Gold to Marjorie Jackson, 1500m Final, Men’s 100m relay and Vern Barberis wins Bronze in Weightlifting. Vern Barberis, Weightlifting in the Light weight class lifted particularly well and dead-heated for second place with Lopatkin of Russia. Vern was 350gm heavier than Lopatkin and was awarded the Bronze medal. Following his 3rd place in the semi-final, Don MacMillan ran in the final of the 1500m. Don finished ninth...Continue reading

19.01.2022 When researching the 1952 team and the history of sending teams away, I 'found' two missing Olympians, Ruby Reynolds-Lewis (1924) and James Quinn (1932) who competed in the Arts Olympics. Here is a great piece written by Roy Masters in the SMH and The Age coving these two and based upon my research. If anyone knows the family of these two, please get in contact with me. https://www.smh.com.au//lost-olympians-explored-true-beaut

18.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 7. Thursday 25th July 1952. Track and Field, Pentathlon, Fencing and the Cyclists continue to prepare. Forbes Carlile represented Australia in the Modern Pentathlon. The competition included, a 5000 metre horse event, fencing, shooting, swimming and a 4000 metre running race over a cross country course. Forbes performed very well, taking 25th overall position out of 51 starters. His best places were 13th in the riding and 10th in swimming. Swimming s...Continue reading

18.01.2022 Vale John Griffith Davies - 1952 Olympics Gold Medal 200 metres Breaststroke John Davies was born in Willoughby NSW on the 17th of May 1929 and died, aged 90, on Tuesday, 24th of March 2020 in Pasadena, California, USA. One of Australia’s great swimmers in the mid to late 1940s and early 1950s, John held the record for 220 yards conventional breaststroke then changing to the butterfly-breaststroke to win the 1947 and 1948 Australian 220 yard titles. At the 1948 Olympics Joh...Continue reading

17.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 6. Wednesday 24th July 1952. Gold to Shirley Strickland. Curotta, Carr, Landy, Perry, Weinberg and Doubleday complete in heats and finals. In the stadium at 15.20 Edwin Carr was eliminated in the first round of the 400m. Every competitor who equalled or bettered 48 sec. in the heats of the 400 metres advanced to the next round except Edwin Carr, who was unfortunate to draw two very fast opponents in his heat. Morris Curotta could not repeat his outs...Continue reading

16.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 3. Monday 21st July 1952. Athletics continues, Rowing, Yachting and Fencing has begun Mervyn Wood had won his heat in the single sculls on the 20th and won his semifinal on the 21st. John Rogers and Murray Riley won their Repacharge in the Double Sculls. The Australian Pair of Don Palmer and Vic Middleton placed second in the Semifinal. The Australian Eight of Robert N Tinning, Ernest W Chapman, Nimrod Greenwood, David R Anderson, Geoff Williamson, ...Continue reading

14.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 15. Saturday 2nd August 1952. John Davies wins Australia’s last Gold medal and the Australian’s compete in the Road Race. Swimming From the book: John Davies’ style was all about maintaining an even, regular pace. It had served him brilliantly well so far. Still, some wondered whether the excitement, adrenaline and unpredictability of an Olympic final would force him into a rethink. The converse was true. Davies became even more metronomic, determ...Continue reading

14.01.2022 Vivian Chalwin, a great friend and supporter of the 1952 Australian Olympic Team, went to Helsinki with his 16mm Colour Camera. He took film of the Olympics with a focus on the Australians. He showed the movie at a reunion in February 1953, and after that date, it was forgotten and lost. It was found in late July by Viv's daughter on a VHS Cassette. Here it is now on Youtube. https://youtu.be/JOl5bRRlgXs Please let me know what you think via comments.

10.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 11. Tuesday 29th July 1952. Water Polo. Cycling. Swimming. Boxing - The Russell Brander Story There were problems from the start of the 1952 Water Polo tournament. Originally some of the first round matches were to be played in open seawater venues at Uunisaari and Humallahti. However, this had to be abandoned because the water temperature was too cold to allow competition at those venues. The change required that all the matches had to be reschedule...Continue reading

09.01.2022 Japan’s third Olympic Games? If asked, many would say that the 2020 Olympics were the second games awarded to Tokyo, the other, in 1964. When remembering the 1964 games, Olympic aficionados would heatedly discuss the Dawn Fraser flag issue, praise Betty Cuthbert’s gold in the women's 400 m or put their point on the exclusion of Murray Rose from the team by possibly overzealous swimming officials. All would remember the 1964 Olympics as the first in Asia and the first for To...Continue reading

07.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 1. Saturday 19th July 1952. The Opening Ceremony and the Peace Angel of Helsinki This is an extract from my father's diary from the Opening of the 1952 Helsinki olympics. Over the period of the Helsinki Games I will publish more extracts, stories and other diarist's extracts. A glimpse into the Olympics 68 years ago. What a lousy morning it turned out to be as we prepared for breakfast and after that the usual rest up period before the boys started ...Continue reading

06.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 5. Tuesday 23rd July 1952. Russell Mockridge arrives at Kapyla, John Treloar breaks down in the 200m semi final and Australia wins Bronze in the rowing Eights The arrival of Mockridge in the Olympic Village at 2am answered the question of ‘where was Russell Mockridge?’. In John Treloar’s diary, he describes his breakdown in the 200m semi-final. The Australian rowing Eight finished 3rd in 6.33.1 behind the US Navy crew in 6.25.9 and the Russian Army c...Continue reading

05.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 13. Thursday 31st July 1952. As we get to the end of the Olympics, just swimming and cycling today. The most exciting and ‘medal rich’ day for Russell Mockridge and Lionel Cox! There is an extra special treat today. Attached is an video file of the morning report by the ABC and an interview with Russell Mockridge....Continue reading

04.01.2022 World Bicycle Day - Russell Mockridge and the Tandem (with Lionel Cox) 1952 The 1952 Olympic Cycling team in Helsinki were to win two gold and one silver medals in the one day. Russell Mockridge and Lionel Cox won all the cycling medals on the 29th of July 1952. There is part of a larger story of Amateur versus Professional and controversy around Fidelity Bonds covered in a forthcoming book. The story of the Tandem Gold Medal in 1952 is worth telling....Continue reading

02.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 4. Tuesday 22nd July 1952. Marjorie Jackson’s World Record in 100m It was Marjorie Jackson’s day today. The day before, Winsome Cripps had won her heat of the 100 m as had Shirley Strickland in 12.0. Marjorie won her heat in 11.6. In the second round all three qualified for the semifinals held on the 22nd. Marjorie in 11.6, Winsome in 12.1 and Shirley in 12.0. In the semi final Marjorie won in the World Record time of 11.5 beating Winsome who ran... 12.0. In the other semifinal, Shirley was placed 2nd in 11.9. The final, held in the evening of the 22nd had three Australians entered. Marjorie won in World and Olympic record of 11.5, with Shirley third in 11.9 and Winsome in 11.9. Interestingly in my father’s diary he did not mention the race, but was more focused on his preparation for the 200m. He did go to some length when authoring the Helsinki chapter in the book by Keith Donald ‘Olympic saga : the track and field story, Melbourne, 1956’. John Treloar’s Diary note: Another so-so day dawned on us with clouds still above and still lying around in small puddles. Much the same morning as the previous few was spent writing home and resting up and also taking the clumps of cinders off my spikes. I was now wearing my long spikes and these were giving me a much better grip on the loose, wet track. Away to the stadium after lunch a little later than usual as I was in heat 18, which was to start 90 minutes after the first and so I was not warming up til the 200 metres had started. Drawn in lane 3 with a very meagre field I took my time and was very pleased with my time of 21.5 seconds especially as I had ambled up the straight. The muscle was marvellous and I had felt the knees bouncing up around the chin around the bend. Back into the room to lie down whilst the finals of the 800 were being run. I had drawn lane 1 for the second round with my Russian mate Soukharev in lane 2 and with the whole field outside I thought that I was set. But such was not to be as the bend proved very tight and I could not get balanced at all and I had to fight all the way home to keep in front and with the time of 21.6 secondsI was disappointed and nearly jobbed reporter Welsh when he doubted that I would make the final. I set myself up in a little bundle when I got home and aftertax went for a walk to free my mind but with absolutely no avail. I got up, walked about, ate and had a cup of Ovaltine but stills unsuccessful in dozing off. It was well into the morning beefier I must have finally fallen into the subconscious.

02.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 10. Monday 28th July 1952. Cycling begins. Mockridge and Cox on the tandem. Swimming. Yachting. Russell Mockridge had flown to Helsinki with the British Cycling Team and came with a tandem, arriving at Kapyla village at 2am on the 23rd. At the airport in London, the British Team’s cycle manufacturer had brought a spare tandem which the British team said they did not need. The Manufacturer offered it to Russell, and he said, I’ll try and find a use...Continue reading

01.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 2. Sunday 20th July 1952. Heats of the track sprints and the cyclists in training This is a continuation of the daily jottings from John Treloar’s diary from the 1952 Helsinki olympics. Today, the heats of the 100m and a note from Jim Nevin’s diary on preparations for the cycle road race later in the program. John Treloar’s Diary note:...Continue reading

01.01.2022 John Davies with Professor Frank Cotton

01.01.2022 Helsinki Olympics. Day 9. Sunday 27th July 1952. Women’s 100m Relay, Men’s 100m Freestyle, Springboard Diving, Women’s swimming Nancy Lyons and Marjorie McQuade were eliminated in their semi-finals of their swimming events. 200m breaststroke for Nancy and 100m freestyle for Marjorie. Nancy won Silver at the 1948 Olympics. Ron Faulds was placed 24th from a field of 36 in the Springboard Diving. From Bill Uren’s Report on the team, he states, Ron Faulds was most unfortuna...Continue reading