South Africa at the 1952 Summer Olympics

Sporting event delegation

South Africa at the 1952 Summer Olympics

IOC code	RSA
NOC	South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee
Website	www.sascoc.co.za
in Helsinki
Competitors	64 (60 men and 4 women) in 13 sports
Flag bearer	Schalk Booysen^[1]
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

Boxing

Cycling

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

Men's 3m Springboard

Willem Welgemoed

Preliminary Round — 61.64 points (→ 22nd place)

Gymnastics

Modern pentathlon

One male pentathlete represented South Africa in 1952.

Harry Schmidt

Rowing

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

Men's single sculls

Ian Stephen

Men's coxless four

Sailing

Shooting

One shooter represented South Africa in 1952.

50 m rifle, prone

William Murless

Swimming

Water polo

Weightlifting

Wrestling

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.