Basketball at the 1952 Summer Olympics

3rd Olympic Basketball Tournament
3rd Olympic Basketball Tournament
Helsinki 1952
Tournament details
Olympics	1952 Summer Olympics
Host nation	Finland
City	Helsinki
Duration	July 13 – August 2
Men's tournament
Teams	23
Medals
Gold medalists	United States
Silver medalists	Soviet Union
Bronze medalists	Uruguay
Tournaments
← London 1948	Melbourne 1956 →

Basketball at the 1952 Summer Olympics was the third appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. 23 nations entered the competition.

The top six teams at the

Finland

). Thirteen other nations competed in a preliminary round to determine the last six places in the sixteen-team Olympic tournament.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
United States (USA) Ron Bontemps Marc Freiberger Wayne Glasgow Charlie Hoag Bill Hougland John Keller Dean Kelley Bob Kenney Bob Kurland Bill Lienhard Clyde Lovellette Frank McCabe Dan Pippin Howie Williams	Stasys Stonkus Maigonis Valdmanis Viktor Vlasov	Tabaré Larre Borges Adesio Lombardo Roberto Lovera Sergio Matto Wilfredo Peláez Carlos Roselló

Qualifying rounds

Nations that lost two games in the qualifying rounds were eliminated. When there were only two teams left in each group, those teams advanced to the main tournament.

Group A

Group A consisted of Cuba, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Switzerland.


Round 1		Round 2		Qualified



Cuba	59

Belgium	51
		Cuba	56
				Bulgaria
		Bulgaria	62
Bulgaria	69

Switzerland	58



Elimination Match		Decider Match



		Cuba	71
				Cuba
Belgium	59	Belgium	63

Switzerland	49

Group B

Group B consisted of Hungary, Greece, Israel, and the Philippines.


Round 1		Round 2		Qualified



Hungary	75

Greece	38
		Hungary	35
				Philippines
		Philippines	48
Philippines	57

Israel	47



Elimination Match		Decider Match



		Hungary	47
				Hungary
Greece	54	Greece	44

Israel	52

Group C

Group C consisted of Canada, Italy, Turkey, Romania, and Egypt.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Qualified

Romania

51

Canada

68

Canada

72

Italy

57

Canada

63

Egypt

57

Egypt

64

Turkey

45

Canada

Egypt

Elimination Round 1

Elimination Round 2

Decider Match

Egypt

66

Romania

39

Italy

62

Italy

49

Italy

53

Turkey

37

First round

Canada def. Italy, 68–57
Egypt def. Turkey, 64–45

Bye: Romania

Second round

Romania's first game was a loss to Canada. Italy and Turkey played each other, with Turkey's second loss eliminating them.

Canada def. Romania, 72–51
Italy def. Turkey, 49–37

Bye: Egypt

Third round

Italy and Romania, who had both lost once, played each other. Romania's second loss eliminated them, while Canada and Egypt played each other, with Egypt being served its first loss; Canada qualified.

Italy def. Romania, 53–39
Canada def. Egypt, 63–57

Final round

Italy played its fourth game of the tournament against Egypt. The closely contested decisive game ended with Egypt qualifying for the main competition and Italy being eliminated.

Egypt def. Italy, 66–62

Group stage

The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	195	139	+56	6	Qualified for the quarterfinals
2	Uruguay	3	2	1	167	164	+3	5	Qualified for the quarterfinals
3	Czechoslovakia	3	1	2	161	164	−3	4
4	Hungary	3	0	3	143	199	−56	3

Source: Official Report, p. 676

25 July 1952

OR p. 680

United States	66–48	Hungary
Scoring by half: 37–23, 27–25

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Vanderperren (BEL), Wabby (EGY)

25 July 1952

OR p. 680

Uruguay	53–51	Czechoslovakia
Scoring by half: 32–32, 21–19

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Kostine (URS), Porto (BRA)

25 July 1952

OR p. 681

Uruguay	70–56	Hungary
Scoring by half: 36–33, 34–23

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Follati (ITA), Siener (FRA)

25 July 1952

OR p. 682

United States	72–47	Czechoslovakia
Scoring by half: 35–21, 37–26

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Ashri (EGY), Reverberi (ITA)

27 July 1952

OR p. 683

Czechoslovakia	63–39	Hungary
Scoring by half: 34–23, 29–16

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Vanderperren (BEL), Siniakov (URS)

27 July 1952

OR p. 683

United States	56–44	Uruguay
Scoring by half: 32–27, 24–17

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Siener (FRA), Chuard (SUI)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Soviet Union	3	3	0	192	143	+49	6	Qualified for the quarterfinals
2	Bulgaria	3	2	1	163	182	−19	5	Qualified for the quarterfinals
3	Mexico	3	1	2	172	171	+1	4
4	Finland	3	0	3	147	178	−31	3

Source: Official Report, p. 676

25 July 1952

OR p. 680

Soviet Union	74–46	Bulgaria
Scoring by half: 38–21, 36–25

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Reverberi (ITA), Posvar (TCH)

25 July 1952

OR p. 680

Mexico	66–48	Finland
Scoring by half: 36–21, 30–27

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Siener (FRA), Atakol (TUR)

25 July 1952

OR p. 681

Bulgaria	52–44	Mexico
Scoring by half: 27–16, 25–28

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Lastra (ARG), Szilagyi (HUN)

25 July 1952

OR p. 682

Soviet Union	47–35	Finland
Scoring by half: 23–14, 24–21

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Vanderperren (BEL), Wahby (EGY)

27 July 1952

OR p. 682

Bulgaria	65–64	Finland
Scoring by half: 31–30, 34–34

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Lastra (ARG), Wahby (EGY)

27 July 1952

OR p. 683

Soviet Union	71–62	Mexico
Scoring by half: 31–21, 40–40

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Reverberi (ITA), Atakol (TUR)

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Argentina	3	3	0	239	196	+43	6	Qualified for the quarterfinals
2	Brazil	3	2	1	184	179	+5	5	Qualified for the quarterfinals
3	Philippines	3	1	2	192	221	−29	4
4	Canada	3	0	3	201	220	−19	3

Source: Official Report, p. 676

25 July 1952

OR p. 680

Argentina	85–59	Philippines
Scoring by half: 44–30, 41–29

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Ashri (EGY), Szilagyi (HUN)

25 July 1952

OR p. 680

Brazil	57–55	Canada
Scoring by half: 33–27, 24–28

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Follati (ITA), Bilek (TUR)

25 July 1952

OR p. 682

Brazil	71–52	Philippines
Scoring by half: 32–25, 39–27

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Farrell (USA), Siniakov (URS)

25 July 1952

OR p. 682

Argentina	82–81	Canada
Scoring by half: 42–48, 40–33

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Chuard (SUI), Stefanovits (YUG)

27 July 1952

OR p. 683

Philippines	81–65	Canada
Scoring by half: 40–35, 41–30

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Ashri (EGY), Stefanovitch (YUG)

27 July 1952

OR p. 683

Argentina	72–56	Brazil
Scoring by half: 31–21, 41–35

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Farrell (USA), Gruia (ROU)

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	3	3	0	202	149	+53	6	Qualified for the quarterfinals
2	Chile	3	2	1	170	150	+20	5	Qualified for the quarterfinals
3	Egypt	3	1	2	176	221	−45	4
4	Cuba	3	0	3	149	177	−28	3

Source: Official Report, p. 676

25 July 1952

OR p. 680

France	92–64	Egypt
Scoring by half: 39–30, 53–34

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Farrell (USA), Stefanovitch (YUG)

25 July 1952

OR p. 681

Chile	53–52	Cuba
Scoring by half: 32–32, 32–20

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Lastra (ARG), Siniakov (URS)

25 July 1952

OR p. 682

Chile	74–46	Egypt
Scoring by half: 47–18, 27–28

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Porto (BRA), Posvar (TCH)

25 July 1952

OR p. 682

France	58–42	Cuba
Scoring by half: 30–17, 28–25

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Kostine (URS), Atakol (TUR)

27 July 1952

OR p. 683

France	52–43	Chile
Scoring by half: 25–17, 27–26

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Kostine (URS), Chong (KOR)

27 July 1952

OR p. 683

Egypt	66–55	Cuba
Scoring by half: 35–28, 31–27

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Porto (BRA), Posvar (TCH)

Quarterfinals

The top two teams in each quarterfinals advanced to the semifinals. The other two teams in each quarterfinals played in the fifth through eighth place classification.

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uruguay	3	2	1	194	187	+7	5^[a]	Qualified for the semifinals
2	Argentina	3	2	1	226	174	+52	5^[a]	Qualified for the semifinals
3	Bulgaria	3	1	2	177	220	−43	4^[b]	Qualified for 5th–8th placement playoffs
4	France	3	1	2	178	194	−16	4^[b]	Qualified for 5th–8th placement playoffs

Source: Official Report, p. 676
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Uruguay–Argentina: 66–65
^ ^a ^b Bulgaria–France: 67–58

28 July 1952

OR p. 684

Argentina	100–56	Bulgaria
Scoring by half: 53–29, 47–27

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Vanderperren (BEL), Porto (BRA)

28 July 1952

OR p. 684

France	68–66	Uruguay
Scoring by half: 38–30, 30–36

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Farrell (USA), Kostine (URS)

29 July 1952

OR p. 684

Uruguay	62–54	Bulgaria
Scoring by half: 35–27, 27–27

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Porto (BRA), Follati (ITA)

29 July 1952

OR p. 685

Argentina	61–52	France
Scoring by half: 31–27, 30–25

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Wahby (EGY), Siniakov (URS)

30 July 1952

FIBA

Bulgaria	67–58	France
Scoring by half: 39–23, 28–35

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Kostine (URS), Porto (CHI)

30 July 1952

OR p. 686

Uruguay	66–65	Argentina
Scoring by half: 39–31, 27–34

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Reverberi (ITA), Stefanovitch (YUG)

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	246	166	+80	6	Qualified for the semifinals
2	Soviet Union	3	2	1	190	195	−5	5	Qualified for the semifinals
3	Brazil	3	1	2	177	155	+22	4	Qualified for 5th–8th placement playoffs
4	Chile	3	0	3	159	256	−97	3	Qualified for 5th–8th placement playoffs

Source: Official Report, p. 676

28 July 1952

OR p. 684

United States	86–58	Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 36–22, 50–36

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Siener (FRA), Wahby (EGY)

28 July 1952

OR p. 684

Brazil	75–44	Chile
Scoring by half: 36–25, 39–19

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Reverberi (ITA), Ashri (EGY)

29 July 1952

OR p. 684

United States	103–55	Chile
Scoring by half: 47–32, 56–23

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Ashri (EGY), Posvar (TCH)

29 July 1952

OR p. 685

Soviet Union	54–49	Brazil
Scoring by half: 21–25, 33–24

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Reverberi (ITA), Chuard (SUI)

30 July 1952

OR p. 686

United States	57–53	Brazil
Scoring by half: 24–26, 33–27

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Wahby (EGY), Posvar (TCH)

30 July 1952

OR p. 686

Soviet Union	78–60	Chile
Scoring by half: 41–29, 37–31

Tennispalatsi, Helsinki
Referees: Chuard (SUI), Follati (ITA)

Knockout rounds

The Bronze game between Uruguay and Argentina

The final match between the Soviet Union and the United States

Brackets

Classification semifinals		5th place match



Chile	60

Bulgaria	53
		Chile	58

		Brazil	49
Brazil	59

France	44
		7th place match



		Bulgaria	58

		France	44

Semifinals		Gold medal match

July 31

Soviet Union	61
		August 2
Uruguay	57
		United States	36
August 1
		Soviet Union	25
United States	85

Argentina	76
		Bronze medal match

		August 2

		Uruguay	68

		Argentina	59

Semifinals

Classification 5–8 semifinals

31 July 1952
09:00

OR p. 686

Chile	60–53	Bulgaria
Scoring by half: 37–29, 23–24
Badrie 22		Pts: Panov 13

Messuhalli, Helsinki
Referees: Reverberi (ITA), Wahby (EGY)

31 July 1952
10:30

OR p. 686

Brazil	59–44	France
Scoring by half: 31–26, 28–18

Messuhalli, Helsinki
Referees: Lastra (ARG), Bilek (TUR)

Medal round semifinals

31 July 1952

OR p. 688

Soviet Union	61–57	Uruguay
Scoring by half: 31–28, 30–29

Messuhalli, Helsinki
Referees: Vanderperren (BEL), Chuard (SUI)

31 July 1952

OR p. 688

United States	85–76	Argentina
Scoring by half: 43–39, 42–37

Messuhalli, Helsinki
Referees: Ashri (EGY), Siener (FRA)

Finals

7th place final

1 August 1952
09:00

OR p. 688

Bulgaria	58–44	France
Scoring by half: 22–22, 36–24
Pts: Panov 12		Pts: Vacheresse 9

Messuhalli, Helsinki
Referees: Farrell (USA), Lastra (ARG)

5th place final

2 August 1952
09:00

OR p. 688

Chile	58–49	Brazil
Scoring by half: 32–24, 26–25
Cordero Fernández 14		Pts: Da Motta 16

Messuhalli, Helsinki
Referees: Chuard (SUI), Atakol (TUR)

Bronze medal match

1 August 1952
16:00

OR p. 688

Uruguay	68–59	Argentina
Scoring by half: 31–24, 37–35
Pts: Lombardo 23		Pts: Gazsó 19

Messuhalli, Helsinki
Referees: Follati (ITA), Wahby (EGY)

Gold medal match

2 August 1952
16:00

OR p. 688

United States	36–25	Soviet Union
Scoring by half: 17–15, 19–10
Pts: Lovellette 9		Pts: Korkia 8

Messuhalli, Helsinki
Referees: Vanderperren (BEL), Wahby (EGY)

Awards

1952 Olympic Basketball Champions
United States Third title

Participating nations

For the team rosters see: Basketball at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's team rosters.

Each country was allowed to enter one team of 14 players and they all were eligible for participation. A total number of 317 players were entered.

A total of 301(*) basketball players from 23 nations competed at the Helsinki Games:

Argentina (14)
Belgium (13)
Brazil (13)
Bulgaria (14)
Canada (13)
Chile (13)
Cuba (12)
Czechoslovakia (14)
Egypt (14)
Finland (14)
France (14)
Greece (12)
Hungary (13)
Israel (12)
Italy (13)
Mexico (13)
Philippines (12)
Romania (12)
Soviet Union (14)
Switzerland (14)
Turkey (12)
United States (14)
Uruguay (12)

(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least. Up to now only two reserve player can be named, 14 reserve players are unknown.

Team rosters

Place	Nation
1	United States (USA)
	Peoria Caterpillars/Purdue )
2	Soviet Union (URS)
	Stasys Stonkus (Žalgiris Kaunas) Maigonis Valdmanis (Rīgas ASK) Viktor Vlasov (Dynamo Moscow )
3	Uruguay (URU)
	Tabaré Larre Borges Adesio Lombardo Roberto Lovera Sergio Matto Wilfredo Peláez Carlos Roselló
4	Argentina (ARG) Head Coach: Jorge Canavesi Leopoldo Contarbio Hugo del Vecchio Oscar Furlong Juan Gazsó Ricardo González Rafael Lledó Alberto López Rubén Menini Omar Monza Rubén Pagliari Raúl Pérez Varela Ignacio Poletti Juan Uder Roberto Viau
5	Orlando Silva Infante
6	Zé Luiz
7	Vladimir Slavov Konstantin Totev
8	France (FRA) André Buffière André Chavet René Chocat Robert Crost Jacques Dessemme Louis Devoti Robert Guillin Roger Haudegand Robert Monclar Jean Perniceni Bernard Planque Jean-Pierre Salignon André Vacheresse Jean-Paul Beugnot
9–16	Bobby Simpson Harry Wade George Wearring Roy Williams
9–16	Ramón Wiltz Bucelo
9–16	Miroslav Kódl Luboš Kolář Jan Kozák Jiří Matoušek Ivan Mrázek Zdeněk Rylich Jaroslav Šíp Miroslav Škeřík Jaroslav Tetiva
9–16	Albert Fahmy Tadros
9–16	Finland (FIN) Kalevi Heinänen Esko Karhunen Juhani Kyöstilä Pentti Laaksonen Olavi Lahtinen Raimo Lindholm Pertti Mutru Raine Nuutinen Tapio Pöyhönen Tuomo Ristola Eero Salonen Timo Suviranta Kalevi Sylander Oiva Virtanen
9–16	Hungary (HUN) László Bánhegyi Pál Bogár György Bokor Tibor Cselkó Tibor Czinkán János Greminger László Hódi Ede Komáromi Tibor Mezőfi Péter Papp János Simon György Telegdy Tibor Zsíros
9–16	Rolando Rubalcava Peña Pioquinto Soto
9–16	Antonio Luis Martínez Ponciano Saldaña Meliton Santos Antonio Tantay Mariano Tolentino
17–23	Alexis van Gils Pierre van Huele
17–23	XAN Thessaloniki )
17–23	Hapoel Holon )
17–23	Italy (ITA) Giorgio Bongiovanni Achille Canna Carlo Cerioni Giordano Damiani Sergio Ferriani Sergio Marelli Federico Marietti Enrico Pagani Fabio Presca Renzo Ranuzzi Luigi Rapini Sergio Stefanini Dino Zucchi
17–23	Adrian Petroşanu Vasile Popescu Emanoil Răducanu Constantin Herold
17–23	Gerald Cottier Roger Domenjoz Marcel Moget Roger Prahin Jacques Redard Bernard Schmied Georges Stockly Jean-Pierre Voisin René Wohler
17–23	Turkey (TUR) Yüksel Alkan Altan Dinçer Nejat Diyarbakırlı Yalçın Granit Sadi Gülçelik Yılmaz Gündüz Erdoğan Partener Sacit Seldüz Turhan Tezol Güney Ülmen Ali Uras Mehmet Ali Yalım

References

^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Greece Basketball at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2016-05-26.

External links

Official Olympic Report

[table_hth_URU0.45978229281482-1] Uruguay–Argentina: 66–65

[table_hth_BUL0.45978229281482-2] Bulgaria–France: 67–58

[3] Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Greece Basketball at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2016-05-26.

[a]

[b]