The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed as Great Britain at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 257 competitors, 213 men and 44 women, took part in 127 events in 18 sports. British athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games. Indeed, it is the only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympic Games: in 1952, they achieved their only gold medal during the last event of the last day of competition in Helsinki. This was Great Britain's lowest ever medal count.
Harry Llewellyn, Duggie Stewart, and Wilf White — Equestrian, Jumping Team Competition
Sheila Lerwill — Athletics, Women's High Jump
Charles Currey — Sailing, Men's Finn Individual Competition
McDonald Bailey — Athletics, Men's 100 metres
John Disley — Athletics, Men's 3000m Steeplechase
Heather Armitage, Sylvia Cheeseman, Jean Desforges, and June Foulds-Paul — Athletics, Women's 4x100 metres Relay
Shirley Cawley — Athletics, Women's Long Jump
Donald Burgess, George Newberry, Alan Newton, and Ronald Stretton — Cycling, Men's 4000m Team Pursuit
Helen Gordon — Swimming, Women's 200m Breaststroke
Kenneth Richmond — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle Heavyweight
Denys Carnill, John Cockett, John Conroy, Graham Dadds, Derek Day, Dennis Eagan, Robin Fletcher, Roger Midgley, Richard Norris, Neil Nugent, Anthony Nunn, Anthony Robinson, and John Taylor — Field Hockey, Men's Team Competition
Men's 100 metres
McDonald Bailey
First Round — 10.4s
First Round — 10.5s
Semifinals — 10.5s
Final — 10.4s (→ Bronze Medal)
Men's Hammer Throw
Duncan Clark
Qualifying Round — 50.69m
Final Round — 51.07m (→ 18th place)
Women's Discus Throw
Suzanne Allday
Qualifying Round — 36.37 m
Final — 37.96 m (→ 15th place)
Men's Flyweight:
David Dower
- First Round – Defeated Abdelamid Boutefnouchet of France (3 – 0)
- Second Round – Defeated Leslie Donovan Perera Handunge of Ceylon (3 – 0)
- Third Round – Lost to Anatoli Bulakov of Soviet Union (1 – 2)
Men's Bantamweight:
Thomas Nicholls
- First Round – Lost to Pentti Olavi Hämäläinen of Finland (0 – 3)
Men's Featherweight:
Percival Lewis
- First Round – Lost to Georghe Ilie of Romania (0 – 3)
Men's Lightweight:
Frederick Reardon
- First Round – Defeated Roger Cuche of Switzerland (KO 3R)
- Second Round – Defeated Aleksandr Zasuhin of Soviet Union (0 – 3)
- Third Round – Lost to Aleksy Antkiewicz of Poland (0 – 3)
Men's Light Welterweight:
Peter Waterman
- First Round – Defeated Oscar Juan Galardo of Argentina (2 – 1)
- Second Round – Lost to Alexander Grant Webster of South Africa (0 – 3)
Men's Welterweight:
John Maloney
- First Round – Lost to Július Torma of Czechoslovakia (1 – 2)
Men's Light Middleweight:
Bernard Foster
- First Round – Lost to Petar Stankoff Spassoff of Bulgaria (1 – 2)
Men's Middleweight:
Terence Gooding
- First Round – Defeated Moustafa Mohamed Fahim of Egypt (2 – 1)
- Second Round – Lost to Boris Georgiev Nikolov of Bulgaria (2 – 1)
Men's Light Heavyweight:
Henry Cooper
- Second Round – Lost to Anatoli Perov of Soviet Union (1 – 2)
Men's Heavyweight:
Edgar Hearn
- First Round – Defeated José Victorio Sartor of Argentina (2 – 1)
- Third Round – Lost to Ilkka Rickhard Koski of Finland (0 – 3)
Road Competition
Men's Individual Road Race (190.4 km)
Desmond Robinson — 5:18:08.9 (→ 26th place)
Brian Robinson — 5:18:08.9 (→ 27th place)
Graham Vines — 5:22:33.2 (→ 31st place)
Leslie Ingman — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Track Competition
Men's 1.000m Time Trial
Donald McKellow
Final — 1:13.3 (→ 5th place)
Men's 1.000m Sprint Scratch Race
Cyril Peacock — 4th place
Men's 4.000m Team Pursuit
Alan Newton, Donald Burgess, George Newberry, and Ronald Stretton
Bronze Medal Match — defeated France (→ Bronze Medal)
Men's 3m Springboard
Anthony Turner
Final — 151.90 points (→ 7th place)
Peter Heatly
Preliminary Round — 63.37 points (→ 16th place)
Peter Elliott
Preliminary Round — 61.85 points (→ 20th place)
Women's 10m Platform
Phyllis Long
Preliminary Round — 43.23 points
Final — 63.19 points (→ 5th place)
Diana Spencer
Preliminary Round — 43.16 points
Final — 60.76 points (→ 7th place)
Valerie Lloyd-Chandos
Preliminary Round — 35.39 points (→ 12th place)
17 fencers, 14 men and 3 women, represented Great Britain in 1952.
Men's foil
René Paul
Luke Wendon
Raymond Paul
Men's team foil
René Paul, Luke Wendon, Emrys Lloyd, Raymond Paul, Harry Cooke, Allan Jay
Men's épée
Allan Jay
Ronald Parfitt
René Paul
Men's team épée
René Paul, Allan Jay, Christopher Grose-Hodge, Ronald Parfitt, Raymond Harrison, Charles de Beaumont
Men's sabre
William Beatley
Bob Anderson
Olgierd Porebski
Men's team sabre
Roger Tredgold, Olgierd Porebski, Bob Anderson, William Beatley, Luke Wendon
Women's foil
Mary Glen-Haig
Gillian Sheen
Patricia Buller
The British Gymnastics team competed in 15 events and was made up of 14 gymnasts, (6 men and 8 women), including Frank Turner and George Weedon, both of whom had competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics.
Three male pentathletes represented Great Britain in 1952.
Individual
Leon Lumsdaine
John Hewitt
Jervis Percy
Team
Leon Lumsdaine
John Hewitt
Jervis Percy
Single scull - Tony Fox - Fourth
Double scull - P Brandt, J R A MacMillan - Unplaced
Coxless pair - D N Callender, Chris Davidge - Fourth
Coxless four - H H Almond, J S M Jones, James Crowden, Adrian Cadbury - Fourth
Coxed four - John MacMillan, Graham Fisk, Laurence Guest, Peter de Giles, Paul Massey - Fourth
Eight - David Jennens, D D Macklin, A L MacLeod, Brian Lloyd, R F A Sharpley, N B M Clack, W A D Windham, E J Worlidge, J F K Hinde - Fourth
Twelve shooters represented Great Britain in 1952.
25 m pistol
Henry Steele
Henry Swire
50 m pistol
Ronald Guy
William White
300 m rifle, three positions
John Pearson
Jocelyn Barlow
50 m rifle, three positions
Steffen Cranmer
Charles Hyde
50 m rifle, prone
Charles Hyde
Steffen Cranmer
100m running deer
Cyril Mackworth-Praed
Ingram Capper
Trap
Enoch Jenkins
Charles Lucas
