Milestone

The USSR and Israël joined the Olympics for the first time. Emil Zatopek, the Czech who had won the 10,000m in 1948, became the greatest distance runner in the world. On the day he won the 5,000m, his wife Dana won the gold medal in the javelin event. Two of the boxing competitors, Floyd Patterson of the USA and Ingemar Johansson of Sweden, were to become professional boxing world champions several years later. The first coin to mark the modern Olympic Games was struck in 1951-52.

(Credit: IOC / Olympic Museum)