 To Germany From Alaska to Puerto Rico All over the world the United States Army is on the alert to defend our country you the American people against aggression This is the big picture an official television report to the nation from the United States Army Now to show you part of the big picture here is Sergeant Stewart Queen Every four years an event of breathtaking excitement color and pageantry takes place in the world of sports the greatest of all athletic competitions the Olympic Games in 1952 American athletes performed Magnificently in competition achieving the final victory in the unofficial team's standings Contributing greatly to that victory where 80 men of our armed forces Here released for the first time on the big picture is the story of our armed forces athletes in one of the most closely contested Olympiads of all time This is Helsinki Finland modern capital of an ancient people a 1952 host to the greatest of all athletic competitions the Olympic Games Here in the European Northlands of Scandinavia a small tough people puts out the carpet for the athletes of the world No less than 67 nations are represented in this Olympics from the one-man entry of little Luxembourg Up to the huge squads of the United States and the Soviet Union The Americans including 80 servicemen will compete against the athletic cream of five continents It is the five continents that are symbolized by the interlocking circles of the official Olympic flag The colors of the circles blue yellow black green red were chosen because at least one appears in every flag of the world The visiting athletes travel without charge on Helsinki's trolleys a Special bus takes them to their quarters in Olympic Village at Kapula six miles away At the entrance gate to the village differences of politics race and religion are checked outside Just as in ancient Greece when even wars were suspended during the Olympic Games Inside this self-sufficient compound with its own post office and shops Athletes of many lands many languages many customs live in harmony Traditional national rivalries vanish in the warming light of good sportsmanship The camp restaurant is split up into five sections to accommodate the different eating habits of the main national groups In Olympic Village one man's ham sandwich is another man's shish kebab The athletes lose no time getting down to business last-minute preparations before the games Here the unbeaten American crew from Annapolis carries its shell back from the water Trained fingers wash down the light delicately constructed boat And here's a high-powered entry from the army America's military pentathlon team Getting the feel of the horses assigned to them for the 5,000 meter cross-country ride The pentathlon is a grueling five sport competition limited to military personnel Our squad here brushing up on their a pay fencing will compete as a unit against other national entries And also for individual high-scoring medals a third event in the pentathlon will be pistol shooting at 25 meters The Americans clean their weapons before practice Like our military entrance in boxing track and basketball They were chosen in hotly contested all-army competitions They then had 60 days of special training at West Point under Lieutenant Galef Wilson their coach The pentathlon squad lines up on the pistol range Lieutenant Frederick Denman of Highland Falls, New York Captain Guy Troy of Pasigrille, Florida PFC Thad MacArthur of Lewiston, Idaho And Lieutenant Harlan Johnson alternate of Urbana, Illinois The official opening of the 1952 Olympics takes place in Helsinki Stadium A lineal descendant of the Greek arena where the original races were staged 2,500 years ago In classic Greece time itself was measured by the four-year period between games called an Olympiad The modern ceremony starts with a parade of national contingents in alphabetical order The Finnish alphabet that is Here on the heels of the Vietnam aggregation comes Udiss Vollett the United States to you Norman Armitage veteran New York Spencer carries the stars and stripes As the crowd of 70,000 lets out a welcoming roar On the scoreboard behind the marching delegations is the Olympic motto Sidious, Altius, Fortius Faster, Higher, Stronger The contestants march once around the stadium and then mass on the field before the Tribune of Honor Now out of the past come the flying feet of Pavo Nurmi Finland's six-time winner of Olympic titles Bearing the torch that will light the Olympic flame Carried northward across the face of Europe by relays of athletes Starting from Olympia in Greece Home of the first games in 776 BC With the loping stride that gave him four gold medals at Stockholm in 1924 The great distance runner who is now 55 years old Pleads the circle around the track and lights the flame Burn through the 16 days of the game A 21-gun salute moving from the hills behind the stadium Gives the signal for raising the Olympic flag Dogs, a symbol of peace, are released to fly above the stadium It is a solemn moment This proud acceptance of a heritage handed down from one of the world's great civilizations The 1952 Olympic Games are on First American sweep is in the 200-meter dash Oldest grace in Olympic history It's a crack field of national champions from many countries Sandy Stanfield of Jersey City who forges ahead to break the tape in 20 and 17 seconds Equaling the Olympic record set by Jesse Owens in 1936 Second is Walter Baker of Elkhart, Kansas With the bronze medal for third Going to an Air Force printer Jim Gathers of Brooklyn and Sampson Air Force Base The 200-meter was the only event in the first 13 Olympic competitions It was a single length of the track at Old Olympia A distance known as a stade From which our word stadium is derived Again, the Air Force is flying high in the 800-meter race Here, Tech Sergeant Mal Woodfield of Lockburn Air Force Base, the 1948 winner Faces a tough field headed by big Arthur Wint of Jamaica That's Wint out in front now Woodfield number 986 is running third With 220 yards to go The huge Jamaican is still out in front When the Korean veteran makes his bid Woodfield takes the lead but can he hold it? From the stands it looks as though the giant strides of the Jamaican will have to cut Woodfield down The field's smooth easy stride is deceptively fast He crosses the finish line first Equaling his own Olympic record The punishing pace is almost too much for Germany's Usheimer Who collapses at the tape but wins third place Here is the moment of an athlete's dream The salute to Olympic victory In classic days Olympic champions were immortalized in statues Today the first three winners mount a victory platform While the flags of their countries are raised Other early point scorers were the armies Jerry Biffle Marine Bill Miller Naval Lieutenant Ken Wiesner And Army Lieutenant Walt Ashbaugh Americans dominate the Decathlon topped by California's Bob Mathias World title holder and winner at London four years ago Mathias is trailed by his teammates Milton Campbell on the left 18 year old New Jersey sensation And Floyd Simmons of Los Angeles The Decathlon is a back breaking ten event competition Involving various trials in running jumping and throwing Simmons a consistent scorer Picks up a fourth place in the broad jump The speed that gave Campbell first place at 100 meters is evident as he jumps And now the incomparable Mathias Chalking up a few points for sixth in the jump As he saves his main effort for the later events Young Campbell after nosing out Mathias in the hurdles And taking second in the shot put Comes a cropper at 11 odd feet in the pole vault When his 200 pounds of beef come crashing down on his right shoulder And now Bob Mathias again Whose final total breaks his own new world record Established in the American tryouts a few weeks before American brilliance in track has so far been matched by Soviet victories In gymnastics and women's events Now teams of the two big powers meet head on in the finals of the eight-odd crew race The unbeaten Navy crew struck by Ed Stevens Jr. Is never seriously threatened after they fight off an early Soviet challenge The Americans are in the near lane The Australians on the outside and the Russians in the middle The steady controlled beat of the Navy leaves open water behind as they skim past the finish flag A full six seconds before the Red Jersey Russians pull up Pressing the Russians hard is the Australian shell which finished third After their defeat the Russian oarsmen invited the American champions Over to the communist village for a big victory spread In the water as well as on it American entries topped the field Here's the 110-meter backstroke Bozan of France is favored over a trio of Americans including two naval aces But it's Yoshi Okiawa of Honolulu and Ohio State Who races past Bozan in the last 25 yards to come home first In lane number three is big Jack Taylor of the Navy World's record holder at 100 yards who finished third just ahead of another naval ensign Alan Stack Private Tommy Connell from Sacramento, California shows the way for the muscle men As the United States edges out the Russians in weight lifting Connell wins the lightweight crown with a record three event total of 797 and a half pounds Jim Bradford OCS candidate from Fort Benning was granted special leave to compete in the heavyweight class He placed second enabling the US to outscore the Russians by a single point in the weights And here's the big show for the Army the wind up of the all military pentathlon With competitions in cross country and swimming the fencing pistol and cavalry contests having already been decided The men run against a stopwatch rather than against each other leaving at one minute intervals Fred Denman high scorer of the American squad starts his trek around the two and a half mile lake Denman a lieutenant in the signal corps was a football and lacrosse man at West Point The pentathlon arouses keen interest among Army men of the various nations Off to a fast start is Captain Guy Troy another West Pointer whose sports were lacrosse track and fencing In distance running the Finns and Central Europeans have traditionally made strong showings Here comes Denman up to here it looks like a Finnish or Hungarian victory in the cross country But PFC Thad McArthur the third American pulls one of the surprises of the games by steaming in with the best time of the whole pack One big salute for Private McArthur Here's McArthur again picking up a third place for the American pentathlon team in swimming The 23 year old Ordnance Corman is holder of the first Army titles in swimming and steeplechase Hitting the water nearest the camera is Captain Troy already a high scorer in riding and shooting Alongside him swims a red capped Russian by some quirk although many lanes were used in these time trials The Russian and American entries always wound up next to each other This leads to an unusual incident in the next heat Lieutenant Denman swimming in lane six goes under for his turn and comes up in lane seven A few feet behind the Russian assigned to that lane The Soviets argued that Denman had frightened their man and should therefore be disqualified They were overruled and the American team finished fourth in the final standings Back and field events continued into the second week of the games And here's a fast heat of the 110 meter hurdles Won by California's Jack Davis Davis was runner up in an all-American final behind Harrison Dillard With Art Barnard of the Navy finishing third Climax of the track events is the grueling marathon run 26 miles across the choppy hills of Finland This event commemorates the fabulous exploit of the Greek warrior Phydipides Who in 490 BC ran from the marathon battlefield to Athens To report the victory of the Greek troops over the invading Persians While youth is considered an asset for most sports events The modern marathon is recommended only to men above 30 Whose hearts have developed sufficient strength to resist the terrible strain A barefoot Pakistani runner goes ahead as they round the track for the opening lap Ever it's Jim Peters of England who leads as they head for the exit gate For the long jaunt over hill and dale While the marathoners are out The crowd gets a breather with the finals of the 10,000 meter walk This is an all-European contest The mechanized Americans having been eliminated in the heats The trick is to chew up yardage without ever getting both feet off the ground It leads to some interesting styles This windmill swinger might be hustling down to the local business For a quick beer Easy buster, you don't want to take off George Coleman of England presumably a suburbanite Trained on catching the 818 for London Leads for a couple of miles But once Mikkelsson of Sweden takes over He is never headed Averaging about 8 miles an hour He breaks the world's record And wins in what you might call a war American Soviet rivalry is underlined again When the U.S. 400-meter relay team With three gold medalists running Knows us out a strong Soviet entry Hungary highest scorer among the small nations And winner of the military pentathlon places third Now for the moment the crowd's been waiting for The end at last of the marathon It's a one-man finish As a familiar figure bursts across the tape Amel Zatopek, the Czech Army captain Who has already taken the 5,000 and 10,000-meter crowns The incredible Zatopek has smashed the world's record By six minutes to join Nermey and Jesse Owens In the ranks of modern Olympic immortals Water sports come to an exciting end in the diving finals Pat McCormick of the United States Sweeps the board in the women's competition Taking both the platform and springboard events The men's high dive finds the great Sammy Lee U.S. Army Major defending his title one in 1948 The little doctor from San Fresno is in superb form But he gets stiff competition from Joaquin Capella of Mexico Coming down to the wire now It's a toss up between Lee and Capella Until Sammy lets loose with his most brilliant effort A running forward three and a half somersault The judges' score cards go up Registering the highest total awarded To any single dive in the competition And Sammy Lee whose parents were born in Korea Becomes the first two-time winner in Olympic diving history Sammy gets a kiss from fellow American Pat McCormick Then joins his wife Who had confidently set sail for Helsinki Even before Sammy had technically qualified In the American Olympic Trials Sammy Lee of Los Angeles, Occidental College And the U.S. Army Medical Corps Is more than a medal winner for the United States In the grand testament before the peoples of the world To a quality of opportunity in America Basketball provides another head on flash When America's giant squad from the Midwest Tangles with an almost equally big Soviet team Champions of Europe Airman Bill Hoglund and Bill Leanhard Are among the American stars In the unofficial team standings The United States and Russia are now running Nick and Nick The score board soon begins to reflect The Russian of American superiority And by halftime The Americans have piled up a commanding lead The Russians make good most of their chances on fouls But the Americans are a shade too strong for them Under the basket And wind up on the long end of an 86 to 58 score Although defeated The Russians were not eliminated As no other team in the competition Was able to beat them They got another crack at the Americans in the finals But again were outmaneuvered In a battle of defensive tactics Thus American basketeers retained their record Of never having been beaten in Olympic competition With the games almost over The unofficial team race between America and Russia Was so close that leadership depended On which newspaper you read Boxing with its ten championships Could provide the decisive margin American corporal Bobby Bickel Makes the bid for the United States In the lightweight class Bickel 4 draws a tough opponent In Bolognese of Italy After a moment of sparring They open up The Italian has the edge in the first exchange There's a sharp scuffle And Bolognese hits the deck Bickel crosses to a neutral corner While Bolognese takes a count on one knee The Italian comes up swinging You're in the third and last round now And both boys are feeling the pace There's a rally by Bolognese He nails Bickel with a stiff left And Bickel comes back Well, ends the fight It's a split decision One judge votes for corporal Bickel But the other two pick Bolognese Who goes on to win the lightweight crowd In the finals of the lightweight class It's Charlie Adkins of Gary, Indiana In White Top Against Vickr Medinoff of Russia This one will have a direct bearing On the team's standings It's a jolting savage battle For this first round With Adkins throwing hooks And uppercuts at close quarters For the opportunity And he draws a warning from the referee Adkins pushes Medinoff away From an attempted clinch Launches a two-handed barrage That nearly floors the Russian Medinoff swinging wildly and ineffectively Is a thoroughly beaten man Gary gives America its second gold medal in boxing Two more follow And then the concluding heavyweight final Is up to Big Ed Sanders Sanders, a seamen recruit At the San Diego training center In so far Now he meets Ingmar Johansson of Sweden It's a slow start And Johansson shows no interest In making it any faster Sanders stalks him But the Swedish heavyweight dances away Johansson hugs those ropes Then he hugs Sanders Finally, Johansson is disqualified For not trying Sanders is later awarded A special trophy from the Navy Honoring him for reflecting Outstanding credit on the service The United States has achieved Unmistakable supremacy In the final team standing No matter what scoring system is used The thrills of competition are over For this Olympiad The games wind up in a concluding ceremony Led off as was the opening By a parade of athletes Now only two men Are in each national group As the line threads its way Across the field On the scoreboard is the Olympic reminder That a noble combat Of the Games Finnish military drummers beat out a sonorous roll As the games are formally closed The American team will be taking home 40 individual gold medals Besides the team championships In crew and basketball In track and field alone The Americans broke or tied 11 records Carefully the Olympic flag Is lowered to the ground The United States team And especially its service members And one new friend's By its outstanding sportsmanship But even beyond that In the words of an Olympic program noted Something has been attained in these games To which we must all hold fast With the Olympic flag showing the way The athletes file out of the stadium Meet again they hope in Australia In 1956 Slowly The Olympic fire is extinguished The 15th modern Olympiad Passes into history The champions of the armed forces Displaying the teamwork Sportsmanship and will to win Which are the ingredients of victory On the athletic field Or on the battlefield Now this is Sergeant Stuart Queen Inviting you to be with us next week When we will present another story In the big picture The big picture is a weekly television Report to the nation On the activities of the army At home and overseas The four pictorial centers Presented by the U.S. Army In cooperation with this station You can be an important part Of the big picture You can proudly serve with the best equipped The best trained The best fighting team in the world today The United States Army