1952 - Helsinki, Finland
The 1952 Olympic Games were largely a reflection of the Cold War. The Soviet Union, after having been out of the Games since 1912, decided to rejoin the competition. The Soviets, instead of joining the other athletes in the Olympic Village, set up their own Olympic Village for Eastern bloc countries in Otaniemi, near the Soviet naval base at Porkkala. Soviet athletes were chaperoned by Soviet officials everywhere they went in an effort to prevent communication with athletes from the West.
The competition of East versus West dominated the atmosphere. Bob Mathias (United States), winner for the second time of the decathlon, described the atmosphere at the Games: "There were many more pressures on American athletes because of the Russians. . . . They were in a sense the real enemy. You just loved to beat 'em. You just had to beat 'em. . . . This feeling was strong down through the entire team."*
Approximately 5,000 athletes participated in the Games, representing 69 countries.
* Bob Mathias as quoted in Allen Guttmann, The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992) 97.
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