[2] The Bahamas,[3] Guatemala,[4] Hong Kong,[5] Indonesia,[6] Israel,[7] Netherlands Antilles,[8] Nigeria,[9] the People's Republic of China, Saarland, the Soviet Union,[10] Thailand,[11] and Vietnam made their Olympic debuts at the 1952 Games.

At the IOC Congress in Stockholm on 21 June 1947, Helsinki was chosen as the host city, leaving behind the bids of Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia.

The mayor of Helsinki Erik von Frenckell was elected chairman of the committee, who at the time also chaired Finnish Football Association.

In the spring of 1952, Ente was replaced by Arvi E. Heiskanen [fi] and as completely new members by Mauno Pekkala and Aaro Tynell.

The Cold War was under way, and the situation between Israel and Arab countries, divided Germany had to be addressed as a team, and the Chinese Civil War, with the Chinese Communist Party winning, forming the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China government exiled to Taiwan.

The participation of the United States in the Games was decided only after the country had received an assessment of the political situation in Finland from its embassy in Helsinki.

[29] Most of the venues for the competitions were completed prior to the 1940s in anticipation of successful bid attempts, but some expansion and refurbishment work was needed, including the construction of additional stands at the Olympic and Swimming Stadium.

However, due to the relatively low number of hotels in the city, tent villages were built for tourists in Lauttasaari and Seurasaari, among others.

When the winner was announced on 17 March 1952, an unknown teacher Jaakko Linjama [fi] was revealed behind the nickname, who had used Lyy's lyrics in his Olympic Hymn.

[45] From Denmark, the torchlight continued by running, cycling, riding, rowing and paddling to Copenhagen, from where the fire was transported by ferry to Sweden to Malmö.

On the Finnish-Swedish border bridge, the torch was received by Ville Pörhölä, who brought it to Tornio sports ground [fi].

In reality, the Pallastunturi fire was lit with liquefied petroleum gas, because the night in July was cloudy at that time and it was not possible to use the sun as a lighter.

[43][56] The President's speech was as follows:It gives me great pleasure to address a message of greeting to the young people of the world as they prepare for the fifteenth Olympic Games which are, once again, to be celebrated in a spirit worthy of the ideals of Baron de Coubertin.

This happy cooperation between young people of all countries will serve the great call of concord and peace among the nations of the world.

I am convinced that the Finnish people, loving sport as they do, will spare no effort to make the 1952 Olympic Games a complete success.

[56] After the Olympic flame was lit, the Archbishop Ilmari Salomies was due to say a prayer, but German Barbara Rotbraut-Pleyer, nicknamed “White Angel of the Games”, had jumped from the auditorium onto the track and ran straight to the speaker's seat.

[58] There were 4,925 athletes from 69 countries, with the Soviet Union making its Olympic debut and Germany participating for the first time since World War II.

[73] A Finnish winner was already celebrated in a miniature rifle when Vilho Ylönen had time to play on the radio Björneborgarnas marsch.

[74] The football tournament started even before the official opening, as the one-piece qualifiers took place on 15–16 July in Kotka, Lahti, Tampere, Turku and Helsinki.

The origin of the conflict was Tito's refusal to submit to Stalin's interpretations and visions of politics and in process becoming a Soviet satellite state.

The defeat to the archrivals hit Soviet football hard, and after just three games played in the season, CSKA Moscow, who had made up most of the USSR squad, was forced to withdraw from the league by Joseph Stalin and later disbanded.

[93] The most successful wrestling country was the Soviet Union, whose athletes won six gold and a total of ten medals in the sport.

In a show jumping, Danish Lis Hartel, paralyzed from her knees down, was the first woman to win a riding medal after finishing second in the Olympics.

Patricia McCormick won Olympic gold in the women's events from both the three-meter springboard and the ten-meter floor jump.

[109] Josy Barthel of Luxembourg pulled a major surprise by winning the 1500 m. According to the Olympic rules, the organizer of the Games was allowed to choose between two types of demonstration sports, one from abroad and one from Finland.

[102] Harmaja, a lighthouse island a couple of kilometers off the coast of Helsinki, was the starting and finishing area for larger sailing classes.

Thirteen nations made their first Olympic appearance in 1952: The Bahamas, the People's Republic of China, Gold Coast (now Ghana), Guatemala, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Netherlands Antilles, Nigeria, Soviet Union (USSR), Thailand, and Vietnam.

Nations that participated in the previous games in London 1948 but was absent in Helsinki 1952 included Afghanistan, Colombia, Malta, Peru and Syria.

It was certainly good for Finns' self-confidence to create a successful major event together and at the same time get a new kind of contact with the interaction between peoples.

However the 1956 Summer Olympics involved fewer participating athletes than in Helsinki, and in practice it was not until the 1970s that the Games clearly began to expand.