At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, 33 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 9 for women.

There were a total number of 963 participating athletes from 57 countries.

During the 1952 Summer Olympic Games, 26 new Olympic records and 8 new world records were set in the athletics events.

A total of 57 nations participated in the different Athletics events at the 1952 Summer Olympics.