Venue: Helsingin Olympiastadion 70,000. 38 competitors from 25 nations.
First tie-break:
L - Misses of last clear Height.
Second tie-break:
M - Total misses.
Third tie-break:
J - Total attempts excluding misses after last cleared Height.
Davis had suffered from polio as a child, but recovered to become the
world’s dominant high jumper in 1952-53 before becoming a profes-
sional basketball player. In 1952 he used his western roll to win 18 of
his 21 competitions, and by the time the bar was raised to 2.01 only
three others remained – Svensson, da Conceição and Wiesner. Da
Conceição had equalled his best with a 1.98 clearance, but failed at
2.01. He would be an Olympic finalist again ... in the 1956 200m.
Svensson also missed, leaving the smooth-straddling Wiesner and
Davis to battle for the gold. Up to that point both men had been fault-
less, but 2.04 decided the competition, with the tall (2.04) Davis getting
over on his second attempt. The competition had taken more than four
hours, because the meagre 1.87 qualifying mark meant that only ten of
the 38 entrants were eliminated.