Lebanon at the 1952 Summer Olympics

The Lebanese Olympic Committee was founded in 1946 and officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee on 22 November 1947.^[1] A few months later, the nation made its debut in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Their debut in a Summer Olympics also came at the 1948 edition in London. As such, their appearance in the 1952 Helsinki Games marked their second Summer Games appearance.^[2]

At the 1948 Games, IOC representative Muhammed Taher Pasha of Egypt proposed the idea of the Mediterranean Games, open to all countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Gaining IOC approval, the first Games occurred in 1951 in Alexandria, Egypt, from 5 to 20 October. Ten countries participated,^[3] with Lebanon included. Lebanon tallied 19 medals: five silver and 14 bronze. Six Lebanese Mediterranean Games representatives participated in the 1952 Summer Games: boxer Sarkis Moussa,^[4] shooter Abdel Sattar Tarabulsi,^[5] weightlifter Moustafa Laham,^[6] and wrestlers Zakaria Chihab, Khalil Taha, and Michel Skaff.^[7]

The Helsinki Games, which took place from 19 July to 3 August 1952, hosted 4,955 athletes in 149 events from 69 different nations.^[8] The delegation arrived in Helsinki on 15 July, and consisted of 13 men: 9 athletes and 4 officials,^[9] who were housed in building 7 of the Olympic Village in Käpylä, with the delegations from Burma, India, Jamaica, Finland, Uruguay, Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, and Greece.^[10] Their appointed attaché was Jean-Pierre Rengaldier.^[11]

The following Lebanese athletes won medals at the Games, the first in the country's Olympic history. With a silver medal and a bronze, Lebanon finished in 32nd place on the overall medal table, tied with Austria.^[12] To date, this is the only multi-medal Olympic Games in Lebanon's history of attendance.^[2]

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Silver	Zakaria Chihab	Wrestling	Men's Greco-Roman bantamweight	27 July
Bronze	Khalil Taha	Wrestling	Men's Greco-Roman welterweight	27 July

One year removed from his bronze medal finish at the Mediterranean Games,^[4] Sarkis Moussa was the sole boxing representative at the Games. He competed in the light welterweight competition. On 28 July at the Messuhalli, Moussa faced Juan Curet of Puerto Rico. Moussa was knocked out in the second round of the bout, eliminating him from the tournament, placing him tied for 17th place. The gold medal was won by Charles Adkins of the United States.^[13][14]

Athlete	Event	First Round	Second Round	Third Round	Semi-final	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Sarkis Moussa	Light welterweight	Curet (PUR) L by knockout	Did not advance				17

Three shooters represented Lebanon at the Games. Abdel Sattar Tarabulsi, bronze medalist at the Mediterranean Games in the 50 metre free pistol,^[5] and Khalil Hilmi, who previously participated in the 25 metre rapid fire pistol and the 50 metre pistol events at the 1948 Games,^[15] represented the nation in the 50 metre pistol event on 25 July at the Malmi shooting range. Competitors took six series of ten shots, with each shot being scored out of 10, meaning that the highest possible score was 600 points. Tarabulsi got 87 points in the first series, 83 in the second, 86 in the third, 87 in the fourth, 84 in the fifth, and 90 in the sixth, making his total score 517 points, placing 29th out of the field of 48. Hilmi got 82 points in the first series, 80 in the second, 78 in the third, 84 in the fourth, 87 in the fifth, and 78 in the sixth, for a total of 489 points, placing 46th. The event was won by Huelet Benner of the United States.^[16][17]

Abdullah Jaroudi Sr. participated in the 50 metre rifle, prone event held on 29 July at the Malmi range. Competitors took four series of ten shots, with each shot being scored out of ten, for a highest possible total score of 400 points. Jaroudi got 96 points in all four rounds, for a total of 384 points. With his 19 ten-point shots acting as a tiebreaker, Jaroudi placed 50th in the field of 58. Iosif Sîrbu of Romania won the gold medal in the event.^[18][19]

Moustafa Laham, silver medalist in the 75 kg weightlifting division at the 1951 Mediterranean Games,^[6] was the sole weightlifter for Lebanon at the Games. Weighing in at 73 kilograms, he competed in the men's 75 kg competition on 26 July at the Messuhalli. In the press, Laham lifted 107.5 kilograms in his first attempt, 112.5 in his second, and 115 in his third, making 115 kilograms his official result, the fifth-highest press result in the competition. In the snatch, Laham lifted 112.5 kilograms in his first attempt, failed 117.5 in his second, and failed 120 in his third, making his official result 112.5 kilograms, the sixth-highest snatch total in the competition. In the final event, the clean and jerk, Laham failed 142.5 kilograms in his first attempt before successfully lifting in his second attempt, while failing 150 in his third attempt, posting an official mark of 142.5 kilograms, the sixth-highest clean and jerk mark in the competition. His combined total of 370 kilograms was good for a fifth-place finish in the field of 21, 30 kilograms shy of the new Olympic record set by gold medal-winner Pete George of the United States.^[20][21]