“We can still see the 1952 Games as we walk in the city,” said history professor Juhana Aunesluoma of Helsinki University. “We still have almost all of the monuments that were built for the 1952 Games. The venues, they are still part of the city structure.” ….

Vesa Tikander, a researcher at the Sports Library of Finland, said the 1952 Games are sometimes referred to nostalgically as “the last real Olympic Games,” because of their relatively small scale, lack of commercialism and familial location right in the heart of Helsinki…..

Advertising, funding, and sponsorship have changed beyond all recognition in the last 60 years. Back then, there were no ubiquitous advertising campaigns promoting sports brands and fast food restaurants.

Even Coca-Cola, a brand long associated with the Olympics, was something of a novelty to Finnish crowds in 1952.

“It was the first time Coca-Cola was made available” in Finland, Tikander said.

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At the Games the Coca-Cola Company donated 30 000 boxes to Disabled War Veterans.  Transport Ship M / S Marvic brought the precious cargo, the official race drink in Holland to the port of Helsinki 7.2.1952. Coca-Cola’s sales at the Olympic Games went to the care of disabled soldiers who received the bulk of that profit. Part of the M / S Marvic’s cargo went to the athletes.