The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were aninternational multi-sport event which was held in London, United Kingdom. After a 12 year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games inBerlin. The 1940 Games had been scheduled for Tokyo, and then Helsinki; the 1944 Games had been provisionally planned for London. This was the second occasion that London had hosted the Olympic Games, the city had previously been the venue in 1908.
The event came to be known as the Austerity Games due to the economic climate and post-war rationing. No new venues were built for the games and athletes were housed in existing accommodation instead of an Olympic Village. A record 59 nations were represented by 4,104 athletes, 3,714 men and 390 women, in 19 sport disciplines. Because of their roles as aggressors in World War II Germany and Japan were not invited to participate; the USSR were invited but chose not to send any athletes. The United States team won the most total medals, 84, and the most gold medals, 38. The host nation won 23 medals, three of them gold.
One of the star performers at the Games was Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen. Nicknamed "The Flying Housewife" the 30-year old mother of three children won four gold medals in athletics. In the decathlon American Bob Mathias became the youngest ever Olympic gold medallist at the age of 17. The most individual medals were won by Veikko Huhtanen of Finland who took three golds, a silver and a bronze in men's gymnastics.
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[edit]Election as host city
In June 1939, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 1944 Olympic Summer Games to London, ahead of Rome, Detroit,Budapest, Lausanne, Helsinki, Montreal and Athens.[2] World War II stopped the plans and the Games were cancelled so London again stood as a candidate for 1948. Britain almost handed the 1948 games to the USA due to post-war financial and rationing problems, but King George said this could be the chance to restore Britain from World War II. The official report of the London Olympics shows that there was no case of London being pressed to run the Games against its will. It says:
- The Games of 1944 had been allocated to London and so it was that in October, 1945, the chairman of the British Olympic Council, Lord Burghley, went to Stockholm and saw the president of the International Olympic Committee to discuss the question of London being chosen for this great event. As a result, an investigating committee was set up by the British Olympic Council to work out in some detail the possibility of holding the Games. After several meetings they recommended to the council that the Lord Mayor of London should be invited to apply for the allocation of the Games in 1948.[3]
In March 1946 the IOC, through a postal vote, gave the summer Games to London and the winter competition to St Moritz. London was selected ahead of Baltimore, Minneapolis, Lausanne, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.[4]
London, which had previously hosted the 1908 Summer Olympics, became the second city to host the Olympics twice; Paris hosted the event in 1900 and 1924. It will be the first city to host the Olympics for the record third time when London hosts the 2012 Summer Olympics.
[edit]Organization
Lord Burghley, a gold medal winner at the 1928 Olympics, member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and President of theAmateur Athletics Association was named Chairman of the Organising and Executive Committees.[5] The other members of the committees were; Colonel Evan Hunter, General Secretary of the British Olympic Association, and Chef de mission for Great Britain; Lord Aberdare, the other British member of the IOC; Sir Noel Curtis-Bennett; Alderman H.E. Fern; E.J. Holt; J. Emrys Lloyd, who became the committee's legal advisor; C.B. Cowley of the London Press and Advertising; R.B. Studdert, Managing Director of the Army & Navy Stores; A.E. Porritt, a member of the IOC for New Zealand who resided in London; S.F. Rous, Secretary of the Football Association; and Jack Beresford.[6]
Olympic pictograms were introduced for the first time. There were twenty of them — one for each Olympic sport and three separate pictograms for the arts competition, the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. They were called "Olympic symbols" and intended for the use on tickets. The background of each pictogram resembled escutcheon.[7][8] Olympic pictograms would appear again 16 years later and be featured at each Summer Olympics thereafter.
At the time of the Games food, petrol and building rationing was still in place in Britain; because of this the 1948 Olympics came to be known as the "Austerity Games".[9] Athletes were given increased rations, the same as those received by dockers and miners, which meant 5,467 calories a day, instead of the normal 2,600. Building an Olympic Village was deemed too expensive; athletes were therefore housed in existing accommodation. Male competitors stayed at RAF camps in Uxbridge, West Drayton and Richmond; female competitors in London colleges.[10]
These were the first games to be held following the death of Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee, in 1937. They were also the last to feature an arts competition, which took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum.[11]
[edit]Opening ceremony
The Games opened on 29 July, a brilliantly sunny day. Army bands began playing at 2pm for the 85,000 spectators in Wembley Stadium. The international and national organisers arrived at 2.35pm and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, with Queen Mary and other members of the Royal Family, at 2.45pm. Fifteen minutes later the competitors entered the stadium in a procession that took 50 minutes. The last team was that of the United Kingdom. When it had passed the saluting base, Lord Burghley began his welcome:
- Your Majesty: The hour has struck. A visionary dream has today become a glorious reality. At the end of the worldwide struggle in 1945, many institutions and associations were found to have withered and only the strongest had survived. How, many wondered, had the great Olympic Movement prospered?
After welcoming the athletes to two weeks of "keen but friendly rivalry", he said London represented a "warm flame of hope for a better understanding in the world which has burned so low."[12]
At 4pm, the time shown on Big Ben on the London Games symbol, the King declared the Games open, 2,500 pigeons were set free and the Olympic Flag raised to its 35 ft (11 m) flagpole at the end of the stadium. The Royal Horse Artillery sounded a 21-gun salute and the last runner in the Torch Relay ran a lap of the track - created with cinders from the domestic coal fires of Leicester - and climbed the steps to the Olympic cauldron. After saluting the crowd, he turned and lit the flame. After more speeches, Donald Finlay of the British team (given hisRAF rank of Wing Commander) took the Olympic Oath on behalf of all competitors. The National Anthem was sung and the massed athletes turned and marched out of the stadium, led by Greece, tailed by Britain.
The 580-page official report concluded:
- Thus were launched the Olympic Games of London, under the most happy auspices. The smooth-running Ceremony, which profoundly moved not only all who saw it but also the millions who were listening-in on the radio throughout the world, and the glorious weather in which it took place, combined to give birth to a spirit which was to permeate the whole of the following two weeks of thrilling and intensive sport.[13]
The opening ceremony, and over 60 hours of other coverage during the Games, was broadcast live on BBC television. The BBC had paid a sum of £1000 for the broadcasting rights.[14]
[edit]Sport by sport overview
[edit]Athletics
Main article: Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Wembley stadium was the venue for 22 athletics events at the Games; 24 for men and nine for women. Of these, four were making their Olympic debut - the men's 10 km walk, and the women's 200 metres, long jump and shot put. A total of 754 athletes from 53 countries participated in athletics.[15] Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands, a 30-year old mother of three children nicknamed "The Flying Housewife", won four gold medals, in the 100 metres, 200 metres, 80 metre high hurdles, and 4 x 100 metre relay. As world record holder in the long jump and high jump Blankers-Koen may have been able to win further medals but, at this time, female athletes were limited to three individual events.[16] Duncan White won the first medal of any kind for Sri Lanka, (then Ceylon), when he finished second in the 400 metre hurdles, and Arthur Wint became the first Jamaican to win an Olympic gold medal, in the men's 400 metres he also won silver in the men's 800 metres.[17][18] Alice Coachman became the first woman of color in the world and the first African American woman to win a gold medal in track and field in the history of the modern Olympics with a jump of 5' 6 1/4". She also was the only American woman to win an athletics gold medal during the 1948 Olympics.[19]
The marathon saw a dramatic finish with the first man to enter the stadium, Etienne Gailly of Belgium, exhausted and nearly unable to run. While he was struggling, Argentinian athlete Delfo Cabrera and Thomas Richards of Great Britain passed him, with Cabrera winning the gold. Gailly managed to recover enough to cross the line for the bronze.[20]
The decathlon was won by 17-year old Bob Mathias of the United States. He became the youngest ever Olympic gold medallist in athletics and when asked how he would celebrate he replied: "I'll start shaving, I guess."[21][22]
[edit]Basketball
Main article: Basketball at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Basketball made its second appearance as a medal sport, appearing as an indoor competition for the first time after poor weather disrupted the matches at the 1936 Berlin Games. The event, for men only, was contested by 23 nations split into four pools for the preliminary round; the top two in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals with the other teams entering playoffs for the minor placings. The United States and France reached the final which was won by the Americans 65-21 to claim the gold medal. This was the second of the United States seven consecutive gold medals in Olympic men's basketball.[23] Brazil defeated Mexico 52-47 to claim bronze.[24]
[edit]Boxing
Main article: Boxing at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Eight different classifications were contested ranging from flyweight, for boxers weighing less than 51 kg, to heavyweight, for boxers over 80 kg. South Africa, Argentina and Hungary each won two gold medals.
[edit]Canoeing
Main article: Canoeing at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Nine events were contested, eight for men and one for women. This marked the first time that a women's canoeing event had been contested in the Olympics. Sweden won four gold medals (two by Gert Fredriksson) and Czechoslovakia three.
[edit]Cycling
Main article: Cycling at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Six events were contested - two road bicycle racing events and four track cycling events. No women's cycling events were contested. France won three gold medals and Italy two, while Great Britain captured five medals overall, but none were gold.
[edit]Diving
Main article: Diving at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Four diving events were contested, two for men, and two for women. The events are labelled as 3 metre springboard and 10 metre platform by the International Olympic Committee but appeared on the 1948 Official Report as springboard diving and highboard diving, respectively.[25]All four gold medals, and 10 out of 12 awarded in total, were won by the United States. Victoria Manalo Draves, who won both gold medals in the women's events, and Sammy Lee, who took a gold and a bronze in the men's events, became the first Asian Americans to win gold medals at an Olympic Games.[26]
[edit]Equestrian
Main article: Equestrian at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Six gold medals were awarded in equestrian, individual and team dressage, individual and team eventing and individual and team show jumping. Harry Llewellyn and Foxhunter, who would claim a gold medal in Helsinki, won bronze in the team jumping event.
[edit]Fencing
Main article: Fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Seven events were contested, six for men and one for women. Ilona Elek, who had won the women's foil competition in Berlin, was one of only two competitors to successfully defend an Olympic title in London.[11] Elek's sister, Margit, placed sixth in the same event.[27] Edoardo Mangiarotti won three medals, two silver and a bronze, having previously won a gold medal in the 1936 Games. Throughout his career the Italian won 13 Olympic fencing medals and 27 world championship medals, both of which remain records.[28][29]
[edit]Football
Main article: Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Eighteen teams entered the football competition at these Olympics. Due to the rise of the professional game during the 12 years since theBerlin Olympics the number of talented amateurs for teams to select from was reduced. The gold medal was won by Sweden, who defeated Yugoslavia 3-1 in the final. Denmark defeated hosts Great Britain, managed by Matt Busby of Manchester United, 5-3 to win the bronze medal. In the tournament's 18 matches a total of 102 goals were scored; an average 5.66 goals per match. The joint top scorers with seven goals each were Gunnar Nordahl of Sweden and Denmark's John Hansen. Nordahl and Swedish teammates Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholmwent on to play for A.C. Milan and together were nicknamed Gre-No-Li.[30]
[edit]Gymnastics
Main article: Gymnastics at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Nine events were contested, eight for men, and one for women. In the men's pommel horse, a tie was declared between three competitors, all Finns, and no medals other than gold were awarded in this event. Finland won six gold medals overall, and Switzerland three.
[edit]Hockey
Main article: Hockey at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Thirteen nations participated in the field hockey competition. The tournament was ultimately won by India, who defeated Great Britain to claim the country's first gold medal as an independent nation.
[edit]Lacrosse
Main article: Lacrosse at the Summer Olympics
Lacrosse was an exhibition sport at the these Olympics. An English team composed of players from various universities played a U.S. team represented by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the Empire Stadium.
[edit]Modern pentathlon
Main article: Modern pentathlon at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Only one modern pentathlon event was contested, the five component sports– riding, fencing, shooting, swimming, and running- being held over six days. Scoring was by point-for-place system across the five phases with the winner being the athlete with the lowest combined ranking. The sport's international federation, the Union Internationale de Modern Pentathlon was founded during the Games, on 3 August 1948. Sweden won two medals in the event; William Grut won the gold, with a final points total of 16, and Gösta Gärdin took bronze. American George Moore won the silver medal.[31]
[edit]Rowing
Main article: Rowing at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Seven rowing events were contested, all open to men only. Great Britain and the United States each claimed two gold medals. The events were held on the same course as the Henley Royal Regatta.
[edit]Sailing
Main article: Sailing at the 1948 Summer Olympics
The sailing events at the Games took place in Torquay, in the southwest of Great Britain.[32] Five events were contested, with the United States winning four total medals.[33] One of host nation Great Britain's three gold medals at the Games came in the Swallow class fromStewart Morris and David Bond. In the Firefly class Danish sailor Paul Elvstrom won gold the despite the Danish Olympic Committee having misgivings about sending him to compete as the 18-year old could speak no English. This was the first of four consecutive Olympics with a gold medal for Elvstrom.[32]
[edit]Shooting
Main article: Shooting at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Four events were contested, all open to both men and women, although all medals were won by men. In the 50 metre rifle, prone position, only two points separated the top three competitors. Karoly Takacs had been a member of the Hungary's world champion pistol shooting team in 1938 when a grenade shattered his right hand - his pistol hand. Takacs taught himself to shoot with his left hand and, 10 years after his injury, he won an Olympic gold medal in the rapid-fire pistol event.[1]
[edit]Swimming
Main article: Swimming at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Eleven events were contested, six for men and five for women. The United States won eight gold medals, including all six men's events, and 15 medals in total.
[edit]Water polo
Main article: Water polo at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Eighteen nations fielded a team in these games, which were ultimately won by Italy, who were undefeated throughout. The tournament was conducted in a mult-tier bracket, with the best four teams from the group stages participating in a final round-robin bracket. Silver was claimed by Hungary, and bronze by the Netherlands.
[edit]Weightlifting
Main article: Weightlifting at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Six events were contested, all for men only. These games marked the addition of the bantamweight class to the Olympic programme, the first change to the programme since 1920. The United States won four gold medals, and eight overall; the remaining two gold medals were claimed by Egypt.[34] Rodney Wilkes won the first ever medal for Trinidad and Tobago in an Olympic games, winning silver in the featherweight division; the featherweight gold medal was won by Egyptian Mahmoud Fayad, with a new Olympic and World record of 332.5 kg.[35][36]
[edit]Wrestling
Main article: Wrestling at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Sixteen wrestling events were held, eight Greco-Roman and eight freestyle. All were open to men only. Six gold medals were won by Turkeyand five by Sweden. Between them, these teams claimed 24 total medals.
[edit]Political defection
London was the first Olympics to have a political defection. Marie Provaznikova the 57-year old Czechoslovakian President of the International Gymnastics Federation refused to return home, citing "lack of freedom" after the country's inclusion in the Soviet Bloc.[37][38]
[edit]Filming in color
For the Olympics, the Technicolor Corporation devised a bipack color filming process—dubbed "Technichrome" -- whereby hundreds of hours of film documented the events in color, without having to use expensive and heavy Technicolor cameras.[39]
[edit]Venues
Main article: Venues of the 1948 Summer Olympics
No new venues were built for the Games. A cinder track was laid inside Wembley Stadium and all other venues were adapted.[9] For the first time at the Olympics swimming events were held undercover, at the 8000 capacity Empire Pool. As the pool was longer than the standard Olympic length of 50 metres a platform was constructed across the pool which both shortened it and housed officials.[1]
- Wembley Empire Exhibition Grounds
- Empire Stadium - opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian (jumping), football finals, hockey finals
- Empire Pool - boxing, diving, swimming, water polo
- Palace of Engineering - fencing
- Other venues
- Empress Hall, Earl's Court - boxing preliminaries, wrestling, weightlifting, gymnastics
- Harringay Arena, Harringay - basketball & wrestling
- Royal Regatta Course, Henley-on-Thames - canoeing, rowing
- Herne Hill Velodrome, Herne Hill - track cycling
- Windsor Great Park - cycling road race
- Central Stadium, Military Headquarters, Aldershot - equestrian (jumping), modern pentathlon (riding, fencing, swimming)
- Tweseldown Racecourse - equestrian (dressage, eventing)
- Arsenal Stadium, Highbury - football preliminaries
- Selhurst Park - football preliminaries
- Craven Cottage, Fulham - football preliminaries
- Ilford - football preliminaries
- Griffin Park, Brentford - football preliminaries
- Champion Hill, Dulwich - football preliminaries
- Green Pond Road Stadium, Walthamstow - football preliminaries
- White Hart Lane, Tottenham - football preliminaries
- Lyons' Sports Club, Sudbury - hockey preliminaries
- Guinness Sports Club, Park Royal - hockey preliminaries
- Polytechnic Sports Ground, Chiswick - hockey preliminaries
- National Rifle Association Ranges, Bisley - shooting, modern pentathlon (shooting)
- Finchley Lido, Finchley - water polo preliminaries
- English Channel, Torbay - yachting
- Goldstone Ground, Brighton - football preliminaries
- Royal Military Academy - modern pentathlon (running)
[edit]Participating nations
A total of 59 nations sent athletes. Fourteen made their first official appearance: British Guiana(now Guyana), Burma (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Korea,Lebanon, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.[40]First time that Philippines, India and Pakistan competed as independent nations at the Olympic Games. Germany and Japan, both under Allied military occupations, were not allowed to send athletes to the games. Ironically German forced labor was used for the construction of the facilities.[41] Italy, although originally an Axis power, defected to the Allies in 1943 followingBenito Mussolini being deposed, and was allowed to send athletes. The Soviet Union was invited but they chose not to send any athletes rather than risk them losing to the United States.[42]
[edit]Medal table
Main article: 1948 Summer Olympics medal table
Further information: Olympic medal table
These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1948 Summer Games, ranked by number of gold medals won. The host nation was 12th, with 23 medals, including three golds.[43]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States | 38 | 27 | 19 | 84 |
| 2 |  Sweden | 16 | 11 | 17 | 44 |
| 3 |  France | 10 | 6 | 13 | 29 |
| 4 |  Hungary | 10 | 5 | 12 | 27 |
| 5 |  Italy | 8 | 11 | 8 | 27 |
| 6 |  Finland | 8 | 7 | 5 | 20 |
| 7 |  Turkey | 6 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| 8 |  Czechoslovakia | 6 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| 9 |  Switzerland | 5 | 10 | 5 | 20 |
| 10 |  Denmark | 5 | 7 | 8 | 20 |
| 12 |  Great Britain | 3 | 14 | 6 | 23 |
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