1948 Summer Olympics

Organization

Lord Burghley, a gold medal winner at the 1928 Olympics, member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and president of the Amateur Athletics Association was named Chairman of the Organising and Executive Committees. The other members of the committees were: Colonel Evan Hunter, General Secretary of the British Olympic Association, and Chief 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.

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 use on tickets. The background of each pictogram resembled an escutcheon. Olympic pictograms appeared again 16 years later, and were used at all subsequent Summer Olympics.

At the time of the Games, food, petrol and building were still subject to the rationing imposed during the war in Britain; because of this the 1948 Olympics came to be known as the "Austerity Games". Athletes were given the same increased rations as dockers and miners, 5,467 calories a day instead of the normal 2,600. Building an Olympic Village was deemed too expensive, and athletes were housed in existing accommodation. Male competitors stayed at RAF camps in Uxbridge and West Drayton, and an Army camp in Richmond Park; female competitors in London colleges. Lord Burghley unfurled the Olympic Flag at the Richmond Park camp at an opening ceremony in July as Minister of Works, Charles Key, declared the camp open.

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 include an arts competition, which took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Torch relay

Nicknamed "relay of peace" due to crossing through several countries in Europe to represent their union after the Second World War, the torch relay for these games took place from 17 to 29 July 1948, over a distance of 3,160 kilometres (1,960 mi) and 1,416 torchbearers.

The torch was designed by Ralph Lavers. There were three types of torches: the standard one made of aluminium and powered by solid fuel, a special one powered by butane gas (used aboard HMS Whitesand Bay) and a third one used in Wembley Stadium, made of stainless steel and powered by a magnesium candle.

The journey began with the lighting of the flame in Olympia. Due to the civil war taking place in Greece, the Greek part of the relay went directly to Corfu, where HMS Whitesand Bay picked up the flame to transport it to Bari. From there, the flame crossed Italy, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Belgium. After a boat trip from Calais to Dover (aboard HMS Bicester), the flame travelled to several towns in South East England until its arrival at Wembley for the opening ceremony.

The cities and towns visited by the Olympic flame were as follows:

Opening ceremony

The Games opened on 29 July. Army bands began playing at 2 pm for the 85,000 spectators in Empire Stadium at Wembley Park. The international and national organisers arrived at 2.35 pm and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, with Queen Mary and other members of the Royal Family, at 2.45 pm. 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."

At 4 pm, the time shown on the clock tower 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 to welcome the last runner in the Torch Relay: John Mark, a British track and field sprinter and student at the University of Cambridge with impressive Olympian good looks. Mark 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 his RAF 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.

Television coverage

The opening ceremony and over 60 hours of Games coverage was broadcast live on BBC television, which was then officially available only in the London area. However, the BBC's transmissions could be received much further away in the right conditions, and some of the Games were watched by at least one viewer in the Channel Islands. The BBC's official report on the coverage estimated that an average of half a million viewers watched each of their Olympic broadcasts. The BBC paid £1,000 for the broadcasting rights.

Of the live television coverage, only a small section of the opening ceremony broadcast still exists in the archives. However, various filmed reports shot for the BBC's Television Newsreel program do also still exist.

Sports

The 1948 Summer Olympics featured 136 medal events, covering 23 disciplines in 17 different sports and in arts.

In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

• Aquatics
  • Diving (4)
  • Swimming (11)
  • Water polo (1)
• Athletics (33)
• Basketball (1)
• Boxing (8)
• Canoeing (9)
• Cycling
  • Road (2)
  • Track (4)
• Equestrian
  • Dressage (2)
  • Eventing (2)
  • Show jumping (2)
• Fencing (7)
• Field hockey (1)
• Football (1)
• Gymnastics (9)
• Modern pentathlon (1)
• Rowing (7)
• Sailing (5)
• Shooting (4)
• Weightlifting (6)
• Wrestling
  • Freestyle (8)
  • Greco-Roman (8)

These Games also included Lacrosse and Swedish (Ling) gymnastics as demonstration sports.

Athletics

Empire Stadium was the venue for 33 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. Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands, a 30-year-old mother of two children nicknamed "The Flying Housewife", won four gold medals, in the 100 metres, 200 metres, 80 metre hurdles, and 4 × 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. Duncan White won the first medal of any kind for Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) when he finished second in the 400 metre hurdles. 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. Audrey Patterson became the first African-American woman to win a medal, winning bronze in a track and field event. A few days later Alice Coachman became the first woman of colour 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 1.68 m (5' 61⁄4"). She also was the only American woman to win an athletics gold medal during the 1948 Olympics.

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 Tom Richards of Great Britain passed him, with Cabrera winning the gold medal and Richards obtaining the silver. Gailly managed to recover enough to cross the line for the bronze.

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."

Arts

Categories: sports-related architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. These Olympics were the last time art competitions were considered Olympic events.

Basketball

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 and women's basketball. Brazil defeated Mexico 52–47 to claim bronze.

Boxing

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.

Canoeing

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.

Cycling

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.

Diving

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. 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.

Equestrian

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.

Fencing

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. Elek's sister, Margit, placed sixth in the same event. 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.

Field hockey

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 under captain Kishan Lal and Vice-Captain Kunwar Digvijay Singh.

Football

Eighteen teams entered the football competition at these Olympics. Due to the rise of the professional game during the 12 years since the Berlin 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 Liedholm went on to play for A.C. Milan and together were nicknamed Gre-No-Li.

This was the first international football tournament ever to be broadcast on television, with the two semi-finals, the bronze medal match and the final all being shown live in full by the BBC.

Gymnastics

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.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse was an exhibition sport at 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.

Modern pentathlon

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 Pentathlon Moderne 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.

Rowing

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 River Thames at Henley, over the same course as the Henley Royal Regatta.

Sailing

The sailing events at the Games took place in Torquay, in the southwest of Great Britain. Five events were contested, with the United States winning four total medals. One of host nation Great Britain's three gold medals at the Games came in the Swallow class from Stewart Morris and David Bond. In the Firefly class Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm 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 Elvstrøm.

Shooting

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. Károly Takács 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. Takács 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.

Swimming

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.

Water polo

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.

Weightlifting

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. Rodney Wilkes won the first medal for Trinidad and Tobago in an Olympic games, winning silver and Mohammad Jafar Salmasi won the first medal for Iran in an Olympic games, winning bronze in the featherweight division; gold medal was won by Egyptian Mahmoud Fayad, with a new Olympic and World record of 332.5 kg.

Wrestling

Sixteen wrestling events were held, eight Greco-Roman and eight freestyle. All were open to men only. Both categories were dominated by two nations. Turkey was the most successful nation with six gold medals followed by Sweden receiving 5 gold medals. These two teams claimed 24 total medals, in other words half of the total medals given.

Political defection

London was the first Olympics to have a political defection. Marie Provazníková, the 57-year-old Czechoslovak President of the International Gymnastics Federation, refused to return home, citing "lack of freedom" after the Czechoslovak coup in February led to the country's inclusion in the Soviet Bloc.

Media

For the 1948 Olympics, the Technicolor Corporation devised a bipack colour filming process – dubbed "Technichrome" – whereby hundreds of hours of film documented the events in colour, without having to use expensive and heavy Technicolor cameras.

Slightly over 2,000 journalists attended the 1948 Games.

Venues

No new venues were built for the Games. A cinder track was laid inside Empire Stadium and all other venues were adapted. For the first time at the Olympics, swimming events were held under cover, 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. In 2010 one of the last remaining venues from the Games, the Herne Hill Velodrome where cycling events were staged, was saved when a new 15-year lease was agreed, so that repairs could take place. Campaigners and users of the track had feared that it would be forced to close as it was in desperate need of refurbishment.

• Wembley Empire Exhibition Grounds
  • Empire Stadium – opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian (jumping), football finals, field 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
  • Cricklefield Stadium, 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 – field hockey preliminaries
  • Guinness Sports Club, Park Royal – field hockey preliminaries
  • Polytechnic Sports Ground, Chiswick – field hockey preliminaries
  • National Rifle Association Ranges, Bisley – shooting, modern pentathlon (shooting)
  • Finchley Lido, Finchley – water polo preliminaries
  • English Channel, Torbay – yachting
  • Fratton Park, Portsmouth – football preliminaries
  • Goldstone Ground, Brighton – football preliminaries
  • Royal Military Academy – modern pentathlon (running)

Participating National Olympic Committees

A total of 59 nations sent athletes. Thirteen made their first official appearance: British Guiana (now Guyana), Burma (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Iraq, Jamaica, Korea, Lebanon, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. It was the first time that Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, India and Pakistan competed as fully independent nations at the Olympic Games. Germany and Japan, under Allied military occupations, were not allowed to send athletes to the games. Due to continuing labour shortages, German prisoners of war were used for the construction of the facilities for the games, in particular Olympic Way. Italy, although originally an Axis power, had defected to the Allies in 1943 following Benito Mussolini being deposed, and was allowed to send athletes. The Soviet Union was invited but chose not to send any athletes, sending observers instead to prepare for the 1952 Olympics.

The nations that returned to the games were Cuba, Iran (The last participation of a Persian athlete was in Paris 1900), Ireland, Panama and Spain.

Other nations, besides Germany and Japan, that participated in the previous games in Berlin 1936 but were absent in London 1948 were Bolivia, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In the case of the Baltic nations, they had been occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union, only returning to the games many decades later. Bulgaria, Romania and Mandatory Palestine accepted invitations for the Games but withdrew a few days before it began.

Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States, made its Olympic debut as an independent team. Bermuda, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore and British Guyana were part of the British Empire.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Medal count

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 27 medals, including four golds.