1948 Summer Olympics

Games of the XIV Olympiad

Venue:	London ( Great Britain )
Stadion:	Empire Stadium
Opening ceremony:	July 29, 1948
Closing ceremony:	August 14, 1948
Opened by:	King George VI
Olympic oath :	Don Finlay (athlete)
Disciplines:	23 (17 sports)
Competitions:	136
Countries:	59
Athletes:	4104, including 390 women
← London 1944
Helsinki 1952 →

Medal table
space	country	G	S.	B.	Ges.
1	United States	38	27	19th	84
2	Sweden	16	11	17th	44
3	France	10	6th	13	29
4th	Hungary	10	5	12	27
5	Italy	8th	11	8th	27
6th	Finland	8th	7th	5	20th
7th	Turkey	6th	4th	2	12
8th	Czechoslovakia	6th	2	3	11
9	Switzerland	5	10	5	20th
10	Denmark	5	7th	8th	20th
...	...	...	...	...	...
21st	Austria	1	-	3	4th
Complete medal table

The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially called the XIV Olympiad Games ) were held from July 29th to August 14th 1948 in London , the capital of the United Kingdom . Other candidate cities were Baltimore , Lausanne , Los Angeles , Minneapolis and Philadelphia . Germany and Japan received no invitations due to the acts in World War II , the Soviet Union canceled. Italy, which had changed fronts in time during the Second World War in 1943, was allowed to participate.

Choice of London

London had already been designated by the IOC in June 1939 to host the 1944 Summer Olympics , preferring it to Rome , Detroit , Budapest , Lausanne , Helsinki , Montreal and Athens . Because of the Second World War, these games had to be canceled, but London was again a candidate for 1948. The British wanted to leave the games to the USA for the time being because of post-war financial and rationalization problems, but King George VI. took the view that the games could offer a chance to "restore" Britain after the aftermath of the war. The official reports on the Games show that London was in no way forced to take over the Games. In March 1946, the IOC voted by postal vote on the award for 1948, with London coming out as the winner for the Summer Games and St. Moritz for the Winter Games.

London had already hosted the Olympic Games in 1908 and thus (after Paris 1900 and 1924) only the second city to be entrusted with the organization of the Olympic Games again.

Sports facilities, eligible countries

Almost all competitions took place in the Empire Stadium or the surrounding parks. However, the stadium was badly damaged by the effects of the war and had to be rebuilt. Instead of staying in an Olympic village, the athletes were quartered in existing accommodation at Wembley.

Eligibility was of Avery Brundage then president of, United States Olympic Committee , at the beginning of 1946 found that only nations could participate who belong to the United Nations and have a National Olympic Committee. At that time, the Soviet Union did not have its own National Olympic Committee.

organization

Lord Burghley , chairman of the British Olympic Council , member of the IOC and president of the Amateur Athletics Association , has been nominated to chair the organizing and executive committees. For the first time in history, Olympic pictograms were introduced, there were twenty. They were also known as "Olympic symbols", one for each sport, three for the art competitions and one for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Due to the food shortage, the athletes received the same rations as dock and mine workers, that is 5467 calories per day (instead of the “normal” 2600 calories).

opening

On July 29th at 2 p.m. the military bands began to play in the Empire Stadium, 35 minutes later the national and international members of the organization and another ten minutes later the royal family arrived. At 3 p.m. the participants marched in, which took 50 minutes. Then Lord Burghley gave the first welcome speech, at 4 p.m. King George VI. the official opening words. The athlete's oath was spoken by the British athlete Don Finlay . The last torchbearer was the British athlete John Mark .

Attendees

Number of athletes

Europe (2,831 athletes from 25 nations)
Belgium (152)  Denmark (162)  Finland (129)  France (316)  Greece (61)  Great Britain (404)  Ireland (73)  Iceland (20)  Italy (215)	Yugoslavia (90)  Liechtenstein (2)  Luxembourg (45)  Malta (1)  Monaco (4)  Netherlands (149)  Norway (81)  Austria (144)  Poland (37)	Portugal (48)  Sweden (181)  Switzerland (181)  Spain (65)  Czechoslovakia (87)  Turkey (58)  Hungary (128)
America (1,093 athletes from 17 nations)
Argentina (199)  Bermuda (12)  Brazil (70)  British Guiana * (53)  Chile (54)  Jamaica * (13)	Canada (127)  Colombia (6)  Cuba (53)  Mexico (88)  Panama (1)  Peru (41)	Puerto Rico * (9)  Trinidad and Tobago * (5)  Uruguay (61)  Venezuela (1)  United States (300)
Asia (310 athletes from 13 nations)
Afghanistan (25)  Burma * (4)  Ceylon * (7)  India * (79)  Iran (36)	Iraq * (11)  Korea * (46)  Lebanon * (8)  Pakistan * (35)  Philippines (26)	Republic of China (31)  Singapore * (1)  Syria * (1)
Africa (120 athletes from 2 nations)
Egypt (85)	South African Union (35)
Oceania (82 athletes from 2 nations)
Australia (75)	New Zealand (7)
(Number of athletes) * Participation in summer games for the first time

Outstanding athletes

• The most successful athlete was the Dutch runner Fanny Blankers-Koen with four gold medals over 100 meters, 200 meters, in the 80-meter hurdles sprint and with the Dutch 4-by-100-meter relay.
• The most successful male athlete was gymnast Veikko Huhtanen from Finland with three gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal.
• Emil Zátopek ("the Czech locomotive"), starting for Czechoslovakia , began his Olympic career by winning the 10,000 meters with almost 48 seconds and winning the silver medal over 5000 meters, only two tenths of a second behind the Belgian Gaston Reiff .

Worth mentioning

• The 1948 Games (like the Winter Games in St. Moritz before) were the first games after the death of Pierre de Coubertin , the founder of the “modern Olympic Games” and the International Olympic Committee, who died on September 2, 1937.
• The games were (in German "because of all the economic constraints as the" Austerity Games " Austeritätsspiele called") - but in spite of this post-war time emergency and more athletes and nations took part than in any previous Olympics.
• For the first time, television broadcast the opening ceremony and 60 hours of Olympic sport live in the living room. The BBC had paid a thousand pounds sterling for the broadcast rights. At that time there were around 80,000 televisions in Great Britain, and around half a million people are said to have watched.
• The British NOK invested 600,000 pounds, at that time about 6 million marks, in the games, after all a profit of around 10,000 marks should have remained.
• Immediately after the Second World War, the IOC was given a new leadership, with the Swede Sigfrid Edström , who had been acting president since 1942 (after the death of Henri de Baillet-Latour ), was officially appointed president. His deputy was the American Avery Brundage.
• In the years between 1912 and 1948, medals for artistic achievements in 18 areas were also awarded at seven Olympic Games. In 1948 there were the following award-winning art competitions: Architectural designs, sculpture / sculptures, medals and plaques, relief sculptures, paintings and graphics, drawings and watercolors, other graphic arts, lyric works, dramatic works, epic works and music (with the subdivisions into music of all kinds , Vocal compositions, compositions for one instrument and compositions for orchestra).
• The silver medalist in weightlifting in the light heavyweight class, Harold Sakata , was best known for his film role ( Oddjob ) in the feature film James Bond 007 - Goldfinger in 1964 .

Competition program

Spectators of the Olympic Games in the rain

136 competitions (112 for men, 19 for women and 5 open competitions) in 17 sports / 23 disciplines were held. That was seven more competitions but two sports / disciplines less than in Berlin in 1936 . The changes are detailed below:

• In weightlifting , the bantamweight weight class was added.
• The handball variant field handball was dropped.
• Polo has been removed from the Olympic program.
• Women's debut in canoeing in a single kayak over 500 m. In addition, the single canoe over 10,000 m replaced the folding boat single kayak over 10,000 m for the men. The men's folding boat two-person kayak 10,000 m class was canceled.
• In athletics , the program for women was expanded to include the 200 m, long jump and shot put. The 10,000 m walk was reintroduced for men.
• In wrestling , the flyweight weight class was added again in freestyle - the flyweight was added in the Greco-Roman style .
• In shooting , the men's free rifle three-position fight 300 m class was reintroduced.
• When it comes to sailing , the open classes O-dinghy and the 8 m class were omitted - on the other hand, the open classes Dragon, Firefly and Swallow were added.

In addition, arts competitions were last held as part of the Olympic program. A total of 14 competitions in the fields of architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture took place.

Olympic sports / disciplines

• Basketball total (1) = men (1)
• Boxing total (8) = men (8)
• Fencing total (7) = men (6) / women (1)
• Football total (1) = men (1)
• Weightlifting total (6) = men (6)
• Hockey total (1) = men (1)
• Canoe total (9) = men (8) / women (1)
• Athletics total (33) = men (24) / women (9)
• Modern pentathlon total (1) = men (1)
• Cycling
  • Track total (4) = men (4)
  • Road total (2) = men (2)
• horse riding
  • Dressage total (2) = men (2)
  • Jumping total (2) = men (2)
  • Versatility Overall (2) = Men (2)
• Wrestling
  • Freestyle total (8) = men (8)
  • Greco-Roman total (8) = men (8)
• Rowing total (7) = men (7)
• Shooting total (4) = men (4)
• Swimming
  • Swimming total (11) = men (6) / women (5)
  • Water polo total (1) = men (1)
  • Diving total (4) = men (2) / women (2)
• Sailing total (5) = Open (5)
• Gymnastics total (9) = men (8) / women (1)

Number of competitions in brackets

Time schedule

Time schedule
discipline		Mon. 26.	Tuesday, 27.	Wed. 28.	Thursday 29.	Fr. 30.	Sat. 31.	Sun. 1.	Mon. 2.	Tuesday 3rd	Wed. 4.	Thursday 5.	Fr. 6.	Sat 7.	Sun. 8.	Mon. 9.	Tuesday 10.	Wed 11.	Thursday 12.	Fri. 13.	Sat 14.	Decision- disk- applications
		July						August
Opening ceremony
basketball																				1		1
Boxing																				8th		8th
fencing							1		1		1		1			1		1		1		7th
Soccer																				1		1
Weightlifting																2	2	2				6th
hockey																				1		1
canoe																		4th	5			9
athletics						3	6th		5	3	5	2	3	6th								33
Modern pentathlon											1											1
Cycling	train															2		2				4th
	Street																			2		2
Equestrian sport	dressage															1	1					2
	Leap																				2	2
	versatility																			2		2
Wrestling	Freestyle						8th															8th
	Greco-Roman												8th									8th
rowing																7th						7th
shoot									1	1	1		1									4th
Swimming	swim						1		1	2	1	1	2	3								11
	Water polo													1								1
	Diving									2		1	1									4th
sailing																			5			5
do gymnastics																				8th	1	9
Closing ceremony
Demonstration competitions
lacrosse
decisions						3	16		8th	8th	9	4th	16	10		13	3	9	10	24	3	136
		Mon. 26.	Tuesday, 27.	Wed. 28.	Thursday 29.	Fr. 30.	Sat. 31.	Sun. 1.	Mon. 2.	Tuesday 3rd	Wed. 4.	Thursday 5.	Fr. 6.	Sat 7.	Sun. 8.	Mon. 9.	Tuesday 10.	Wed 11.	Thursday 12.	Fri. 13.	Sat 14.
		July						August

Color legend

Opening ceremony

Competition day (no decisions)

Competition day (x decisions)

Closing ceremony

Web links

Commons : 1948 Summer Olympics  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Side of the IOC at the 1948 Summer Olympics (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Wembley Olympic Stadium 1948"; Column 1, last post . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 6, 1946, p. 4 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).