1948 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Decathlon (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Decathlon
gender	Men
Attendees	35 athletes from 20 countries
Competition location	Wembley Stadium
Competition phase	5th / 6th August 1948
Medalist Bob Mathias ( USA )   Ignace Heinrich ( FRA )   Floyd Simmons ( USA )

The men's decathlon at the 1948 Olympic Games in London was played on August 5 and 6, 1948 at Wembley Stadium . 35 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was the American Bob Mathias ahead of the French Ignace Heinrich . Bronze went to Floyd Simmons from the USA.

Existing records

• World record : 7900 points according to the official rating of 1934 (7254 points according to 1985 rating) - Glenn Morris ( USA ), Berlin , 7th / 8th August 1936
• Olympic record : 7900 points according to the official rating of 1934 (7254 points according to 1985 rating) - Glenn Morris ( USA ), Olympic decathlon in Berlin , 7th / 8th. August 1936

Conducting the competition

The decathlon was carried out according to the same regulations as today. I.e. the individual disciplines were spread over two days and in the order 100-meter run , long jump , shot put , high jump , 400-meter run on August 5th and 110-meter hurdles , discus throw , pole vault , javelin throw , 1500-meter Run conducted on August 6th.

The underlying rating table dates from 1934. It was also used at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and was replaced by a new rating in 1952.

Attendees

35 athletes from 20 countries took part in the Olympic competition:

Surname	nation
Edward Adamczyk	Poland
Erik Andersson	Sweden
Hércules Azcune	Uruguay
Gebhard Büchel	Liechtenstein
Örn Clausen	Iceland
Jacques Cretaine	France
Albert Dayer	Belgium
Per Axel Eriksson	Sweden
Hernán Figueroa	Chile
Lionel Fournier	Canada
Oskar Gerber	Switzerland
Witold Gerutto	Poland
Ignace Heinrich	France
Godtfred Holmvang	Norway
Eduardo Julve	Peru
Enrique box maker	Argentina
René Kremer	Luxembourg
Wacław Kuźmicki	Poland
Yrjö Mäkelä	Finland
Before that, Marčelja	Yugoslavia
Bob Mathias	United States
Irving moonlight	United States
Sayed Moukhtar	Egypt
Peter Mullins	Australia
Fritz Nussbaum	Switzerland
Otto Rebula	Yugoslavia
Mario Recordón	Chile
Armin Scheurer	Switzerland
Josef Seger	Liechtenstein
Floyd Simmons	United States
Baldev Singh	India
Hannes Sonck	Finland
Pierre Sprécher	France
Per stavem	Norway
Kjell Tånnander	Sweden

Time schedule

On August 5th the following were carried out:

10.30 a.m .: 100-meter run

11.30 a.m .: long jump

3 p.m .: Shot put

4 p.m .: high jump

4.45 p.m .: 400 meter run

On August 6th were carried out

10.30 a.m .: 110-meter hurdles

11.30 a.m .: Discus throw

2.30 p.m .: pole vault

4.30 p.m .: javelin throw

6.30 p.m .: 1500-meter run

Disciplines

100 meter run

The discipline was carried out in nine runs.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Box maker 10.9 s 872 02 Clausen 11.1 s 814 03 Mathias 11.2 s 787 03 Mullins 11.2 s 787 03 Simmons 11.2 s 787 06th Heinrich 11.3 s 760 06th Moonlight 11.3 s 760 08th Kremer 11.5 s 710 09 Andersson 11.6 s 686 09 Azcune 11.6 s 686 09 Cretaine 11.6 s 686 09 Figueroa 11.6 s 686 09 Fournier 11.6 s 686 09 Julve 11.6 s 686 09 Rebula 11.6 s 686 09 Tånnander 11.6 s 686 17th Adamczyk 11.7 s 662 18th Moukhtar 11.8 s 640 18th Recordón 11.8 s 640 18th Singh 11.8 s 640 21st Eriksson 11.9 s 618 21st Tanner 11.9 s 618 21st Mäkelä 11.9 s 618 21st walnut 11.9 s 618 21st Speaker 11.9 s 618 21st Sonck 11.9 s 618 27 Dayer 12.0 s 597 27 Kuźmicki 12.0 s 597 27 Stavem 12.0 s 597 30th Gerutto 12.1 s 576 30th Holmvang 12.1 s 576 30th Marčelja 12.1 s 576 33 Seger 12.3 s 536 34 Scheurer 12.5 s 499 35 Büchel 12.7 s 464

Long jump

The widths were measured in the British system of measurement (feet, inches), which is why half a centimeter is also given here.

The Swiss Armin Scheurer did not take part in the second discipline.

Classification space Surname Expanse Points 01 Adamczyk 7,080 m 825 01 Box maker 7,080 m 825 03 Heinrich 6.895 m 775 04th Moonlight 6.810 m 754 05 Eriksson 6,800 m 751 06th Holmvang 6.750 m 739 07th Simmons 6.725 m 731 08th Sonck 6.715 m 728 09 Stavem 6.705 m 726 10 Julve 6.665 m 716 11 Mullins 6.645 m 711 12 Singh 6.630 m 708 13 Mathias 6.615 m 703 14th Andersson 6,595 m 698 15th Tånnander 6,580 m 695 16 Kuźmicki 6.565 m 690 17th Clausen 6.545 m 686 18th Rebula 6.530 m 683 19th Fournier 6.510 m 678 20th Cretaine 6.425 m 656 20th Figueroa 6.425 m 656 22nd Azcune 6.405 m 651 23 Speaker 6.380 m 646 24 walnut 6.345 m 637 25th Kremer 6.255 m 615 26th Mäkelä 6,200 m 603 27 Recordón 6.085 m 575 28 Marčelja 6,050 m 568 29 Tanner 5.960 m 547 30th Seger 5.945 m 543 30th Gerutto 5.905 m 534 30th Dayer 5.825 m 516 30th Büchel 5,550 m 457 30th Moukhtar 5.510 m 448

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Box maker 1697 02 Seger 1578 03 Heinrich 1535 04th Simmons 1518 05 Moonlight 1514 06th Clausen 1500 07th Mullins 1498 08th Mathias 1490 09 Adamczyk 1487 10 Julve 1402 11 Andersson 1384 12 Tånnander 1381 13 Eriksson 1369 13 Rebula 1369 15th Fournier 1364 16 Singh 1348 17th Sonck 1346 18th Cretaine 1342 18th Figueroa 1342 20th Azcune 1337 21st Kremer 1325 22nd Stavem 1323 23 Holmvang 1315 24 Kuźmicki 1287 25th Speaker 1264 26th walnut 1255 27 Mäkelä 1221 28 Recordón 1215 29 Tanner 1165 30th Marčelja 1144 31 Dayer 1113 32 Gerutto 1110 33 Moukhtar 1088 34 Büchel 921

Shot put

Classification space Surname Expanse Points 01 Gerutto 14.53 m 871 02 Stavem 13.89 m 805 03 Adamczyk 13.20 m 735 04th Mäkelä 13.10 m 725 05 Mathias 13.04 m 719 06th Julve 13.03 m 718 07th Clausen 12.87 m 703 08th Heinrich 12.85 m 701 09 Simmons 12.80 m 696 10 Mullins 12.75 m 691 11 Moonlight 12.74 m 690 12 Box maker 12.67 m 684 13 Andersson 12.66 m 683 14th Tånnander 12.50 m 668 15th Dayer 12.45 m 663 16 Kuźmicki 12.34 m 652 17th Speaker 12.22 m 641 18th Marčelja 12.19 m 638 19th Figueroa 12.17 m 637 19th Holmvang 12.17 m 637 21st Eriksson 11.96 m 617 22nd Sonck 11.83 m 605 23 Kremer 11.67 m 591 24 Tanner 11.61 m 585 25th Rebula 11.55 m 580 26th Recordón 11.45 m 571 27 Moukhtar 11.02 m 533 27 walnut 11.02 m 533 29 Azcune 10.87 m 520 30th Cretaine 10.78 m 512 31 Fournier 10.42 m 482 32 Büchel 10.36 m 477 33 Singh 10.05 m 451 34 Seger 9.40 m 398

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Box maker 2381 02 Heinrich 2236 03 Adamczyk 2222 04th Simmons 2214 05 Mathias 2209 06th Moonlight 2204 07th Clausen 2203 08th Mullins 2189 09 Stavem 2128 10 Julve 2120 11 Andersson 2067 12 Tånnander 2049 13 Eriksson 1986 14th Gerutto 1981 15th Figueroa 1979 16 Seger 1976 17th Holmvang 1952 18th Sonck 1951 19th Rebula 1949 20th Mäkelä 1946 21st Kuźmicki 1939 22nd Kremer 1916 23 Speaker 1905 24 Azcune 1857 25th Cretaine 1854 26th Fournier 1846 27 Singh 1799 28 walnut 1788 29 Recordón 1786 30th Marčelja 1782 31 Dayer 1776 32 Tanner 1750 33 Moukhtar 1621 34 Büchel 1398

high jump

Classification space Surname height Points 01 Azcune 1.86 m 859 01 Heinrich 1.86 m 859 01 Mathias 1.86 m 859 01 Simmons 1.86 m 859 01 Tånnander 1.86 m 859 06th Moonlight 1.83 m 822 06th Mullins 1.83 m 822 08th Clausen 1.80 m 786 08th Eriksson 1.80 m 786 08th Mäkelä 1.80 m 786 08th Stavem 1.80 m 786 12 Adamczyk 1.75 m 727 12 Andersson 1.75 m 727 12 Sonck 1.75 m 727 15th Figueroa 1.70 m 671 15th Gerutto 1.70 m 671 15th Holmvang 1.70 m 671 15th Box maker 1.70 m 671 15th Kuźmicki 1.70 m 671 15th Marčelja 1.70 m 671 15th Recordón 1.70 m 671 15th Singh 1.70 m 671 23 Cretaine 1.65 m 616 23 Dayer 1.65 m 616 23 Fournier 1.65 m 616 23 Julve 1.65 m 616 23 Seger 1.65 m 616 28 Tanner 1.60 m 563 28 Julve 1.60 m 563 28 Kremer 1.60 m 563 28 walnut 1.60 m 563 28 Speaker 1.60 m 563 33 Moukhtar 1.50 m 462 34 Büchel 1.40 m 368

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Heinrich 3095 02 Simmons 3073 03 Mathias 3068 04th Box maker 3052 05 Moonlight 3026 06th Mullins 3011 07th Clausen 2989 08th Adamczyk 2949 09 Stavem 2914 10 Tånnander 2908 11 Andersson 2794 12 Eriksson 2772 13 Julve 2736 14th Mäkelä 2732 15th Azcune 2716 16 Sonck 2678 17th Gerutto 2652 18th Figueroa 2650 19th Holmvang 2623 20th Kuźmicki 2610 21st Seger 2592 22nd Rebula 2512 23 Kremer 2479 24 Cretaine 2470 24 Singh 2470 26th Speaker 2468 27 Fournier 2462 28 Recordón 2457 29 Marčelja 2453 30th Dayer 2392 31 walnut 2351 32 Tanner 2313 33 Moukhtar 2083 34 Büchel 1766

400 meter run

The discipline was carried out in nine runs.

The Liechtensteiner Gebhard Büchel did not take part in the fifth discipline.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Box maker 50.5 s 845 02 Heinrich 51.6 s 785 02 Moonlight 51.6 s 785 04th Mathias 51.7 s 780 05 Speaker 51.8 s 775 06th Simmons 51.9 s 770 07th Andersson 52.0 s 765 08th Adamczyk 52.5 s 740 08th Eriksson 52.5 s 740 10 Azcune 52.7 s 730 11 Holmvang 52.9 s 720 12 Mullins 53.2 s 706 13 Julve 53.5 s 692 14th walnut 53.6 s 687 15th Recordón 53.9 s 674 16 Figueroa 54.3 s 656 16 Kuźmicki 54.3 s 656 16 Mäkelä 54.3 s 656 19th Marčelja 54.4 s 652 20th Fournier 54.5 s 647 20th Tånnander 54.5 s 647 22nd Clausen 54.7 s 639 23 Cretaine 54.8 s 635 23 Tanner 54.8 s 635 23 Moukhtar 54.8 s 635 26th Sonck 55.2 s 618 27 Rebula 55.3 s 614 28 Gerutto 55.4 s 610 29 Seger 55.7 s 597 30th Stavem 56.0 s 585 31 Kremer 56.5 s 566 32 Dayer 57.1 s 543 32 Singh 57.1 s 543

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Box maker 3897 02 Heinrich 3880 03 Mathias 3848 04th Simmons 3843 05 Moonlight 3811 06th Mullins 3717 07th Adamczyk 3689 08th Clausen 3628 09 Andersson 3559 10 Tånnander 3555 11 Eriksson 3512 12 Stavem 3499 13 Azcune 3446 14th Julve 3428 15th Mäkelä 3388 16 Holmvang 3343 17th Figueroa 3306 18th Sonck 3296 19th Kuźmicki 3266 20th Gerutto 3262 21st Speaker 3243 22nd Seger 3189 23 Recordón 3131 24 Rebula 3126 25th Fournier 3109 26th Cretaine 3105 26th Marčelja 3105 28 Kremer 3045 29 walnut 3038 30th Singh 3013 31 Tanner 2948 32 Dayer 2935 33 Moukhtar 2718

110 meter hurdles

The discipline was carried out in nine runs.

The Peruvian Eduardo Julve and the Luxembourger René Kremer did not take part in the sixth discipline.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Mullins 15.2 s 896 01 Simmons 15.2 s 896 03 Heinrich 15.6 s 833 04th Mathias 15.7 s 818 05 Adamczyk 15.8 s 804 05 Recordón 15.8 s 804 07th Andersson 15.9 s 790 08th Clausen 16.0 s 776 09 Singh 16.1 s 762 10 Eriksson 16.2 s 749 11 Box maker 16.3 s 736 12 Holmvang 16.4 s 723 12 Stavem 16.4 s 723 12 Tånnander 16.4 s 723 15th Figueroa 16.5 s 710 15th walnut 16.5 s 710 17th Moonlight 16.6 s 698 18th Speaker 16.7 s 686 19th Tanner 16.8 s 674 19th Sonck 16.8 s 674 21st Gerutto 17.0 s 651 22nd Azcune 17.1 s 640 23 Cretaine 17.3 s 618 24 Fournier 17.4 s 607 25th Mäkelä 17.5 s 597 25th Marčelja 17.5 s 597 27 Kuźmicki 17.6 s 587 28 Moukhtar 17.9 s 557 29 Seger 18.7 s 485 30th Dayer 19.5 s 422 - Rebula DNF 0

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Simmons 4739 02 Heinrich 4713 03 Mathias 4666 04th Box maker 4633 05 Mullins 4613 06th Moonlight 4509 07th Adamczyk 4493 08th Clausen 4404 09 Andersson 4349 10 Tånnander 4278 11 Eriksson 4261 12 Stavem 4222 13 Azcune 4086 14th Holmvang 4066 15th Figueroa 4016 16 Mäkelä 3985 17th Sonck 3970 18th Recordón 3935 19th Speaker 3929 20th Gerutto 3913 21st Kuźmicki 3853 22nd Singh 3775 23 walnut 3748 24 Cretaine 3723 25th Fournier 3716 26th Marčelja 3702 27 Seger 3674 28 Tanner 3622 29 Dayer 3357 30th Moukhtar 3275 31 Dayer 3126

Discus throw

The Yugoslav Oto Rebula did not take part in the seventh discipline.

Classification space Surname Expanse Points 01 Mathias 44.00 m 834 02 Gerutto 41.80 m 765 03 Dayer 41.54 m 757 04th Box maker 41.11 m 744 05 Stavem 41.06 m 743 06th Heinrich 40.94 m 739 07th Marčelja 39.44 m 695 08th Adamczyk 39.11 m 685 09 Cretaine 38.90 m 679 10 Moonlight 38.74 m 674 11 Holmvang 38.11 m 656 12 Kuźmicki 38.06 m 655 13 Speaker 37.02 m 625 14th Azcune 36.62 m 614 15th Moukhtar 36.54 m 612 16 Tånnander 36.50 m 610 17th Clausen 36.34 m 606 18th Mäkelä 36.12 m 600 19th Andersson 36.07 m 599 20th Eriksson 34.91 m 567 21st Sonck 34.71 m 561 22nd Tanner 34.32 m 551 23 Mullins 33.94 m 541 24 Recordón 33.77 m 536 25th walnut 33.54 m 530 26th Figueroa 32.98 m 515 27 Simmons 32.73 m 509 28 Fournier 32.31 m 498 29 Singh 29.63 m 430 30th Seger 28.60 m 404

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Mathias 5500 02 Heinrich 5452 03 Box maker 5377 04th Simmons 5248 05 Moonlight 5183 06th Adamczyk 5178 07th Mullins 5154 08th Clausen 5010 09 Stavem 4965 10 Andersson 4948 11 Tånnander 4888 12 Eriksson 4828 13 Holmvang 4722 14th Azcune 4700 15th Gerutto 4678 16 Mäkelä 4585 17th Speaker 4554 18th Figueroa 4531 18th Sonck 4531 20th Kuźmicki 4508 21st Recordón 4471 22nd Cretaine 4402 23 Marčelja 4397 24 walnut 4278 25th Fournier 4214 26th Singh 4205 27 Tanner 4173 28 Dayer 4114 29 Seger 4078 30th Moukhtar 3887

Pole vault

Baldev Singh from India and Josef Seger from Liechtenstein did not take part in the eighth discipline.

Classification space Surname height Points 01 Andersson 3.60 m 733 02 Mathias 3.50 m 692 02 Moonlight 3.50 m 692 04th Adamczyk 3.40 m 652 04th Cretaine 3.40 m 652 04th Figueroa 3.40 m 652 04th Holmvang 3.40 m 652 04th Mullins 3.40 m 652 04th Simmons 3.40 m 652 04th Sonck 3.40 m 652 11 Eriksson 3.30 m 613 11 Marčelja 3.30 m 613 11 walnut 3.30 m 613 14th Azcune 3.20 m 575 14th Clausen 3.20 m 575 14th Fournier 3.20 m 575 14th Tanner 3.20 m 575 14th Heinrich 3.20 m 575 14th Box maker 3.20 m 575 14th Kuźmicki 3.20 m 575 14th Mäkelä 3.20 m 575 14th Stavem 3.20 m 575 14th Tånnander 3.20 m 575 24 Dayer 3.00 m 501 24 Gerutto 3.00 m 501 24 Speaker 3.00 m 501 27 Recordón 2.80 m 431 28 Moukhtar 2.35 m 285

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Mathias 6192 02 Heinrich 6027 03 Box maker 5952 04th Simmons 5900 05 Moonlight 5875 06th Adamczyk 5830 07th Mullins 5806 08th Andersson 5681 09 Clausen 5585 10 Stavem 5540 11 Tånnander 5463 12 Eriksson 5441 13 Holmvang 5374 14th Azcune 5275 15th Figueroa 5183 15th Sonck 5183 17th Gerutto 5179 18th Mäkelä 5160 19th Kuźmicki 5083 20th Speaker 5055 21st Cretaine 5054 22nd Marčelja 5010 23 Recordón 4902 24 walnut 4891 25th Fournier 4789 26th Tanner 4748 27 Dayer 4615 28 Moukhtar 4172

Javelin throw

With 62.55 m the Finn Yrjö Mäkelä threw the best distance in the Olympic decathlon so far.

Classification space Surname Expanse Points 01 Mäkelä 62.55 m 835 02 Speaker 58.79 m 757 03 Eriksson 56.70 m 715 04th Marčelja 55.34 m 688 05 Holmvang 53.66 m 656 06th Stavem 52.79 m 639 07th Simmons 51.99 m 624 08th Mullins 51.32 m 612 09 Gerutto 51.06 m 607 10 Andersson 51.04 m 607 11 Mathias 50.32 m 593 12 Dayer 48.71 m 564 13 Sonck 48.24 m 555 14th Kuźmicki 47.34 m 539 15th walnut 46.13 m 518 16 Box maker 45.06 m 499 17th Moukhtar 44.59 m 491 18th Clausen 44.16 m 484 19th Adamczyk 43.70 m 476 20th Tånnander 43.65 m 475 21st Cretaine 43.26 m 469 22nd Figueroa 43.05 m 465 23 Tanner 42.44 m 455 24 Fournier 42.39 m 454 25th Heinrich 40.98 m 430 26th Azcune 38.31 m 387 27 Recordón 38.06 m 383 28 Moonlight 36.81 m 363

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Mathias 6785 02 Simmons 6524 03 Heinrich 6457 04th Box maker 6451 05 Mullins 6418 06th Adamczyk 6306 07th Andersson 6288 08th Moonlight 6238 09 Stavem 6179 10 Eriksson 6156 11 Clausen 6069 12 Holmvang 6030 13 Mäkelä 5995 14th Tånnander 5938 15th Speaker 5812 16 Gerutto 5786 17th Sonck 5738 18th Marčelja 5698 19th Azcune 5662 20th Figueroa 5648 21st Kuźmicki 5622 22nd Cretaine 5523 23 walnut 5409 24 Recordón 5285 25th Fournier 5243 26th Tanner 5203 27 Dayer 5179 28 Moukhtar 4663

1500 meter run

A photo from one of the 1,500 meter runs shows the adverse conditions that the athletes had to contend with.

The Norwegian Godtfred Holmvang ran the fastest time over 1500 meters. He ended up 10th

The discipline was carried out in six runs.

The Norwegian Godtfred Holmvang achieved the fastest time ever in an Olympic decathlon with 4: 28.6 minutes.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Holmvang 4: 28.6 min 602 02 Andersson 4: 34.0 min 589 02 Speaker 4: 34.0 min 589 04th Eriksson 4: 35.8 min 575 05 Kuźmicki 4: 41.8 min 531 06th Heinrich 4: 43.8 min 517 07th Box maker 4: 49.6 min 478 08th Moonlight 4: 49.8 min 477 09 Recordón 4: 54.8 min 445 10 Marčelja 4: 55.2 min 443 11 Mäkelä 4: 58.0 min 426 11 Simmons 4: 58.0 min 426 13 Dayer 5: 01.2 min 407 14th Adamczyk 5: 01.4 min 406 15th Sonck 5: 01.8 min 404 16 walnut 5: 02.6 min 399 17th Tånnander 5: 04.8 min 387 18th Figueroa 5: 06.4 min 378 19th Clausen 5: 07.0 min 375 20th Stavem 5: 07.4 min 373 21st Moukhtar 5: 08.4 min 368 22nd Azcune 5: 09.0 min 364 23 Tanner 5: 10.8 min 355 24 Mathias 5: 11.0 min 354 25th Fournier 5: 12.4 min 347 26th Mullins 5: 17.6 min 321 27 Gerutto 5: 17.8 min 320 28 Cretaine 5: 20.8 min 306

Olympic champion Bob Mathias on a postage stamp from the Emirate of Ajman from 1971

Bottom line

space	Surname	nation	Points - official value.	Points –1985 value.
1	Bob Mathias	United States	7139	6628
2	Ignace Heinrich	France	6974	6559
3	Floyd Simmons	United States	6950	6531
4th	Enrique box maker	Argentina	6929	6542
5	Erik Andersson	Sweden	6877	6486
6th	Peter Mullins	Australia	6739	6434
7th	Per Axel Eriksson	Sweden	6731	6391
8th	Irving moonlight	United States	6715	6331
9	Edward Adamczyk	Poland	6712	6336
10	Godtfred Holmvang	Norway	6663	6292
11	Per stavem	Norway	6552	6152
12	Örn Clausen	Iceland	6444	6106
13	Yrjö Mäkelä	Finland	6421	6064
14th	Pierre Sprécher	France	6401	6135
15th	Kjell Tånnander	Sweden	6325	6016
16	Wacław Kuźmicki	Poland	6153	5898
17th	Hannes Sonck	Finland	6142	5881
18th	Before that, Marčelja	Yugoslavia	6141	5951
19th	Witold Gerutto	Poland	6106	5756
20th	Hércules Azcune	Uruguay	6026	5780
	Hernán Figueroa	Chile	6026	5786
22nd	Jacques Cretaine	France	5829	5604
23	Fritz Nussbaum	Switzerland	5808	5639
24	Mario Recordón	Chile	5730	5582
25th	Lionel Fournier	Canada	5590	5534
26th	Albert Dayer	Belgium	5586	5333
27	Oskar Gerber	Switzerland	5558	5403
28	Sayed Moukhtar	Egypt	5031	4999

Date: 5th / 6th August 1948

There was no clear favorite. The French Ignace Heinrich was a candidate for a medal, as was the US champion Bob Mathias, who at the age of 17 had already scored an excellent 7,224 points in his second decathlon . European champion Godtfred Holmvang from Norway no longer had quite the shape of the 1946 European championships . Surprisingly, the Argentinian Enrique Kistenmacher was ahead of Heinrich after the first day. The athletes suffered from bad weather conditions on the second day. It was cold and rainy. After the discus throw, Mathias took the lead, although his best distance was not measured due to a mistake by the judges. He did not give up this leadership anymore and at the age of just 17 became the youngest Olympic champion in athletics to date.

Ignace Heinrich won the first decathlon medal for France.

For a better classification of the performance, in addition to the official points according to the rating table from 1934, the number of points converted according to the current rating system from 1985 is also given. According to this table, which is valid today, there would have been a different order in some places. But these comparisons are only indicative, because the different standards of the time must apply as a basis. This is most noticeable in the pole vault , where people jumped with completely different poles than they do today.

reception

In 1954 the US film The Bob Mathias Story was directed by Francis D. Lyon . The film, produced for US $ 180,000, tells the story of the Olympic champion, with archive footage of his victories in 1948 and 1952 incorporated. Bob Mathias played himself in the film.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede : The History of Olympic Athletics. Volume 2: 1948-1968. , 1st edition. Verlag Bartels & Wernitz, Berlin 1969, pp. 40ff.

Web links

• SportsReference Decathlon , accessed August 23, 2017
• Official report pp. 274–276, engl. (PDF), accessed on August 23, 2017
• USA's Bob Mathias Wins Olympic Decathlon At 17 - London 1948 Olympics , published May 7, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed August 23, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard to Megede : The history of Olympic athletics. Volume 2: 1948-1968. , 1st edition. Verlag Bartels & Wernitz, Berlin 1969, p. 41.
2. ↑ Official Schedule of the Schedule, p. 241
3. ↑ SportsReference (javelin throw)
4. ↑ SportsReference (1500 m)
5. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)