1948 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	100 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	63 athletes from 33 countries
Competition location	Wembley Stadium
Competition phase	July 30, 1948 (preliminary / quarter-finals) July 31, 1948 (semi-final / final)
Medalist Harrison Dillard ( USA )   Barney Ewell ( USA )   Lloyd LaBeach ( PAN )

Olympic Champion Harrison Dillard (USA)

The men's 100-meter race at the 1948 Olympic Games in London was held on July 30 and 31, 1948 at Wembley Stadium . 63 athletes took part.

The American Harrison Dillard was Olympic champion ahead of his compatriot Barney Ewell . Lloyd LaBeach from Panama won bronze .

Existing records

• World record : 10.2 s - Jesse Owens ( USA ), Chicago , June 20, 1936 / Harold Davis ( USA ), Compton , June 6, 1941 / Lloyd LaBeach ( Panama ), Fresno , May 15, 1948 / Barney Ewell ( USA ), Evanston , July 9, 1948
• Olympic record : 10.3 s - Eddie Tolan ( USA ), Los Angeles Olympic Final , August 1, 1932

Conducting the competition

The runners competed in the heats on July 30th. A total of twelve runs were completed. The two best runners each qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day that the three best runners reached the semifinals. The two semi-finals, from which the first three starters progressed, and the final were held on July 31st.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

July 30, 1948, 3 p.m.
Not all times have been recorded.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Barney Ewell	United States	10.5 s
2	Alastair McCorquodale	Great Britain	10.5 s
3	Leslie Laing	Jamaica	11.0 s
4th	Angel García	Cuba	k. A.
5	Nestor Jacono	Malta	k. A.
6th	Lipski	Poland	k. A.

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Mel Patton	United States	10.6 s
2	Ivan Hausen	Brazil	10.9 s
3	James O'Brien	Canada	10.9 s
4th	Fernando Lapuente	Argentina	k. A.
5	Hector Gosset	Belgium	k. A.
6th	Guillermo Rodríguez	Mexico	k. A.

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lloyd LaBeach	Panama	10.5 s
2	Béla Goldoványi	Hungary	11.0 s
3	Frank Mahoney	Bermuda	11.8 s

With Lloyd LaBeach, the first athlete from Panama to take part in the Olympic Games.
Frank Mahoney was the first athlete to compete for Bermuda.

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Juan Lopez	Uruguay	10.5 s
2	Ken Jones	Great Britain	10.6 s
3	Jan Meijer	Netherlands	11.0 s
4th	Máximo Reyes	Peru	k. A.
5	Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson	Iceland	k. A.
6th	Marinis	Greece	k. A.

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harrison Dillard	United States	10.4 s
2	Aroldo da Silva	Brazil	10.6 s
3	Peter Bloch	Norway	11.1
4th	Pol Braekman	Belgium	k. A.
5	Ulloa	Spain	k. A.

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Emmanuel McDonald Bailey	Great Britain	10.5 s
2	Haukur Clausen	Iceland	11.0 s
3	Abram van Heerden	South African Union	11.1 s
4th	Carlos Silva	Chile	k. A.
5	Bernabe Lovina	Philippines	k. A.
6th	Stanley Lines	Bermuda	k. A.

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	John Treloar	Australia	10.5 s
2	René Valmy	France	10.8 s
3	Györgyi Csányi	Hungary	11.1 s
4th	Carlos Isaac	Argentina	k. A.
5	Sayed Moukhtar	Egypt	k. A.
DNF	Ali Salman	Kingdom of Iraq
DNF	Parry	Canada

Ali Salman was the first Iraqi individual athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.

The Dutchman Jo Zwann (picture from 1950) was eliminated in the preliminary round

The Turkish athlete Raşit Öztaş (left), here with a US colleague, failed in the preliminary run

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Rafael Fortun	Cuba	10.7 s
2	John Bartram	Australia	10.8 s
3	Basil McKenzie	Jamaica	10.8 s
4th	Helio da Silva	Brazil	k. A.
5	Jo Zwaan	Netherlands	k. A.

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Morris Curotta	Australia	10.7 s
2	Gerardo Bönnhoff	Argentina	10.8 s
3	Raúl Mazorra	Cuba	11.1 s
4th	Örn Clausen	Iceland	k. A.
5	Raşit Öztaş	Turkey	k. A.
DSQ	Perry Johnson	Bermuda

Forward 10

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	George Lewis	Trinidad and Tobago	10.8 s
2	Ted Haggis	Canada	10.9 s
3	Walter Perez	Uruguay	11.0 s
4th	Joseph Stéphan	France	k. A.
5	Santiago Ferrando	Peru	k. A.
6th	Stefanos Petrakis	Greece	k. A.

George Lewis was the first athlete from Trinidad and Tobago to compete in the Olympic Games.

Forward 11

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Isidoor Van De Wiele	Belgium	10.8 s
2	Nuno Morais	Portugal	10.9 s
3	Alberto Labarthe	Chile	11.0 s
4th	Muhammad Sharif Butt	Pakistan	k. A.
5	Charles Thompson	British Guiana	k. A.

Muhammad Sharif Butt from Pakistan and Charles Thompson from Guyana (then British Guiana) were the first athletes to take part in the Olympic Games for their respective countries.

Forward 12

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Mario Fayos	Uruguay	11.0 s
2	Eric Prabhakar	India	11.0 s
3	László Bartha	Hungary	11.1 s
4th	Jan Kleyn	Netherlands	k. A.
5	Kemal Aksur	Turkey	k. A.
6th	Maung His Pe	Burma	k. A.
DNF	Étienne Bally	France

Maung Sein Pe was the first athlete from Myanmar (then Burma) to compete in the Olympic Games.

Quarter finals

July 30, 1948, 5.30 p.m.
As for the preliminary runs, not all times have been recorded for the quarter-finals.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harrison Dillard	United States	10.4 s
2	Juan Lopez	Uruguay	10.6 s
3	Ken Jones	Great Britain	10.7 s
4th	Ivan Hausen	Brazil	k. A.
5	Ted Haggis	Canada	k. A.
6th	Nuno Morais	Portugal	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Barney Ewell	United States	10.5 s
2	Emmanuel McDonald Bailey	Great Britain	10.6 s
3	Morris Curotta	Australia	10.8 s
4th	George Lewis	Trinidad and Tobago	k. A.
5	Béla Goldoványi	Hungary	k. A.
6th	Haukur Clausen	Iceland	k. A.

Run 3

Alastair McCorquodaile (GBR) finished fourth in the final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Mel Patton	United States	10.4 s
2	Alastair McCorquodale	Great Britain	10.5 s
3	John Bartram	Australia	10.6 s
4th	René Valmy	France	k. A.
5	Mario Fayos	Uruguay	k. A.
6th	Isidoor Van De Wiele	Belgium	k. A.

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lloyd LaBeach	Panama	10.5 s
2	John Treloar	Australia	10.5 s
3	Rafael Fortun	Cuba	10.6 s
4th	Aroldo da Silva	Argentina	k. A.
5	Gerardo Bönnhoff	Argentina	k. A.
6th	Eric Prabhakar	India	k. A.

Semifinals

July 31, 1948, 2:30 p.m.
Here too, not all times have been recorded.

Run 1

Mel Patton (USA), here with his trainer Dean Cromwell, came in 5th in the final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harrison Dillard	United States	10.5 s
2	Barney Ewell	United States	10.5 s
3	Alastair McCorquodale	Great Britain	10.7 s
4th	John Bartram	Australia	k. A.
5	Juan Lopez	Uruguay	k. A.
6th	Morris Curotta	Australia	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Mel Patton	United States	10.4 s
2	Lloyd LaBeach	Panama	10.5 s
3	Emmanuel McDonald Bailey	Great Britain	10.6 s
4th	John Treloar	Australia	10.7
5	Rafael Fortun	Cuba	10.7
6th	Ken Jones	Great Britain	10.9

final

Finish of the final (from left to right): Dillard (USA), Bailey (GBR), McCorquodale (GBR), LaBeach (PAN), Ewell (USA). Not in the picture: Patton (USA)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harrison Dillard	United States	10.3 s	ORe
2	Barney Ewell	United States	10.4 s
3	Lloyd LaBeach	Panama	10.4 s
4th	Alastair McCorquodale	Great Britain	10.4 s
5	Mel Patton	United States	10.5 s
6th	McDonald Bailey	Great Britain	10.6 s

July 31, 1948, 3:45 p.m.

Three Americans (Harrison Dillard, Barney Ewell and Melvin Patton) competed in the final against two British (Emmanuel McDonald Bailey, Alastair McCorquodale) and Lloyd LaBeach from Panama. Patton, Ewell and LaBeach were favorites. Patton got off to a bad start and was unable to intervene at the front of the race. At the finish, Ewell cheered believing he was an Olympic champion. He had only paid attention to his supposed main opponents Patton and LaBeach who came in behind him. When he saw on the target photo that Dillard was lying in front of him, he was very disappointed. This race outcome was very surprising, Harrison Dillard was actually the world's leading 110-meter hurdler , but hit a hurdle in his special discipline at the US Olympic eliminations and was eliminated. Over 100 meters he was then able to qualify for London together with Patton and Ewell .

The decision about third place was made by photo of the finish in favor of LaBeach.

The timekeepers were not up to their task in this race. That is why the times were simply left out in many publications. The times that result from the unofficially determined electronic times are therefore noted in this table.
Dillard won the eighth gold medal for the USA in the eleventh Olympic final.
Lloyd LaBeach, the first Panama athlete to compete in the Olympics, was also his country's first medalist.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 13–15

Web links

• SportsReference 100 m , accessed August 18, 2017
• Official report pp. 242–243, engl. (PDF), accessed on August 18, 2017

Video

• Harrison Dillard Wins A 100m Photo-Finish | London 1948 Olympics on youtube.com, published January 29, 2013, accessed August 18, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 546 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 16
3. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" page 240
4. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 13f
5. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" page 240
6. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" page 240
7. ^ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 14
8. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" page 240
9. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)
10. ↑ Official Report, page 227
11. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 15f