1948 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 200 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	200 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	33 athletes from 17 countries
Competition location	Wembley Stadium
Competition phase	August 5, 1948 (preliminary / semi-finals) August 6, 1948 (final)
Medalists Fanny Blankers-Koen ( NED )   Audrey Williamson ( GBR )   Audrey Patterson ( USA )

The women's 200-meter run at the 1948 Olympic Games in London was held at Wembley Stadium on August 5 and 6, 1948 . 33 athletes took part in the Olympic premiere of this discipline of women's athletics.

Olympic champion was Fanny Blankers-Koen from the Netherlands, ahead of Audrey Williamson from Britain . American Audrey Patterson won bronze .

Existing records

• World record : 23.6 s - Stanisława Walasiewicz ( Poland ), Warsaw , August 4, 1935
• There was not yet an Olympic record for the 200 meters , as this competition was held in London for the first time.

Conducting the competition

The runners started the prelims on August 5th. A total of seven runs were completed. The two best runners in each case qualified for the semi-finals, which took place on the same day. In the semifinals, the first two runners qualified for the final on August 6th.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

August 5, 1948, 3:30 p.m.

Not all times have been passed down.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Fanny Blankers-Koen	Netherlands	25.7 s	OR
2	Liliane Sprécher	France	26.0 s
3	Mae Faggs	United States	26.0 s
4th	Melânia Luz	Brazil	k. A.
5	Phyliss Edness	Bermuda	k. A.

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Cynthia Thompson	Jamaica	25.6 s	OR
2	Sylvia Cheeseman	Great Britain	25.7 s
3	Diane Foster	Canada	26.1 s
4th	Helena de Menezes	Brazil	k. A.

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joyce King	Australia	25.9 s
2	Phyllis Lightbourn-Jones	Bermuda	27.0 s
3	Lucila Pini	Brazil	27.6 s
4th	Marie-Thérèse Renard	Belgium	k. A.
DNF	Olga Šicnerová	Czechoslovakia

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Daphne Robb	South African Union	25.3 s	OR
2	Shirley Strickland	Australia	25.8 s
3	Nell Jackson	United States	25.8 s
4th	Donna Gilmore	Canada	k. A.
5	Alma Butia	Yugoslavia	k. A.

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Audrey Patterson	United States	25.5 s
2	Margaret Walker	Great Britain	25.8 s
3	Kathleen Russell	Jamaica	26.3 s
4th	Ann-Britt Leyman	Sweden	k. A.
5	Tilly Decker	Luxembourg	k. A.
6th	Beatriz Kretschmer	Chile	k. A.

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Betty McKinnon	Australia	25.9 s
2	Raisin Faugouin	France	25.9 s
3	Grietje de Jongh	Netherlands	26.2 s
4th	Grete Pavlousek	Austria	k. A.
5	Adriana Millard Pachedo	Chile	k. A.
4th	Carmen Phipps	Jamaica	k. A.

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Audrey Williamson	Great Britain	25.4 s
2	Neeltje Karelse	Netherlands	26.0 s
3	Millie Cheater	Canada	26.4 s
DSQ	Annegret Weller-Schneider	Chile

Semifinals

August 5, 1948, 5 p.m.

Not all times have been passed down.

Run 1

Joyce King (AUS) failed in the semifinals

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Fanny Blankers-Koen	Netherlands	24.3 s	OR
2	Audrey Patterson	United States	25.0 s
3	Margaret Walker	Great Britain	25.3 s
4th	Cynthia Thompson	Jamaica	k. A.
5	Raisin Faugouin	France	k. A.
6th	Joyce King	Australia	k. A.
7th	Phyllis Lightbourn-Jones	Bermuda	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Shirley Strickland	Australia	24.9 s
2	Audrey Williamson	Great Britain	24.9 s
3	Daphne Robb	South African Union	25.2 s
4th	Sylvia Cheeseman	Great Britain	k. A.
5	Neeltje Karelse	Netherlands	k. A.
6th	Liliane Sprécher	France	k. A.
DNS	Betty McKinnon	Australia

Olympic Champion Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED)

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Fanny Blankers-Koen	Netherlands	24.4 s
2	Audrey Williamson	Great Britain	25.1 s
3	Audrey Patterson	United States	25.2 s
4th	Shirley Strickland	Australia	k. A.
5	Margaret Walker	Great Britain	k. A.
6th	Daphne Robb	South African Union	k. A.

August 6, 1948, 4:30 p.m.

In the finals, the 100 meter winner Fanny Blankers-Koen from the Netherlands was the clear favorite. But the publicity-shy athlete, who was in the media's interest as a “flying housewife” or “flying Dutchwoman”, suffered from homesickness in the semi-finals. She wanted to escape the media hype and longed for her two children. Only after a long conversation with her husband and trainer Jan Blankers did she take part in the two outstanding competitions over 200 meters and in the 4 x 100 meter relay . She won this 200 meters with a clear lead over the Briton Audrey Williamson. In the semifinals she set an Olympic record with 24.3 seconds . Third-placed American Audrey Patterson was the first African-American medalist to win the Olympics. The referees had declared the US runner a medalist after 45 minutes. Only later, after analyzing the target photo, it became clear that the Australian Shirley Strickland had actually won the bronze medal. But the arbitration tribunal's first decision was never reversed.

Fanny Blankers-Koen won her third of four gold medals at the 1948 Games after the 100 meters and the 80 meter hurdles .

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 45f

Web links

• SportsReference 200 m , c
• Official report p. 278, engl. (PDF), accessed on August 24, 2017
• The Incredible Dominance Of Fanny Blankers-Koen | Olympic Records , published December 28, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed August 24, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 640 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Official report "Athletic Timetable" p. 241, engl. (PDF)
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 45f
4. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)