1948 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 100 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 100 meter relay
gender	Women
Attendees	44 athletes from 11 countries
Competition location	Wembley Stadium
Competition phase	August 7, 1948
Medalists  NED  OUT  CAN

The women's 4 x 100 meter relay at the 1948 Olympic Games in London was played on August 7, 1948 at Wembley Stadium . 44 athletes took part.

The Dutch relay won the gold medal. Silver went to the Australian relay, bronze to Canada.

Existing records

• World record : 46.4 s - Germany ( Emmy Albus , Käthe Krauss , Marie Dollinger , Ilse Dörffeldt ), Berlin , August 9, 1936
• Olympic record : 46.4 s - Germany ( Emmy Albus , Käthe Krauss , Marie Dollinger , Ilse Dörffeldt ), advance of the Olympic Games in Berlin , August 9, 1936

Conducting the competition

There were three preliminary runs on August 7th. The two best seasons qualified for the final on the same day.

Note: The qualified relays are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

August 7, 1948, 3:15 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Canada	Viola Myers Nancy Mackay Diane Foster Patricia Jones	47.9 s
2	Australia	Shirley Strickland June Maston Betty McKinnon Joyce King	48.0 s
3	France	Jeanine Toulouse Rosine Faugouin Liliane Sprécher Jeanine Moussier	48.1 s
4th	Brazil	Benedicta de Oliveira Lucila Pini Melânia Luz Gertrudes Morg	49.0 s

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Great Britain	Dorothy Manley Muriel Pletts Margaret Walker Maureen Gardner	48.4 s
2	Austria	Grete Jenny Elfriede Steurer Grete Pavlousek Maria Oberbreyer	50.0 s
3	Chile	Marion Huber Beatriz Kretschmer Adriana Millard Annegret Weller-Schneider	51.5 s
DNF	Italy	Mirella Avalle Anna Maria Cantù Marcella Jeandeau Liliana Tagliaferri

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Netherlands	Xenia Stad-de Jong Nettie Witziers-Timmer Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs Fanny Blankers-Koen	47.6 s
2	Denmark	Grethe Lovsø Bente Bergendorff Birthe Nielsen Hildegard Nissen	48.1 s
3	United States	Nell Jackson Theresa Manuel Audrey Patterson Mabel Walker	48.5 s

The Olympic champions arrive in Hook of Holland . Stad-de Jong (l.), Witziers-Timmer (2nd from left), van der Kade-Koudijs (2nd from right), Blankers-Koen (right)

final

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Netherlands	Xenia Stad-de Jong Nettie Witziers-Timmer Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs Fanny Blankers-Koen	47.5 s
2	Australia	Shirley Strickland June Maston Betty McKinnon Joyce King	47.6 s
3	Canada	Viola Myers Nancy Mackay Diane Foster Patricia Jones	47.8 s
4th	Great Britain	Dorothy Manley Muriel Pletts Margaret Walker Maureen Gardner	48.0 s
5	Denmark	Grethe Lovsø Bente Bergendorff Birthe Nielsen Hildegard Nissen	48.2 s
6th	Austria	Grete Jenny Elfriede Steurer Grete Pavlousek Maria Oberbreyer	49.2 s

August 7, 1948, 4.40 p.m.

In the final, the favored team from the Netherlands was still well behind Australia until the last change. Final runner Fanny Blankers-Koen was able to intercept the Australian Joyce King and narrowly secure the victory.

For Fanny Blankers-Koen it was the fourth gold medal at the London Games. This made her the most successful female athlete in terms of the number of Olympic victories.

For the Netherlands it was the first Olympic victory and the first medal. Australia also won the first medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay .

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 50f

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 100 m
• Official Report, page 280
• Fanny Blankers-Koen wins 4 golds at the 1948 Olympics , published January 16, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed August 24, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 650 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ^{a b} Official report "Athletic Timetable" p. 241, engl. (PDF)
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.) The world and Olympic records of the German relay remained untouched.