1948 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 80 m hurdles (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	80 meter hurdles
gender	Women
Attendees	21 athletes from 12 countries
Competition location	Wembley Stadium
Competition phase	August 3, 1948 (preliminary / semi-finals) August 4, 1948 (final)
Medalists Fanny Blankers-Koen ( NED )   Maureen Gardner ( GBR )   Shirley Strickland ( AUS )

The women's 80-meter hurdles at the 1948 Olympic Games in London was held at Wembley Stadium on August 3 and 4, 1948 . 21 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was Fanny Blankers-Koen from the Netherlands . She won ahead of Maureen Gardner (GBR) and Shirley Strickland (AUS).

Existing records

• World record : 11.0 s - Fanny Blankers-Koen ( Netherlands ), Amsterdam , June 20, 1948
• Olympic record : 11.7 seconds - Mildred Didrikson ( USA ), final in Los Angeles , August 5, 1932 / Trebisonda Valla ( Italy ), final in Berlin , August 6, 1936

Conducting the competition

The runners competed in four heats on August 3rd. The three best athletes from each qualified for the semi-finals on the same day. The first three runners from the two semi-finals made it to the final on August 4th.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

August 3, 1948, 3 p.m.

Not all times have been passed down.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Fanny Blankers-Koen	Netherlands	11.3 s	OR
2	Joan Upton	Great Britain	11.8 s
3	Jeanine Toulouse	France	12.0 s
4th	Mirja Jämes	Finland	k. A.
5	Marion Huber	Chile	k. A.
6th	Theresa Manuel	United States	k. A.

Forward 2

The British Maureen Gardner (in the foreground) won her preliminary run.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Maureen Gardner	Great Britain	11.6 s
2	Libuše Lomská	Czechoslovakia	11.8 s
3	Noëmi Simonetto de Portela	Argentina	11.8 s
4th	Janine Magnin-Lamouche	France	k. A.
5	Domnitsa Lanitou-Kavounidou	Greece	k. A.

Forward 3

Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs (NED) later retired in the semi-finals

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Yvette Monginou	France	11.7 s
2	Shirley Strickland	Australia	11.9 s
3	Maria Oberbreyer	Austria	11.9 s
4th	Bernice Robinson	United States	k. A.
5	Bertha Crowther	Great Britain	k. A.

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Elfriede Steurer	Austria	12.2 s
2	Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs	Netherlands	12.2 s
3	Jean Walraven	United States	12.6 s
4th	Kyllikki Naukkarinen	Finland	k. A.
5	Vinton Beckett	Jamaica	k. A.

Semifinals

Noemí Simonetto de Portela (ARG) was eliminated in the semifinals

Olympic Champion Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED)

August 3, 1948, 5 p.m.

Not all times have been passed down.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Fanny Blankers-Koen	Netherlands	11.4 s
2	Maria Oberbreyer	Austria	11.9 s
3	Libuše Lomská	Czechoslovakia	12.0 s
4th	Joan Upton	Great Britain
5	Jeanine Toulouse	France
6th	Jean Walraven	United States

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Shirley Strickland	Australia	11.7 s
2	Yvette Monginou	France	11.8 s
3	Maureen Gardner	Great Britain	11.8 s
4th	Noëmi Simonetto de Portela	Argentina
5	Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs	Netherlands
6th	Elfriede Steurer	Austria

A recording of the finale

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Fanny Blankers-Koen	Netherlands	11.2 s	OR
2	Maureen Gardner	Great Britain	11.2 s	OR
3	Shirley Strickland	Australia	11.4 s
4th	Yvette Monginou	France	k. A.
5	Maria Oberbreyer	Austria	k. A.
6th	Libuše Lomská	Czechoslovakia	k. A.

August 4, 1948, 3 p.m.

The favorites were Francina Blankers-Koen from the Netherlands, reigning European champion, and Maureen Gardner from Britain. While Blankers-Koen made it through the preliminary round and the semifinals easily with an Olympic record , Gardner had difficulties in the semifinals and was only able to qualify for the final with difficulty.
In the final, Gardner came out of the blocks best, although it appeared that she had caused a false start. However, the race was not canceled. Gardner was in the lead, but was caught by Blankers-Koen. Both ran side by side to the finish line and it was not clear who had won. When the British national anthem was played, the Dutch woman believed she had lost. But the anthem had been intoned because of the arrival of the royal family. Blankers-Koen was declared the winner. Later analyzes of the electronic timing showed that it was actually five hundredths of a second ahead. Shirley Strickland, later still extremely successful under her name de la Hunty at the next two Olympic Games, won the bronze medal.

For Fanny Blankers-Koen it was the second of four Olympic victories in London.
Blankers-Koen, Gardner and Strickland each won the first medals for their countries in this discipline.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 46f

Web links

• SportsReference 80m hurdles , accessed August 24, 2017
• Official report p. 279, engl. (PDF), accessed on August 24, 2017
• Fanny Blankers-Koen wins 4 golds at the 1948 Olympics , published January 16, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed August 24, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 47
2. ↑ ^{a b} Official report "Athletic Timetable" p. 240, engl. (PDF)
3. ^ Official report "Athletic Timetable" p. 241, engl. (PDF)
4. ↑ SportsReference, engl.