Summer Olympiad (1948)

The 1948 Summer Olympics, the Games of the XIV Olympiad, held in London, United Kingdom. After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The 1940 Games had been scheduled for Tokyo, and later Helsinki as WWII started; the 1944 Games had been provisionally planned for London. The 1948 London Games were the first to be shown on home television, although very few people in Great Britain actually owned sets. A women’s canoeing event was held for the first time - and won by Karen Hoff of Denmark. 17-year-old American Bob Mathias won the decathlon only four months after taking up the sport. He is the youngest athlete in Olympic history to win a men’s athletics event. Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands was the world record holder in six events, but, according to the rules of the day, was only allowed to enter four. She won all four: the 100m dash, the 80m hurdles, the 200m and the 4x100m relay. Concert pianist Micheline Ostermeyer of France won both the shot put and the discus throw. Karoly Takacs was a member of the Hungarian world champion pistol shooting team in 1938 when a grenade shattered his right hand - his pistol hand. Takacs taught himself to shoot with his left hand and, ten years later, he won an Olympic gold medal in the rapid-fire pistol event.

Opening date: 29 July 1948

Closing date: 14 August 1948

Ceremonies

Official opening of the Games by: His Majesty King George VI

Lighting the Olympic Flame by: John Mark (athletics)

Olympic Oath by: Donald Finlay (athletics)

Official Oath by: The first officials' oath was sworn at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

Participations

59 NOCs (Nations)
4,104 athletes (390 women, 3,714 men)
136 events

Country of the host city: Great Britain (GBR)

Candidate cities: Baltimore (USA), Lausanne (SUI), Los Angeles (USA), Minneapolis (USA) and Philadelphia (USA)

Sports

• Aquatics
• Athletics
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Canoe / Kayak
• Cycling
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Football
• Gymnastics
• Hockey
• Modern Pentathlon
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling

Venues

• Wembley Empire Exhibition Grounds
• Empire Stadium - opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, football finals, hockey finals
• Empire Pool - swimming, boxing
• Palace of Engineering - fencing

• Other venues
• Empress Hall, Earl's Court - boxing preliminaries, wrestling, weightlifting, gymnastics
• Harringay Arena, Harringay - basketball
• Royal Regatta Course, Henley-on-Thames - canoeing, rowing
• Herne Hill Velodrome, Herne Hill - track cycling
• Windsor Great Park - cycling road race
• Central Stadium, Aldershot Military Headquarters - equestrian
• Tweseldown Racecourse - equestrian
• Arsenal Stadium, Highbury - football preliminaries
• Selhurst Park - football preliminaries
• Craven Cottage, Fulham - football preliminaries
• Ilford - football preliminaries
• Griffin Park - football preliminaries
• Champion Hill, Dulwich - football preliminaries
• Green Pond Road Stadium, Walthamstow - football preliminaries
• White Hart Lane, Tottenham - football preliminaries
• Lyons' Sports Club, Sudbury - hockey preliminaries
• Guinness Sports Club, Park Royal - hockey preliminaries
• Polytechnic Sports Ground, Chiswick- hockey preliminaries
• National Rifle Association Ranges, Bisley - shooting
• Finchley Pool, Finchley - water polo preliminaries
• English Channel, Torbay - yachting
• Goldstone Ground, Brighton - football preliminaries

Highlights

• Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED-athletics) won the 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles and ran the anchor leg on the winning relay team. She was deprived of more titles by a rule-limiting woman to three individual events in track and field athletics, at a time when she was also the world record holder in the high jump and long jump.

• Despite the difficult years due to the rationing of food, clothing and other essential products, the British Organizing Committee did a remarkable job. Spartan Games it could be said…but it was a true victory over dark times.

Facts

• First participation of Communist countries and first boycotts, many countries, including Burma, Ceylon, Colombia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Panama, Puerto Rico, Syria and Venezuela, were represented for the first time. On the other hand, there were no athletes from Japan, Germany or the USSR.

• Introduction of blocks to facilitate the start for athletes in sprint races (100m to 400m).

• These games were the first games shown on television.

• Diplomas awarded to the first six athletes.

• Arthur Wint became the first Jamaican to win an Olympic medal.

• This marked the first time that a women's canoeing event had been contested in the Olympics.

• Thirteen nations participated in the field hockey competition. The tournament was ultimately won by India, who defeated Great Britain to claim the country's first gold medal as an independent nation.