1948 Summer Olympics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Games of the XIV Olympiad
Image:1948.jpg
Host city	London, England
Nations participating	59
Athletes participating	4,099 (3,714 men, 385 women)
Events	136 in 17 sports
Opening ceremony	July 29, 1948
Closing ceremony	August 14, 1948
Officially opened by	King George VI
Athlete's Oath	Donald Finlay
Olympic Torch	John Mark
Stadium	Wembley Stadium

The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were held in 1948 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. After a hiatus of 12 years caused by the outbreak of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics to be held 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.

1 Highlights
2 Medals awarded
- 2.1 Demonstration sports
3 Participating nations
4 Medal count
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Highlights

With World War II in recent memory, Germany and Japan were not invited to the Games.
Dutch runner Fanny Blankers-Koen was the star of the Games, winning four gold medals on the track.
Fencer Ilona Elek (Hungary) and canoeist Jan Brzak (Czechoslovakia) successfully defended their Olympic titles they had won 12 years earlier.
In field hockey, India and Pakistan first participated as independent nations, and the homeland of the sport, Great Britain, played the triple Olympic champions from India for the first time and lost.
For the first time, Olympic diplomas were awarded to the six highest placed athletes.
In a dramatic finish in the marathon, Belgian Étienne Gailly entered the stadium first, but was so physically drained that he could barely walk around the track. Two men passed him before he finally crossed the line.
Duncan White of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) won the first medal for his country, a silver, in the 400 meter hurdles.
Harold Sakata, who won a silver medal in weightlifting, later went on to portray Oddjob in the James Bond film Goldfinger.
Sweden, led by the Gre-No-Li trio, beat Yugoslavia 3-1 in the final to win the football tournament.
In the sprint athletics events the starting block was first introduced.
In the star class yachting events 2 father-son group competitors won gold and silver, Hilary and Paul Smart of the USA and Carlos de Cardenas and Carlos de Cardenas jr. of Cuba

[edit] Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

[edit] Demonstration sports

[edit] Participating nations

Image:1948 Olympic games countries.PNG A total of 59 nations sent athletes to compete at the London Games. Fourteen nations made their first official Olympic appearance at these Games: British Guiana (now Guyana), Burma (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Korea, Lebanon, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

[edit] Medal count

Main article: 1948 Summer Olympics medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games. The host nation's team Great Britain was 12th in the medal rankings, with 3 gold and 23 total medals.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Image:US flag 48 stars.svg United States	38	27	19	84
2	Image:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden	16	11	17	44
3	Image:Flag of France.svg France	10	6	13	29
4	Image:Flag of Hungary 1940.svg Hungary	10	5	12	27
5	Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	8	11	8	27
6	Image:Flag of Finland (bordered).svg Finland	8	7	5	20
7	Image:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey	6	4	2	12
8	Image:Flag of Czechoslovakia (bordered).svg Czechoslovakia	6	2	3	11
9	Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Switzerland	5	10	5	20
10	Image:Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark	5	7	8	20

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

IOC Site on 1948 Summer Olympics

Olympic Games v • d • e</div>
Sports • Medal counts • NOCs Medalists • Symbols
Summer Games: 1896, 1900, 1904, 1906¹, 1908, 1912, (1916)², 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940)², (1944)², 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024
Winter Games: 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940)², (1944)², 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
Athens 2004 — Turin 2006 — Beijing 2008 — Vancouver 2010 — London 2012