London (1948)
The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was 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 Games in Berlin. The 1940 Games had been scheduled for Tokyo, and then Helsinki; the 1944 Games had been provisionally planned for London.
Interesting Facts
- No new facilities were built for these Games, but the Wembley Stadium had survived the war and proved adequate.
- Many countries, including Burma, Ceylon, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Syria and Venezuela, were represented for the first time. On the other hand, there were no athletes from Japan, Germany nor the USSR.
- 1948 saw the introduction of blocks to facilitate the start for athletes in sprint races (100m to 400m).
- The Empire Pool was the first covered Olympic pool in history. Located not far from Wembley, it could house 8,000 spectators. As its length exceeded the regulatory 50m for an Olympic pool, a wooden platform was constructed to shorten it and to house the judges and officials.
- No Olympic Village was erected; the male athletes were housed at an army camp in Uxbridge and the women housed at Southlands College in dormitories.
- Though the United States had won the 400-meter relay by a full eighteen feet, a judge ruled that one of the U.S. team members had passed the baton outside of the passing zone. Thus, the U.S. team was disqualified. The medals were handed out, the national anthems were played. The United States officially protested the ruling and after careful review of the films and photographs taken of the baton pass, the judges decided that the pass had been completely legal; thus the United States team was the real winner. The British team had to give up their gold medals and received silver medals (which had been given up by the Italian team). The Italian team then received the bronze medals which had been given up by the Hungarian team.
- Though there had been much debate as to whether or not to hold the 1948 Olympic Games, the Games turned out to be very popular and a great success. Approximately 4,000 athletes participated, representing 59 countries