Summary
The 1948 Summer Olympics (also known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad) was an international multi-sport event held from July 29 through August 14, 1948, in London, United Kingdom. It was the first Olympic Games to take place in twelve years, due to the Second World War (and was known informally as "The Austerity Games" - largely due to countries having to bring their own food due to shortages in Britain), with London being chosen as the host city in May 1946.
| 1948 Summer Olympics medals | |
|---|---|
| Location | London,  Great Britain |
| Highlights | |
| Most gold medals |  United States (38) |
| Most total medals | United States (84) |
London had previously hosted the 1908 Summer Olympics, and was due to have hosted the event in 1944.[1] A record 59 nations were represented by 4,104 athletes, 3,714 men and 385 women, in 19 sport disciplines. Following the Second World War, Germany and Japan remained under military occupation and had not yet formed their National Olympic Committee,[2] and so were not invited.[3] The only major Axis power to take part in the Games was Italy.[2] The Soviet Union was invited to compete, but chose not to send any athletes, sending observers instead to prepare for the 1952 Summer Olympics.[4] Following the threats of a boycott from Arab countries should an Israeli team fly their flag at the opening ceremony, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) excluded Israel from the Games on a technicality.[5][1]
Several countries participated for the first time, including Burma, Ceylon, Lebanon, Puerto Rico and Syria.[6] The Olympic medals themselves were the standard Trionfo design used for the Olympic medals between 1928 and 1968.[7]
It was not until 2010 that Belgian Eugène Van Roosbroeck received his gold medal for his part in the cycling road race as there was no podium for winners following the race and the team returned to Belgium two days after the event having received no medals.[8]
Medal table edit
This is the full table of the medal count of the 1948 Summer Olympics, based on the medal count of the IOC. These rankings sort by the number of gold medals earned by a nation. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically. This information is provided by the IOC. However, the IOC does not recognize or endorse any ranking system.[10]
In the gymnastics events there were three athletes placed first for the men's pommel horse, with Paavo Aaltonen, Veikko Huhtanen and Heikki Savolainen all receiving gold medals for Finland in the same event, while no silver or bronze medals were handed out. Meanwhile, in the men's vault, three athletes finished in joint third place and so were awarded a bronze medal each, resulting in five medals being handed out for that one event.[1]
Mexico and Peru won their first gold medal.
* Host nation (Great Britain)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 38 | 27 | 19 | 84 |
| 2 |  Sweden | 16 | 11 | 17 | 44 |
| 3 |  France | 10 | 6 | 13 | 29 |
| 4 |  Hungary | 10 | 5 | 12 | 27 |
| 5 |  Italy | 8 | 11 | 8 | 27 |
| 6 |  Finland | 8 | 7 | 5 | 20 |
| 7 |  Turkey | 6 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| 8 |  Czechoslovakia | 6 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| 9 |  Switzerland | 5 | 10 | 5 | 20 |
| 10 |  Denmark | 5 | 7 | 8 | 20 |
| 11 |  Netherlands | 5 | 2 | 9 | 16 |
| 12 | Great Britain* | 3 | 14 | 6 | 23 |
| 13 |  Argentina | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 14 |  Australia | 2 | 6 | 5 | 13 |
| 15 |  Belgium | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 16 |  Egypt | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 17 |  Mexico | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 18 |  South Africa | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 19 |  Norway | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 20 |  Jamaica | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 |  Austria | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 22 |  India | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Peru | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 24 |  Yugoslavia | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 |  Canada | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 26 |  Portugal | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Uruguay | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 28 |  Ceylon | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Cuba | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Spain | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Trinidad and Tobago | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 32 |  Panama | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 South Korea | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 34 |  Brazil | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Iran | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Poland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Puerto Rico | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (37 entries) | 138 | 135 | 138 | 411 | |
Changes in medal standings edit
- Key
※ Disqualified athlete(s)
| Ruling date | Sport/Event | Athlete (NOC) | 
|
|
|
Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 April 1949 | Equestrian Team dressage |
−1 | –1 | The Swedish dressage team, which had originally won gold at the 1948 Games, was subsequently disqualified on April 27, 1949 by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) and with the approval of the IOC. Gehnäll Persson had been promoted to lieutenant three weeks before the competition. Just two and a half weeks after the competition, the Swedish army demoted him back to sergeant. According to the regulations at the time, only officers and “gentlemen riders” were eligible to take part, but not non-commissioned officers. Since Persson had only been promoted for the period surrounding the games, this was considered a violation of the rules. The incident led to the FEI modernizing its entry conditions, which were perceived as outdated.[11] | |||
| +1 | −1 | 0 | |||||
| +1 | −1 | 0 | |||||
| +1 | +1 |
| NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Net Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden (SWE)
|
−1 | 0 | 0 | −1 |
| France (FRA)
|
+1 | −1 | 0 | 0 |
| United States (USA)
|
0 | +1 | −1 | 0 |
| Portugal (POR)
|
0 | 0 | +1 | +1 |
References edit
- ^ a b c d "The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad" (PDF). The Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad. 1948. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-28.
- ^ a b Findling (1996): p. 111
- ^ Findling (1996): p. 103
- ^ Findling (1996): p. 104
- ^ Findling (1996): p. 105
- ^ "London 1948". Olympic.org. Retrieved 2011-08-28.
- ^ "Winner's Medal for the 1948 Olympic Games in London". Olympic.org. Retrieved 2011-08-28.
- ^ MacLeary, John (8 June 2010). "Belgian cycling team finally receive gold medals for 1948 London Olympic Games". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
- ^ "Aleksandr Dityatin (USSR)". Olympic.org. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
- ^ Shipley, Amy (2008-08-25). "China's Show of Power". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-08-28.
- ^ "History of equestrian events at the Games of the XIV Olympiad" (PDF). Fédération Équestre Internationale. Archived from the original (PDF, 208 kB) on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
External links edit
- "London 1948". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.
- "1948 Summer Olympics". Olympedia.com. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
- "Olympic Analytics/1948_1". olympanalyt.com.
- "A Map of Olympic Medals". The New York Times. 2008-08-04. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
- Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberley D. (1996). Historical dictionary of the modern Olympic movement. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-28477-9. Retrieved 19 September 2011.