1948 London Olympic Games
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1948 London Olympic Games
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The Summer Olympics were scheduled for Tokyo in 1940, but by mid-1938, Japan was at war with China and withdrew as host. The IOC immediately transferred the Games to Helsinki and the Finns eagerly began preparations only to be invaded by Russia in 1939.
Medal Count Gold Silver Bronze Total USA
Sweden
Italy
France
Hungary
Great Britain
Finland
Switzerland
Denmark
Holland
Turkey38
16
8
10
10
3
8
5
5
5
627
11
12
6
5
14
7
10
7
2
419
17
9
13
12
6
5
5
8
9
284
44
29
29
27
23
20
20
20
16
12By then, of course, Germany had marched into Poland and World War II was on. The Japanese attacked Peral Harbor two years later, and the bombs didn't stop falling until 1945. Against this backdrop of global conflict, the Olympic Games were cancelled again in 1940 and 1944. Many of the participants in the 1936 Games died in the war.
Eager to come back after two dormant Olympiads, the IOC offered the 1948 Games to London. The British capital had previously been allocated the 1944 Games (cancelled because of World War II) and a large number of the sportsmen and women could be accommodated in barracks built during the war to house American troops. Much of the British capital had been reduced to rubble in the blitz, but the offer was accepted and the Games went on - successfully, without frills, and without invitations extended to Germany and Japan. The Soviet Union was invited, but chose not to show. The hastily arranged Games attracted 4,468 competitors from 59 countries.
The United States reclaimed its place at the top of the overall medal standings, but the primary individual stars were a 30-year-old Dutch mother of two and a 17-year-old kid from California.
Fanny Blankers-Koen duplicated Jesse Owens' track and field grand slam of 12 years before by winning the 100-meter run and 200-meter run, the 80-meter hurdles, and achoring the women's 400-meter relay.
And Bob Mathias, just two months after graduating from Tulare High School, won the gold medal in the decathlon, an event he had taken up for the first time during the summer.
Source: 1996 Information Please Sports Almanac
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