The , 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.
- 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
- 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
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
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 .
See Also: 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.
