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.

Highlights

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• 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.

Medals awarded

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See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

• Athletics
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Canoeing
• Cycling
• Diving
• Equestrianism

• Fencing
• Football
• Gymnastics
• Hockey
• Modern Pentathlon
• Rowing

• Shooting
• Swimming
• Water Polo
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling
• Yachting

Medal count

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Note that these Olympic Games were the first time that the host nation did not win enough medals to be included in the top 10 medal winners.

United StatesSwedenFranceHungaryItalyFinlandTurkeyCzechoslovakiaSwitzerlandDenmark

1948 Summer Olympics medal count
Pos	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	38	27	19	84
2	16	11	17	44
3	10	6	13	29
4	10	5	12	27
5	8	11	8	27
6	8	7	5	20
7	6	4	2	12
8	6	2	3	11
9	5	10	5	20
10	5	7	8	20

Nations

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Articles about London Summer Olympics by nation: AfghanistanArgentinaAustraliaAustriaBelgiumBrazilBermudaBritish GuianaBurmaCanadaCeylonChileChinaColombiaCubaCzechoslovakiaDenmarkEgyptFinlandFranceGreat BritainGreeceHungaryIcelandIndiaIranIraqIrelandItalyJamaicaKoreaLebanonLiechtensteinLuxembourgMaltaMexicoMonacoNetherlandsNew ZealandNorwayPakistanPanamaPeruPhilippinesPolandPortugalPuerto RicoPeruSingaporeSouth AfricaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandSyriaTrinidad and TobagoTurkeyUnited StatesUruguayVenezuelaYugoslavia

See also

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• International Olympic Committee
• IOC country codes

External links

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• IOC Site on 1948 Summer Olympics

1948 Summer Olympics | Sports festivals hosted in England

XIV. Olimpijske igre - London 1948. | Sommer-OL 1948 | Olympische Sommerspiele 1948 | 1948. aasta suveolümpiamängud | Juegos Olímpicos de Londres 1948 | Jeux Olympiques d'été de 1948 | XIV. Olimpijske igre - London 1948. | XIV Olimpiade | אולימפיאדת לונדון (1948) | Olympische Zomerspelen 1948 | ロンドンオリンピック (1948年) | Sommer-OL 1948 | Sommar-OL 1948 | Letnie Igrzyska Olimpijskie 1948 | Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 1948 | Летние Олимпийские игры 1948 | Olimpijada 1948 | 1948 kesäolympialaiset | Olympiska sommarspelen 1948 | 1948年夏季奥林匹克运动会