1948 London Summer Games

No great innovations accompanied the Games themselves, as most of the protocols of the opening, closing and victory ceremonies were by now established. However, these Games were significant as they were televised for the first time, although only to small local audiences. Television sets were still quite rare.

One country which was dearly missed was the Soviet Union. The USSR had competed in 1946 at the European Championships in track & field athletics and it was thought that perhaps they would return to the Olympics in 1948. It was not to be and the reasons for their failure to compete have never been well known. Two countries which were not missed were Germany and Japan. The aggressor nations in World War II were not invited to the 1948 Olympics.

As a very popular sport in England, track & field was truly the focus of these Olympics, as it is so often. Three athletes stood out in the athletics stadium. Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED) was a 30-year-old mother of three children in 1948. She had competed in the 1936 Olympics, although without distinction. By 1948, however, she was undoubtedly the greatest female athlete in the world. She won the 100 metres, 200 metres, 80 metre high hurdles, and helped win gold in the 4 x 100 metre relay. Had she been allowed to compete in more events (women were still limited to three individual events), she would likely have won more, as she was the world record holder in the high jump and long jump. She was also the world record holder in the pentathlon, as might be imagined, although that event was not yet on the Olympic program.

The men did have a multi-event, though, the decathlon. The favorite in this event would have been Heino Lipp of Estonia, had the Soviet Union (or Estonia) entered a team. Failing that there was no clear-cut favorite. American Floyd “Chunk” Simmons was a possibility but had lost the Olympic trials to 17-year-old schoolboy Bob Mathias, who was not thought to be old enough to win such a demanding test. But in the end, Mathias prevailed. He was third after the first day, but through 12 hours of competition on the second day, much of it in a downpour, only he was able to maintain a high level of performance. In the next few years he would prove it not to be a fluke. He would win again in 1952 at Helsinki and was never defeated in his decathlon career.

Emil Zátopek (TCH) was far from an unknown at the 1948 Olympics. He had finished 5th in the 5,000 metres in the 1946 European Championships and shortly before the London Games, he came within two seconds of the world record in the 10,000 metres. He won the 10K early in the Olympics, forcing such a fast pace that world record holder, Viljo Heino (FIN) retired. Zátopek won by over 45 seconds, and came back to take a silver in the 5,000 metres several days later. It was only a prelude to his heroics of 1952.