London 1948 - Olympic Games Winners

Start:

29 Jul 1948

End:

14 Aug 1948

Countries:

Athletes:

4104

Sports:

Events:

136

City:

London, United Kingdom ( Torquay/Torbay - Sailing)

After a 12-year absence due to the Second World War, the Olympic Games returned to London, United Kingdom, in 1948.
The other candidate cities were Lausanne, Switzerland and four American cities: Baltimore, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia.
It was the first Games after the death of Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1937, the founder of the modern Olympic movement.

His Majesty King George VI officially opened the Games of the 14th Olympiad at Wembley Stadium. This iconic soccer arena had recently been equipped with temporary tracks for athletics.
Germany and Japan, the aggressors of World War II, were not invited to participate.
No new facilities were built for these Games.
No Olympic Village was built. The male athletes were housed at an army camp in Uxbridge, while the women were housed in dormitories at Southlands College.
The female athlete from the Netherlands Francina BLANKERS-KOEN won four gold medals in Athletics.
The Finnish gymnast Veikko HUHTANEN won three gold, one silver and one bronze medal.
Another Finnish gymnast Paavo AALTONEN won three gold and one bronze medal.
The Head of the Czechoslovakian gymnastics team, Marie PROVAZNIKOVA (she was not an athlete), became the first to take the opportunity to defect from a communist state to the West during the Olympic Games.