Archive for February, 2011
The Memorable Moments At The London Olympics, 1948
The Summer Olympics, 1948 took place at London, UK. These games took place after a gap of 12 years due to the Second World War. London had also hosted these games in 1908. This event was called the Austerity Games because of the post-war rationing and economic climate. There were no new venues for these games. There was no Olympic Village and existing accommodation was used for housing athletes.
Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen performed superbly at these games. This 30 years old sprinter was a mother of three kids and still she bagged four gold medals.
Bob Mathias from America won the decathlon title at 17 years of age. He became the youngest male sportsperson to win a gold medal in athletics at Olympics. Veikko Huhtanen from Finland won the most number of individual medals. He excelled in the men’s category of gymnastics by winning three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
The United States greatly dominated the track an field at these games. Harrison Dillard of the United States won the gold medal in men’s 100 meters race by recording a timing of 10.3 seconds. Mel Patton again from the United States won the 200 meters men’s title with a timing of 21.1 seconds. Willie Steele also from US performed fabulously in the long jump event. He won the gold by recording a jump of 7.825 meters.
America’s Mal Whitfield won the 800 meters men’s title. Arthur Wint of Jamaica won the first Olympic gold for his nation by winning the title in men’s 400 meters race. Besides this he also came second in 800 meters event.
The United States beat France 65-21 in the final of basketball to win the gold. In the football final Sweden beat Yugoslavia 3-1 to win the gold.
There were eleven events contested in swimming including both men’s and women’s category. The United States excelled in them by winning eight gold medals. This included all the six events for men. In total they won 15 medals in swimming.