Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

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Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Mal Whitfield USA Athlete, Olympic Games, London, 1948.jpg
VenueWembley Stadium
DatesJuly 30 (heats)
July 31 (semifinals)
August 2 (final)
Competitors41 from 24 nations
Winning time1:49.2 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Mal Whitfield
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Arthur Wint
 Jamaica
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Marcel Hansenne
 France
← 1936
1952 →
Athletics at the
1948 Summer Olympics
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The men's 800 metres event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place July 30, July 31 and August 2. Forty-one athletes from 24 nations competed.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by the American Mal Whitfield.[2] It was the first of Whitfield's two wins in the event, the second of four consecutive American victories, and the fifth overall United States win in the 800 metres. Arthur Wint earned Jamaica's first Olympic medal in any event with silver; he would take gold in the 400 metres a few days later. Marcel Hansenne took France's first 800 metres medal with bronze.

Summary[]

The competitors all started from a crouch start. In the final, Marcel Hansenne bolted from the blocks to take the lead. The tall Arthur Wint worked his way through the crowd and moved into the marking position by the end of the turn. Mal Whitfield smoothly ran around the crowd, past Wint and Hansenne into the lead. Whitfield kept going, extending his lead to five metres uncontested. Ingvar Bengtsson moved forward to challenge Hansenne, holding the edge through the final turn. Coming off the final turn, Wint ran around both of them and set off in chase of Whitfield. He was able to close down a couple of meters but the gap was too much, Whitfield winning easily. Behind them, Herb Barten ran around the outside of Bengtsson and challenged Hansenne to the line, but Hansenne took the bronze.

Background[]

This was the 11th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from the pre-war 1936 Games returned. Noted contenders included Mal Whitfield of the United States, Arthur Wint of Jamaica, Doug Harris of New Zealand, and Marcel Hansenne of France.[1]

Egypt, Iceland, Jamaica, South Korea, and Trinidad and Tobago appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their 10th appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

Competition format[]

The event used the three-round format introduced in 1912. There were six first-round heats, each with 7 and 8 athletes (before withdrawals); the top four runners in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were three semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top three runners in each semifinal advanced to the nine-man final.[1][3]

Records[]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1948 Summer Olympics.

World record  Rudolf Harbig (GER) 1:46.6 Milan, Italy 15 July 1939
Olympic record  Tommy Hampson (GBR) 1:49.7 Los Angeles, United States 2 August 1932

Mal Whitfield broke the Olympic record with a time of 1:49.2 in the final.

Schedule[]

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).

Date Time Round
Friday, 30 July 1948 16:00 Round 1
Saturday, 31 July 1948 15:15 Semifinals
Monday, 2 August 1948 16:00 Final

Results[]

Round 1[]

The first four in each heat qualified for the semifinals.[4]

Heat 1[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Marcel Hansenne  France 1:54.6 Q
2 John Parlett  Great Britain 1:55.0 Q
3 Bill Ramsay  Australia 1:55.0 Q
4 Karl Volkmer  Switzerland 1:55.3 Q
5 Adán Torres  Argentina 1:56.7
6 Lee Yun-seok  South Korea 2:01.4
7 Rashid Khadr  Egypt Unknown

Heat 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Herb Barten  United States 1:55.6 Q
2 Doug Harris  New Zealand 1:56.6 Q
2 Tom White  Great Britain 1:56.6 Q
4 Raymond Rosier  Belgium 1:56.7 Q
5 Vasilios Mavroidis  Greece 1:57.4
6 Antero Mongrut  Peru 1:58.7
7 Cahit Önel  Turkey Unknown
— Herluf Christensen  Denmark DNF

Heat 3[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Niels Holst-Sørensen  Denmark 1:54.2 Q
2 Bjørn Vade  Norway 1:54.2 Q
3 Bob Chambers  United States 1:54.3 Q
4 Joseph Brys  Belgium 1:55.4 Q
5 Óskar Jónsson  Iceland 1:55.4
6 Bill Parnell  Canada 1:55.7
7 Juan Adarraga  Spain Unknown
— Joe Kelly  Ireland DNS

Heat 4[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Arthur Wint  Jamaica 1:53.9 Q
2 Frits de Ruijter  Netherlands 1:54.4 Q
3 Josy Barthel  Luxembourg 1:54.8 Q
4 Václav Winter  Czechoslovakia 1:55.1 Q
5 Ezra Henniger  Canada 1:55.4
6 Wilfred Tull  Trinidad and Tobago 1:55.7
7 Seydi Dinçtürk  Turkey Unknown

Heat 5[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Olle Ljunggren  Sweden 1:56.1 Q
2 Robert Chef d'Hôtel  France 1:56.2 Q
3 Hans Streuli  Switzerland 1:56.5 Q
4 Harry Tarraway  Great Britain 1:56.6 Q
5 Guillermo Avalos  Argentina 1:56.6
6 Riza Maksut İşman  Turkey 2:01.1
7 Georgios Karageorgos  Greece Unknown

Heat 6[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mal Whitfield  United States 1:52.8 Q
2 Ingvar Bengtsson  Sweden 1:52.9 Q
3 Jack Hutchins  Canada 1:55.5 Q
4 Gaston Mayordomo  France 1:55.7 Q
5 Stylianos Stratakos  Greece 2:02.2
— Bruno Schneider  Austria DNS
Dermot McDermott  Ireland DNS

Semifinals[]

Semifinal 1[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Marcel Hansenne  France 1:50.5 Q
2 Mal Whitfield  United States 1:50.7 Q
3 John Parlett  Great Britain 1:50.9 Q
4 Jack Hutchins  Canada 1:52.6
5 Joseph Brys  Belgium 1:53.2
6 Josy Barthel  Luxembourg 1:54.6
7 Bjørn Vade  Norway 1:55.39 [5]
— Karl Volkmer  Switzerland DNF

Semifinal 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ingvar Bengtsson  Sweden 1:51.2 Q
2 Arthur Wint  Jamaica 1:52.7 Q
3 Bob Chambers  United States 1:52.9 Q
4 Gaston Mayordomo  France 1:54.3
5 Bill Ramsay  Australia 1:54.9
6 Václav Winter  Czechoslovakia 1:57.7
— Harry Tarraway  Great Britain DNF
Doug Harris  New Zealand DNF

Semifinal 3[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Herb Barten  United States 1:51.7 Q
2 Robert Chef d'Hôtel  France 1:52.0 Q
3 Niels Holst-Sørensen  Denmark 1:52.4 Q
4 Olle Ljunggren  Sweden 1:52.5
5 Tom White  Great Britain 1:53.0
6 Frits de Ruijter  Netherlands 1:54.6
7 Raymond Rosier  Belgium Unknown
— Hans Streuli  Switzerland DNF

Final[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Mal Whitfield  United States 1:49.2 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Arthur Wint  Jamaica 1:49.5
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Marcel Hansenne  France 1:49.8
4 Herb Barten  United States 1:50.1
5 Ingvar Bengtsson  Sweden 1:50.5
6 Bob Chambers  United States 1:52.1
7 Robert Chef d'Hôtel  France 1:53.0
8 John Parlett  Great Britain 1:53.4
9 Niels Holst-Sørensen  Denmark 1:54.0

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "800 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Athletics at the 1948 London Summer Games: Men's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 248.
  4. ^ THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE XIV OLYMPIAD. LONDON: THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE XIV OLYMPIAD. 1948. p. 248. Archived from the original on 27 August 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  5. ^ Unofficial auto-timed result, per Olympedia. No official hand time is available.
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