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

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 their debut games 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.

Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
VenueWembley Stadium
DatesJuly 30, 1948 (heats)
July 31, 1948 (semifinals)
August 2, 1948 (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 →

Summary

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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

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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

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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

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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, Italy15 July 1939
Olympic record  Tommy Hampson (GBR)1:49.7 Los Angeles, United States2 August 1932

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

Schedule

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

Date Time Round
Friday, 30 July 194816:00Round 1
Saturday, 31 July 194815:15Semifinals
Monday, 2 August 194816:00Final

Results

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Round 1

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

Heat 1

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RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Marcel Hansenne France1:54.6Q
2John Parlett Great Britain1:55.0Q
3Bill Ramsay Australia1:55.0Q
4Karl Volkmer Switzerland1:55.3Q
5Adán Torres Argentina1:56.7
6Lee Yun-seok South Korea2:01.4
7Rashid Khadr EgyptUnknown

Heat 2

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Heat 3

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RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Niels Holst-Sørensen Denmark1:54.2Q
2Bjørn Vade Norway1:54.2Q
3Bob Chambers United States1:54.3Q
4Joseph Brys Belgium1:55.4Q
5Óskar Jónsson Iceland1:55.4
6Bill Parnell Canada1:55.7
7Juan Adarraga SpainUnknown
—Joe Kelly IrelandDNS

Heat 4

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Heat 5

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Heat 6

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RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Mal Whitfield United States1:52.8Q
2Ingvar Bengtsson Sweden1:52.9Q
3Jack Hutchins Canada1:55.5Q
4Gaston Mayordomo France1:55.7Q
5Stylianos Stratakos Greece2:02.2
—Bruno Schneider AustriaDNS
Dermot McDermott IrelandDNS

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Semifinal 2

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Semifinal 3

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Final

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 "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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