Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, England, we held at Wembley Stadium on 30 and 31 July.[1] Sixty-three athletes from 33 nations competed; each nation was limited to 3 runners by rules set at the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by American Harrison Dillard, in a photo finish. Lloyd LaBeach of Panama won his nation's first medal in the men's 100 metres, a bronze. This was the first time a photo finish camera was used at an Olympic Games.[2] The photo finish equipment consisted of a photoelectric cell, called the Magic Eye, produced by Swiss watchmaker Omega and a slit photography camera produced by the British Race Finish Recording Company.[3]

Men's 100 metres
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
VenueWembley Stadium
London, England
Dates30 July 1948 (heats, quarterfinals)
31 July 1948 (semifinals, final)
Competitors63 from 33 nations
Winning time10.3 seconds
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Harrison Dillard  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Barney Ewell  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Lloyd LaBeach  Panama
← 1936
1952 →
Official Video Highlights

Background

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This was the eleventh time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. With a 12 year gap due to World War II, none of the athletes from the 1936 edition returned. Notable entrants and favorites were American Mel Patton and Panamanian Lloyd LaBeach. American Barney Ewell was a "top sprinter" but "felt to be slightly past his prime." The third member of the United States team was Harrison Dillard, a hurdles specialist who had also entered the 100 metres and came in third at the U.S. Olympic trials.[4]

Bermuda, Burma, Guyana, Iraq, Jamaica, Pakistan, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay were represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first eleven Olympic men's 100 metres events.

Competition format

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The event retained the four round format from 1920–1936: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats, of 4–7 athletes each, with the top 2 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 24 quarterfinalists were placed into 4 heats of 6 athletes. The top 3 in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, once again with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final.[4]

Records

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Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record 10.2   Jesse Owens (USA) Chicago, United States 20 June 1936
10.2   Harold Davis (USA) Compton, United States 6 June 1941
Olympic record 10.3   Eddie Tolan Los Angeles, USA August 1, 1932
10.3   Ralph Metcalfe Los Angeles, USA August 1, 1932
10.3   |Jesse Owens Berlin, Germany August 2, 1936

Harrison Dillard of the United States matched the Olympic record in the final.

Schedule

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

Date Time
Friday, 30 July 1948 15:00
17:30
Round 1
Round 2
Saturday, 31 July 1948 14:30
15:45
Semifinals
Finals

Results

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Round 1

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The fastest two runners in each of the twelve heats advanced to the second round. Official hand-timed results are known (and provided in the Official Report) only for the top three in each heat; unofficial auto-timed results are shown in parentheses.[4]

Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Barney Ewell   United States 10.5 Q
2 Alastair McCorquodale   Great Britain 10.5 Q
3 Leslie Laing   Jamaica 11.0
4 Angel García   Cuba (11.25)
5 Nestor Jacono   Malta (11.54)
Bogdan Lipski   Poland DNS

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mel Patton   United States 10.6 Q
2 Ivan Hausen   Brazil 10.9 Q
3 James O'Brien   Canada 10.9
4 Fernando Lapuente   Argentina (11.16)
5 Hector Gosset   Belgium (11.50)
6 Gonzalo Rodríguez   Mexico (11.97)

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Lloyd La Beach   Panama 10.5 Q
2 Béla Goldoványi   Hungary 11.0 Q
3 Frank Mahoney   Bermuda 11.8
George Rhoden   Jamaica DNS
Tomás Paquete   Portugal DNS
John De Saram   Ceylon DNS

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Juan López   Uruguay 10.5 Q
2 Ken Jones   Great Britain 10.6 Q
3 Jan Meijer   Netherlands 11.0
4 Máximo Reyes   Peru (11.04)
5 Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson   Iceland (11.23)
Kyros Marinis   Greece DNS

Heat 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Harrison Dillard   United States 10.4 Q
2 Haroldo da Silva   Brazil 10.6 Q
3 Peter Bloch   Norway 11.1
4 Pol Braekman   Belgium (11.30)
Ricardo Sáenz   Spain DNS
John O'Donnell   Ireland DNS

Heat 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 McDonald Bailey   Great Britain 10.5 Q
2 Haukur Clausen   Iceland 11.0 Q
3 Abram van Heerden   South Africa 11.1
4 Carlos Silva   Chile (11.08)
5 Bernabe Lovina   Philippines (11.32)
6 Stanley Lines   Bermuda (11.69)

Heat 7

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 John Treloar   Australia 10.5 Q
2 René Valmy   France 10.8 Q
3 György Csányi   Hungary 11.1
4 Carlos Isaac   Argentina (11.24)
5 Sayed Moukhtar   Egypt (11.71)
6 Ali Salman   Iraq (11.90)
Jack Parry   Canada DNS

Heat 8

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Rafael Fortún   Cuba 10.7 Q
2 John Bartram   Australia 10.8 Q
3 Basil McKenzie   Jamaica 10.8
4 Hélio da Silva   Brazil (11.09)
5 Jo Zwaan   Netherlands (11.09)
Duncan White   Ceylon DNS

Heat 9

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Morris Curotta   Australia 10.7 Q
2 Gerardo Bönnhoff   Argentina 10.8 Q
3 Raúl Mazorra   Cuba 11.1
4 Örn Clausen   Iceland (11.22)
5 Raşit Öztaş   Turkey (11.35)
- Perry Johnson   Bermuda DSQ

Heat 10

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 George Lewis   Trinidad and Tobago 10.8 Q
2 Ted Haggis   Canada 10.9 Q
3 Walter Pérez   Uruguay 11.0
4 Santiago Ferrando   Peru (11.19)
5 Stefanos Petrakis   Greece (11.62)
Joseph Stéphan   France DNS

Heat 11

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The tailwind of 3.3 m/s made this heat ineligible for records purposes.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Isidoor Van De Wiele   Belgium 10.8 Q
2 Nuno Morais   Portugal 10.9 Q
3 Alberto Labarthe   Chile 11.0
4 Muhammad Sharif Butt   Pakistan (11.23)
5 Charles Thompson   Guyana Unknown
Joe Kelly   Ireland DNS
Dennis Shore   South Africa DNS

Heat 12

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mario Fayos   Uruguay 11.0 Q
2 Eric Prabhakar   India 11.0 Q
3 László Bartha   Hungary 11.1
4 Jan Kleyn   Netherlands (11.36)
5 Kemal Aksur   Turkey (11.45)
6 Maung Sein Pe   Burma (11.78)
- Étienne Bally   France DNF

Quarterfinals

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The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round. Official hand-timed results are known (and provided in the Official Report) only for the top three in each heat; unofficial auto-timed results are shown in parentheses.[4]

Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Harrison Dillard   United States 10.4 Q
2 Juan López   Uruguay 10.6 Q
3 Ken Jones   Great Britain 10.7 Q
4 Ivan Hausen   Brazil (10.93)
5 Ted Haggis   Canada (10.97)
6 António Morais   Portugal (11.32)

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Barney Ewell   United States 10.5 Q
2 McDonald Bailey   Great Britain 10.6 Q
3 Morris Curotta   Australia 10.8 Q
4 George Lewis   Trinidad and Tobago (11.04)
5 Béla Goldoványi   Hungary (11.11)
6 Haukur Clausen   Iceland (11.18)

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mel Patton   United States 10.4 Q
2 Alastair McCorquodale   Great Britain 10.5 Q
3 John Bartram   Australia 10.6 Q
4 René Valmy   France (10.82)
5 Mario Fayos   Uruguay (11.08)
6 Isidoor Van De Wiele   Belgium (11.10)

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Lloyd La Beach   Panama 10.5 Q
2 John Treloar   Australia 10.5 Q
3 Rafael Fortún   Cuba 10.6 Q
4 Haroldo da Silva   Brazil (11.04)
5 Gerardo Bönnhoff   Argentina (11.09)
6 Eric Prabhakar   India (11.26)

Semifinals

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The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round. Official hand-timed results are known (and provided in the Official Report) only for the top three in each heat; unofficial auto-timed results are shown in parentheses.[4]

Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Harrison Dillard   United States 10.5 Q
2 Barney Ewell   United States 10.5 Q
3 Alastair McCorquodale   Great Britain 10.7 Q
4 John Bartram   Australia (10.98)
5 Juan López   Uruguay (11.05)
6 Morris Curotta   Australia (11.15)

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mel Patton   United States 10.4 Q
2 Lloyd LaBeach   Panama 10.5 Q
3 McDonald Bailey   Great Britain 10.6 Q
4 John Treloar   Australia (10.74)
5 Rafael Fortún   Cuba (10.82)
6 Ken Jones   Great Britain (11.01)

Final

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Patton "got off to a disastrous start and was not a factor." Dillard led the entire way. Official hand-timed results are known (and provided in the Official Report) only for the top three in each heat; unofficial auto-timed results are shown in parentheses.[4]

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Notes
  Harrison Dillard   United States 10.3 =OR
  Barney Ewell   United States 10.4
  Lloyd LaBeach   Panama 10.6
4 Alastair McCorquodale   Great Britain (10.61)
5 Mel Patton   United States (10.67)
6 McDonald Bailey   Great Britain (10.81)

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1948 London Summer Games: Men's 100 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  2. ^ Jackson, Peter (24 July 2012). "London's three Olympic Games compared", BBC News.
  3. ^ "Omega, the Olympics, and the innovations required to time the Earth's Best".
  4. ^ a b c d e f "100 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
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