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 (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 →

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, 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

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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

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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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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Semifinal 1

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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

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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

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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

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Mal Whitfield   United States 1:49.2 OR
  Arthur Wint   Jamaica 1:49.5
  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

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  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.