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

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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

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]

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 United States Eddie Tolan Los Angeles, USA August 1, 1932
10.3 United States Ralph Metcalfe Los Angeles, USA August 1, 1932
10.3 United States |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
1st place, gold medalist(s) Harrison Dillard  United States 10.3 =OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Barney Ewell  United States 10.4
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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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