1948 Summer Olympics

{{Olympics infobox |

  Name                   = Games of the XIV Olympiad |
  Logo                   = 1948.jpg |
  Size                   = 150px |

Host city = London, England |

  Nations participating  = 59 |

Athletes participating = 4,099
(3,714 men, 385 women)| Events = 136 in 17 sports | Opening ceremony = July 29, 1948 | Closing ceremony = August 14, 1948 | Officially opened by = King George VI | Athlete's Oath = Don Finlay |

  Judge's Oath           =  |
  Olympic Torch          = John Mark |

Stadium = Wembley Stadium |The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were held in 1948 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. After a hiatus of 12 years caused by the outbreak of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The 1940 Games had been scheduled for Tokyo, and later Helsinki as WWII started; the 1944 Games had been provisionally planned for London.

Highlights

* With World War II in recent memory, Germany and Japan were not invited to the Games.
* Dutch runner Fanny Blankers-Koen was the star of the Games, winning four gold medals on the track.
* Fencer Ilona Elek (Hungary) and canoeist Jan Brzak (Czechoslovakia) successfully defended their Olympic titles they had won 12 years earlier.
* In field hockey, India and Pakistan first participated as independent nations, and the homeland of the sport, Great Britain, played the triple Olympic champions from India for the first time and lost.
* For the first time, Olympic diplomas were awarded to the six highest placed athletes.
* In a dramatic finish in the marathon, Belgian Étienne Gailly entered the stadium first, but was so physically drained that he could barely walk around the track. Two men passed him before he finally crossed the line.
* Duncan White of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) won the first medal for his country, a silver, in the 400 meter hurdles.
* Harold Sakata, who won a silver medal in weightlifting, later went on to portray Oddjob in the James Bond film Goldfinger.
* Sweden, led by the Gre-No-Li trio, beat Yugoslavia 3-1 in the final to win the football tournament.

Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:{
* Athletics
* Basketball
* Boxing
* Canoeing
* Cycling
* Diving
* Equestrianism