The Olympic Games in London in 1948 were organized on the ruins of the Second World War.
The English lacked everything, just like most devastated countries after an unprecedented military conflict, but despite that they organized the OI in a great way and continued the Olympic movement, which was interrupted for 12 years due to the flames of war. Unlike in ancient times, when wars were stopped during the Olympic Games, in the modern age the Games have been stopped because of wars.
The organization of the XII Olympiad in 1940 was first entrusted to Tokyo, but after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, it was assigned to Helsinki. However, the Second World War broke out, the Games were cancelled, and the optimists in the International Olympic Committee decided that London would organize the event - in 1944, the British capital did organize the Games, but only when the geopolitical conditions were met - namely, they had to four more years...
The IOC banned the participation of athletes from Germany and Japan, countries that were under Allied occupation. There were no athletes from the USSR either, because that great country, although the winner in the war, was not a member of the IOC. For the first time, however, India and Pakistan participated as independent countries.
The Olympic Games in London were, in terms of infrastructure, only a pale shadow of the Games in Berlin 12 years earlier, because due to the war there was no money for the construction of the Olympic village, facilities and stadiums, as well as for travel, but at least the competitions were free from political and nationalistic overtones. as in Hitler's time in 1936.
The new, communist Yugoslavia sent 96 competitors in seven sports to London, and the football players who stood out the most, led by Stjepan Bobek, Rajko Mitić and Zlatko Čajkovski, won the silver medal. In the final, they lost to Sweden 3:1, led by aces such as Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordal and Nils Lidholm. Before the final, Yugoslavia defeated Luxembourg with 6:1, and Turkey and Great Britain with 3:1 each.
Athlete Stevan Gubijan also won the silver medal in the hammer throw. This member of Belgrade Partizan almost didn't make it to the final, because the judges failed to record his best shot in the qualifiers. He was recognized only after the intervention of the leadership of the Yugoslav team. Gubijan, by the way, introduced a new hammer throwing technique in 1948, which is still used today, because he threw the shot only after the fourth turn. Stronger and larger competitors used to drop the hammer after the second or third turn.
Two Montenegrin athletes, brothers Mirko and Dušan Vujačić, both in the javelin throw, also performed in London.
The 1948 Olympic Games did not bring any memorable heroes, competitors who would continue the continuity, definitely because there was a break in the holding of the Games, and several generations were lost. It is remembered that after a break of 12 years, only two competitors defended Olympic gold medals in individual disciplines - Hungarian fencer Ilona Elek and Jan Brzak, a Czech canoeist.
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The Games, however, had their hero, that is, their heroine - the Dutch athlete Fani Blankers Koen became famous not only for her gold medals in the 100, 200 and 4 x 100 and 80 meter breaststroke races, but also because she achieved all her successes while pregnant ! Maybe she would have won another medal if the IOC had allowed her to compete in long jump and high jump, disciplines in which she broke world records before the start of the Olympics. Her legendary nickname - Flying Housewife - remained.
The first Olympic medal in London, a gold one, was won by Emil Zatopek, known as the "Czech Locomotive", in the 10.000 meter race, while the American Robert Matijas became the youngest Olympic winner in athletics of all time with his triumph in the decathlon. He was 17 years and nine months old... Finnish Veiko Huhtanen, winner of three gold medals in gymnastics, was also great.
At the Olympic Games in London, 4.104 competitors (309 women) from 59 countries participated in 19 sports, and after the dominance of the Germans in Berlin in 1936, the Americans returned to the throne.
Competitors from the United States of America won 38 gold, 27 silver and 19 bronze medals, and behind them, for the first time, were the Swedes (16 - 11 - 17). Followed by the French (10 - 6 - 13), the Hungarians (10 - 5 - 12), the Italians (8 - 11 - 8). they started on July 29 and ended on August 14.
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