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. 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.Jackson, Peter (24 July 2012). "London's three Olympic Games compared", BBC News. 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.

Background

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.

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

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.

Records

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

World record 10.2Chicago, United States20 June 1936 10.2Compton, United States6 June 1941 Olympic record 10.3 Eddie Tolan Los Angeles, USA August 1, 1932 10.3 Ralph Metcalfe Los Angeles, USA August 1, 1932 10.3Jesse Owens Berlin, Germany August 2, 1936

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

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1). Date TimeFriday, 30 July 1948 15:0017:30Round 1Round 2Saturday, 31 July 1948 14:3015:45SemifinalsFinals

Results

Round 1

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.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Barney Ewell 10.5 2 Alastair McCorquodale 10.5 3 Leslie Laing 11.0 4Angel García (11.25) 5Nestor Jacono (11.54) – Bogdan Lipski

Heat 2

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

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lloyd La Beach 10.5 2 Béla Goldoványi 11.0 3 Frank Mahoney 11.8 – George Rhoden – Tomás Paquete – John De Saram

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Juan López 10.5 2 Ken Jones 10.6 3 Jan Meijer 11.0 4Máximo Reyes (11.04) 5Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson (11.23) – Kyros Marinis

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Harrison Dillard 10.4 2 Haroldo da Silva 10.6 3 Peter Bloch 11.1 4Pol Braekman (11.30) – Ricardo Sáenz – John O'Donnell

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 McDonald Bailey 10.5 2 Haukur Clausen 11.0 3 Abram van Heerden 11.1 4 Carlos Silva (11.08) 5 Bernabe Lovina (11.32) 6 Stanley Lines (11.69)

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Treloar 10.5 2 René Valmy 10.8 3 György Csányi 11.1 4Carlos Isaac (11.24) 5Sayed Moukhtar (11.71) 6Ali Salman (11.90) – Jack Parry

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Rafael Fortún 10.7 2 John Bartram 10.8 3 Basil McKenzie 10.8 4Hélio da Silva (11.09) 5Jo Zwaan (11.09) – Duncan White

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Morris Curotta 10.7 2 Gerardo Bönnhoff 10.8 3 Raúl Mazorra 11.1 4Örn Clausen (11.22) 5Raşit Öztaş (11.35) - Perry Johnson

Heat 10

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 George Lewis 10.8 2 Ted Haggis 10.9 3 Walter Pérez 11.0 4Santiago Ferrando (11.19) 5Stefanos Petrakis (11.62) – Joseph Stéphan

Heat 11

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

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Isidoor Van De Wiele 10.8 2 Nuno Morais 10.9 3 Alberto Labarthe 11.0 4Muhammad Sharif Butt (11.23) 5Charles Thompson Unknown – Joe Kelly – Dennis Shore

Heat 12

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Mario Fayos 11.0 2 Eric Prabhakar 11.0 3 László Bartha 11.1 4 Jan Kleyn (11.36) 5 Kemal Aksur (11.45) 6 Maung Sein Pe (11.78) - Étienne Bally

Quarterfinals

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.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Harrison Dillard 10.4 2 Juan López 10.6 3 Ken Jones 10.7 4Ivan Hausen (10.93) 5Ted Haggis (10.97) 6António Morais (11.32)

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Barney Ewell 10.5 2 McDonald Bailey 10.6 3 Morris Curotta 10.8 4George Lewis (11.04) 5Béla Goldoványi (11.11) 6Haukur Clausen (11.18)

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Mel Patton 10.4 2 Alastair McCorquodale 10.5 3 John Bartram 10.6 4René Valmy (10.82) 5Mario Fayos (11.08) 6Isidoor Van De Wiele (11.10)

Quarterfinal 4

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

Semifinals

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.

Semifinal 1

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

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Mel Patton 10.4 2 Lloyd LaBeach 10.5 3 McDonald Bailey 10.6 4John Treloar (10.74) 5Rafael Fortún (10.82) 6Ken Jones (11.01)

Final

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.

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

References

External links Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad, The (1948). The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad. LA84 Foundation. Retrieved 4 September 2016.