Swimming at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place between 30 and 31 July at the Empire Pool.[1] There were 41 competitors from 19 nations.[2] Nations had been limited to three swimmers each since the 1924 Games. The event was won by Wally Ris, returning the United States to the podium in the event after a one-Games absence broke a seven-Games streak. It was the sixth victory for an American in the 100 metre freestyle, most of any nation. Another American, Alan Ford, took silver. Géza Kádas of Hungary earned bronze, the nation's third medal in four Games. Japan's three-Games medal streak in the event ended with no Japanese swimmers competing due to the nation not being invited after World War II.

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Wally Ris
VenueWembley Arena
Dates30–31 July
Competitors41 from 19 nations
Winning time57.3 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Wally Ris
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Alan Ford
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Géza Kádas
 Hungary
← 1936
1952 →

Background

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This was the 10th appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.[2]

None of the seven finalists from the pre-World War II 1936 Games returned. Alex Jany, a teenager from France, was the favorite in the event. The American team, including world record holder Alan Ford, was also strong.[2] Ford had beaten Jany's record a month before the Games.

Cuba, Iceland, India, and Mexico each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 10th appearance, having competed at each edition of the event to date.

Competition format

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The competition used a three-round (quarterfinals, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule was a modification of the one used since 1912, allowing the top swimmers in each race plus one or more wild cards to advance. For this event, the top two in each preliminary heat plus the next four fastest swimmers would advance to the semifinals; the top three in each semifinal plus the next two fastest swimmers would move on to the final. There were 6 heats of between 6 and 8 swimmers, allowing 16 swimmers to advance to the semifinals. The 2 semifinals had 8 swimmers each; 8 advanced to the final.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1948 Summer Olympics.

World record   Alan Ford (USA) 55.4 New Haven, United States 29 June 1948
Olympic record   Masaharu Taguchi (JPN) 57.5 Berlin, Germany 8 August 1936

Wally Ris equaled the Olympic record in the second semifinal with 57.5 seconds, then beat it with 57.3 seconds in the final.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Friday, 30 July 1948 14:00
20:30
Heats
Semifinals
Saturday, 31 July 1948 15:30 Final

Results

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Heats

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Heat 1

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Alex Jany   France 58.1 Q
2 Bruce Bourke   Australia 59.1 Q
3 Elemér Szathmáry   Hungary 59.7 q
4 Olle Johansson   Sweden 1:01.0
5 Plauto Guimarães   Brazil 1:03.7
6 Isidoro Pérez   Spain 1:04.0
7 Isaac Mansoor   India 1:06.4

Heat 2

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Keith Carter   United States 58.7 Q
2 Per-Olof Olsson   Sweden 59.0 Q
3 Zoltán Szilárd   Hungary 59.8 q
4 Manuel Guerra   Spain 1:00.7
5 Augusto Cantón   Argentina 1:01.8
6 Nicasio Silverio   Cuba 1:02.0
7 Pat Kendall   Great Britain 1:02.1
8 Dilip Mitra   India 1:06.9

Heat 3

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Géza Kádas   Hungary 58.2 Q
2 Alberto Isaac   Mexico 1:00.1 Q
3 Warren Boyd   Australia 1:00.4 q
4 Ali Ahmed Bagdadi   Egypt 1:02.4
5 Eric Jubb   Canada 1:02.8
6 Sachin Nag   India 1:03.8

Heat 4

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Horacio White   Argentina 1:00.2 Q
2 Aram Boghossian   Brazil 1:00.9 Q
3 Jesús Domínguez   Spain 1:01.3
4 Dorri El-Said   Egypt 1:02.5
5 Fernand Martinaux   France 1:04.2
6 Panagiotis Khatzikyriakakis   Greece 1:07.4

Heat 5

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Wally Ris   United States 58.1 Q
2 Ronald Stedman   Great Britain 1:01.3 Q
3 Henri Padou, Jr.   France 1:01.5
4 Sérgio Rodrigues   Brazil 1:01.6
5 Wu Chuanyu   Republic of China 1:03.5
6 Derek Oatway   Bermuda 1:08.6

Heat 6

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Alan Ford   United States 59.2 Q
2 Taha Youssef El-Gamal   Egypt 59.7 Q
3 Martin Lundén   Sweden 1:00.2 q
4 Peter Salmon   Canada 1:01.0
5 Ari Guðmundsson   Iceland 1:01.6
6 Trevor Harrop   Great Britain 1:02.3
7 Raúl García   Cuba 1:02.5
8 Walter Schneider   Switzerland 1:05.1

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Keith Carter   United States 57.6 Q
2 Alex Jany   France 57.9 Q
3 Zoltán Szilárd   Hungary 59.6 Q
4 Taha Youssef El-Gamal   Egypt 59.9 q
5 Bruce Bourke   Australia 1:00.0
6 Martin Lundén   Sweden 1:00.2
7 Alberto Isaac   Mexico 1:00.4
8 Aram Boghossian   Brazil 1:01.0

Semifinal 2

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Wally Ris   United States 57.5 Q, =OR
2 Alan Ford   United States 57.8 Q
3 Géza Kádas   Hungary 58.0 Q
4 Per-Olof Olsson   Sweden 59.1 q
5 Horacio White   Argentina 1:00.4
6 Elemér Szathmáry   Hungary 1:00.5
7 Ronald Stedman   Great Britain 1:01.0
8 Warren Boyd   Australia 1:01.1

Final

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Jany led at halfway but fell back into the pack after the turn. Ford led until the 80 metre point, when Ris passed him. Kádas, in a tight race with Ford for second place, crashed into the lane divider just before the end of the race.[2]

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  Wally Ris   United States 57.3 OR
  Alan Ford   United States 57.8
  Géza Kádas   Hungary 58.1
4 Keith Carter   United States 58.3
5 Alex Jany   France 58.3
6 Per-Olof Olsson   Sweden 59.3
7 Zoltán Szilárd   Hungary 59.6
8 Taha Youssef El-Gamal   Egypt 1:00.5

Results summary

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Rank Swimmer Nation Heats Semifinals Final Notes
  Wally Ris   United States 58.1 57.5 57.3 OR
  Alan Ford   United States 59.2 57.8 57.8
  Géza Kádas   Hungary 58.2 58.0 58.1
4 Keith Carter   United States 58.7 57.6 58.3
5 Alex Jany   France 58.1 57.9 58.3
6 Per-Olof Olsson   Sweden 59.0 59.1 59.3
7 Zoltán Szilárd   Hungary 59.8 59.6 59.6
8 Taha Youssef El-Gamal   Egypt 59.7 59.9 1:00.5
9 Bruce Bourke   Australia 59.1 1:00.0 Did not advance
10 Martin Lundén   Sweden 1:00.2 1:00.2 Did not advance
11 Alberto Isaac   Mexico 1:00.1 1:00.4 Did not advance
Horacio White   Argentina 1:00.2 1:00.4 Did not advance
13 Elemér Szathmáry   Hungary 59.7 1:00.5 Did not advance
14 Aram Boghossian   Brazil 1:00.9 1:01.0 Did not advance
Ronald Stedman   Great Britain 1:01.3 1:01.0 Did not advance
16 Warren Boyd   Australia 1:00.4 1:01.1 Did not advance
17 Manuel Guerra   Spain 1:00.7 Did not advance
18 Olle Johansson   Sweden 1:01.0 Did not advance
Peter Salmon   Canada 1:01.0 Did not advance
20 Jesús Domínguez   Spain 1:01.3 Did not advance
21 Henri Padou, Jr.   France 1:01.5 Did not advance
22 Ari Guðmundsson   Iceland 1:01.6 Did not advance
Sérgio Rodrigues   Brazil 1:01.6 Did not advance
24 Augusto Cantón   Argentina 1:01.8 Did not advance
25 Nicasio Silverio   Cuba 1:02.0 Did not advance
26 Pat Kendall   Great Britain 1:02.1 Did not advance
27 Trevor Harrop   Great Britain 1:02.3 Did not advance
28 Ali Ahmed Bagdadi   Egypt 1:02.4 Did not advance
29 Dorri El-Said   Egypt 1:02.5 Did not advance
Raúl García   Cuba 1:02.5 Did not advance
31 Eric Jubb   Canada 1:02.8 Did not advance
32 Wu Chuanyu   Republic of China 1:03.5 Did not advance
33 Plauto Guimarães   Brazil 1:03.7 Did not advance
34 Sachin Nag   India 1:03.8 Did not advance
35 Isidoro Pérez   Spain 1:04.0 Did not advance
36 Fernand Martinaux   France 1:04.2 Did not advance
37 Walter Schneider   Switzerland 1:05.1 Did not advance
38 Isaac Mansoor   India 1:06.4 Did not advance
39 Dilip Mitra   India 1:06.9 Did not advance
40 Panagiotis Khatzikyriakakis   Greece 1:07.4 Did not advance
41 Derek Oatway   Bermuda 1:08.6 Did not advance

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1948 London Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 December 2020.