1948 London Summer Games
4,099 Athletes, 59 Countries, 136 Events
The 1940 Olympics were awarded to Tokyo, Japan, but after Japan
invaded China the Games were reassigned to Helsinki, Finland. After
the Soviet Union invaded Finland, the Games were cancelled.
London was scheduled to host the 1944 Games. With the World War
II still raging, however, London eventually hosted the 1948 Games
instead.
Five Ivy Leaguers were set to participate in the 1940 Games,
wherever they did take place. If the Games did in fact go on in
1940 and 1944, fencer Norman Armitage (Columbia
'30) presumably would have become an eight-time Olympian. Instead,
he is a six-time Olympian with a career stretching from 1928 to
1956. Attending eight Olympics would have been a record until
1996.
London played host to a record 59 nations for the 1948 Summer
Games showing the longterm stability of the Games after a 12-year
absence due to World War II. The 1948 Games were also the first to
be shown on television, allowing Ivy fans at home to see the 30 Ivy
Leaguers competing in the Games.
Success for this group of Ivy Olympians surprisingly did not
come in track and field. Only five of the 31 were in track and
field competitions. Robert Bennett (Brown '49) won
bronze in the hammer throw, beating Samuel B. Felton,
Jr. (Harvard '48) by a mere three inches. James
Fuchs (Yale '50), also a footballer for the Elis, won the
bronze medal in the shot put.
Yachting, instead, was where the medals were for the Ivies.
Crimson father and son Paul Smart and
Hilary Smart '47 won the gold medal in the Star
class. The Star is a 6.9-meterlong shallow keelboat. While at
Harvard, Paul Smart was a pole vaulter and a
member of the ice hockey and soccer teams.
The United States 6-meter boat won gold with three Crimson
sailors on the five-man team Alfred E. Loomis '50,
James H. Smith, Jr. '48, and James H.
Weekes.
The Swallow, a boat similar to the Star but with a smaller
sailing area, was part of Olympic yachting only for the 1948 Games.
Owen C. Torrey, Jr. (Harvard '47) won the bronze
medal with fellow sailor Lockwood Pine.
Water seems to be the theme for this group, as the remaining
1948 medallists from the Ancient Eight were either rowers or
swimmers, with the exception of one fencer Norman
Armitage. Armitage, in his fourth of six Olympics, led the
sabre team to a bronze medal. He also won the 'Friendship Trophy'
as the most outstanding American fencer. Armitage was then a flag
bearer (voted to do so by the entire United States team) at the
1952 and 1956 Games.
In rowing, four Yalies formed the United States four
Gregory Gates '50, Stuart
Griffing '50, F. John Kingsbury '50, and
Robert Perew '45. The boat won the bronze
medal.
A trio of Yale swimmers brought home medals. Australian
John Marshall '53 won bronze in the 400-meter
freestyle race, edged by future teammate James McLane '53 for
second place. The result was similar in the 1,500-meter freestyle,
where McLane finished in first, and Marshall in second. McLane
added a silver medal with the United States team in the 4x200meter
freestyle relay to his collection. The third Bulldog swimmer,
Allen Stack '49, won gold in the 100-meter
backstroke, beating fellow American Robert Cowell
by just one-tenth of a second.
Marshall, McLane, and Stack all returned for the 1952 Helsinki
Games.
| Name |
School |
Sport |
| Robert Bennett |
Brown University |
Men's Athletics |
| Norman Armitage |
Columbia University |
Men's Fencing |
| Samuel B. Felton, Jr. |
Harvard University |
Men's Athletics |
| Alfred E. Loomis |
Harvard University |
Men's Sailing |
| Forbes H. Norris, Jr. |
Harvard University |
Men's Swimming |
| Julian K. Roosevelt |
Harvard University |
Men's Sailing |
| Hilary H. Smart |
Harvard University |
Men's Sailing |
| Paul H. Smart |
Harvard University |
Men's Sailing |
| James H. Smith, Jr. |
Harvard University |
Men's Sailing |
| Owen C. Torrey, Jr. |
Harvard University |
Men's Sailing |
| James H. Weekes |
Harvard University |
Men's Sailing |
| D. Hughes Cauffman |
University of Pennsylvania |
Men's Field Hockey |
| Francis 'Goose' Gosling |
University of Pennsylvania |
Men's Swimming |
| John B. Kelly, Jr. |
University of Pennsylvania |
Men's Rowing |
| Dr. Jeffrey Kirk |
University of Pennsylvania |
Men's Athletics |
| Sanders S. Sims |
University of Pennsylvania |
Men's Field Hockey |
| John Brooks |
Yale University |
Men's Rowing |
| Dernell Every |
Yale University |
Men's Fencing |
| Alan Ford |
Yale University |
Men's Swimming |
| Victor Frank, Jr. |
Yale University |
Men's Athletics |
| James Fuchs |
Yale University |
Men's Athletics |
| Gregory Gates |
Yale University |
Men's Rowing |
| Stuart Griffing |
Yale University |
Men's Rowing |
| F. John Kingsbury |
Yale University |
Men's Rowing |
| John Marshall |
Yale University |
Men's Swimming |
| James McLane |
Yale University |
Men's Swimming |
| Robert Perew |
Yale University |
Men's Rowing |
| Allen Stack |
Yale University |
Men's Swimming |
| Ralph Stephan, Jr. |
Yale University |
Men's Rowing |
| F. John Wade, III |
Yale University |
Men's Rowing |
| Herman Whiton |
Princeton University |
Men's Sailing |