Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

Men's 800 metres at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Venue	Wembley Stadium
Dates	July 30 (heats) July 31 (semifinals) August 2 (final)
Medalists
Mal Whitfield United States   Arthur Wint Jamaica   Marcel Hansenne France

Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
10 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Decathlon		men

The men's 800 metres event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place July 30, July 31 and August 2. The final was won by American Mal Whitfield.

Results

Heats

The first four in each heat qualified for the Semi-finals.^[1]

Heat 1

Rank	Country	Athletes	Time (hand)
1	France	Marcel Hansenne	1:54.6
2	Great Britain	John Parlett	1:55.0
2	Australia	Ramsay, J.	1:55.0
4	Switzerland	Volkmer, K.	1:55.3
5	Argentina	Torres, A.	1:56.7
6	South Korea	Lee, Yun Suk	2:01.4
-	Egypt	Khedr, R.	Also competed

Heat 2

Rank	Country	Athletes	Time (hand)
1	United States	Herb Barten	1:55.6
2	New Zealand	Harris, D.	1:56.6
2	Great Britain	White, C.	1:56.6
4	Belgium	Rosier, R.	1:56.7
5	Greece	Mavroidis, B.	1:57.4
6	Peru	Mongrut Munoz, A.	1:58.7
-	Denmark	Christensen, H.	Also competed
-	Turkey	Onel,C.	Also competed

Heat 3

Rank	Country	Athletes	Time (hand)
1	Denmark	Niels Holst-Sørensen	1:54.2
1	Norway	Vade, B.	1:54.2
3	United States	Bob Chambers	1:54.3
4	Belgium	Brys, J.	1:55.4
4	Iceland	Jonsson, O.	1:55.4
6	Canada	Parnell, C.	1:55.7
-	Spain	Adarraga Elizaran, J.	Also competed

Heat 4

Rank	Country	Athletes	Time (hand)
1	Jamaica	Arthur Wint	1:53.9
2	Netherlands	de Ruyter, F.	1:54.4
3	Luxembourg	Barthel, J.	1:54.8
4	Czechoslovakia	Winter, V.	1:55.1
5	Canada	Henniger, E.	1 55.4
6	Trinidad and Tobago	Tull, W.	1:55.7
-	Turkey	Dincturk, S.	Also competed

Heat 5

Rank	Country	Athletes	Time (hand)
1	Sweden	Ljunggren, O.	1:56.1
2	France	Robert Chef d’Hôtel	1:56.2
3	Switzerland	Streuli, H.	1:56.5
4	Great Britain	Tarraway, H.	1:56.6
4	Argentina	Avalos, A.	1:56.6
6	Turkey	Ishman, R.	2:01.1
-	Greece	Karageorgos, G.	Also competed

Heat 6

Rank	Country	Athletes	Time (hand)
1	United States	Mal Whitfield	1:52.8
2	Sweden	Ingvar Bengtsson	1 52.9
3	Canada	Hutchins, J.	1:55.5
4	France	Mayordome, G.	1:55.7
5	Greece	Stratakos, S.	2:02.2

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Notes
	Mal Whitfield	United States	1:49.2	OR
	Arthur Wint	Jamaica	1:49.5
	Marcel Hansenne	France	1:49.8
4	Herb Barten	United States	1:50.1
5	Ingvar Bengtsson	Sweden	1:50.5
6	Bob Chambers	United States	1:52.1
7	Robert Chef d’Hôtel	France	1:53.0
8	John Parlett	Great Britain	1:53.4
9	Niels Holst-Sørensen	Denmark	1:54.0

Key: OR = Olympic record

References

• 1948 Summer Olympics results: Men's 800 metres, from http://www.sports-reference.com/; retrieved 2010-06-05.

1. THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE XIV OLYMPIAD. LONDON: THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE XIV OLYMPIAD. 1948. p. 248. Retrieved 24 February 2015.