1948 London, Great Britain
The late forties were the
times for the great wounds but also the time of great hope. The WWII ended
three years before the London Games, leaving behind a demolished Europe
that was trying to identify with its lost humanity and aim to discover
a new dream.
The seventh art in Hollywood was creating new dimensions in the industry, IBM presented its first computer with an installed memory and CBS distributed its first long paying disc.
Among these new creations of the New World, a home for the Olympic ideals was still reserved. The Baron was not alive to see his dream being destroyed by WWII and the Nazis. He died in 1937. The new IOC president the Swede Singfid Endsdom took up the hard task to revive the Baron’s vision. On April 21, 1945 the IOC held a meeting were only two of its members responded. Theey were the American Aivery Brundage and the British Lord Aberdail. The three members decided on staging the Games in bombarded London, a city that had not recovered yet from the war, but the will to revive the traditionally peaceful Games, proved to be stronger than the fatigue of the post world war.
When Big Ben struck 4 o’ clock on Thursday 29th July, it was time for the "Olympics of Hope", as they were later on addressed, to be celebrated by more than 100.000 spectators at Wembley stadium. The BBC was the first channel to pay the extraordinary amount of the time USD 3000 for television rights.
Even though the world was not demanding records in the "Hope Games", the Czechoslovakian runner Emil Zatopec began making history by winning the gold in the 10000 m and the silver in the 5000m. The ultimate show of the 1948 London Games though was Fanny Blanker Coen, otherwise called the "The Flying Housemaid" that won 4 gold medals in the track and field events, 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles and 4X100m.