The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1948 Olympic Games

1948 Summer Olympics

The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in London, England, United Kingdom. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin...

 took place between July 30 and 31 at the Empire Pool. This swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event used freestyle swimming

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl

Front crawl

The front crawl, forward crawl, or freestyle is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is nearly universally used during a freestyle swimming competition, hence the synonymously used term "freestyle". It is one of two...

 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.

Medalists

Heats

Rank	Name	Country	Time	Notes
1	Alex Jany		58.1	Q
1	Wally Ris		58.1	Q
3	Géza Kádas Géza Kádas Géza Kádas was a Hungarian swimmer and Olympic medalist. He participated at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, and a bronze medal in 100 metre freestyle in 1948....		58.2	Q
4	Keith Carter Keith Carter (swimmer) Keith Eyre Carter is an American swimmer. Carter won a silver medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and also placed 4th in the 100 m freestyle final. Carter attended Purdue University.-References:...		58.7	Q
5	Per-Olof Olsson		59.0	Q
6	Bruce Bourke		59.1	Q
7	Alan Ford Alan Ford (swimmer) Alan Ford was an American swimmer who was a silver medalist at the 1948 Summer Olympics and was the first to swim the 100-yard freestyle in under 50 seconds.-Biography:...		59.2	Q
8	Elemér Szathmáry Elemér Szathmáry Elemér Szathmáry was a Hungarian swimmer and Olympic medalist, born in Budapest. He participated in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, winning a silver medal in 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay.-References:...		59.7	q
8	Taha Youssef El-Gamal		59.7	Q
10	Zoltán Szilárd		59.8	q
11	Alberto Isaac Alberto Isaac Alberto Isaac was a Mexican film director and screenwriter. In 1980, he was a member of the jury at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival.-External links:...		1:00.1	Q
12	Horacio White		1:00.2	Q
12	Martin Lundén		1:00.2	q
14	Warren Boyd		1:00.4	q
15	Aram Boghossian		1:00.9	Q
16	Ronald Stedman		1:01.3	Q
17	Manuel Guerra		1:00.7
18	Olle Johansson		1:01.0
18	Peter Salmon Peter Salmon (swimmer) Peter Salmon was an international backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle swimmer from Canada. He competed for his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1948 in London. He claimed the gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle event at the 1950 British Empire...		1:01.0
20	Jesús Domínguez		1:01.3
21	Henri Padou Henri Padou Henri Padou was a French water polo player and freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics, in the 1924 Summer Olympics, in the 1928 Summer Olympics, and in the 1936 Summer Olympics....		1:01.5
22	Ari Guðmundsson Ari Guðmundsson Ari Guðmundsson was an Icelandic ski jumper who competed in the 1950s. He finished 35th in the individual large hill event at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo.-External links:**...		1:01.6
22	Sérgio Rodrígues Sergio Rodrigues Sérgio Rodrigues is an carioca architect and designer. Along with Joaquim Tenreiro and José Zanine Caldas, was the pioneer to transform the Brazilian design in industrial design and make it known worldwide....		1:01.6
24	Augusto Cantón		1:01.8
25	Nicasio Silverio Nicasio Silverio Nicasio Silverio was a Cuban swimmer. He competed in the freestyle events.Silverio twice competed for his native country at the Summer Olympics: 1948 and 1952. He won the bronze medal in the men's 100 m freestyle event at the 1951 Pan American Games. He was inducted into the Cuban Hall of Fame for...		1:02.0
26	Pat Kendall		1:02.1
27	Trevor Harrop		1:02.3
28	Ali Ahmed Bagdadi		1:02.4
29	Dorri El-Said		1:02.5
29	Raúl García		1:02.5
31	Eric Jubb		1:02.8
32	Wu Chuanyu Wu Chuanyu Wu Chuanyu was a Chinese swimmer who competed in the Olympic Games in 1948 and 1952. In his second Games, he became the first competitor for the People's Republic of China in Olympic history....		1:03.5
33	Plauto Guimarães		1:03.7
34	Sachin Nag Sachin Nag Sachin Nag was a great swimming champion of India.-Some of the Achievements of Nag's swimming career:London Olympics 1948 selection meet happened at Azad Hind Bag’s National corner...		1:03.8
35	Isidoro Pérez		1:04.0
36	Fernand Martinaux		1:04.2
37	Walter Schneider		1:05.1
38	Isaac Monsoor		1:06.4
39	Dilip Mitra		1:06.9
40	Panagiotis Khatzikyriakakis		1:07.4
41	Derek Oatway		1:08.6

Key: Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place

Semifinals

Rank	Name	Country	Time	Notes
1	Wally Ris		57.5	Q, OR
2	Keith Carter Keith Carter (swimmer) Keith Eyre Carter is an American swimmer. Carter won a silver medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and also placed 4th in the 100 m freestyle final. Carter attended Purdue University.-References:...		57.6	Q
3	Alan Ford Alan Ford (swimmer) Alan Ford was an American swimmer who was a silver medalist at the 1948 Summer Olympics and was the first to swim the 100-yard freestyle in under 50 seconds.-Biography:...		57.8	Q
4	Alex Jany		57.9	Q
5	Géza Kádas Géza Kádas Géza Kádas was a Hungarian swimmer and Olympic medalist. He participated at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, and a bronze medal in 100 metre freestyle in 1948....		58.0	Q
6	Per-Olof Olsson		59.1	q
7	Zoltán Szilárd		59.6	Q
8	Taha Youssef El-Gamal		59.9	q
9	Bruce Bourke		1:00.0
10	Martin Lundén		1:00.2
11	Alberto Isaac Alberto Isaac Alberto Isaac was a Mexican film director and screenwriter. In 1980, he was a member of the jury at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival.-External links:...		1:00.4
11	Horacio White		1:00.4
13	Elemér Szathmáry Elemér Szathmáry Elemér Szathmáry was a Hungarian swimmer and Olympic medalist, born in Budapest. He participated in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, winning a silver medal in 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay.-References:...		1:00.5
14	Aram Boghossian		1:01.0
14	Ronald Stedman		1:01.0
16	Warren Boyd		1:01.1

Key: OR = Olympic record, Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Wally Ris		57.3	OR
	Alan Ford Alan Ford (swimmer) Alan Ford was an American swimmer who was a silver medalist at the 1948 Summer Olympics and was the first to swim the 100-yard freestyle in under 50 seconds.-Biography:...		57.8
	Géza Kádas Géza Kádas Géza Kádas was a Hungarian swimmer and Olympic medalist. He participated at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, and a bronze medal in 100 metre freestyle in 1948....		58.1
4	Keith Carter Keith Carter (swimmer) Keith Eyre Carter is an American swimmer. Carter won a silver medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and also placed 4th in the 100 m freestyle final. Carter attended Purdue University.-References:...		58.3
5	Alex Jany		58.3
6	Per-Olof Olsson		59.3
7	Zoltán Szilárd		59.6
8	Taha Youssef El-Gamal		1:00.5

Key: OR = Olympic record