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

The men's 800 metres event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place July 30, July 31 and August 2. Forty-one athletes from 24 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by the American Mal Whitfield. It was the first of Whitfield's two wins in the event, the second of four consecutive American victories, and the fifth overall United States win in the 800 metres. Arthur Wint earned Jamaica's first Olympic medal in their debut games with silver; he would take gold in the 400 metres a few days later. Marcel Hansenne took France's first 800 metres medal with bronze.

## Summary

The competitors all started from a crouch start. In the final, Marcel Hansenne bolted from the blocks to take the lead. The tall Arthur Wint worked his way through the crowd and moved into the marking position by the end of the turn. Mal Whitfield smoothly ran around the crowd, past Wint and Hansenne into the lead. Whitfield kept going, extending his lead to five metres uncontested. Ingvar Bengtsson moved forward to challenge Hansenne, holding the edge through the final turn. Coming off the final turn, Wint ran around both of them and set off in chase of Whitfield. He was able to close down a couple of meters but the gap was too much, Whitfield winning easily. Behind them, Herb Barten ran around the outside of Bengtsson and challenged Hansenne to the line, but Hansenne took the bronze.

## Background

This was the 11th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from the pre-war 1936 Games returned. Noted contenders included Mal Whitfield of the United States, Arthur Wint of Jamaica, Doug Harris of New Zealand, and Marcel Hansenne of France.
Egypt, Iceland, Jamaica, South Korea, and Trinidad and Tobago appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their 10th appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

## Competition format

The event used the three-round format introduced in 1912. There were six first-round heats, each with 7 and 8 athletes (before withdrawals); the top four runners in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were three semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top three runners in each semifinal advanced to the nine-man final.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1948 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Rudolf Harbig (GER) | 1:46.6 | Milan, Italy | 15 July 1939 |
| Olympic record | Tommy Hampson (GBR) | 1:49.7 | Los Angeles, United States | 2 August 1932 |
Mal Whitfield broke the Olympic record with a time of 1:49.2 in the final.

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).
| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 30 July 1948 | 16:00 | Round 1 |
| Saturday, 31 July 1948 | 15:15 | Semifinals |
| Monday, 2 August 1948 | 16:00 | Final |

## Results
### Round 1

The first four in each heat qualified for the semifinals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marcel Hansenne | France | 1:54.6 | Q |
| 2 | John Parlett | Great Britain | 1:55.0 | Q |
| 3 | Bill Ramsay | Australia | 1:55.0 | Q |
| 4 | Karl Volkmer | Switzerland | 1:55.3 | Q |
| 5 | Adán Torres | Argentina | 1:56.7 | |
| 6 | Lee Yun-seok | South Korea | 2:01.4 | |
| 7 | Rashid Khadr | Egypt | Unknown | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herb Barten | United States | 1:55.6 | Q |
| 2 | Doug Harris | New Zealand | 1:56.6 | Q |
| 2 | Tom White | Great Britain | 1:56.6 | Q |
| 4 | Raymond Rosier | Belgium | 1:56.7 | Q |
| 5 | Vasilios Mavroidis | Greece | 1:57.4 | |
| 6 | Antero Mongrut | Peru | 1:58.7 | |
| 7 | Cahit Önel | Turkey | Unknown | |
| — | Herluf Christensen | Denmark | DNF | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Niels Holst-Sørensen | Denmark | 1:54.2 | Q |
| 2 | Bjørn Vade | Norway | 1:54.2 | Q |
| 3 | Bob Chambers | United States | 1:54.3 | Q |
| 4 | Joseph Brys | Belgium | 1:55.4 | Q |
| 5 | Óskar Jónsson | Iceland | 1:55.4 | |
| 6 | Bill Parnell | Canada | 1:55.7 | |
| 7 | Juan Adarraga | Spain | Unknown | |
| — | Joe Kelly | Ireland | DNS | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Arthur Wint | Jamaica | 1:53.9 | Q |
| 2 | Frits de Ruijter | Netherlands | 1:54.4 | Q |
| 3 | Josy Barthel | Luxembourg | 1:54.8 | Q |
| 4 | Václav Winter | Czechoslovakia | 1:55.1 | Q |
| 5 | Ezra Henniger | Canada | 1:55.4 | |
| 6 | Wilfred Tull | Trinidad and Tobago | 1:55.7 | |
| 7 | Seydi Dinçtürk | Turkey | Unknown | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Olle Ljunggren | Sweden | 1:56.1 | Q |
| 2 | Robert Chef d'Hôtel | France | 1:56.2 | Q |
| 3 | Hans Streuli | Switzerland | 1:56.5 | Q |
| 4 | Harry Tarraway | Great Britain | 1:56.6 | Q |
| 5 | Guillermo Avalos | Argentina | 1:56.6 | |
| 6 | Riza Maksut İşman | Turkey | 2:01.1 | |
| 7 | Georgios Karageorgos | Greece | Unknown | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mal Whitfield | United States | 1:52.8 | Q |
| 2 | Ingvar Bengtsson | Sweden | 1:52.9 | Q |
| 3 | Jack Hutchins | Canada | 1:55.5 | Q |
| 4 | Gaston Mayordomo | France | 1:55.7 | Q |
| 5 | Stylianos Stratakos | Greece | 2:02.2 | |
| — | Bruno Schneider | Austria | DNS | |
| — | Dermot McDermott | Ireland | DNS | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marcel Hansenne | France | 1:50.5 | Q |
| 2 | Mal Whitfield | United States | 1:50.7 | Q |
| 3 | John Parlett | Great Britain | 1:50.9 | Q |
| 4 | Jack Hutchins | Canada | 1:52.6 | |
| 5 | Joseph Brys | Belgium | 1:53.2 | |
| 6 | Josy Barthel | Luxembourg | 1:54.6 | |
| 7 | Bjørn Vade | Norway | 1:55.39 | |
| — | Karl Volkmer | Switzerland | DNF | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ingvar Bengtsson | Sweden | 1:51.2 | Q |
| 2 | Arthur Wint | Jamaica | 1:52.7 | Q |
| 3 | Bob Chambers | United States | 1:52.9 | Q |
| 4 | Gaston Mayordomo | France | 1:54.3 | |
| 5 | Bill Ramsay | Australia | 1:54.9 | |
| 6 | Václav Winter | Czechoslovakia | 1:57.7 | |
| — | Harry Tarraway | Great Britain | DNF | |
| — | Doug Harris | New Zealand | DNF | |

#### Semifinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herb Barten | United States | 1:51.7 | Q |
| 2 | Robert Chef d'Hôtel | France | 1:52.0 | Q |
| 3 | Niels Holst-Sørensen | Denmark | 1:52.4 | Q |
| 4 | Olle Ljunggren | Sweden | 1:52.5 | |
| 5 | Tom White | Great Britain | 1:53.0 | |
| 6 | Frits de Ruijter | Netherlands | 1:54.6 | |
| 7 | Raymond Rosier | Belgium | Unknown | |
| — | Hans Streuli | Switzerland | DNF | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | 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 | |