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The IOC wanted Germany and Japan invited but the British government refused. But when the Soviets began blockading Berlin a month before the games and tried to send a weightlifting team, they were rebuffed. More than 70 nations were invited, including the Soviet Union, which wasn’t part of the Olympic movement. German prisoners of war yet to be repatriated were used to build a road - Olympic Way - and pedestrian tunnel from the nearest subway station to Wembley Stadium.
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An Olympic village was deemed too expensive, so athletes stayed in military camps and schools. Two Douglas Fir trees came from Canada for diving boards.īritain was rationing food, clothing and fuel, so athletes were asked to bring their own towels. Gymnastics equipment came from Switzerland. Timber came from Finland and Sweden for the basketball court. They asked for help from other Olympic nations. The organizers had a budget of 730,000 pounds ($31 million in today's terms), relying on corporate sponsors and sales of tickets and souvenirs. Paul's Cathedral seemed to be on an island among craters. There were damaged buildings and roads, vacant lots, and lots of rubble.
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The media criticized the organizers, asking them to justify every decision while Britain was practically bankrupt.Ĭentral London and the docks remained scarred from bombs and missiles. Lord Burghley, a former Olympic hurdles champion and MP, led an organizing committee of men who all had titles or high military rank and could afford not to be paid. When confirmation came, London had less than two years to pull it off. Who better to host them then than the British, sticklers for fair play and ‘amateurism?’ Besides, the British said they were owed the games after their 1944 hosting rights were canceled by the war.īy 1944, when the war's outcome was increasingly certain, the IOC and British had already begun thinking of the 1948 Games. (AP Photo, File )Īfter the controversial 1936 Berlin Games, it was important to believers in the Olympics that the first games after World War II be held without political and racial propaganda. The games were organized in less than two years, and despite the tiny budget it was a success, its legacies including greater sporting opportunities for women. The athletes had to bring their own towels and, with housing in short supply, were accommodated in schools and Royal Air Force camps. Britain was also struggling financially food, clothing and gas were still being rationed. London was still cleaning up bombing damage from World War II when it staged the Olympics in 1948. FILE - This Jfile photo, showing the opening ceremony of the 1948 Olympic Games at Wembley Stadium, in London, England.