Australia at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Australia competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England. 75 competitors, 66 men and 9 women, took part in 52 events in 11 sports.^[1] Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games.

Australia at the 1948 Summer Olympics
IOC code	AUS
NOC	Australian Olympic Committee
Website	www.olympics.com.au
in London
Competitors	75 (66 men, 9 women) in 11 sports
Flag bearer	Les McKay (water polo)
Medals Ranked 14th	Gold 2 Silver 6 Bronze 5 Total 13
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games ––––  Australasia (1908–1912)

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	John Winter	Athletics	High Jump	30 July
Gold	Mervyn Wood	Rowing	Single sculls	9 August
Silver	Theo Bruce	Athletics	Long Jump	31 July
Silver	George Avery	Athletics	Triple Jump	3 August
Silver	Joyce King June Maston Betty McKinnon Shirley Strickland	Athletics	4 × 100 m relay	7 August
Silver	John Marshall	Swimming	1500m freestyle	7 August
Silver	Beatrice Lyons	Swimming	200m breaststroke	3 August
Silver	Dick Garrard	Wrestling	Welterweight	31 July
Bronze	Shirley Strickland	Athletics	100m	2 August
Bronze	Shirley Strickland	Athletics	80m hurdles	4 August
Bronze	John Marshall	Swimming	400m freestyle	4 August
Bronze	Judy-Joy Davies	Swimming	100m backstroke	5 August
Bronze	Jim Armstrong	Wrestling	Heavyweight	31 July

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Key

• Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
• Q = Qualified for the next round
• q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
• NR = National record
• N/A = Round not applicable for the event
• Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round
• NP = Not placed

Men

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
John Bartram	100 m	10.8	2 Q	10.6	3 Q		4	did not advance
John Treloar		10.5	1 Q	10.5	2 Q		4	did not advance
Morris Curotta		10.7	1 Q	10.8	3 Q		6	did not advance
John Treloar	200 m	21.7	1 Q	21.5	2 Q		6	did not advance
Morris Curotta	400 m	49.1	1 Q	48.4	2 Q	47.2	2 Q	47.9	5
John Bartram		50.8	2 Q	49.9	4	did not advance
Bill Ramsey		50.3	5	did not advance
	800 m	1:55.0	3 Q	—		1:54.9	5	did not advance
Peter Gardner	110 m hurdles	14.6	2 Q	—		14.5	2 Q	14.7	5
Ray Weinberg		15.0	2 Q	—			5	did not advance
Charles Green		15.4	5	—		did not advance
George Knott	10 km walk		7	—				did not advance
Theo Bruce John Bartram Morris Curotta John Treloar	4 × 100 m relay	41.5	3	—				did not advance

Men

Field Events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Theo Bruce	Long Jump	7.22	4 Q	7.55
John Winter	High Jump	1.87	Q	1.98
George Avery	Triple Jump	15.33	1 Q	15.36
Les McKeand		14.55	11 Q	14.53	7

Combined events – Decathlon

Athlete	Event	100 m	LJ	SP	HJ	400 m	110H	DT	PV	JT	1500 m	Final	Rank
Peter Mullins	Result	11.2	6.64	12.75	1.83	53.2	15.2	33.94	3.40	51.32	5:17.6	6739	6
	Points	787	711	691	822	706	896	541	652	612	321

Women

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Shirley Strickland	100 m	12.4	1 Q	12.4	2 Q	12.2
Joyce King		13.1	4	did not advance
Betty McKinnon		12.7	3	did not advance
Shirley Strickland	200 m	25.8	2 Q	24.9	1 Q	25.3	4
Joyce King		25.9	1 Q		6	did not advance
Betty McKinnon		25.9	1 Q		7	did not advance
Shirley Strickland	80 m Hurdles	11.9	2 Q	11.7	1 Q	11.4
Shirley Strickland June Maston Betty McKinnon Joyce King	4 × 100 m relay	48.0	2 Q	—		47.6

Women

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Judy Canty	long jump	5.29	11 Q	5.38	7
June Maston		5.06	22	did not advance

Boxing

Main article: Boxing at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Ronald Gower	Flyweight	Bondi (HUN) W PTS	Martinez (ESP) L PTS	did not advance
Jimmy Carruthers	Bantamweight	Daigle (CAN) W DQ2	Parés (ARG) W PTS	Csik (HUN) L W/O	did not advance
Laurie Birks	Featherweight	Tammelin (FIN) W PTS	Seo B (KOR) L KO2	did not advance
Billy Barber	Lightweight	Vissers (BEL) L PTS	did not advance
Billy Boyce	Welterweight	Bye	Roller (LUX) W PTS	Du Preez (RSA) L PTS	did not advance
Graham Higham	Middleweight	Garcia (ARG) L PTS	did not advance
Adrian Holmes	Light heavyweight	bye	El-Minabawi (EGY) W KO2	O'Hagan (IRL) W PTS	Scott (GBR) L PTS	3rd/4th place  Cia (ARG) L RSC-3	4

Cycling

Main article: Cycling at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Six cyclists, all men, represented Australia in 1948.

Road races

Individual times added together for team race, 3 times needed for team event.

Cyclist	Event	Final
		Result	Rank
Jack Hoobin	Road race	5:18:18.2	7
Russell Mockridge	Road race	5:39:54.6	26
Ken Caves	Road race	did not finish
Jim Nestor	Road race	did not finish
Jack Hoobin Russell Mockridge Ken Caves Jim Nestor	Team road race	did not finish

Track

Ranks given are within the heat.

Cyclist	Event	First round		First repechage		Quarterfinals		Second repechage		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Charlie Bazzano	Sprint		2	14.1	1 Q	14.3	1 Q	Directly advanced			2		4
Sid Patterson	Time trial	n/a										1:15.7	6
Sid Patterson Jim Nestor Jack Hoobin Russell Mockridge	Team pursuit	5:06.5	2 q	n/a		5:07.7	2	did not advance

Diving

Main article: Diving at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Diver	Event	Final
		Result	Rank
David Norris	3m springboard	109.67	16

Rowing

Main article: Rowing at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Australia had eight male rowers participate in three out of seven rowing events in 1948.^[2]

Ranks given are within the heat.

Rower	Event	First round		Repechage		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Merv Wood	Single sculls	7:25.9	1 Q	n/a		8:08.5	1 Q	7:24.4
Spencer Grace Ted Bromley	Coxless pair	7:26.8	2 r	7:28.4	1 Q	7:54.5	2	did not advance
Wal Lambert Hugh Lambie Colin Douglas-Smith Jack Webster Tom Darcy	Coxed four	7:04.3	2 r	7:07.1	2	did not advance

Sailing

Main article: Sailing at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Rank	Helmsman	Crew	Class	Race I		Race II		Race III		Race IV		Race V		Race VI		Race VII		Total Points [3]	Total -1 [4]
				Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
18	Robert French		Firefly	18	168	11	382	19	144	16	219	9	469	12	344	10	423	2149	2005
7	Jock Sturrock	Leslie A. Fenton	Star	DNF[5]	0	4	729	15	155	6	553	10	331	4	729	1	1331	3828	3828

Shooting

Main article: Shooting at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Shooter	Event	Final
		Score	Rank
Reginald Parker	300 m rifle 3 positions	926	30
Mill Menghini		856	32
John Wise		852	33
Claude Platt	50 m rifle, prone	584	46
Neville Holt		584	47
Leo Dove		578	55

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Ranks given are within the heat.

Men

Swimmer	Event	Heats		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Bruce Bourke	100 m freestyle	59.1	2 Q	1:00.0	5	did not advance
Warren Boyd		1:00.4	3 q	1:01.1	8	did not advance
Bruce Bourke	100 m backstroke	1:11.3	1 Q	1:11.4	8	did not advance
John Davies	200 m breaststroke	2:48.3	2 Q	2:44.8	4 Q	2:43.7	4
Kevin Hallett		3:02.0	7	did not advance
John Marshall	400 m freestyle	4:51.4	2 Q	4:50.0	2 Q	4:47.4
Garrick Agnew		5:06.1	4	did not advance
John Marshall	1500 m freestyle	20:01.1	1 Q	19:53.8	1 Q	19:31.3
Garrick Agnew		21:40.1	6	did not advance

Women

Swimmer	Event	Heats		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Marjorie McQuade	100 m freestyle	1:08.5	3 Q	1:09.6	6	did not advance
Denise Spencer		1:10.0	3	did not advance
Judy-Joy Davies	100 m backstroke	1:16.4	1 Q	1:17.8	2 Q	1:16.7
Nancy Lyons	200 m breaststroke	3:02.9	1 Q	3:00.9	1 Q	2:57.7
Denise Spencer	400 m freestyle	5:40.9	4 Q	5:35.6	6	did not advance

Water polo

Main article: Water polo at the 1948 Summer Olympics

This was the first time Australia had entered the water polo competition.

Men's Team Competition

Head coach:

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB	Age	Caps	Club	Tournament games	Tournament goals
		Ben Dalley	15 March 1916	32	?	Balmain Water Polo Club	2	?
		Jack King	23 August 1910	37	?		1	?
		Eric Johnston	24 February 1914	34	?	Balmain Water Polo Club	2	?
		Les McKay	27 May 1917	31	?		1	?
		Leon Ferguson	19 June 1923	25	?	Bondi ASC	1	?
		Arthur Burge	24 August 1917	31	?	Drummoyne Water Polo Club	2	?
		Herman Doerner	1914		?	Bondi ASC	2	?
		Colin French	20 November 1916	31	?		1	?
		Roger Cornforth	19 January 1919	29	?		1	?
		Jack Ferguson	12 April 1922	26	?	Bondi ASC	1	?

Group D

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Italy (ITA)	2	1	1	0	13	4	3		X	4:4	9:0
2.	Yugoslavia (YUG)	2	1	1	0	16	7	3		4:4	X	12:3
3.	Australia (AUS)	2	0	0	2	3	21	0		0:9	3:12	X

Weightlifting

Main article: Weightlifting at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Lifter	Event	Final
		Kg	Rank
Keith Caple	Bantamweight	272.5	9
Ray Magee	Heavyweight	357.5	12

Wrestling

Main article: Wrestling at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Men's Freestyle

Athlete	Event	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Bert Harris	Flyweight	Jhadav (IND) L 0-3	Raisi (IRI) L Fall	did not advance					10
Dick Garrard	Welterweight	Angst (SUI) W 3-0	Sóvári (HUN) W 2-1	Bhargava (IND) W Fall	Leclerc (FRA) W Fall	Merrill (USA) L 1-2	Bye	Doğu (TUR) L Fall
Bruce Arthur	Middleweight	Candemir (TUR) L Fall	Roy (IND) W Fall	Brand (USA) L Fall	did not advance				9
Jim Armstrong	Heavyweight	Oberlander (GBR) W 3-0	Bóbis (HUN) L Fall	Hutton (USA) W Retired	Esen (TUR) W Fall	n/a		Antonsson (SWE) L Fall