Janie Hampton - The Austerity Olympics: When The Games Came To London In 1948

THE AUSTERITY OLYMPICS

Janie Hampton has written more than 15 books, from biography to fiction. She is the author of the critically acclaimed biography of Joyce Grenfell. She lives in Oxford.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2008 AND THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS BEST BIOGRAPHY 2009.

An exemplary piece of historical research on the London Olympics of 1948

Observer

Sports capacity to bring ordinary men and women together shines through, along with a ringing endorsement of the Olympian ideal that its the taking part that counts

Metro

Only the most naive believe that events such as the Olympics can live up to high-minded ideals. Yet the Austerity Olympics, as described in this fascinating book, seem to have done exactly that

Daily Telegraph

First published in 2008
by Aurum Press Ltd, 7 Greenland Street, London NW1 0ND

This e-book edition first published in 2012

All rights reserved
Janie Hampton, 2008

The right of Janie Hampton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

E-book conversion by CPI Group

ISBN 978-1-78131-001-4

FOREWORD

by Sebastian Coe

T hat London managed to stage the 1948 Olympic Games so soon after the Second World War is remarkable enough. The fact that the London Games ran like clockwork and produced important legacies for world sport, the international community and the Olympic Movement is another story, a story that has remained largely untold until now.

Janie Hamptons The Austerity Olympics details the unprecedented challenges and risks involved in staging the Games in the aftermath of the world war. It tells the story of the administrators and athletes who beat the odds to organise and perform at the biggest sporting event ever staged. The Games involved over 4,000 men and women from 59 countries, many competing for the first time, across 136 events.

By tracking down many of the survivors at the heart of Games planning, services, and competition, by speaking with spectators and international visitors, and by combing through libraries and archives around the world, Hampton vividly brings alive the cast of characters and circumstances that shaped the 1948 Games.

In a bomb-shattered landscape still with rationing of food, clothing and petrol, Londons challenge was unlike that of any other Olympic host city. But austerity did not mean misery or unhappiness it meant Make Do and ingenuity as well. It is now clear that much was riding on the success of the London Games which represented a new start for both Britain and the Olympic Movement. The Games had not been held since Hitlers controversial Berlin Olympics twelve years earlier, and it was vital that they reflected the Olympic ideals of equality and fair play, and were staged without political or racial propaganda.

We want to see the best men win, no matter where they come from or who they represent, said Sir Arthur J. Elvin, Chairman of the old Wembley Stadium, which served as the Olympic stadium centrepiece. Off the field, the race against time to prepare for the Games was as compelling as the competition on the track. Work to upgrade the greyhound track to an international sports stadium was completed in under two months.

Hamptons book conveys the unique power of the Olympic Games to change lives and bring people and countries closer on and off the sporting field. Most of the US team, for example, travelled together by ship to London, enabling black and white Americans, racially segregated at home, to mix for the first time. I shook hands with my first black American on board ship, remembered rifle shooter Arthur Jackson. It was part of the process of eliminating segregation. We were eating and socialising on a white ship.

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The Austerity Olympics also points to several far-reaching social, sporting and commercial legacies that have helped to shape the foundations of modern sport. These include the roles of sponsor companies, volunteers and television coverage, which all featured in 1948 and are now essential for the success of major sporting events.

The 1948 Olympic Games also helped to increase sporting opportunities for women and change attitudes toward disability and sport. The first organised sporting competition involving war-injured patients was held in the grounds of Stoke Mandeville hospital in 1948 to coincide with the London Olympic Games opening ceremony. This provided the inspiration for the Paralympic Games, which has since developed into the worlds foremost competition and celebration for elite athletes with disabilities.

Following in the footsteps of the 1948 Games organisers takes on new significance for me and the team at London 2012. The venues, projects and programmes planned for the London 2012 Games include the creation of one of Europes biggest new sports and community parks, along with thousands of new jobs, homes, skills training and opportunities and other social, economic and environmental benefits.

Appropriately, the new Olympic Park project will regenerate some of the capitals most disadvantaged communities, located in east London, which suffered devastating bomb damage during the Second World War.

While the story of the 1948 Games may have taken many years to reveal itself, the arrival of Hamptons new book is perfectly timed to help celebrate the 60th anniversary of these historically important but under-recognised Games.

I am confident this book will motivate us further in our efforts at London 2012 to maximise the power of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to inspire change and reconnect young people with the inspirational power of sport, so vividly captured in the following pages of this book.

SEBASTIAN COE

Chairman, London Organising Committee for

the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games

INTRODUCTION

A long with thousands of others I stood expectantly in Trafalgar Square on 6 July 2005. We were there to watch the announcement, by live link from Singapore, about the 2012 Olympics. When it came, the euphoria was instant. The Games would be... in... London. Everyone threw up their arms and shouted with joy. Standing next to me was an old lady, quite still. She turned and said, Isnt it wonderful news? I went to watch the Olympics in 1948. I saw the swimming at the Empire Pool. I just had to be here today. But itll be very different from the last time.

Will it? How? I asked.

Oh, it was our first celebration after the war, and we were still on rations. We all pulled together. We knew how to make a silk purse out of a sows ear in those days. I wanted to know more, but she was gone, leaving me intrigued.

A few days later I phoned a friend. Ive been reading