Following a twelve-year hiatus caused by the outbreak of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics held since the 1936 Games in Berlin.

The 1948 Olympics came to be known as the "Austerity Games" due to the difficult economic climate and rationing imposed in the aftermath of World War II.

This in turn shifted the view of the Arab countries who had intended to boycott the event and now decided to take part.

In the decathlon, Bob Mathias of the United States became the youngest male ever to win an Olympic track and field gold medal at the age of seventeen.

It says: In June 1946 the IOC, through a postal vote, gave the summer Games to London and the winter competition to St Moritz.

After a boat trip from Calais to Dover (aboard of HMS Bicester), the flame traveled to several towns in Southeast England until the arrival at Wembley for the Opening ceremony.

The Royal Horse Artillery sounded a 21-gun salute to welcome the last runner in the Torch Relay: John Mark, a British track and field sprinter and student at the University of Cambridge with impressive Olympian good looks.

Mark ran a lap of the track – created with cinders from the domestic coal fires of Leicester – and climbed the steps to the Olympic cauldron.

After more speeches, Donald Finlay of the British team (given his RAF rank of Wing Commander) took the Olympic Oath on behalf of all competitors.

The National Anthem was sung and the massed athletes turned and marched out of the stadium, led by Greece, tailed by Britain.

[19] The BBC's official report on the coverage estimated that an average of half a million viewers watched each of their Olympic broadcasts.

Of these, four were making their Olympic debut – the men's 10 km walk, and the women's 200 metres, long jump and shot put.

[26] The marathon saw a dramatic finish with the first man to enter the stadium, Etienne Gailly of Belgium, exhausted and nearly unable to run.

Harry Llewellyn and Foxhunter, who would claim a gold medal in Helsinki, won bronze in the team jumping event.

Ilona Elek, who had won the women's foil competition in Berlin, was one of only two competitors to successfully defend an Olympic title in London.

The tournament was ultimately won by India, who defeated Great Britain to claim the country's first gold medal as an independent nation under captain Kishan Lal and Vice-Captain Kunwar Digvijay Singh.

Due to the rise of the professional game during the 12 years since the Berlin Olympics the number of talented amateurs for teams to select from was reduced.

Denmark defeated hosts Great Britain, managed by Matt Busby of Manchester United, 5–3 to win the bronze medal.

[37] This was the first international football tournament ever to be broadcast on television, with the two semi-finals, the bronze medal match and the final all being shown live in full by the BBC.

Only one modern pentathlon event was contested, the five component sports– riding, fencing, shooting, swimming, and running- being held over six days.

The sport's international federation, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne was founded during the Games, on 3 August 1948.

[40] One of host nation Great Britain's three gold medals at the Games came in the Swallow class from Stewart Morris and David Bond.

Takács taught himself to shoot with his left hand and, 10 years after his injury, he won an Olympic gold medal in the rapid-fire pistol event.

[41] In 2010 one of the last remaining venues from the Games, the Herne Hill Velodrome where cycling events were staged, was saved when a new 15-year lease was agreed meaning that repairs could take place.

Thirteen made their first official appearance: British Guiana (now Guyana), Burma (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Iraq, Jamaica, Korea, Lebanon, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

[50] It was the first time that Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, India and Pakistan competed as fully independent nations at the Olympic Games.

Due to continuing labour shortages, German prisoners of war were used for the construction of the facilities for the games, in particular Olympic Way.

[51] Italy, although originally an Axis power, had defected to the Allies in 1943 following Benito Mussolini being deposed, and was allowed to send athletes.

[52] The nations that returned to the games were Cuba, Iran (The last participation of a Persian athlete was in Paris 1900), Ireland, Panama and Spain.

Other nations, besides Germany and Japan, that participated in the previous games in Berlin 1936 but were absent in London 1948 were Bolivia, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.