United States at the 1948 Winter Olympics

United States at the
1948 Winter Olympics
United States at the; 1948 Winter Olympics
	Flag of the United States
IOC code	USA
NOC	United States Olympic Committee
in St. Moritz
Competitors	69 (59 men, 10 women) in 4 sports
Flag bearer	John Heaton (skeleton)
Medals; Ranked 4th	Gold 3 Silver 4 Bronze 2 Total 9
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)
	1924; 1928; 1932; 1936; 1948; 1952; 1956; 1960; 1964; 1968; 1972; 1976; 1980; 1984; 1988; 1992; 1994; 1998; 2002; 2006; 2010; 2014; 2018; 2022;

The United States competed at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Medalists

The following U.S. competitors won medals at the games. In the by discipline sections below, medalists' names are bolded.

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Gretchen Fraser	Alpine skiing	Women's slalom	February 5
Gold	Dick Button	Figure skating	Men's singles	February 5
Gold	William D'Amico Patrick Martin Edward Rimkus Francis Tyler	Bobsleigh	Four-man	February 7
Silver	Ken Bartholomew	Speed skating	500 meters	January 31
Silver	Robert Fitzgerald	Speed skating	500 meters	January 31
Silver	Gretchen Fraser	Alpine skiing	Women's combined	February 4
Silver	John Heaton	Skeleton	Men's competition	February 4
Bronze	Schuyler Carron Frederick Fortune	Bobsleigh	Two-man	January 31
Bronze	James Bickford Donald Dupree William Dupree Thomas Hicks	Bobsleigh	Four-man	February 7

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
Alpine skiing	1	1	0	2
Bobsleigh	1	0	2	3
Figure skating	1	0	0	1
Speed skating	0	2	0	2
Skeleton	0	1	0	1
Total	3	4	2	9

Medals by gender
Gender				Total	Percentage
Male	2	3	2	7	77.8%
Female	1	1	0	2	22.2%
Total	3	4	2	9	100%

Multiple medalists
Name	Sport				Total
Gretchen Fraser	Alpine skiing	1	1	0	2

Alpine skiing

Timed events
Men

Athlete	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Total
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Bob Blatt	Downhill	—				3:27.4	44
Dev Jennings						3:28.2	45
Steve Knowlton						3:26.2	43
Barney McLean						3:30.1	47
Dick Movitz						3:25.2	42
Jack Reddish						3:12.3	26
Steve Knowlton	Slalom	1:12.9	16	1:07.6	17	2:20.5	16
Barney McLean		1:20.5	30	1:07.6	17	2:28.1	24
Colin Stewart		1:15.3	23	1:08.8	21	2:24.1	20
Jack Reddish		1:11.0	10	1:04.5	5	2:15.5	7

Women

Athlete	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Total
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Becky Cremer	Downhill	—				2:44.2	22
Gretchen Fraser						2:37.1	13
Brynhild Grasmoen						2:36.0	12
Paula Kann						2:49.0	28
Andrea Mead						3:03.1	35
Ruth-Marie Stewart						2:42.0	20
Gretchen Fraser	Slalom	59.7	1	57.5	2	1:57.2
Brynhild Grasmoen		1:05.6	12	1:04.0	12	2:09.6	9
Paula Kann		1:07.8	16	1:02.0	9	2:09.8	11
Andrea Mead		1:05.1	11	1:03.7	11	2:08.8	8

Combined
The downhill part of the combined events were held concurrently with the individual downhill skiing events. For athletes competing in both events, the same time was used (see table above for the results). The slalom part of the events were held separate from the individual slalom competitions.

Men

Athlete	Event	Downhill		Slalom				Total
Athlete	Event	Time	Points	Time 1	Time 2	Total	Points	Points	Rank
Bob Blatt	Combined	3:27.4	18.09	1:15.6	1:21.4	2:37.0	9.74	27.83	29
Steve Knowlton		3:26.2	17.32	1:15.5	1:14.0	2:29.5	6.42	23.75	25
Barney McLean		3:30.1	19.42	1:16.4	1:11.5	2:27.9	5.73	25.15	26
Jack Reddish		3:12.3	9.71	1:14.1	1:08.8	2:22.9	3.53	13.24	12

Women

Athlete	Event	Downhill		Slalom				Total
Athlete	Event	Time	Points	Time 1	Time 2	Total	Points	Points	Rank
Becky Cremer	Combined	2:44.2	10.11	1:09.4	1:12.5	2:21.9	11.90	22.01	17
Gretchen Fraser		2:37.1	5.50	1:01.8	59.2	2:01.0	1.45	6.95
Andrea Mead		3:03.1	22.14	1:03.8	1:11.7	2:15.5	8.70	30.84	21
Ruth-Marie Stewart		2:42.0	8.58	1:09.8	1:06.6	2:16.4	9.15	17.73	16

Bobsleigh

Athlete	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Run 3		Run 4		Total
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Frederick Fortune Schuyler Carron	Two-man	1:25.5	8	1:24.1	3	1:22.5	3	1:23.2	3	5:35.3
Tuffield A. Latour Leo J. Martin	Two-man	1:24.9	4	1:24.8	6	1:24.1	8	1:25.4	12	5:39.2	9
James Bickford Thomas Hicks Donald Dupree William Dupree	Four-man	1:17.4	5	1:20.7	2	1:21.8	4	1:21.6	2	5:21.5
Francis Tyler Patrick Martin Edward Rimkus William D'Amico	Four-man	1:17.1	2	1:19.6	1	1:21.4	1	1:22.0	5	5:20.1

Cross-country skiing

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Wendell Broomhall	18 km	1:31:40	65
Corey Engen		1:37:24	75
Don Johnson		1:32:03	66
Ralph Townsend		1:37:12	74
Gordy Wren		1:40:12	77

Figure skating

Individual

Athlete	Event	CF	FS	Total
Athlete	Event	Rank	Rank	Points	Places	Rank
Dick Button	Men's singles	1	1	191.177	10
James Grogan		9	6	168.711	62	6
John Lettengarver		4	2	176.400	36	4
Gretchen Merrill	Ladies singles	6	11	148.466	73	8
Eileen Seigh		10	10	144.111	110	11
Yvonne Sherman		8	5	149.833	62	6

Mixed

Athletes	Event	Points	Score	Rank
Karol Kennedy Peter Kennedy	Pairs	10.536	59.5	6
Yvonne Sherman Robert Swenning	Pairs	10.581	53	4

Ice hockey

The tournament was almost cancelled when rival teams representing the United States arrived. An Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team was supported by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), and an Amateur Hockey Association (AHA) team was supported by the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace (LIHG).^[1]^[2] At the center of the issue was amateurism.^[3]^[4]^[5] The International Olympic Committee ruled that neither team could compete, but the Swiss organizing committee allowed the AAU team to march in the opening ceremony, and the AHA team to play unofficially, without being eligible for medals.^[6]^[3]

Summary

Team	Event	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
United States men	Men's tournament	Switzerland L 4–5	Poland W 23–4	Italy W 31–1	Sweden W 5–2	Canada L 3–12	Austria W 13–2	Great Britain W 4–3	Czechoslovakia L 3–4	DSQ (4)

Roster

Al Opsahl
Bruce Mather
Bruce Cunliffe
Donald Geary
Fred Pearson
Goodwin Harding
Herb Vaningen
Jack Kirrane
Jack Riley
Jack Garrity
Ralph Warburton
Robert Baker
Bob Boeser
Stan Priddy

Tournament

	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Canada	8	7	0	1	69	5	15
Czechoslovakia	8	7	0	1	80	18	15
Switzerland	8	6	2	0	67	21	12
Sweden	8	4	4	0	55	28	8
Great Britain	8	3	5	0	39	47	6
Poland	8	2	6	0	29	97	4
Austria	8	1	7	0	33	77	2
Italy	8	0	8	0	24	156	0
United States DSQ	8	5	3	0	86	33	(10)

Switzerland 5-4 USA
USA 23-4 Poland
USA 31-1 Italy
USA 5-2 Sweden
Canada 12-3 USA
USA 13-2 Austria
USA 4-3 United Kingdom
Czechoslovakia 4-3 USA

Nordic combined

The cross-country skiing part of this event was combined with the main medal event, meaning that athletes competing here were skiing for two disciplines at the same time. Details can be found above in this article, in the cross-country skiing section.

The ski jumping (normal hill) event was held separate from the main medal event of ski jumping, results can be found in the table below. Athletes would perform three jumps, of which the two best jumps (distance and form) were counted.

Athlete	Event	Cross-country			Ski Jumping				Total
Athlete	Event	Time	Points	Rank	Distance 1	Distance 2	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Corey Engen	Individual	1:34:24	132.00	34	65.5	64.0	214.8	3	346.80	26
Don Johnson		1:32:03	157.50	28	57.0	59.0	187.6	27	345.10	27
Ralph Townsend		1:37:12	138.00	33	61.0	58.0	188.7	24	326.70	33
Gordy Wren		1:40:12	120.00	36	66.5	68.5	220.2	2	340.20	29

Skeleton

Athlete	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Run 3		Run 4		Run 5		Run 6		Total
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Jack Heaton	Men's	48.1	5	47.4	1	47.7	2	1:00.0	2	1:00.2	1	1:01.2	5	5:24.6
William Johnson		47.7	2	48.4	5	48.0	4	DNF
Mac MacCarthy		48.8	8	48.3	4	49.4	12	1:03.6	9	1:02.7	9	1:02.7	8	5:35.5	8
Wilbur Martin		47.8	3	49.2	11	48.2	5	1:00.7	3	1:01.6	5	1:00.5	3	5:28.0	4

Ski jumping

Athlete	Event	Jump 1	Jump 2	Total
Athlete	Event	Distance	Distance	Points	Rank
Walter Bietila	Normal hill	61.0	64.0 (fall)	142.9	42
Sverre Fredheim		66.0	65.0	210.1	12
Joe Perrault		61.0	67.0	207.0	15
Gordy Wren		68.0	68.5	222.8	5

Speed skating

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Ken Bartholomew	500 m	43.2
Bobby Fitzgerald		43.2
Ken Henry		43.3	5
Del Lamb		43.6	6
Ray Blum	1500 m	2:23.4	20
Bobby Fitzgerald		2:27.0	28
Ken Henry		2:24.6	22
Johnny Werket		2:20.2	6
Ray Blum	5000 m	8:54.4	17
Ken Henry		8:56.0	18
Sonny Rupprecht		8:58.4	21
Buddy Solem		9:10.4	27
Sonny Rupprecht	10,000 m	21:20.3	17
Art Seaman		21:34.8	18
Buddy Solem		26:22.4	19
Johnny Werket		19:44.0	11

References

^ "1948-Winter Olympics V (St. Moritz, Switzerland)". CTV global media. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
^ "Storms over St. Moritz". Time Magazine. Time Inc. 1948-02-09. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
^ ^a ^b Findling & Pelle (2004), p. 316
^ Szemberg, Szymon; Podnieks, Andrew (2008). "Story #82–USA sends two teams to the 1948 Olympics". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
^ Results and commentary in french
^ Findling & Pelle (2004), p. 317

Comité Olympique Suisse (January 1951). Rapport Général sur les V^es Jeux Olympiques d'hiver St-Moritz 1948 (PDF) (in French). Lausanne: H. Jaunin. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
"Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
Olympic Winter Games 1948, full results by sports-reference.com

[1] "1948-Winter Olympics V (St. Moritz, Switzerland)". CTV global media. Retrieved 2009-05-28.

[time-2] "Storms over St. Moritz". Time Magazine. Time Inc. 1948-02-09. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012. Retrieved 2009-05-26.

[findling316-3] Findling & Pelle (2004), p. 316

[Num82-4] Szemberg, Szymon; Podnieks, Andrew (2008). "Story #82–USA sends two teams to the 1948 Olympics". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 2009-03-10.

[5] Results and commentary in french

[findling317-6] Findling & Pelle (2004), p. 317

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[2]

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[6]

v t e National Olympic Committees at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland
Africa	No representation
America	Argentina Canada Chile United States
Asia	South Korea Lebanon
Europe	Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Denmark Finland France Great Britain Greece Hungary Iceland Italy Liechtenstein Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Oceania	No representation