Did anyone hear that brilliant Radio 4 programme this morning all about the Olympics in 1948? it featured interviews with some of the athletes that took part.
It was absolutely fascinating. Some very interesting facts:
- Less than 10% of the competitors were women. One woman who did compete for Team GB talked about her diet in the run up to the Games, explaining that rationing was of course still occurring. As a result the only steak her and her parents and their household had, the one steak they had weekly would always go to her!
- Apparently it took 5 months for the New Zealand squad (all 7 of 'em!) to sail over- they'd train by running around the massive cargo ship transporting them!
- Due to a lack of volunteers, the hurdles were delayed by 45 minutes as there weren't enough volunteers to measure accurately the distance between each hurdle! That won't be the case this time round....