Military patrol at the 1948 Winter Olympics

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At the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1948, the last military patrol competition was held as a demonstration sport. This was in part due to the aftermath of World War II, which decimated Europe. This sport would be superseded by the biathlon competition which debuted at the 1960 Winter Olympics. The cross-country ski run was not prepared and was made by the leading Swiss team. The Czechoslovak participant Karel Dvořák described the weather of the day as extremely mild with temperatures of about 0 °C (32 °F) at the starting point at the upper cableway station (2,486 metres (8,156 ft)) on top of the Corviglia in the morning. The participants wore military equipment, 10 kilograms (22 lb) of baggage on the back and a military rifle. Only the officers, the patrol leaders, had pistols and did not compete in shooting. At the shooting range they had to shoot on three rubber balloons at a distance of 150 metres (490 ft). Every hit gave a bonus of 1 minute for the team. [1]

Contents

Event held on 8 February 1948

PlaceTeamTimeTime subtractionsAdjusted Time
1Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland  (SUI)
(Robert Zurbriggen, Heinrich Zurbriggen, Vital Vouardoux, [a] Arnold Andenmatten)		2:39:25.052:34:25.0
2Flag of Finland.svg  Finland  (FIN)
(Eero Naapuri, Vilho Ylönen, Mikko Meriläinen, Tauno Honkanen)		2:46:23.092:37:23.0
3Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden  (SWE)
(Edor Hjukström, Holger Borgh, Karl Gustav Ljungquist, Fride Larsson)		2:45:03.042:41:03.0
4Flag of Italy.svg  Italy  (ITA)
(Costanzo Picco, Aristide Compagnoni, Giacinto De Cassan, Antenore Cuel)		2:52:03.022:50:03.0
5Flag of France.svg  France  (FRA)
(Emile Paganon, Marc Benoît-Lizon, Ulysse Bozonnet, Gilbert Morand)		3:01:35.072:54:35.0
6Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia  (TCH)
(Vojtěch Pavelica, Karel Dvořák, Jaroslav Šír, Otto Skrbek)		3:16:26.063:10:26.0
7Flag of Romania.svg  Romania  (ROU)
(Ştefan Ionescu, Constantin Vlădea, Niculae-Cornel Crăciun, Ion Kasky [b] )		3:24:24.083:16:24.0
8US flag 48 stars.svg  United States  (USA)
(Donald Weihs, Stanley Walker, Henry Dunlap, Lorentz Eide)		4:38:58.034:35:58.0

Notes

  1. ↑ also findable as Xavier Vouardoux or X. Vouardoux in the Official report
  2. ↑ in other sources mentioned as Ion Koschi

References

  1. ↑ Dvořák, Karel (January 17, 2003). "Moje vzpomínky na 5. ZOH" [My memories of the 5th Olympic Games] (in Czech). Archived from the original on January 18, 2009.
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