| Final Ranking | Dist. | SO | Y |  | 1. Micheline Ostermeyer |  FRA | 41.92m | 11 | 25 |  | 2. Edera Cordiale-Gentile |  ITA | 41.17m | 4 | 28 |  | 3. Jacqueline Mazéas |  FRA | 40.47m | 10 | 27 |  | 4. Jadwiga Wajs-Marcinkiewicz |  POL | 39.30m | 8 | 36 |  | 5. Lotte Haidegger |  AUT | 38.81m | 7 | 23 |  | 6. Ans Panhorst-Niesink |  NED | 38.74m | 2 | 29 |  | 7. Majken Åberg |  SWE | 38.48m | 1 | 30 |  | 8. Ingeborg Mello |  ARG | 38.44m | 10 | 29 |  | 9. Frieda Tiltsch |  AUT | 37.19m |   | 26 |  | 10.Paulette Veste |  FRA | 36.84m |   | 20 |  | 11.Frances Kaszubski |  USA | 36.50m |   | 32 |  | 12.Gudrun Arenander |  SWE | 36.25m |   | 27 |  | 13.Nel Roos-Lodder |  NED | 36.15m |   | 34 |  | 14.Bevis Reid |  GBR | 35.84m |   | 29 |  | 15.Marianne Schläger |  AUT | 34.79m |   | 27 |  | 16.Dorothy Dodson |  USA | 34.69m |   | 29 |  | 17.Gabre Gabric-Calvesi |  ITA | 34.17m |   | 30 |  | 18.Pak Bong-Sik |  KOR | 33.80m |   |   |  | 19.Margaret Birtwhistle |  GBR | 33.02m |   | 23 |  | 20.Elspeth Whyte |  GBR | 32.46m |   | 21 |  | 21.Julija Matej |  YUG | 30.25m |   | 22 |   
 | 
 |  | Venue: Empire Stadium, Wembley. |  | Competitors: 21; Countries: 11 |   
 |  
Ostermeyer only learned how to throw the discus in 1948, and placed
second in her national championship behind Mazéas, three weeks
before the Olympics. The athletic (1.79/73kg) Ostermeyer began with
40.45, and won from Gentile with her final throw. Ostermeyer was a
concert pianist, who managed to combine sport and art closely; on the
day she qualified for the Olympic team in Bordeaux she gave a concert.
To put her win in perspective it should be noted that Nina Dumbadze
set a world record of 53.25 eight days after the Olympic event, and had
12 competitions beyond the best of anyone else in 1948.
 
 |