The Austerity Olympics: When the Games Came to London in 1948

As the financial crisis puts a stranglehold on credit and funding, the upcoming 2012 Olympics in London already look to fall well short of their current budget. Fortunately, London has been through just such hard times before in the run-up to an Olympics, and in 1948 it showed how to run a fantastic event on a tiny budget. This thrilling history of the last Olympics in London is a tale of female competitors sewing their own kit, teams ferried to events on red London buses and billeted in Spartan hostels or even army camps, and the main stadium being hastily cleared of greyhound racing to allow the athletics to take place. The total budget was a shockingly low £760,000, and great athletes like Emil Zatopek and Fanny Blankers-Koen thrilled the crowds nonetheless.