Diving at the 1948 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games
Host City: London, Great Britain
Venue(s): Wembley Arena, Wembley, London
Date Started: July 31, 1948
Date Finished: August 3, 1948
Format: 3 metre springboard. Final round only. Four compulsory and four optional dives.
| Gold: | Vicki Draves |
| Silver: | Zoe Ann Olsen-Jensen |
| Bronze: | Patsy Elsener |
This was a very close competition between American Vicki Draves and [Zoe Ann Olsen]. Draves led the preliminary round by only 1.1 points over Olsen, but Olsen outscored her in the final round, just barely. But Draves was able to hang on to win the gold medal, with Olsen second. American Patsy Elsener completed the American sweep. Draves would return in a few days and become the first woman to win the springboard/platform double at a single Olympics, with Elsener taking silver on platform.\n\nVicki Draves had been born Victoria Manolo as the daughter of a Filipino father and had to overcome racial discrimination to be able to dive at some clubs in the San Francisco area, where she grew up. Her first club required her to use her mother’s maiden name, Taylor, in order to swim and dive at the club. Zoe Ann Olsen later became part of a dream American sports pairing when she married Boston Red Sox and New York Yankee outfielder and one-time American League MVP Jackie Jensen, although they would later divorce. Victoria Manolo would later marry her coach, Lyle Draves, and take his name.
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vicki Draves | 23 | United States | USA | Gold | 108.74 | |
| 2 | Zoe Ann Olsen-Jensen | 17 | United States | USA | Silver | 108.23 | |
| 3 | Patsy Elsener | 18 | United States | USA | Bronze | 101.30 | |
| 4 | Nicole Péllissard-Darrigrand | 17 | France | FRA | 100.38 | ||
| 5 | Gudrun Grömer | 28 | Austria | AUT | 93.30 | ||
| 6 | Edna Child | 25 | Great Britain | GBR | 91.63 | ||
| 7 | Mady Moreau | 20 | France | FRA | 89.43 | ||
| 8 | Kiki Heck | 24 | Netherlands | NED | 87.61 | ||
| 9 | Birte Christoffersen-Hanson | 24 | Denmark | DEN | 87.12 | ||
| 10 | Jeannette Aubert | France | FRA | 86.96 | |||
| 11 | Alma Staudinger | 26 | Austria | AUT | 86.93 | ||
| 12 | Cobie Floor | 18 | Netherlands | NED | 83.14 | ||
| 13 | Esme Harris | Great Britain | GBR | 74.10 | |||
| 14 | Kay Cuthbert | 23 | Great Britain | GBR | 72.40 | ||
| 15 | Inger Nordbø | 33 | Norway | NOR | 70.86 | ||
| 16 | Ibone Belausteguigoitia | 18 | Mexico | MEX | 58.18 | ||
| DNS | Irén Zságot | 24 | Hungary | HUN |