| Date | 4 – 5 August 1948 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Wembley Arena, Wembley, London | |
| Participants | 25 from 15 countries | |
| Format | 10 metres platform. Final round only. Four compulsory and four optional dives. | |
Sammy Lee won this event, leading in both the preliminary round and the final. Lee had finished third earlier in London on the springboard, which was won by Bruce Harlan, who placed second to Lee in this event. Lee would return in four years at Helsinki and defend his gold medal on platform. The bronze went to Mexican Joaquín Capilla, who had only been fifth in the preliminaries. Capilla would improve to a silver medal in 1952, behind Lee, and then win the platform gold medal at Melbourne in 1956.
Lee made it to the top as a diver, despite overcoming racial discrimination as a Korean-American. Growing up in Fresno, California, Latinos, Asians, and African-Americans were only allowed to use Fresno’s public Brookside Pool on Wednesdays, on what was called “international day”, which was the day before the pool was scheduled to be drained and refilled with clean water. To allow him to practice on other days, his coach dug a pit in his backyard and filled it with sand, and Lee practiced by jumping into the pit.
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | Points | Preliminary Round | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Sammy Lee |  USA | 130.05 | 51.51 (1) | 78.54 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | – | Bruce Harlan | USA | 122.30 | 48.94 (2) | 73.36 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | – | Joaquín Capilla |  MEX | 113.52 | 44.84 (5) | 68.68 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | – | Lennart Brunnhage |  SWE | 108.62 | 47.93 (3) | 60.69 (7) | |||
| 5 | – | Peter Heatly |  GBR | 105.29 | 45.13 (4) | 60.16 (8) | |||
| 6 | – | Thomas Christiansen |  DEN | 105.22 | 40.70 (9) | 64.52 (4) | |||
| 7 | – | Raymond Mulinghausen |  FRA | 103.01 | 40.57 (10) | 62.44 (6) | |||
| 8 | – | George Athans |  CAN | 100.91 | 38.41 (16) | 62.50 (5) | |||
| 9 | – | Rolf Stigersand |  NOR | 97.93 | 43.42 (6) | 54.51 (15) | |||
| 10 | – | Zouheir Shourbagi |  SYR | 97.81 | 43.26 (7) | 54.55 (14) | |||
| 11 | – | Louis Marchant | GBR | 96.11 | 38.52 (14) | 57.59 (11) | |||
| 12 | – | Kamal Ali Hassan |  EGY | 95.33 | 37.51 (18) | 57.82 (10) | |||
| 13 | – | Diego Mariscal | MEX | 95.14 | 38.96 (12) | 56.18 (12) | |||
| 14 | – | Gustavo Somohano | MEX | 91.98 | 33.12 (25) | 58.86 (9) | |||
| 15 | – | Franz Worisch |  AUT | 90.05 | 37.70 (17) | 52.35 (18) | |||
| 16 | – | Haroldo Mariano |  BRA | 90.00 | 36.06 (20) | 53.94 (16) | |||
| 17 | – | Willi Lippa | AUT | 89.04 | 38.60 (13) | 50.44 (20) | |||
| 18 | – | Gordon Ward | GBR | 88.96 | 34.12 (23) | 54.84 (13) | |||
| 19 | – | Ilmari Niemeläinen |  FIN | 87.82 | 42.20 (8) | 45.62 (22) | |||
| 20 | – | Guy Hernandez | FRA | 87.46 | 38.45 (15) | 49.01 (21) | |||
| 21 | – | Geoff Mandy |  RSA | 86.00 | 35.24 (21) | 50.76 (19) | |||
| 22 | – | Rauf Aboul Seoud | EGY | 85.85 | 33.37 (24) | 52.48 (17) | |||
| 23 | – | Willy Rist |  SUI | 81.78 | 36.64 (19) | 45.14 (23) | |||
| 24 | – | Mohamed Abdel Khalek Allam | EGY | 77.92 | 34.30 (22) | 43.62 (24) | |||
| 25 | – | Ernst Strupler | SUI | 77.67 | 39.01 (11) | 38.66 (25) | |||
| 180 | Béla Balla |  HUN | – | – | – | ||||
| 181 | László Hidvégi | HUN | – | – | – | ||||
| 168 | José Castillo |  CUB | – | – | – | ||||
| 173 | Eddie Heron |  IRL | – | – | – | ||||
| 188 | Miller Anderson | USA | – | – | – |
| Date | 4 August 1948 — 09:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Four optional dives. |
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29 | Sammy Lee | USA | 51.51 | ||
| 2 | 19 | Bruce Harlan | USA | 48.94 | ||
| 3 | 10 | Lennart Brunnhage | SWE | 47.93 | ||
| 4 | 14 | Peter Heatly | GBR | 45.13 | ||
| 5 | 13 | Joaquín Capilla | MEX | 44.84 | ||
| 6 | 4 | Rolf Stigersand | NOR | 43.42 | ||
| 7 | 21 | Zouheir Shourbagi | SYR | 43.26 | ||
| 8 | 25 | Ilmari Niemeläinen | FIN | 42.20 | ||
| 9 | 8 | Thomas Christiansen | DEN | 40.70 | ||
| 10 | 2 | Raymond Mulinghausen | FRA | 40.57 | ||
| 11 | 26 | Ernst Strupler | SUI | 39.01 | ||
| 12 | 11 | Diego Mariscal | MEX | 38.96 | ||
| 13 | 3 | Willi Lippa | AUT | 38.60 | ||
| 14 | 9 | Louis Marchant | GBR | 38.52 | ||
| 15 | 18 | Guy Hernandez | FRA | 38.45 | ||
| 16 | 5 | George Athans | CAN | 38.41 | ||
| 17 | 24 | Franz Worisch | AUT | 37.70 | ||
| 18 | 23 | Kamal Ali Hassan | EGY | 37.51 | ||
| 19 | 22 | Willy Rist | SUI | 36.64 | ||
| 20 | 27 | Haroldo Mariano | BRA | 36.06 | ||
| 21 | 6 | Geoff Mandy | RSA | 35.24 | ||
| 22 | 12 | Mohamed Abdel Khalek Allam | EGY | 34.30 | ||
| 23 | 20 | Gordon Ward | GBR | 34.12 | ||
| 24 | 17 | Rauf Aboul Seoud | EGY | 33.37 | ||
| 25 | 1 | Gustavo Somohano | MEX | 33.12 |
| Date | 5 August 1948 — 09:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Four compulsory dives (forward running header [1.2], back somersault [1.8], reverse running full gainer somersault (Mollberg) [1.9], armstand forward cut-through [1.6]). |
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 | Sammy Lee | USA | 78.54 | ||
| 2 | 16 | Bruce Harlan | USA | 73.36 | ||
| 3 | 12 | Joaquín Capilla | MEX | 68.68 | ||
| 4 | 7 | Thomas Christiansen | DEN | 64.52 | ||
| 5 | 5 | George Athans | CAN | 62.50 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Raymond Mulinghausen | FRA | 62.44 | ||
| 7 | 9 | Lennart Brunnhage | SWE | 60.69 | ||
| 8 | 13 | Peter Heatly | GBR | 60.16 | ||
| 9 | 1 | Gustavo Somohano | MEX | 58.86 | ||
| 10 | 20 | Kamal Ali Hassan | EGY | 57.82 | ||
| 11 | 8 | Louis Marchant | GBR | 57.59 | ||
| 12 | 10 | Diego Mariscal | MEX | 56.18 | ||
| 13 | 17 | Gordon Ward | GBR | 54.84 | ||
| 14 | 18 | Zouheir Shourbagi | SYR | 54.55 | ||
| 15 | 4 | Rolf Stigersand | NOR | 54.51 | ||
| 16 | 24 | Haroldo Mariano | BRA | 53.94 | ||
| 17 | 14 | Rauf Aboul Seoud | EGY | 52.48 | ||
| 18 | 21 | Franz Worisch | AUT | 52.35 | ||
| 19 | 6 | Geoff Mandy | RSA | 50.76 | ||
| 20 | 3 | Willi Lippa | AUT | 50.44 | ||
| 21 | 15 | Guy Hernandez | FRA | 49.01 | ||
| 22 | 22 | Ilmari Niemeläinen | FIN | 45.62 | ||
| 23 | 19 | Willy Rist | SUI | 45.14 | ||
| 24 | 11 | Mohamed Abdel Khalek Allam | EGY | 43.62 | ||
| 25 | 23 | Ernst Strupler | SUI | 38.66 |
