Before the javelin competition, Tapio Rautavaara of Finland prodded the javelin tip into the soft, substandard runway. He found solid spot. So he gave it his all in the first throw, and his foot landed right on that solid spot. The throw reached 69.77 metres, which was enough for the win.
Steve Seymour of the USA finished second.
In the Finnish documentary in the 1970's, Rautavaara admitted he was lucky. "The wrong man won. Seymour was better but he didn't have luck."
Radio commentary (Yle, in Finnish)
Hufvudstadsbladet, August 5, 1948 (in Swedish)
Turun Sanomat, August 9, 1998 (in Finnish)
Suomen Kuvalehti, July 30, 2012 (in Finnish)
Urheilun historiaa, June 30, 2014 (in Finnish)
Ilta-Sanomat, February 26, 2015 (in Finnish)
Päivän lehti, August 4, 2017 (in Finnish)