Venezuela competed in the 1948 Summer Olympic Games held in London, United Kingdom. The country's first appearance at the Games, it sent one athlete, the cyclist Julio César León, and won no medals. León faced several difficulties before he could compete in the Games, receiving no support from the Venezuelan Olympic Committee until his arrival in London. He competed in two track cycling events, placing joint-ninth in the Sprint and 14th in the Time trial. Background Organization Venezuela was one of the fourteen nations that made their first official appearance at the Summer Olympics at the 1948 Games. Though the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (VOC) had been recognized by the IOC in 1935, it was skeptical about their athletes' prospects when competing against European athletes, and so did not send anyone. The VOC still did not want to send athletes in 1948, and, according to Julio César León, the only Venezuelan representative at the Games, said they would "make a fool of ourselves". Venezuela had been sent 50 registration forms in anticipation of the Games.:68 León's journey León, with the approval but not support of the VOC, had to get support from the British Embassy in Caracas in order to travel to London. León's brother knew Raymond Smith, an attaché to the embassy. As such, his brother got León a meeting with the ambassador who quickly agreed to send León, his wife, and his coach to London on a Lancaster Bomber serving as a British Caribbean mail plane from Maiquetia Airport two days later. The journey across the Caribbean, stopping at all British territories, took four hours; the flight from Bermuda to London lasted 36 hours. The group was accompanied by three journalists. There were no members of the VOC traveling with them, which caused difficulty when León tried to register at the Games, as he had no paperwork; a call to Julio Bustamante, the president of the VOC, led the committee to fly to London three days later to approve León in person. Opening ceremony León tells the anecdote that nobody had thought to bring a Venezuelan flag, as they were unaware of Olympic customs and did not know there would be the pavilion. He explains that he learnt of it when an Argentine competitor he knew from the South American circuit mentioned it to him in passing. The Venezuelan Embassy in London would not loan the VOC a flag