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Olympic Games

XVII (17th) OLYMPIAD
ROME, ITALY | Aug 25th - Sep 11th, 1960


Rome, ITA

Rome 1960

ROME, ITALY
GAMES OF THE XVIIth OLYMPIAD

August 25 - September 11, 1960

Mascot - none

83 countries, 5346 athletes (610 women)

17 sports, 150 events

Opening - President Gronchi (ITA)

Torch lit by - Giancarlo Peris

Candidates: Lausanne, Detroit, Budapest, Brussels, Mexico City, Tokyo

Humble running: Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila not only shocked the world by running barefoot for the duration of the 1960 night marathon, but the unassuming Imperial guardsman also went on to win the race - becoming the first black African to do so. A rare talent, he went on to defend his title four years later.

Success with widespread appeal

For the first time Rome played host to the Games in 1960 with more than 5,000 competitors from 83 countries, including many independent African nations, taking part in events staged between August 25 and September 11.

South Africa, however, participated in its last Olympic Games due to its policies of apartheid and did not make a return until Barcelona in 1992. China was also absent after taking leave of the IOC in 1958, following its political differences with the Taiwan-based China Formosa. Live television coverage via Eurovision increased the magic of the event for a total of 93 hours and 40 minutes.

The eternal city was a mix of the past and present for the athletes - the wrestling events were held in the Maxence basilica, a full 2000 years after similar competitions took place there. The marathon start line was at Capitol and ended at the famous Via Apia, nearby the Arc de Constantine, while the gymnastics events were held in the spas of Caracala.

American athlete Wilma Rudolph, the "black gazelle", won three gold medals (100m, 200m and 4x100m), despite falling victim to polio, pneumonia and scarlet fever during childhood. A boxer by the name of Cassius Clay, who later called himself Muhammad Ali, won the light-heavyweight title. In middle-distance, New-Zealand's Peter Snell recorded a historic victory in the 800m and Australia's Herb Elliott set a new world record in the 1500m (3:35.6). But the overall hero of the Games was Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila, who won the marathon running barefoot. He crossed the line at exactly the same spot from where Mussolini deployed his troops to conquer Ethiopia as part of his plans for colonial expansion. Bikila also made history by becoming the first black African to win an Olympic title.

These Games were also known for the amount of records which were broken and set. Twenty out of the 24 men's athletics disciplines and four world records were equaled or broken (400m, 1500m, 4x100m and 4x400m).

1896 
1900 
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1920 
1924 
1928 
1932 
1936 
1948 
1952 
1956 
1960 
1964 
1968 
1972 
1976 
1980 
1984 
1988 
1992 
1996 
2000 
2004 
2008 

 

 

ROME 1960 GOLD MEDAL WINNERS
112 Men, 29 Women, 9 Open Events
6 new Events (1 Athletics, 2 Canoe/Kayak, 1 Fencing, 2 Swimming)
7 events removed (4 Canoe/Kayak, 1 Equestrian, 1 Women's Gymnastics, 1 Shooting)
1 event changed (Sailing Sharpie to Flying Dutchman)

ATHLETICS, Men
100m: Armin Hary, Germany
200m: Livio Berruti, Italy
400m: Otis Davis, USA
800m: Peter Snell, New Zealand
1500m: Herb Elliott, Australia
5000m: Murray Halberg, New Zealand
10000m: Pyotr Bolotnikov, USSR
4x100m: Germany
4x400m: United States
110m Hurdles: Lee Calhoun, USA
400m Hurdles: Glenn Davis, USA
20km Walk: Vladimir Golubnichiy, USSR
50km Walk: Don Thompson, Great Britain
3000m Steeplechase: Zdzislaw Krzyszkowiak, Poland
Marathon: Abebe Bikila, Ethiopia
Discis Throw: Al Oerter, USA
Hammer Throw: Vasiliy Rudenkov, USSR
High Jump: Robert Shavlakadze, USSR
Javelin Throw: Viktor Tsybulenko, USSR
Long Jump: Ralph Boston, USA
Pole Vault: Don Bragg, USA
Shot Put: Bill Nieder,  USA
Triple Jump: Jozef Schmidt, Poland
Decathlon: Rafer Johnson, USA

ATHLETICS, Women
100m: Wilma Rudolph, USA
200m: Wilma Rudolph, USA
800m: Lyudmila Shevtsova, USSR
4x100m: United States
80m Hurdles: Irina Press, USSR
Discus Throw: Nina Romaschkova, USSR
High Jump: Iolanda Balas, Romania
Javelin Throw: Elvira Ozolina
Long Jump: Vera Krepkina, USSR
Shot Put: Tamara Press, USSR

BASKETBALL
Team, men: United States

BOXING
51kg: Gyula Torok, Hungary
54kg: Oleg Grigoryev, USSR
57kg: Francesco Musso, Italy
60kg: Kazmierz Pazdzior, Poland
63.5kg: Bohumil Nemecek, Czechoslovakia
67kg: Giovanni Benvenuti, Italy
71kg: Wilbert McClure, USA
75kg: Edward Crook, USA
81kg: Cassius Clay, USA (Mohamad Ali)
81+kg: Francesco de Piccoli, Italy

CANOE/KAYAK
M\C1 1000m: Janos Parti, Hungary
M\C2 1000m: Leonid Geishtor/Sergey Makarenko, USSR
M\K1 1000m: Erik Hansen, Denmark
M\K2 1000m: Gert Frederiksson/Sven-Olov Sjodelius, Sweden
M\K1 4x500m Relay: Germany
W\K1 500m: Antonina Seredina, USSR
W\K2 500m: Antonina Seredina/Maria Shubina, USSR

CYCLING, Men
Road Race: Viktor Kapitonov, USSR
Team 100km Time Trial: Italy
1km Time Trial: Sante Gaiardoni, Italy
2000m Sprint: Giuseppe Beghetto/Sergio Bianchetto, Italy
Sprint: Sante Gaiardoni, Italy
Team Pursuit: Italy

EQUESTRIAN, Open
Individual Dressage: Sergei Filatov, USSR
Individual Jumping: Raimondo D'Inzeo, Italy
Individual 3-Day Event: Lawrence Morgan, Australia
Team Jumping: Germany
Team 3-Day Event: Australia

FENCING
M\Individual Epee: Giuseppe Delfino, Italy
M\Individual Foil: Viktor Zhdanovich, USSR
M\Individual Sabre: Rudolf Karpati, Hungary
M\Team Epee: Italy
M\Team Foil: Soviet Union
M\Team Sabre: Hungary
W\Individual Foil: Heidi Schmid, Germany
W\Team Foil: Soviet Union

FOOTBALL
 Team, men: Yugoslavia

GYMNASTICS
M\Floor Exercise: Noboyuki Aihara, Japan
M\Horizontal Bar: Takashi Ono, Japan
M\Parallel Bars: Borys Shakhlin, USSR
M\Pommel Horse: Eugen Ekman, FIN & Borys Shakhlin, URS
M\Rings: Albert Azaryan, USSR
M\Vault: Takashi Ono, JPN & Borys Shakhlin, USSR
M\Individual All-Around: Borys Shakhlin, USSR
M\Team: Japan
W\Balance Beam: Eva Bosakova, Czechoslovakia
W\Floor Exercise: Larissa Latynina, USSR
W\Uneven Bars: Polina Astakhova, USSR
W\Vault: Margarita Nikolayeva, USSR
W\Individual All-Around: Larissa Latynina, USSR
W\Team: Soviet Union

HOCKEY
 Team, men: Pakistan

MODERN PENTATHLON
Individual: Nemeth Ferenc, Hungary
Team: Hungary

ROWING, Men
Single Sculls: Vyacheslav Ivanov, USSR
Double Sculls: Pavel Schmidt/Vaclav Kozak, Czechoslovakia
Coxless Pair: Oleg Golovanov/Valentin Boreyko, USSR
Coxed Pair: Germany
Coxless Four: United States
Coxed Four: Germany
Eight: Germany

SAILING
X\5.5m Class: United States
X\Dragon: Greece
X\Flying Dutchman: Norway
X\Star: Soviet Union
M\Finn: Paul Elvstrom, Denmark

SHOOTING, Men
25m Rapid Fire Pistol: William McMillan, USA
300m Free Rifle 3x40: Hubert Hammerer, Austria
50m Free Pistol: Aleksey Gushchin, USSR
50m Small-Bore Rifle 3x40: Viktor Shamburkin, USSR
50m Small-Bore Rifle prone: Peter Kohnke, Germany
Trap: Ion Dumitrescu, Romania

SWIMMING, Men
100m Freestyle: John Devitt, Australia
400m Freestyle: Murray Rose, Australia
1500m Freestyle: John Konrads, Australia
100m Backstroke: David Theile, Australia
200m Breaststroke: Bill Mulliken, USA
200m Butterfly: Michael Troy, USA
4x200m Freestyle Relay: United States
4x100m Medley Relay: United States
3m Springboard: Gary Tobian, USA
10m Platform: Robert Webster, USA
WATER POLO: Italy

SWIMMING, Women
100m Freestyle: Dawn Fraser, Australia
400m Freestyle: Susan Chris von Saltza, USA
100m Backstroke: Lynn Burke, USA
200m Breaststroke: Anita Lonsbrough, Great Britain
100m Butterfly: Carolyn Schuler, USA
4x100m Freestyle Relay: United States
4x100m Medley Relay: United States
3m Springboard: Ingrid Kramer, Germany
10m Platform: Ingrid Kramer, Germany

WEIGHTLIFTING
56kg: Charles Vinci, USA
60kg: Yevgeniy Minayev, USSR
67.5kg: Viktor Bushuyev, USSR
75kg: Alexander Kurynow, USSR
82.5kg: Ireneusz Palinski, Poland
90kg: Arkady Vorobiev, USSR
90+kg: Yury Vlassov, USSR

WRESTLING, FREESTYLE
52kg: Ahmet Bilek, Turkey
57kg: Terrence John McCann, USA
62kg: Mustafa Dagistanli, Turkey
67kg: Shelby Autrie Wilson, USA
73kg: Douglas Morton Blubaugh, USA
79kg: Hassan Gungor, Turkey
87kg: Ismet Atli, Turkey
87+kg: Wilfried Dietrich, Germany

WRESTLING, GRECO-ROMAN
52kg: Dumitru Pirvulescu, Romania
57kg: Oleg Karawajew, USSR
62kg: Muzahir Sille, Turkey
67kg: Avtandi Koridze, USSR
73kg: Mithat Bayrak, Turkey
79kg: Dimiter Dobrev, Bulgaria
87kg: Tevfik Kis, Turkey
87+kg: Ivan Bogdan, USSR

17 Sports, 150 events

U
R
S

U
S
A

I
T
A

G
E
R

A
U
S

T
U
R

H
U
N

J
P
N

P
O
L

T
C
H

R
O
M

  

Athletics (ETH, GBR, NZL x2)

11

12

1

2

1

      

2

  

1

34

Basketball

  

1

                  

1

Boxing

1

3

3

      

1

  

1

1

  

10

Canoe/Kayak (DEN, SWE)

3

    

1

    

1

        

7

Cycling

1

  

5

                

6

Equestrian

1

  

1

1

2

            

5

Fencing

3

  

2

1

    

2

        

8

Football (YUG)

                      

1

Gymnastics (FIN)

10

            

4

  

1

  

16*

Hockey (PAK)

                      

1

Modern Pentathlon

            

2

        

2

Rowing

2

1

  

3

          

1

  

7

Sailing (DEN, GRE, NOR)

1

1

                  

5

Shooting (AUT)

2

1

  

1

            

1

6

Swimming (Diving & Water Polo) (GBR)

 

11

1

2

5

            

20

Weightlifting

5

1

            

1

    

7

Wrestling (BUL)

3

3

  

1

  

7

        

1

16

TOTAL

43

34

13

12

8

7

6

4

4

3

3

152

* 2 gold medals awarded in Gymnastics (M) Pommel Horse & Vault

ROME 1960 MEDAL TALLY

Country

G

S

B

TTL

USSR

43

29

31

103

United States

34

21

16

71

Italy

13

10

13

36

Germany

12

19

11

42

Australia

8

8

6

22

Turkey

7

2

0

9

Hungary

6

8

7

21

Japan

4

7

7

18

Poland

4

6

11

21

Czechoslovakia

3

2

3

8

Romania

3

1

6

10

Great Britain

2

6

12

20

Denmark

2

3

1

6

New Zealand

2

0

1

3

Bulgaria

1

3

3

7

Sweden

1

2

3

6

Finland

1

1

3

5

Austria

1

1

0

2

Yugoslavia

1

1

0

2

Pakistan

1

0

1

2

Ethiopia

1

0

0

1

Greece

1

0

0

1

Norway

1

0

0

1

Switzerland

0

3

3

6

France

0

2

3

5

Belgium

0

2

2

4

Iran

0

1

3

4

Netherlands

0

1

2

3

South Africa

0

1

2

3

Argentina

0

1

1

2

United Arab Republic

0

1

1

2

CAN, GHA, IND, MAR, POR, SIN, TPE

0

1

0

7

Brazil

0

0

2

2

Jamaica

0

0

2

2

IRQ, MEX, ESP, VEN

0

0

1

4

Total

152

149

160

461

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