Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics

Athletics
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
Athletics; at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
	Host stadium (shown in 2024)
Venue	Stadio Olimpico
Dates	August 31–September 8
Competitors	1,016 from 73 nations

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, 34 events in athletics were contested, 24 by men and 10 by women. There were a total number of 1016 participating athletes from 73 countries.

Medal summary

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Armin Hary United Team of Germany	10.2 (=OR)	Dave Sime United States	10.2 (=OR)	Peter Radford Great Britain	10.3
200 metres	Livio Berruti Italy	20.5 (=WR)	Lester Carney United States	20.6	Abdoulaye Seye France	20.7
400 metres	Otis Davis United States	44.9 (WR)	Carl Kaufmann United Team of Germany	44.9 (WR)	Malcolm Spence South Africa	45.5
800 metres	Peter Snell New Zealand	1:46.3 (OR)	Roger Moens Belgium	1:46.5	George Kerr British West Indies	1:47.1
1500 metres	Herb Elliott Australia	3:35.6 (WR)	Michel Jazy France	3:38.4	István Rózsavölgyi Hungary	3:39.2
5000 metres	Murray Halberg New Zealand	13:43.4	Hans Grodotzki United Team of Germany	13:44.6	Kazimierz Zimny Poland	13:44.8
10,000 metres	Pyotr Bolotnikov Soviet Union	28:32.2 (OR)	Hans Grodotzki United Team of Germany	28:37.0	Dave Power Australia	28:38.2
110 metres hurdles	Lee Calhoun United States	13.8	Willie May United States	13.8	Hayes Jones United States	14.0
400 metres hurdles	Glenn Davis United States	49.3 (OR)	Clifton Cushman United States	49.6	Dick Howard United States	49.7
3000 metres steeplechase	Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Poland	8:34.2 (OR)	Nikolay Sokolov Soviet Union	8:36.4	Semyon Rzhishchin Soviet Union	8:42.2
4 × 100 metres relay	United Team of Germany (EUA) Bernd Cullmann Armin Hary Walter Mahlendorf Martin Lauer	39.5 (=WR)	Soviet Union (URS) Gusman Kosanov Leonid Bartenyev Yuriy Konovalov Edvin Ozolin	40.1	Great Britain (GBR) Peter Radford David Jones David Segal Nick Whitehead	40.2
4 × 400 metres relay	United States (USA) Jack Yerman Earl Young Glenn Davis Otis Davis	3:02.2 (WR)	United Team of Germany (EUA) Hans-Joachim Reske Manfred Kinder Johannes Kaiser Carl Kaufmann	3:02.7	British West Indies (BWI) Malcolm Spence Jim Wedderburn Keith Gardner George Kerr	3:04.0
Marathon	Abebe Bikila Ethiopia	2:15:16.2 (WB)	Rhadi Ben Abdesselam Morocco	2:15:41.6	Barry Magee New Zealand	2:17:18.2
20 kilometres walk	Volodymyr Holubnychy Soviet Union	1:34:07.2	Noel Freeman Australia	1:34:16.4	Stan Vickers Great Britain	1:34.56.4
50 kilometres walk	Don Thompson Great Britain	4:25:30.0 (OR)	John Ljunggren Sweden	4:25:47.0	Abdon Pamich Italy	4:27:55.4
High jump	Robert Shavlakadze Soviet Union	2.16 m (OR)	Valeriy Brumel Soviet Union	2.16 m (OR)	John Thomas United States	2.14 m
Pole vault	Don Bragg United States	4.70 m (OR)	Ron Morris United States	4.60 m	Eeles Landström Finland	4.55 m
Long jump	Ralph Boston United States	8.12 m (OR)	Bo Roberson United States	8.11 m	Igor Ter-Ovanesyan Soviet Union	8.04 m
Triple jump	Józef Szmidt Poland	16.81 m (OR)	Vladimir Goryaev Soviet Union	16.63 m	Vitold Kreyer Soviet Union	16.43 m
Shot put	Bill Nieder United States	19.68 m (OR)	Parry O'Brien United States	19.11 m	Dallas Long United States	19.01 m
Discus throw	Al Oerter United States	59.18 m (OR)	Rink Babka United States	58.02 m	Dick Cochran United States	57.16 m
Hammer throw	Vasily Rudenkov Soviet Union	67.10 m (OR)	Gyula Zsivótzky Hungary	65.79 m	Tadeusz Rut Poland	65.64 m
Javelin throw	Viktor Tsybulenko Soviet Union	84.64 m	Walter Krüger United Team of Germany	79.36 m	Gergely Kulcsár Hungary	78.57 m
Decathlon	Rafer Johnson United States	8392 (OR)	Yang Chuan-kwang Formosa	8334	Vasili Kuznetsov Soviet Union	7809

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Wilma Rudolph United States	11.0	Dorothy Hyman Great Britain	11.3	Giuseppina Leone Italy	11.3
200 metres	Wilma Rudolph United States	24.0	Jutta Heine United Team of Germany	24.4	Dorothy Hyman Great Britain	24.7
800 metres	Lyudmila Shevtsova Soviet Union	2:04.3 (=WR)	Brenda Jones Australia	2:04.4	Ursula Donath United Team of Germany	2:05.6
80 metres hurdles	Irina Press Soviet Union	10.8	Carole Quinton Great Britain	10.9	Gisela Birkemeyer United Team of Germany	11.0
4 × 100 metres relay	United States (USA) Martha Hudson Lucinda Williams Barbara Jones Wilma Rudolph	44.5	United Team of Germany (EUA) Martha Langbein Anni Biechl Brunhilde Hendrix Jutta Heine	44.8	Poland (POL) Teresa Wieczorek Barbara Janiszewska Celina Jesionowska Halina Richter	45.0
High jump	Iolanda Balaș Romania	1.85 m (OR)	Jarosława Jóźwiakowska Poland	1.71 m	none awarded as there was a tie for silver
High jump	Iolanda Balaș Romania	1.85 m (OR)	Dorothy Shirley Great Britain	1.71 m	none awarded as there was a tie for silver
Long jump	Vera Krepkina Soviet Union	6.37 m (OR)	Elżbieta Krzesińska Poland	6.27 m	Hildrun Claus United Team of Germany	6.21 m
Shot put	Tamara Press Soviet Union	17.32 m (OR)	Johanna Lüttge United Team of Germany	16.61 m	Earlene Brown United States	16.42 m
Discus throw	Nina Ponomaryova Soviet Union	55.10 m (OR)	Tamara Press Soviet Union	52.59 m	Lia Manoliu Romania	52.36 m
Javelin throw	Elvīra Ozoliņa Soviet Union	55.98 m (OR)	Dana Zátopková Czechoslovakia	53.78 m	Birutė Kalėdienė Soviet Union	53.45 m

Medal table


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	12	8	6	26
2	Soviet Union (URS)	11	5	5	21
3	United Team of Germany (EUA)	2	8	3	13
4	Poland (POL)	2	2	3	7
5	New Zealand (NZL)	2	0	1	3
6	Great Britain (GBR)	1	3	4	8
7	Australia (AUS)	1	2	1	4
8	Italy (ITA)	1	0	2	3
9	Romania (ROU)	1	0	1	2
10	Ethiopia (ETH)	1	0	0	1
11	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	2	3
12	France (FRA)	0	1	1	2
13	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	0	1
	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	0	1	0	1
	Formosa (ROC)	0	1	0	1
	Morocco (MAR)	0	1	0	1
	Sweden (SWE)	0	1	0	1
18	British West Indies (BWI)	0	0	2	2
19	Finland (FIN)	0	0	1	1
19	South Africa (RSA)	0	0	1	1
Totals (20 entries)		34	35	33	102

Participating nations

Afghanistan (6)
Argentina (4)
Australia (28)
Austria (10)
Bahamas (3)
Belgium (12)
Brazil (5)
British West Indies (8)
Bulgaria (9)
Burma (1)
Canada (16)
Ceylon (1)
Chile (4)
Cuba (3)
Czechoslovakia (28)
Denmark (9)
Egypt (2)
Ethiopia (6)
Fiji (2)
Finland (26)
Formosa (6)
France (36)
United Team of Germany (91)
Ghana (7)
Great Britain (62)
Greece (19)
Guyana (4)
Hungary (27)
Iceland (7)
India (12)
Indonesia (1)
Iran (1)
Iraq (11)
Ireland (9)
Israel (8)
Italy (47)
Japan (20)
Kenya (5)
South Korea (6)
Lebanon (1)
Liberia (4)
Liechtenstein (2)
Luxembourg (6)
Malaya (3)
Mexico (5)
Morocco (8)
Netherlands (11)
New Zealand (14)
Nigeria (8)
Norway (11)
Pakistan (12)
Panama (4)
Philippines (7)
Poland (52)
Portugal (5)
Puerto Rico (8)
Rhodesia (3)
Romania (9)
Somalia (1)
South Africa (7)
Soviet Union (83)
Spain (13)
Sudan (2)
Suriname (1)
Sweden (28)
Switzerland (22)
Thailand (8)
Tunisia (11)
Turkey (14)
Uganda (4)
United States (81)
Uruguay (1)
Venezuela (8)
Yugoslavia (22)

Records broken

During the 1960 Summer Olympic Games, 28 new Olympic records and 4 new world records were set in the athletics events.

Men's Olympic and world records

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
100 metres	August 31	Final	Armin Hary	United Team of Germany	10.2 s	OR
200 metres	September 3	Semi-Final	Livio Berruti	Italy	20.5 s	OR
400 metres	September 6	Final	Otis Davis	United States	44.9 s	OR	WR
800 metres	September 2	Final	Peter Snell	New Zealand	1:46.3	OR
1500 metres	September 6	Final	Herb Elliott	Australia	3:35.6	OR	WR
10,000 metres	September 8	Final	Pyotr Bolotnikov	Soviet Union	28:32.2	OR
4 × 400 metres relay	September 8	Final	Jack Yerman Earl Young Glenn Davis Otis Davis	United States	3:02.2	OR	WR
400 metres hurdles	September 2	Final	Glenn Davis	United States	49.3 s	OR
3000 metres steeplechase	September 3	Final	Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak	Poland	8:34.2	OR
Marathon	September 10	Final	Abebe Bikila	Ethiopia	2:15:16.2	OR
50 km walk	September 7	Final	Don Thompson	Great Britain	4:25:30.0	OR
High jump	September 3	Final	Robert Shavlakadze Valeriy Brumel	Soviet Union	2.16 m	OR
Long jump	September 2	Final	Ralph Boston	United States	8.12 m	OR
Triple jump	September 6	Final	Józef Szmidt	Poland	16.81 m	OR
Pole vault	September 7	Final	Don Bragg	United States	4.70 m	OR
Shot put	August 31	Final	Bill Nieder	United States	19.68 m	OR
Hammer throw	September 3	Final	Vasily Rudenkov	Soviet Union	67.10 m	OR
Decathlon	September 6	Final	Rafer Johnson	United States	8,392 points	OR

Women's Olympic and world records

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
100 metres	September 2	Semi-Final	Wilma Rudolph	United States	11.3 s	OR
200 metres	September 3	First Round	Wilma Rudolph	United States	23.2 s	OR
800 metres	September 7	Final	Lyudmila Shevtsova	Soviet Union	2:04.03	OR
80 metres hurdles	August 31	Semi-Final	Irina Press	Soviet Union	10.6 s	OR
4 × 100 metres relay	September 7	First Round	Martha Hudson Lucinda Williams Barbara Jones Wilma Rudolph	United States	44.4 s	OR	WR
High jump	September 8	Final	Iolanda Balaş	Romania	1.85 m	OR
Long jump	August 31	Final	Vera Krepkina	Soviet Union	6.37 m	OR
Discus throw	September 5	Final	Nina Romashkova	Soviet Union	55.10 m	OR
Shot put	September 2	Final	Tamara Press	Soviet Union	17.32 m	OR
Javelin throw	September 1	Final	Elvīra Ozoliņa	Soviet Union	55.98 m	OR