1960 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m (men)
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sport | athletics | ||||||||
discipline | 400 meter run | ||||||||
gender | Men | ||||||||
Attendees | 59 athletes from 44 countries | ||||||||
Competition location | Stadio Olimpico | ||||||||
Competition phase | September 3, 1960 (preliminary / quarter-finals) September 5, 1960 (semi-finals) September 6, 1960 (final) |
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The men's 400-meter race at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome was held from September 3 to 6, 1960 at the Stadio Olimpico . 59 athletes took part.
The American Otis Davis became Olympic champion in a new world record time . He won ahead of the German Carl Kaufmann and the South African Malcolm Spence .
With Manfred Kinder another German runners reached the final. With a gap of 97/100 s on the winner, Kinder finished fifth. Hans-Joachim Reske reached the quarter-finals and was eliminated there in fourth of his run. For Switzerland, René Weber started, who was eliminated in the run-up. Austrian runners did not take part.
Existing records
World record | 45.2 s |
Lou Jones ( United States )
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Los Angeles , USA | June 30, 1956 |
Olympic record | 45.9 s |
George Rhoden ( Jamaica )
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Helsinki Final , Finland | July 25, 1952 |
Herb McKenley ( Jamaica )
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Conducting the competition
The athletes competed in nine heats on September 3. In each preliminary run, the three best runners qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day. The three best runners from the quarter-finals also made it to the next round, the semi-finals. The preliminary rounds were held on September 5th and from here the three best runners reached the next round, the final on September 6th.
Note: The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.
Time schedule
September 3, 9.50 a.m .: Preliminaries
September 3, 4.10 p.m .: quarter-finals
September 5, 4.15 p.m .: semi-finals
September 6, 3.45 p.m .: final
Prelims
Date: September 3, 1960, from 9.50 a.m.
Forward 1
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Manfred children |
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46.7 s | 46.87 s | |
2 | Edgar Davis |
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47.2 s | 47.31 s | |
3 | Malcolm Yardley |
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47.3 s | 47.38 s | |
4th | Josef Trousil |
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47.4 s | 47.53 s | |
5 | John Asare-Antwi |
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47.7 s | 47.81 s | |
6th | Kimitada Hayase |
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49.1 s | 49.13 s | |
7th | Habib Sayed |
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53.8 s | 53.91 s |
Forward 2
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alf Petersson |
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48.3 s | 48.44 s | |
2 | Robbie Brightwell |
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48.4 s | 48.58 s | |
3 | Konstantin Grachev |
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49.3 s | 49.44 s | |
4th | Felix Heuertz |
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50.2 s | 50.34 s |
Forward 3
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Carl Kaufmann |
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47.3 s | 47.42 s | |
2 | Barry Robinson |
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47.6 s | 47.70 s | |
3 | Lodewijk De Clerck |
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47.9 s | 48.00 s | |
4th | Anubes da Silva |
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48.0 s | 48.10 s | |
5 | Csaba Csutorás |
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48.2 s | 48.31 s | |
6th | Hugh Bullard |
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51.1 s | 51.20 s |
Forward 4
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Malcolm Spence |
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46.7 s | 46.79 s | |
2 | Kevan Gosper |
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47.1 s | 47.20 s | |
3 | Terry Tobacco |
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47.4 s | 48.52 s | |
4th | Gadi Ado |
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49.0 s | 49.12 s | |
5 | Marcel Lambrechts |
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49.5 s | 49.66 s | |
6th | Jorge Teran |
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49.6 s | 49.75 s | |
7th | Brahim Karabi |
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52.0 s | 52.12 s |
Forward 5
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | German Guenard |
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47.3 s | 47.39 s | |
2 | Jerzy Kowalski |
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48.3 s | 48.49 s | |
3 | Giuseppe Bommarito |
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48.6 s | 48.79 s | |
4th | Li Po-Ting |
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49.5 s | 49.69 s | |
5 | Clayton Glasgow |
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50.7 s | 50.84 s | |
6th | George Johnson |
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51.4 s | 51.54 s |
Forward 6
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jack Yerman |
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47.2 s | 47.37 s | |
2 | Milkha Singh |
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47.6 s | 47.72 s | |
3 | Stanislaw Swatowski |
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48.1 s | 48.23 s | |
4th | Manikavasagam Jegathesan |
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48.4 s | 48.56 s | |
5 | Iván Rodríguez |
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49.6 s | 49.74 s | |
6th | Claro Pellosis |
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51.4 s | 51.51 s |
Forward 7
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Malcolm Spence |
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47.6 s | 47.77 s | |
2 | Earl Young |
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47.6 s | 47.79 s | |
3 | Bartonjo Rotich |
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47.7 s | 47.89 s | |
4th | Zdeněk Váňa |
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48.3 s | 48.48 s | |
5 | Vasilios Sillis |
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48.4 s | 48.56 s | |
6th | Manut Bumrungphuk |
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49.6 s | 49.85 s |
Forward 8
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Abdul Karim Amu |
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46.8 s | 46.93 s | |
2 | Gordon Day |
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47.1 s | 47.22 s | |
3 | Hans-Joachim Reske |
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47.2 s | 47.38 s | |
4th | Voitto Hellsten |
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48.4 s | 48.52 s | |
5 | Jassim Karim Kuraishi |
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49.2 s | 49.35 s | |
6th | Fahir Özgüden |
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50.7 s | 50.87 s |
Forward 9
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Otis Davis |
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46.8 s | 46.91 s | |
2 | James Wedderburn |
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47.4 s | 47.56 s | |
3 | John Wrighton |
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47.4 s | 47.60 s | |
4th | René Weber |
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47.6 s | 47.73 s | |
5 | Moussa Said |
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48.2 s | 48.30 s | |
6th | Amos Grodzinowsky |
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48.9 s | 49.03 s |
Quarter finals
Date: September 3, 1960, from 4.10 p.m.
Run 1
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Carl Kaufmann |
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46.5 s | 46.67 s | |
2 | Milkha Singh |
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46.5 s | 46.71 s | |
3 | Malcolm Spence |
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46.9 s | 47.00 s | |
4th | Terry Tobacco |
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47.5 s | 47.61 s | |
5 | Edgar Davis |
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48.0 s | 48.18 s | |
6th | Malcolm Yardley |
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48.8 s | 48.93 s |
Run 2
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jack Yerman |
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46.4 s | 46.54 s | |
2 | Kevan Gosper |
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46.5 s | 46.64 s | |
3 | Manfred children |
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46.7 s | 46.82 s | |
4th | James Wedderburn |
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47.0 s | 47.22 s | |
5 | German Guenard |
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47.2 s | 47.39 s | |
6th | John Wrighton |
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48.0 s | 48.09 s |
Run 3
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Earl Young |
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46.1 s | 46.25 s | |
2 | Robbie Brightwell |
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46.2 s | 46.31 s | |
3 | Gordon Day |
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46.3 s | 46.47 s | |
4th | Hans-Joachim Reske |
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47.3 s | 47.43 s | |
5 | Stanislaw Swatowski |
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47.4 s | 47.56 s | |
6th | Konstantin Grachev |
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47.6 s | 47.78 s | |
7th | Bartonjo Rotich |
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47.8 s | 47.97 s |
Run 4
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Otis Davis |
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45.9 s | 46.02 s | |
2 | Malcolm Spence |
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46.1 s | 46.21 s | |
3 | Abdul Karim Amu |
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46.6 s | 46.76 s | |
4th | Jerzy Kowalski |
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46.7 s | 46.82 s | |
5 | Giuseppe Bommarito |
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47.5 s | 47.71 s | |
6th | Barry Robinson |
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48.3 s | 48.44 s | |
7th | Lodewijk De Clerck |
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48.4 s | 48.51 s |
Semifinals
Date: September 5, 1960, from 4.15 p.m.
Run 1
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Otis Davis |
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45.5 s | 45.62 s | OR |
2 | Milkha Singh |
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45.9 s | 46.08 s | |
3 | Manfred children |
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46.0 s | 46.13 s | |
4th | Robbie Brightwell |
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46.1 s | 46.25 s | |
5 | Gordon Day |
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46.7 s | 46.84 s | |
6th | Kevan Gosper |
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47.1 s | 47.28 s |
Run 2
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Carl Kaufmann |
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45.7 s | 45.88 s | |
2 | Malcolm Spence |
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45.8 s | 46.01 s | |
3 | Earl Young |
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46.1 s | 46.29 s | |
4th | Abdul Karim Amu |
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46.6 s | 46.74 s | |
5 | Malcolm Spence |
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46.8 s | 46.99 s | |
6th | Jack Yerman |
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48.9 s | 48.96 s |
final
space | Surname | nation | Official time hand-stopped |
Unofficial time electronically |
annotation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Otis Davis |
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44.9 s | 45.07 s | WR |
2 | Carl Kaufmann |
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44.9 s | 45.08 s | WR |
3 | Malcolm Spence |
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45.5 s | 45.60 s | |
4th | Milkha Singh |
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45.6 s | 45.73 s | |
5 | Manfred children |
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45.9 s | 46.04 s | |
6th | Earl Young |
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45.9 s | 46.07 s |
Date: September 6, 1960, 3:45 p.m.
There was no clear favorite over 400 meters . But the respective winners in the two preliminary rounds, Carl Kaufmann and Otis Davis, had looked very good there, so that both could be expected in the final. Davis had improved the Olympic record to 45.5 s.
Two US runners (Davis, Earl Young), two Germans (Kaufmann, Manfred Kinder), a South African (Malcolm Spence) and an Indian (Milkha Singh) contested the final. Spence started the race quickly and took the lead. In the second corner he was overtaken by Davis, who pulled away. But when it was on the home straight, Kaufmann caught up meter by meter. The German tried to secure victory with a jump, but Davis had crossed the finish line with his upper body a hundredth of a second ahead of him. A time of 44.9 s was set for both, and the 45-second limit was undercut for the first time. The order could not be seen with the naked eye, only the evaluation of the target photo and the electronic timekeeping revealed the narrow victory of the US athlete. Mal Spence defended his third place to the finish.
Even the sixth placed Young ran under 46 seconds, so this was the fastest 400-meter race ever. One reason for this was certainly that there was a new schedule: the semifinals and finals were no longer held on the same day as before.
Spence ran for the first South African medal over 400 meters.
literature
- Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 182–185
Videos
- Otis Davis & Carl Kaufmann Set Equal Olympic 400m Record - Rome 1960 Olympics , published June 22, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed October 11, 2017
Web links
- SportsReference 400m , accessed October 11, 2017
- Official report pp. 75–79, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 11, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 548 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Official report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 63 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 11, 2017
- ^ Official report of the 1960 Olympic Games , pp. 75–77 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 11, 2017
- ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 77f (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 11, 2017
- ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 78 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 11, 2017
- ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 79 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 11, 2017
- ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)