1960 Summer Olympics / Athletics - High Jump (Women)

sport	athletics
discipline	high jump
gender	Women
Attendees	23 athletes from 15 countries
Competition location	Stadio Olimpico
Competition phase	September 7, 1960 (qualification) September 8, 1960 (final)
Medalists Iolanda Balaș ( ROM )   Dorothy Shirley ( GBR )   Jarosława Jóźwiakowska ( POL )

The women's high jump at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome was held on September 7th and 8th, 1960 at the Stadio Olimpico . 23 athletes took part.

The Romanian Iolanda Balaş was Olympic champion . The British Dorothy Shirley and the Polish Jarosława Jóźwiakowska both won the silver medal, a bronze medal was not awarded.

While athletes from Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein did not take part, three Germans started. Karin Lenzke failed because of the level of qualification and was eliminated. Ingrid Becker and Marlene Schmitz-Portz qualified for the final. Both finished the competition on a shared ninth place.

Existing records

World record	1.86 m	Iolanda Balaș ( Romania )	Bucharest , Romania	July 10, 1960
Olympic record	1.76 m	Mildred McDaniel ( USA )	Melbourne finals , Australia	1st December 1956

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in a qualifying round on September 7th. The required qualification height was 1.65 m. For all qualified jumpers, the final took place on September 8th.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

September 7, 9:00 a.m .: Qualification

September 8, 3 p.m .: Final

qualification

Nel Zwier from the Netherlands reached the final and finished ninth there

Date: September 7, 1960, 9:00 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	1.50 m	1.55 m	1.60 m	1.65	height	annotation
1	Iolanda Balaș	Romania	-	-	O	O	1.65
2	Valentina Ballod	Soviet Union	-	O	O	O	1.65
	Marlene Schmitz-Portz	Germany
4th	Jarosława Jóźwiakowska	Poland	O	O	O	O	1.65
	Ingrid Becker	Germany
	Dorothy Shirley	Great Britain
7th	Olga Gere	Yugoslavia	O	O	O	x o	1.65
	Inga-Britt Lorentzon	Sweden
	Neomia Rogers	United States
10	Florence Pétry	France	O	xo	O	x o	1.65
	Taissija Tschentschik	Soviet Union	O	O	xo	x o	1.65
12	Frances Slaap	Great Britain	O	xxo	O	x o	1.65
13	Helen Frith	Australia	O	-	O	xx o	1.65
14th	Galina Dolja	Soviet Union	O	O	O	xx o	1.65
	Nel Zwier	Netherlands
16	Diny Hobers	Netherlands	O	O	O	xxx	1.60
	Karin Lenzke	Germany
18th	Mette Oxvang	Denmark	O	O	x o	xxx	1.60
19th	Marinella Bortoluzzi	Italy	O	O	xxx		1.55
20th	Brenda Archer	British Guiana	O	x o	xxx		1.55
21st	Barbara Brown	United States	O	xxx			1.50
	Jean Gaertner	United States
23	Canel Konvur	Turkey	xx o	xxx			1.50

final

Olympic champion Iolanda Balaș (ROM)

Date: September 8, 1960, 3 p.m.

The Romanian Iolanda Balaş was the top favorite of the competition. She had not been defeated in any competition after the Melbourne Games in 1956 . In 1958 she became European champion. Between October 1957 and July 1960 she had improved the world record a total of nine times.

In Rome , too , she was the dominant high jumper who, like her competitors , jumped in the so-called shear jump technique . Already from 1.75 m she was alone in the competition after her last two remaining opponents failed at 1.73 m. Both the Polish Jarosława Jóźwiakowska and the British Dorothy Shirley received the silver medal. Both jumped 1.71 m and had exactly the same number and order of tests.

The victorious Romanian raised the bar further. She mastered heights of 1.75 m and 1.77 m in the first attempt, 1.81 m in the second and 1.85 m in the third. After two failed attempts over 1.87 m, she ended the competition.

Iolanda Balaș was the first woman to win a gold medal for Romania. It was also the first Romanian Olympic victory in athletics.

Jarosława Jóźwiakowska won the first Polish medal in the women's high jump.

space	Surname	nation	1.55 m	1.60 m	1.65 m	1.68 m	1.71 m	1.73 m	1.75 m	1.77 m	1.81 m	1.85 m	1.87 m	Bottom line	annotation
1	Iolanda Balaș	Romania	-	O	-	O	O	O	O	O	xo	xx o	xx-	1.85	OR
2	Jarosława Jóźwiakowska	Poland	-	O	O	O	O	xxx						1.71
	Dorothy Shirley	Great Britain
4th	Galina Dolja	Soviet Union	O	O	xo	O	xx o	xxx						1.71
5	Taissija Tschentschik	Soviet Union	O	O	O	O	xxx							1.68
6th	Helen Frith	Australia	O	O	O	xxx								1.65
	Inga-Britt Lorentzon	Sweden
	Frances Slaap	Great Britain
9	Ingrid Becker	Germany	O	O	x o	xxx								1.65
	Olga Gere	Yugoslavia
	Florence Pétry	France
	Marlene Schmitz-Portz	Germany
	Nel Zwier	Netherlands
14th	Neomia Rogers	United States	xo	xxo	x o	xxx								1.65
15th	Valentina Ballod	Soviet Union	O	xo	xx o	xxx								1.65

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 226f

Videos

• Iolanda Balaș Sőtér at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome , published on December 12, 2015 on youtube.com, accessed on October 22, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference high jump , accessed October 22, 2017
• Official report pp. 197-200, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 22, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 644 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 64 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 22, 2017
3. ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 199 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 22, 2017
4. ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 200 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 22, 2017
5. ↑ SportsReference , accessed October 22, 2017