1960 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m hurdles (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter hurdles
gender	Men
Attendees	34 athletes from 23 countries
Competition location	Stadio Olimpico
Competition phase	August 31, 1960 (preliminary) September 1, 1960 (semi-finals) September 2, 1960 (final)
Medalist Glenn Davis ( USA )   Clifton Cushman ( USA )   Dick Howard ( USA )

The men's 400-meter hurdles at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome was held from August 31 to September 2, 1960 at the Stadio Olimpico . 34 athletes took part.

For the US team there was a triple success to celebrate. Defending champion Glenn Davis won ahead of Clifton Cushman and Dick Howard .

While athletes from Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part, three Germans and one Swiss competed. Wolfgang Fischer failed in his preliminary run, Willi Matthias reached the semi-finals, Helmut Janz and the Swiss Bruno Galliker were able to advance to the final. Here Janz finished fourth, 15 hundredths of a second behind the bronze. Galliker finished the final in sixth.

Existing records

World record	49.2 s	Glenn Davis ( USA )	Budapest , Hungary	August 6, 1958
Olympic record	50.1 s	Eddie Southern ( USA )	Melbourne semi-finals , Australia	November 23, 1956
		Glenn Davis ( USA )	Melbourne finals , Australia	November 24, 1956

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in six heats on August 31. In each preliminary run, the two best runners qualified for the semi-finals on September 1st. In addition, the following two fastest laps advanced one lap. The three fastest runners from the semifinals reached the final on September 2nd.

Note: The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the following fastest runners are highlighted in light green.

Time schedule

August 31, 3 p.m .: Preliminaries
September 1, 4.15 p.m .: Semi-finals
September 2, 4 p.m .: Final

Prelims

Date: August 31, 1960, from 3 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Bruno Galliker	Switzerland	51.0 s	51.20 s
2	Dick Howard	United States	51.2 s	51.32 s
3	Anubes da Silva	Brazil	52.1 s	52.25 s
4th	Max Boyes	Great Britain	52.1 s	52.32 s
5	Wiesław Król	Poland	52.4 s	52.52 s
6th	Mohamed Zouaki	Morocco	52.5 s	55.65 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Jan Gulbrandsen	Norway	52.2 s	52.39 s
2	Glenn Davis	United States	52.2 s	52.41 s
3	Arnold Mazulevich	Soviet Union	52.9 s	53.00 s
4th	George Shepherd	Canada	53.0 s	53.05 s
5	Marcel Lambrechts	Belgium	53.5 s	53.67 s

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Clifton Cushman	United States	51.8 s	51.98 s
2	Willi Matthias	Germany	52.1 s	52.23 s
3	Keiji Ogushi	Japan	52.4 s	52.58 s
4th	Chris Goudge	Great Britain	52.6 s	52.75 s
5	Muhammad Yaqub	Pakistan	52.8 s	52.91 s
6th	Mongi Soussi Zarrouki	Tunisia	54.3 s	54.34 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Georgi Chevichalov	Soviet Union	51.8 s	51.97 s
2	Salvatore Morale	Italy	52.0 s	52.13 s
3	Per-Owe Trollsås	Sweden	52.3 s	52.49 s
4th	Wolfgang Fischer	Germany	53.2 s	53.35 s
5	Dimitrios Skourtis	Greece	53.7 s	53.85 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Helmut Janz	Germany	51.1 s	51.30 s
2	Bartonjo Rotich	Kenya	51.2 s	51.39 s
3	Jussi Rintamäki	Finland	51.5 s	51.70 s
4th	Elio Catola	Italy	51.8 s	51.94 s
5	Fahir Özgüden	Turkey	55.3 s	55.43 s
6th	Nazzar Al-Jamali	Iraq	58.0 s	k. A.

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	John Metcalf	Great Britain	52.1 s	52.24 s
2	Moreno Martini	Italy	52.1 s	52.26 s
3	Boris Kriunow	Soviet Union	52.5 s	52.66 s
4th	Víctor Maldonado	Venezuela	52.6 s	52.79 s
5	Zdzisław Kumiszcze	Poland	53.3 s	53.47 s
6th	Li Po-Ting	Taiwan	54.1 s	54.23 s

Semifinals

Date: September 1, 1960, from 4.15 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Glenn Davis	United States	51.1 s	51.20 s
2	Jussi Rintamäki	Finland	51.1 s	51.20 s
3	Helmut Janz	Germany	51.4 s	51.55 s
4th	Georgi Chevichalov	Soviet Union	52.0 s	52.14 s
5	Elio Catola	Italy	52.3 s	52.44 s
6th	Jan Gulbrandsen	Norway	52.4 s	52.56 s
7th	Moreno Martini	Italy	52.4 s	52.57 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Clifton Cushman	United States	50.8 s	50.89 s
2	Dick Howard	United States	50.8 s	50.91 s
3	Bruno Galliker	Switzerland	51.3 s	51.47 s
4th	Salvatore Morale	Italy	51.3 s	51.48 s
5	Bartonjo Rotich	Kenya	51.8 s	51.97 s
6th	Willi Matthias	Germany	51.8 s	51.95 s
7th	John Metcalf	Great Britain	52.5 s	52.72 s

final

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Glenn Davis	United States	49.3 s	49.51 s	OR
2	Clifton Cushman	United States	49.6 s	49.77 s
3	Dick Howard	United States	49.7 s	49.90 s
4th	Helmut Janz	Germany	49.9 s	50.05 s
5	Jussi Rintamäki	Finland	50.8 s	50.98 s
6th	Bruno Galliker	Switzerland	51.0 s	51.11 s

Date: September 2, 1960, 4 p.m.

Glenn Davis, Olympic champion in 1956 , world record holder and US champion, was the top favorite. His greatest opponent at the time, the South African Gert Potgieter , was unable to compete in Rome due to an injury .

In the finale, the US American Richard Howard and the German Helmut Janz set a high pace right from the start and were up halfway through the race. Davis was only just back, however. In contrast, the third American Clifton Cushman was almost hopelessly behind. At the start of the home stretch, Howard was leading Janz. But now Davis easily passed them and was unstoppable. From behind, Cushman, apart from Davis, stormed past the entire field and won the silver medal ahead of Howard.

The times achieved were excellent. Glenn Davis set a new Olympic record of 49.3 seconds and only missed his own world record by a tenth of a second. Helmut Janz also undercut the 50-second mark with 49.9 seconds, setting a new European record. The four winners were faster than the previous Olympic record.

Glenn Davis won the tenth US gold medal in the twelfth Olympic final, the fifth in a row.

It was the fourth triple success of US runners over the 400 meter hurdles , the second in a row.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 197–199

Videos

• 1960 Glenn Davis oro at 400 m. ostacoli Olimpiadi di Roma , published October 18, 2015 on youtube.com, accessed October 12, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 400m hurdles , accessed October 12, 2017
• Official report pp. 111–113, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 12, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 554 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 63 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 12, 2017
3. ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 111 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 12, 2017
4. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 113 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 12, 2017
5. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)