1960 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Discus Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Discus throw
gender	Men
Attendees	35 athletes from 22 countries
Competition location	Stadio Olimpico
Competition phase	September 6, 1960 (qualification) September 7, 1960 (final)
Medalist Al Oerter ( USA )   Rink Babka ( USA )   Dick Cochran ( USA )

Olympic Champion Al Oerter (USA)

Failed in qualification: Fritz Kühl (GER)

Adolfo Consolini (ITA) was 17th in the final.

The men's discus throw at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome was played on September 6th and 7th, 1960 in the Stadio Olimpico . 35 athletes took part.

The US team celebrated a triple success. Al Oerter won ahead of Rink Babka . Bronze went to Dick Cochran .

While athletes from Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein did not take part, three Germans started. Of them could Fritz cooling do not qualify for the final. Lothar Milde and Manfred Grieser reached the final battle. Milde came in twelfth there, Grieser in 16th.

Existing records

World record	59.91 m	Edmund Piątkowski ( Poland )	Warsaw , Poland	June 14, 1959
		Rink Babka ( USA )	Walnut , USA	June 14, 1959
Olympic record	56.36 m	Al Oerter ( USA )	Melbourne finals , Australia	November 27, 1956

Conducting the competition

The athletes entered a qualifying round on September 6th, which was held in two groups. The required qualification width was 52.00 m. For all qualified participants the final took place on September 7th. Each participant was initially entitled to three attempts. The best six athletes could then complete three more attempts.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

September 6, 9:00 a.m .: Qualification

September 7, 3 p.m .: Final

qualification

The best widths are printed in bold. With the same distance, the second best result decided on the placement.

Date: September 6, 1960, from 9:00 a.m.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	result	annotation
1	Rink Babka	United States	54.48 m	-	-	54.48 m
2	Dick Cochran	United States	53.79 m	-	-	53.79 m
3	Ferenc Klics	Hungary	53.34 m	-	-	53.34 m
4th	Stein Haugen	Norway	52.75 m	-	-	52.75 m
5	Viktor Kompaniyets	Soviet Union	50.67 m	52.66 m	-	52.66 m
6th	Antonios Kounadis	Greece	52.49 m	-	-	52.49 m
7th	Warwick Selvey	Australia	52.07 m	-	-	52.07 m
8th	Stephen du Plessis	South African Union	x	49.84 m	51.86 m	51.86 m
9	Carol Lindroos	Finland	x	51.07 m	x	51.07 m
10	Pierre Alard	France	51.02 m	48.89 m	50.32 m	51.02 m
11	Erik Uddebom	Sweden	50.04 m	50.87 m	50.83 m	50.87 m
12	Les Mills	New Zealand	49.69 m	50.76 m	44.75 m	50.76 m
13	Fritz Kühl	Germany	x	50.40 m	x	50.40 m
14th	Haider Khan	Pakistan	45.75 m	46.57 m	41.57 m	46.57 m
15th	Nayef Mohamed Hameed	Iraq	38.13 m	38.50 m	39.37 m	39.37 m
ogV	Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo	Spain	x	x	x		without space

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	result	annotation
1	Al Oerter	United States	46.33 m	58.43 m OR	-	58.43 m	OR
2	József Szécsényi	Hungary	55.52 m	-	-	55.52 m
3	Pentti Repo	Finland	54.84 m	-	-	54.84 m
4th	Edmund Piątkowski	Poland	54.41 m	-	-	54.41 m
5	Vladimir Trussenev	Soviet Union	54.31 m	-	-	54.31 m
6th	Cees cook	Netherlands	53.48 m	-	-	53.48 m
7th	Zdeněk Čihák	Czechoslovakia	49.79 m	51.83 m	53.42 m	53.42 m
8th	Todor Artarski	Bulgaria	x	53.33 m	-	53.33 m
9	Kim Buchanzov	Soviet Union	53.08 m	-	-	53.08 m
10	Lothar Milde	Germany	53.04 m	-	-	53.04 m
11	Zenon's desire	Poland	53.03 m	-	-	53.03 m
12	Carmelo Rado	Italy	52.98 m	-	-	52.98 m
13	Zdeněk Němec	Czechoslovakia	52.68 m	-	-	52.68 m
14th	Adolfo Consolini	Italy	52.38 m	-	-	52.38 m
15th	Manfred Grieser	Germany	50.22 m	52.20 m	-	52.20 m
16	Östen Edlund	Sweden	51.76 m	49.15 m	49.70 m	51.76 m
17th	Franco Grossi	Italy	48.76 m	48.64 m	50.43 m	50.43 m
18th	Mike Lindsay	Great Britain	49.07 m	x	50.15 m	50.15 m
19th	Mesulame Rakuro	Fiji	44.73 m	47.06 m	47.18 m	47.18 m

final

Date: September 7, 1960 at 3 p.m.

22 participants had made the qualification distance. The favorites were the US thrower Rink Babka, who set the world record for Edmund Piątkowski from Poland in August , and Al Oerter, the 1956 Olympic champion . Piątkowski was no longer quite the shape of the previous year when he succeeded in setting the world record.

In qualifying, Oerter was the strongest thrower when he threw almost four meters further than his competitor Babka and improved his own Olympic record in the process . But Babka was not shocked. In the final, he took the lead with the first attempt and stayed just 41 centimeters below Oerter's Olympic record. This was in second place until round five. Then Oerter managed to further improve his Olympic record. That brought him his second gold medal after 1956. Also in the fifth attempt, the third American Dick Cochran was able to improve to third place. The second world record holder Piątkowski finished fifth behind the Hungarian József Szécsényi.

In the 14th Olympic final, Oerter achieved the tenth US victory. It was the third US success in a row. At the same time, it was the third US triple success, the second in a row.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Al Oerter	United States	57.64 m	56.73 m	56.53 m	56.73 m	59.18 m OR	57.19 m	59.18 m	OR
2	Rink Babka	United States	58.02 m	55.33 m	56.14 m	54.93 m	57.52 m	57.41 m	58.02 m
3	Dick Cochran	United States	x	54.75 m	48.71 m	54.51 m	57.16 m	54.49 m	57.16 m
4th	József Szécsényi	Hungary	54.58 m	x	54.86 m	55.22 m	55.79 m	55.61 m	55.79 m
5	Edmund Piątkowski	Poland	54.06 m	51.52 m	54.29 m	x	55.12 m	x	55.12 m
6th	Viktor Kompaniyets	Soviet Union	55.06 m	53.38 m	x	53.52 m	x	51.08 m	55.06 m
7th	Carmelo Rado	Italy	51.10 m	52.65 m	54.00 m	not in the final of the six best throwers			54.00 m
8th	Kim Buchanzov	Soviet Union	48.32 m	52.59 m	53.61 m				53.61 m
9	Pentti Repo	Finland	53.44 m	52.81 m	51.08 m				53.44 m
10	Ferenc Klics	Hungary	50.10 m	51.61 m	53.37 m				53.37 m
11	Stein Haugen	Norway	x	x	53.36 m				53.36 m
12	Lothar Milde	Germany	52.22 m	51.26 m	53.33 m				53.33 m
13	Zdeněk Čihák	Czechoslovakia	52.75 m	53.29 m	51.51 m				53.29 m
14th	Zenon's desire	Poland	51.67 m	50.93 m	53.18 m				53.18 m
15th	Vladimir Trussenev	Soviet Union	52.16 m	51.98 m	52.93 m				52.93 m
16	Manfred Grieser	Germany	52.17 m	52.11 m	52.69 m				52.69 m
17th	Adolfo Consolini	Italy	50.84 m	52.44 m	51.08 m				52.44 m
18th	Antonios Kounadis	Greece	52.42 m	x	50.56 m				52.42 m
19th	Zdeněk Němec	Czechoslovakia	52.05 m	49.44 m	52.14 m				52.14 m
20th	Todor Artarski	Bulgaria	49.14 m	52.12 m	x				52.12 m
21st	Warwick Selvey	Australia	x	49.34 m	x				49.34 m
22nd	Cees cook	Netherlands	x	49.21 m	x				49.21 m

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 211f

Videos

• Al Oerter: triunfo en Roma 60 , published September 16, 2008 on youtube.com, accessed October 19, 2017
• Al Oerter - 4 time Olympic Gold Medalist in the Discus , published January 15, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed October 19, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference Discus Throw , accessed October 19, 2017
• Official report pp. 152–155, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 19, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF world records. Discus throw men on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on October 19, 2017
2. ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 64 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 19, 2017
3. ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 152/154 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 19, 2017
4. ↑ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 155 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 19, 2017
5. ↑ SportsReference , accessed October 19, 2017