1960 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Decathlon (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Decathlon
gender	Men
Attendees	30 athletes from 20 countries
Competition location	Stadio Olimpico
Competition phase	5th / 6th September 1960
Medalist Rafer Johnson ( USA )   Yang Chuan-Kwang ( TWN )   Vasily Kuznetsov ( UR )

The men's decathlon at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome was played on September 5 and 6, 1960 at the Stadio Olimpico . 30 athletes took part.

The American Rafer Johnson became Olympic champion . He won in front of the Taiwanese Yang Chuan-Kwang and Vasily Kuznetsov from the Soviet Union.

Three Germans and one athlete each from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein started. Klaus Grogorenz came in eighth, Manfred Bock in eleventh and Walter Meier in 16th. The Swiss Fritz Vogelsang was in eleventh, the Austrian Hans Muchitsch in 17th. Liechtenstein's Alois Büchel gave up after the high jump .

Existing records

World record	8683 points (7981)	Rafer Johnson ( USA )	Eugene , USA	July 9, 1960
Olympic record	7937 points (7565)	Milt Campbell ( USA )	Melbourne , Australia	November 30, 1956

Note: The scores are based on the 1952 decathlon table used at that time. The points achieved according to the table valid today are given in brackets.

Conducting the competition

The decathlon was carried out according to the same rules as today. The ten disciplines took place over two days. As in the previous games, the scoring was based on the 1952 points table.

Competition schedule

On September 5, the following were completed:
9.00 a.m .: 100 m
10.00 a.m .: long jump
3.00 p.m .: shot put
3.45 p.m .: high jump
5.45 p.m .: 400 m

On September 6th, the following were completed:
9 a.m .: 110 m hurdles
10.10 a.m .: discus throw
2.30 p.m .: pole vault
4.50 p.m .: javelin throw
6.10 p.m .: 1500 m

Attendees

Thirty athletes from twenty countries took part in the Olympic competition:

Surname	nation
Alois Büchel	Liechtenstein
Manfred Bock	Germany
Jože Brodnik	Yugoslavia
Yuri Djachkov	Soviet Union
David Edstrom	United States
Panagiotis Epitropopoulos	Greece
Klaus Grogorenz	Germany
Björgvin Hólm	Iceland
Rafer Johnson	United States
Markus Kahma	Finland
Eef Kamerbeek	Netherlands
Mirko Kolnik	Yugoslavia
Vasily Kuznetsov	Soviet Union
Yuri Kutenko	Soviet Union
Juriz Laipenieks	Chile
Léopold Marien	Belgium
Walter Meier	Germany
Rodolfo Mijares	Mexico
Hans Muchitsch	Austria
Phil Mulkey	United States
Luciano Paccagnella	Italy
Júlio Santos	Portugal
Franco Sar	Italy
Gurbachan Singh Randhawa	India
George Stulac	Canada
Seppo Suutari	Finland
Héctor Thomas	Venezuela
Herman Timme	Netherlands
Fritz Vogelsang	Austria
Yang Chuan-Kwang	Taiwan

Disciplines

Yang Chuan-Kwang from Taiwan won the silver medal

100 meter run

The discipline was carried out in eight runs.
Yang Chuan-Kwang set the fastest time ever run in an Olympic decathlon over 100 meters with 10.7 seconds .

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Yang 10.7 s 1034 02 Grogorenz 10.8 s 990 03 Johnson 10.9 s 948 04th Kuznetsov 11.1 s 870 Suutari Thomas 07th Kolnik 11.2 s 834 08th Kamerbeek 11.3 s 800 Meier Mijares Tune Vogelsang 13 Buck 11.4 s 768 Edstrom Kutenko Sar 17th Büchel 11.5 s 737 Kahma Marien Muchitsch Mulkey 22nd Brodnik 11.6 s 707 Dyachkov Laipenieks Singh Randhawa 26th Epitropopoulos 11.7 s 678 27 Hólm 11.8 s 650 Paccagnella 29 Santos 12.0 s 597 Stulac

Long jump

The best widths are printed in bold.

Classification space Surname 1st attempt Second attempt 3. Attempt Best Points 01 Yang 7.46 m 7.13 m 7.37 m 7.46 m 950 02 Johnson 7.21 m 6.92 m 7.35 m 7.35 m 906 03 Kamerbeek 7.21 m x - 7.21 m 856 04th Muchitsch 6.95 m 7.14 m x 7.14 m 832 05 Dyachkov 7.12 m 7.09 m 6.70 m 7.12 m 825 06th Kuznetsov 6.95 m 6.86 m 6.96 m 6.96 m 773 07th Suutari 6.58 m 6.94 m x 6.94 m 767 Vogelsang 6.94 m 6.65 m 6.74 m 09 Grogorenz 6.89 m 6.93 m 6.90 m 6.93 m 764 Hólm x 6.47 m 6.93 m Kahma 6.47 m 6.93 m x Kolnik 6.60 m 6.93 m 6.84 m Kutenko x 6.93 m 6.64 m Tune 6.93 m x - 15th Brodnik 6.37 m 6.78 m 6.91 m 6.91 m 758 16 Laipenieks 6.77 m 5.78 m 6.88 m 6.88 m 749 17th Mulkey 6.87 m 6.51 m 6.43 m 6.87 m 746 Singh Randhawa 6.87 m x x 19th Thomas 6.15 m 6.55 m 6.81 m 6.81 m 728 20th Buck 6.79 m 6.42 m x 6.79 m 722 21st Paccagnella 6.50 m 6.73 m x 6.73 m 704 22nd Sar 6.63 m 6.69 m 6.67 m 6.69 m 692 23 Marien 6.09 m 6.62 m x 6.62 m 672 24 Büchel 6.05 m 6.51 m 6.54 m 6.54 m 651 25th Edstrom x 6.16 m 6.39 m 6.39 m 610 26th Santos 6.21 m 6.14 m 6.32 m 6.32 m 592 27 Epitropopoulos 6.03 m 6.23 m 6.22 m 6.23 m 570 28 Mijares x x 6.20 m 6.20 m 562 29 Stulac 5.92 m x 5.56 m 5.92 m 493 30th Meier x x x ogV 0

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Yang 1984 02 Johnson 1854 03 Grogorenz 1754 04th Kamerbeek 1656 05 Kuznetsov 1643 06th Suutari 1637 07th Kolnik 1598 Thomas 09 Muchitsch 1569 10 Vogelsang 1567 11 Tune 1564 12 Dyachkov 1532 Kutenko 14th Kahma 1501 15th Buck 1490 16 Mulkey 1483 17th Brodnik 1465 18th Sar 1460 19th Laipenieks 1456 20th Singh Randhawa 1453 21st Hólm 1414 22nd Marien 1409 23 Büchel 1388 24 Edstrom 1378 25th Mijares 1362 26th Paccagnella 1354 27 Epitropopoulos 1248 28 Santos 1189 29 Stulac 1090 30th Meier 800

Shot put

With 15.82 m, Rafer Johnson achieved the largest distance in the shot put in the Olympic decathlon.
The best widths are printed in bold.

Classification space Surname 1st attempt Second attempt 3. Attempt Best Points 01 Johnson 14.55 m 15.82 m 15.26 m 15.82 m 976 02 Suutari 14.29 m x 14.96 m 14.96 m 872 03 Kahma 14.55 m x - 14.55 m 827 04th Kuznetsov 14.41 m 14.46 m x 14.46 m 817 05 Paccagnella 14.18 m x 13.11 m 14.18 m 788 06th Mulkey 14.10 m 13.77 m 13.82 m 14.10 m 780 07th Kutenko 12.51 m 13.97 m 13.83 m 13.97 m 767 08th Sar 13.49 m 13.89 m 13.80 m 13.89 m 759 09 Kamerbeek 13.76 m 13.57 m 13.71 m 13.76 m 746 10 Meier 13.68 m 13.25 m 13.34 m 13.68 m 738 11 Edstrom 13.59 m 13.54 m 13.10 m 13.59 m 729 12 Hólm x 13.58 m 13.36 m 13.58 m 728 13 Thomas 12.93 m 13.42 m 13.24 m 13.42 m 712 14th Yang 12.42 m 13.33 m x 13.33 m 703 15th Dyachkov 12.55 m 13.22 m 13.21 m 13.22 m 692 16 Tune 13.19 m 12.84 m 11.20 m 13.19 m 689 17th Kolnik 12.68 m 13.10 m x 13.10 m 681 18th Stulac 13.32 m 12.21 m 12.74 m 12.74 m 648 19th Laipenieks 12.24 m 11.86 m 12.65 m 12.65 m 640 20th Grogorenz x 11.75 m 12.42 m 12.42 m 619 21st Brodnik x 12.30 m 8.27 m 12.30 m 609 22nd Epitropopoulos 12.06 m 11.74 m 11.79 m 12.06 m 587 23 Buck 10.83 m 12.03 m 11.45 m 12.03 m 584 24 Vogelsang 11.11 m 11.49 m 11.78 m 11.78 m 562 25th Marien 10.68 m 11.38 m 11.44 m 11.44 m 535 26th Singh Randhawa 11.35 m 11.24 m 10.57 m 11.35 m 528 27 Muchitsch 10.26 m 10.77 m 11.07 m 11.07 m 505 28 Santos 10.65 m 10.85 m 10.67 m 10.85 m 488 29 Mijares x 9.74 m 10.59 m 10.59 m 467 30th Büchel 9.20 m 9.41 m 9.79 m 9.79 m 406

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Johnson 2830 02 Yang 2687 03 Suutari 2509 04th Kuznetsov 2460 05 Kamerbeek 2402 06th Grogorenz 2373 07th Kahma 2328 08th Thomas 2310 09 Kutenko 2299 10 Kolnik 2279 11 Mulkey 2263 12 Tune 2253 13 Dyachkov 2224 14th Sar 2219 15th Hólm 2142 Paccagnella 17th Vogelsang 2129 18th Edstrom 2107 19th Laipenieks 2096 20th Buck 2142 Brodnik Muchitsch 23 Singh Randhawa 1981 24 Marien 1944 25th Epitropopoulos 1835 26th Mijares 1829 27 Büchel 1794 28 Stulac 1738 29 Santos 1677 30th Meier 1538

high jump

Herman Timme (NED) came in fifteenth in the final score.

The American David Edstrom did not take part in this fourth discipline.

Classification space Surname height Points 01 Singh Randhawa 1.90 m 900 Yang 03 Buck 1.85 m 832 Dyachkov Johnson 06th Meier 1.83 m 806 Mulkey Suutari Tune 10 Brodnik 1.80 m 770 Kamerbeek Kutenko Muchitsch Paccagnella Sar 16 Hólm 1.75 m 711 Kahma Kuznetsov Marien Thomas 21st Büchel 1.73 m 689 Epitropopoulos Grogorenz 24 Kolnik 1.70 m 656 Stulac Vogelsang 27 Laipenieks 1.65 m 605 Mijares Santos

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Johnson 3662 02 Yang 3587 03 Suutari 3315 04th Kamerbeek 3172 05 Kuznetsov 3171 06th Kutenko 3069 Mulkey 08th Grogorenz 3062 09 Tune 3059 10 Dyachkov 3056 11 Kahma 3039 12 Thomas 3021 13 Sar 2989 14th Kolnik 2935 15th Paccagnella 2912 16 Buck 2906 17th Singh Randhawa 2881 18th Hólm 2853 19th Brodnik 2844 Muchitsch 21st Vogelsang 2785 22nd Laipenieks 2701 23 Marien 2655 24 Epitropopoulos 2524 25th Büchel 2483 26th Mijares 2434 27 Stulac 2394 28 Meier 2344 29 Santos 2282

400 meter run

The fastest 400-meter runner: Klaus Grogorenz (GER), in eighth place in the final score

Alois Büchel from Liechtenstein and Júlio Santos from Portugal did not compete in this fifth discipline.

With 48.0 seconds, Klaus Grogorenz ran the fastest time over 400 meters in the Olympic decathlon.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Grogorenz 48.0 s 1015 02 Yang 48.1 s 1005 03 Johnson 48.3 s 985 04th Meier 49.5 s 884 05 Vogelsang 50.0 s 844 06th Kuznetsov 50.2 s 828 07th Buck 50.5 s 807 Kahma Marien Mijares 11 Dyachkov 50.7 s 793 12 Brodnik 51.0 s 772 13 Kamerbeek 51.1 s 765 Kutenko 15th Tune 51.2 s 758 16 Muchitsch 51.3 s 749 Sar 18th Hólm 51.8 s 716 Suutari 20th Singh Randhawa 52.0 s 702 21st Mulkey 52.2 s 690 22nd Stulac 53.0 s 642 23 Laipenieks 53.2 s 630 24 Epitropopoulos 53.6 s 606 25th Kolnik 53.9 s 588 26th Thomas 54.1 s 576 27 Paccagnella 54.3 s 565

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Johnson 4647 02 Yang 4592 03 Grogorenz 4077 04th Suutari 4031 05 Kuznetsov 3999 06th Kamerbeek 3937 07th Dyachkov 3849 08th Kahma 3846 09 Kutenko 3834 10 Tune 3817 11 Mulkey 3759 12 Sar 3740 13 Buck 3713 14th Vogelsang 3629 15th Brodnik 3616 16 Thomas 3597 17th Muchitsch 3595 18th Singh Randhawa 3583 19th Hólm 3569 20th Kolnik 3523 21st Paccagnella 3477 22nd Marien 3462 23 Laipenieks 3331 24 Mijares 3241 25th Meier 3228 26th Epotropopoulos 3130 27 Stulac 3036

110 meter hurdles

The Dutchman Eef Kamerbeek took fifth place in the final accounts.

The discipline was carried out in seven runs.
The Yugoslav Mirko Kolnik did not take part in this sixth discipline.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Yang 14.6 s 923 02 Sar 14.7 s 894 03 Kamerbeek 14.9 s 840 04th Kuznetsov 15.0 s 813 05 Dyachkov 15.3 s 740 Johnson Vogelsang 08th Marien 15.5 s 694 09 Kutenko 15.6 s 673 Suutari 11 Brodnik 15.7 s 652 Paccagnella Tune 14th Muchitsch 15.8 s 632 15th Kahma 15.9 s 612 16 Meier 16.0 s 593 17th Buck 16.1 s 575 18th Hólm 16.2 s 557 19th Singh Randhawa 16.4 s 523 20th Grogorenz 16.9 s 443 Thomas 22nd Laipenieks 17.1 s 413 23 Mijares 17.3 s 385 24 Epitropopoulos 18.1 s 283 Mulkey 26th Stulac 18.4 s 250

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Yang 5515 02 Johnson 5387 03 Kuznetsov 4812 04th Kamerbeek 4777 05 Suutari 4704 06th Sar 4634 07th Dyachkov 4589 08th Grogorenz 4520 09 Kutenko 4507 10 Tune 4469 11 Kahma 4458 12 Vogelsang 4369 13 Buck 4288 14th Brodnik 4268 15th Muchitsch 4227 16 Marien 4156 17th Paccagnella 4129 18th Hólm 4126 19th Singh Randhawa 4106 20th Mulkey 4042 21st Thomas 4040 22nd Meier 3821 23 Laipenieks 3744 24 Mijares 3626 25th Epitropopoulos 3413 26th Stulac 3286

Discus throw

The Indian Gurbachan Singh Randhawa did not take part in this seventh discipline.
With 50.52 m Wassili Kuznetsov reached the largest distance in the discus throw in the Olympic decathlon.
The best widths are printed in bold.

Classification space Surname 1st attempt Second attempt 3. Attempt Best Points 01 Kuznetsov 44.34 m 45.05 m 50.52 m 50.52 m 972 02 Sar 48.98 m 47.94 m 49.58 m 49.58 m 935 03 Johnson 44.54 m 48.24 m 48.49 m 48.49 m 894 04th Paccagnella 43.27 m 42.93 m 45.67 m 45.67 m 797 05 Kutenko 45.48 m 44.22 m 45.63 m 45.63 m 795 06th Kahma 44.93 m 43.32 m 44.37 m 44.93 m 773 07th Kamerbeek x 42.52 m 44.31 m 44.31 m 753 08th Thomas 31.33 m 40.77 m x 40.77 m 648 09 Laipenieks 36.30 m 38.25 m 40.49 m 40.49 m 640 10 Grogorenz 38.59 m 28.98 m 40.12 m 40.12 m 630 11 Yang 39.83 m 37.91 m 36.59 m 39.83 m 622 12 Hólm 38.78 m 39.50 m 36.87 m 39.50 m 612 13 Meier 39.18 m 39.09 m 38.07 m 39.18 m 603 14th Tune 36.92 m 37.95 m 39.08 m 39.08 m 601 15th Suutari x 37.94 m x 37.94 m 571 16 Dyachkov 37.87 m 36.47 m 35.18 m 37.87 m 569 17th Buck x 37.02 m 37.69 m 37.69 m 564 18th Brodnik x 31.24 m 37.66 m 37.66 m 563 19th Mijares 34.14 m 36.61 m 37.55 m 37.55 m 561 20th Stulac 34.33 m 37.35 m 36.67 m 37.35 m 555 21st Vogelsang 35.54 m 34.40 m 37.03 m 37.03 m 547 22nd Epitropopoulos 33.07 m 34.14 m 34.68 m 34.68 m 487 23 Marien 34.06 m 33.98 m 34.28 m 34.28 m 477 24 Mulkey x 34.12 m x 34.12 m 473 25th Muchitsch 31.79 m 30.63 m 30.94 m 31.79 m 418

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Johnson 6281 02 Yang 6137 03 Kuznetsov 5784 04th Sar 5569 05 Kamerbeek 5530 06th Kutenko 5302 07th Suutari 5275 08th Kahma 5231 09 Dyachkov 5158 10 Grogorenz 5150 11 Tune 5070 12 Paccagnella 4926 13 Vogelsang 4916 14th Buck 4852 15th Brodnik 4831 16 Hólm 4738 17th Thomas 4688 18th Muchitsch 4645 19th Marien 4633 20th Mulkey 4515 21st Meier 4424 22nd Laipenieks 4384 23 Mijares 4187 24 Epitropopoulos 3900 25th Stulac 3841

Pole vault

Jože Brodnik (YUG), third in the pole vault , came ninth in the final result.

The American Phil Mulkey did not take part in the eighth discipline.

Classification space Surname height Points 01 Yang 4.30 m 915 02 Kutenko 4.20 m 855 03 Brodnik 4.10 m 795 Johnson 05 Vogelsang 4.00 m 745 06th Buck 3.90 m 695 Kuznetsov 08th Dyachkov 3.80 m 645 Kamerbeek Sar 11 Grogorenz 3.70 m 596 Meier 13 Kahma 3.60 m 556 Paccagnella Stulac 16 Suutari 3.50 m 516 17th Mijares 3.40 m 476 18th Hólm 3.30 m 438 Laipenieks Marien Tune 22nd Muchitsch 3.20 m 400 Thomas - Epitropopoulos without height 0

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Johnson 7076 02 Yang 7052 03 Kuznetsov 6479 04th Sar 6214 05 Kamerbeek 6175 06th Kutenko 6157 07th Dyachkov 5803 08th Suutari 5791 09 Kahma 5787 10 Grogorenz 5746 11 Vogelsang 5661 12 Brodnik 5626 13 Buck 5547 14th Tune 5508 15th Paccagnella 5482 16 Hólm 5176 17th Thomas 5088 18th Marien 5071 19th Muchitsch 5045 20th Meier 5020 21st Laipenieks 4822 22nd Mijares 4663 23 Stulac 4397 24 Epitropopoulos 3900

Javelin throw

The Soviet athlete Yuri Djachkov did not take part in this ninth discipline.
With 71.44 m, Jurij Kutenko (SUN) achieved the greatest distance in the javelin throw in the Olympic decathlon. Kuznetsov in second, Johnson in third, Yang in fourth and Brodnik in fifth also surpassed the old record.
The best widths are printed in bold.

Classification space Surname 1st attempt Second attempt 3. Attempt Best Points 01 Kutenko 71.44 m 62.88 m 70.03 m 71.44 m 1031 02 Kuznetsov 71.20 m 61.62 m 62.12 m 71.20 m 1024 03 Johnson 69.76 m 67.04 m 63.90 m 69.76 m 980 04th Yang 65.90 m 68.22 m 65.11 m 68.22 m 937 05 Brodnik 57.70 m 59.54 m 65.30 m 65.30 m 858 06th Buck 63.63 m 58.72 m x 63.63 m 817 07th Laipenieks 55.81 m 61.44 m 55.31 m 61.44 m 764 08th Grogorenz 58.48 m x 60.81 m 60.81 m 750 09 Kahma 60.50 m 59.53 m 56.37 m 60.50 m 743 10 Suutari 49.23 m 59.86 m 58.46 m 7 59.86 m 29 11 Kamerbeek 45.40 m 57.49 m 49.91 m 57.49 m 677 12 Hólm 56.69 m 54.20 m 57.45 m 57.45 m 676 13 Sar 50.74 m 55.74 m 50.64 m 55.74 m 641 14th Vogelsang 48.39 m 50.94 m 52.61 m 52.61 m 578 15th Tune 51.74 m x x 51.74 m 561 16 Thomas 51.15 m x x 51.15 m 549 17th Epitropopoulos 50.38 m 50.66 m 50.55 m 50.66 m 540 18th Stulac 50.40 m 45.66 m 50.20 m 50.40 m 536 19th Paccagnella 48.60 m 48.09 m - 48.60 m 503 20th Meier 47.33 m 46.74 m - 47.33 m 480 21st Marien 42.57 m 42.81 m 44.71 m 44.71 m 434 22nd Mijares 38.99 m 42.62 m 43.36 m 43.36 m 411 23 Muchitsch x 38.44 m x 38.44 m 330

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Johnson 8056 02 Yang 7989 03 Kuznetsov 7503 04th Kutenko 7188 05 Sar 6855 06th Kamerbeek 6852 07th Kahma 6530 08th Suutari 6520 09 Grogorenz 6496 10 Brodnik 6484 11 Buck 6364 12 Vogelsang 6239 13 Tune 6069 14th Paccagnella 5985 15th Hólm 5852 16 Thomas 5637 17th Laipenieks 5586 18th Marien 5505 19th Meier 5500 20th Muchitsch 5375 21st Mijares 5074 22nd Stulac 4933 23 Epitropopoulos 4440

1500 meter run

Walter Meier (GER) finished the decathlon in sixteen.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Kahma 4: 22.8 min 582 02 Muchitsch 4: 23.3 min 575 03 Grogorenz 4: 27.0 min 536 04th Buck 4: 27.6 min 530 05 Vogelsang 4: 27.7 min 528 06th Meier 4: 30.6 min 500 07th Brodnik 4: 37.7 min 434 08th Marien 4: 40.0 min 414 09 Hólm 4: 40.6 min 409 10 Kamerbeek 4: 43.6 min 384 11 Kutenko 4: 44.2 min 379 12 Yang 4: 48.5 min 345 13 Sar 4: 49.2 min 340 14th Mijares 4: 49.3 min 339 15th Johnson 4: 49.7 min 336 16 Kuznetsov 4: 53.8 min 306 17th Epitropopoulos 4: 55.0 min 297 18th Paccagnella 4: 55.4 min 294 19th Laipenieks 4: 57.5 min 279 20th Stulac 4: 59.6 min 265 21st Suutari 5: 04.8 min 231 22nd Tune 5: 21.4 min 137 23 Thomas 5: 25.2 min 116

Bottom line

Olympic champion Rafer Johnson (USA) as the flag bearer at the opening ceremony

space	Surname	nation	Points - official rating	Points - 1985 rating
1	Rafer Johnson	United States	8392 OR	7901
2	Yang Chuan-Kwang	Taiwan	8334	7820
3	Vasily Kuznetsov	Soviet Union	7809	7527
4th	Yuri Kutenko	Soviet Union	7567	7401
5	Eef Kamerbeek	Netherlands	7236	7213
6th	Franco Sar	Italy	7195	7140
7th	Markus Kahma	Finland	7112	7161
8th	Klaus Grogorenz	Germany	7032	7078
9	Jože Brodnik	Yugoslavia	6918	7005
10	Manfred Bock	Germany	6894	7006
11	Fritz Vogelsang	Switzerland	6767	6881
12	Seppo Suutari	Finland	6751	6876
13	Luciano Paccagnella	Italy	6283	6566
14th	Björgvin Hólm	Iceland	6261	6601
15th	Herman Timme	Netherlands	6206	6501
16	Walter Meier	Germany	6000	6116
17th	Hans Muchitsch	Austria	5950	6311
18th	Léopold Marien	Belgium	5919	6303
19th	Juriz Laipenieks	Chile	5865	6322
20th	Héctor Thomas	Venezuela	5753	6188
21st	Rodolfo Mijares	Mexico	5413	5939
22nd	George Stulac	Canada	5198	5786
23	Panagiotis Epitropopoulos	Greece	4737	5365

Date: September 5th & 6th, 1960

The 1956 silver medalist , Rafer Johnson, was considered the top favorite in the decathlon. His college mate Yuang Chuan-Kwang from Taiwan was seen as the greatest competitor. Johnson and Yang were deeply friends. European champion Vasily Kuznetsov was seen as a candidate for bronze.

This decathlon developed from the start into a dramatic duel between the two favorites. Yang won the first two disciplines and led with 130 points ahead of Johnson and the German Klaus Grogorenz. Walter Meier, also from Germany, had not achieved a distance in the long jump , but continued the competition anyway. In the shot put , the third discipline, Johnson was able to take the lead by 163 points over Yang. By the end of the first day, Yang had fought his way back to 55 points on Johnson. Grogorenz came in third.

The second day started with the hurdles sprint , which Yang won. With 128 points he was now back in front. But Johnson could rely on the throwing disciplines in which he was stronger than Yang. Already in the discus he took back the lead. Yang came up to 24 points in the pole vault , but in the javelin throw , in which the first five athletes were able to beat the old Olympic best during a decathlon, Johnson extended the lead to 67 points. The final 1500 meter run had to bring the decision. Comparing the top performances of the two leading athletes, things actually looked good for the Taiwanese. His 4: 36.9 minutes were compared to 4: 54.2 minutes for Johnson. Yang had to catch up for about ten seconds. But the American increased in Rome to 4: 49.7 min and Yang was only able to catch up with his 4: 48.5 min. Johnson was an Olympic champion and increased the existing Olympic record by more than 450 points. Yang also exceeded this previous record by far. Kuznetsov also lived up to expectations and won the bronze medal.

Rafer Johnson won the sixth consecutive US gold medal in the decathlon.

Yang Chuan-Kwang succeeded in winning the first medal for Taiwan under the official designation Republic of China at the Olympic Games.

For a better classification of the performance, in addition to the official points according to the rating table from 1952, the number of points converted according to the current rating system from 1985 is also given. According to this table, which is valid today, there would have been two fifth places. Otherwise the order would be unchanged. But these comparisons are only indicative, because the different standards of the time must apply as a basis. This is most noticeable in the pole vault , where people jumped with completely different poles than they do today.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 215–217

Videos

• 1960 Decathlon - Rafer Johnson vs. CK Yang , published October 27, 2009 on youtube.com, accessed October 21, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference Decathlon , accessed October 21, 2017
• Official report pp. 160–177, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 21, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 560, accessed on October 21, 2017 ( 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 21, 2017
3. ↑ SportsReference decathlon (100 m) , accessed on October 21, 2017
4. ↑ SportsReference Decathlon (shot put) , accessed October 21, 2017
5. ↑ Both in SportsReference and in the official report, the width of the first attempt is given as 13.32 m. Since Stulac would have achieved almost 700 points with this distance, however, a transmission error can be assumed, because that would not match the total number of points and placement. In the literature by Ekkehard zur Megede given here, the best width is 12.74 m. This also supports the assumption of the transmission error.
6. ↑ Here, too, a transmission error occurred in both SportsReference and in the official report, because Muchitsch should have received around 560 points with the 11.77 m specified there, which does not correspond to his total number of points and his placement. The probably correct width given by Ekkehard zur Megede is 11.07 m.
7. ↑ SportsReference decathlon (400 m) , accessed on October 21, 2017
8. ↑ SportsReference decathlon (discus throw) , here incorrectly classified under 110 meter hurdles, accessed on October 21, 2017
9. ↑ SportsReference decathlon (javelin throw) , accessed on October 21, 2017
10. ^ Official Report of the 1960 Olympic Games , p. 176f (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 21, 2017
11. ↑ SportsReference decathlon , accessed on October 21, 2017