1960 Summer Olympics

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Games of the XVII Olympiad
1960 Summer Olympics logo.png
Host cityRome, Italy
Nations83
Athletes5,338 (4,727 men, 611 women)
Events150 in 17 sports (23 disciplines)
Opening25 August
Closing11 September
Opened by
President Giovanni Gronchi[1]
Cauldron
Giancarlo Peris[1]
StadiumStadio Olimpico
Summer
← Melbourne 1956
Tokyo 1964 →
Winter
← Squaw Valley 1960
Innsbruck 1964 →
1960 Summer Paralympics

The 1960 Summer Olympics (Italian: Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad (Italian: Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 (Italian: Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awarded the administration of the 1908 Summer Olympics, but following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906, the city had no choice but to decline and pass the honour to London. The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals at the 1960 Games.

Host city selection[]

On 15 June 1955, at the 50th IOC Session in Paris, France, Rome won the rights to host the 1960 Games, having beaten Brussels, Mexico City, Tokyo, Detroit, Budapest and finally Lausanne. Tokyo and Mexico City would subsequently host the proceeding 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics respectively.[2]

Toronto was initially interested in the bidding, but appears to have dropped out during the final phase of the bid process.[3] This was the first of five unsuccessful attempts by Toronto to secure the Summer Olympics from then until the 2008 games.

1960 Summer Olympics bidding results[4]
City Country Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
Rome  Italy 15 26 35
Lausanne   Switzerland 14 21 24
Detroit  United States 6 11 —
Budapest  Hungary 8 1 —
Brussels  Belgium 6 — —
Mexico City  Mexico 6 — —
Tokyo  Japan 4 — —

Highlights[]

The Olympic Torch of Rome 1960
  • Swedish sprint canoeist Gert Fredriksson won his sixth Olympic title.
  • Fencer Aladár Gerevich of Hungary won his sixth consecutive gold medal in the team sabre event.
  • The Japanese men's gymnastics team won the first of five successive golds (see 1976 Summer Olympics).
  • The United States men's national basketball team—led by promising college players Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West—captured its fifth straight Olympic gold medal.
  • Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm won his fourth straight gold medal in the Finn class. Others to emulate his performance in an individual event are Al Oerter, Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps, Kaori Icho, Mijaín López and, if the Intercalated (Interspaced) Games of 1906 are included, Ray Ewry.
  • German Armin Hary won the 100 metres in an Olympic record time of 10.2 seconds.
  • Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track. She was acclaimed as "the fastest woman in the world".
  • Jeff Farrell won two gold medals in swimming. He underwent an emergency appendectomy six days before the Olympic Trials.[5]
Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia wins the marathon barefooted
  • Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon barefooted to become the first black African Olympic champion.
  • Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal. Ramon "Buddy" Carr was one of the coaches that led this team to winning gold.[6]
  • Herb Elliott, AUS, won the men's 1500 meters in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic history.
  • Rafer Johnson defeated his rival, fellow U.C.L.A. Bruin and friend C.K. Yang in one of the greatest Decathlon events in Olympic history.[7]
  • Lance Larson, US, was controversially denied a 100 metres freestyle swimming gold, despite showing the best time.
  • 16-years-old phenom Chris von Saltza won four medals in women's swimming, three of them gold.
  • The future Constantine II, last King of Greece (abdicated and ended hybrid monarchy, 1973) won his country a gold in sailing: dragon class.
  • The Pakistani Men's Field Hockey team broke a run of Indian team victories since 1928, defeating India in the final and winning Pakistan's first Olympic gold medal.
  • Wrestlers Shelby Wilson, and Doug Blubaugh, who wrestled together growing up, won gold medals in their respective weight classes.

Lowlights[]

  • Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen collapsed during the 100km team race because of heat stroke and later died in the hospital. It was the second time (and as of 2021, the most recent) an athlete died in competition at the Olympics, after the death of Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lázaro at the 1912 Summer Olympics.[8]

Historical landmarks[]

  • South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under its apartheid regime. It would not be allowed to return until 1992, by when apartheid in sport was being abolished.
  • Singapore competed for the first time under its own flag, which was to become its national flag after independence, as the British had granted it self-government a year earlier. Tan Howe Liang won silver in the Weightlifting lightweight category, which was the first time (and the only time until 2008) that an athlete from Singapore won an Olympic medal.

Non-medal winners[]

  • Finnish Vilho Ylönen, a field shooter, shot a bullseye to a wrong target, and in so doing he dropped from second place to fourth.
  • Peter Camejo, a 2004 American vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, competed in yachting for Venezuela.
  • The future Queen Sofía of Spain represented her native Greece in sailing events.

Broadcasting[]

  • CBS paid US$394,000 (equivalent to $3,446,724 in 2020) for the exclusive right to broadcast the Games in the United States. This was the first Summer Olympic games to be telecast in North America. In addition to CBS in the United States, the Olympics were telecast for the first time in Canada (on CBC Television) and in Mexico (through the networks of Telesistema Mexicano). Since television broadcast satellites were still two years into the future, CBS, CBC, and TSM shot and edited videotapes in Rome, fed the tapes to Paris where they were re-recorded onto other tapes which were then loaded onto jet planes to North America. Planes carrying the tapes landed at Idlewild Airport in New York City, where mobile units fed the tapes to CBS, to Toronto for the CBC, and to Mexico City for TSM. Despite this arrangement, many daytime events were broadcast in North America, especially on CBS and CBC, the same day they took place.[9]

Venues[]

Main article: Venues of the 1960 Summer Olympics
Opening Ceremony in 1960 Summer Olympics in Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy
  • Olympic Stadium2 (Stadio Olimpico) - opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian events
  • Flaminio Stadium1 (Stadio Flaminio) - football finals
  • Swimming Stadium1 - swimming, diving, water polo, modern pentathlon (swimming)
  • Sports Palace1 (Palazzo dello sport) - basketball, boxing
  • Olympic Velodrome1 - cycling (track), field hockey
  • Small Sports Palace1 (Palazzetto dello Sport) - basketball, weightlifting
  • Marble Stadium2 (Stadio dei Marmi) - field hockey preliminaries
  • Baths of Caracalla - gymnastics
  • Basilica of Maxentius - wrestling
  • Palazzo dei Congressi - fencing
  • Umberto I Shooting Range1 - modern pentathlon (shooting), shooting (pistol/ rifle)
  • Roses Swimming Pool1 (Piscina delle Rose) - water polo
  • Lake Albano, Castelgandolfo - rowing, canoeing
  • Piazza di Siena, Villa Borghese gardens - equestrian (dressage, eventing - jumping, jumping - individual)
  • Pratoni del Vivaro, Rocca di Papa - equestrian (eventing)
  • Gulf of Naples, Naples - yachting
  • Communal Stadium, Florence - football/soccer preliminaries
  • Communal Stadium, Grosseto - football/soccer preliminaries
  • Communal Stadium, L'Aquila - football/soccer preliminaries
  • Ardenza Stadium, Livorno - football/soccer preliminaries
  • Adriatico Stadium, Pescara - football/soccer preliminaries
  • Saint Paul's Stadium, Naples - football/soccer preliminaries
  • Campo Tre Fontane - field hockey preliminaries
  • Acqua Santa Golf Club Course - modern pentathlon (running)
  • Arch of Constantine - athletics (marathon finish)
  • Cesano Infantry School Range - shooting (300 m free rifle)
  • Lazio Pigeon Shooting Stand - shooting (trap shotgun)
  • Passo Corese - modern pentathlon (riding)
  • Grande Raccordo Anulare - athletics (marathon)
  • Via Appian Antica - athletics (marathon)
  • Via Cassia - cycling (individual road race)
  • Via Flaminia - cycling (individual road race)
  • Via Cristoforo Colombo - athletics (marathon), cycling (road team time trial)
  • Via di Grottarossa - cycling (individual road race)

1 New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. 2 Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Games[]

Participating National Olympic Committees[]

Participants
Number of athletes per country

A total of 83 nations participated at the Rome Games. Athletes from Morocco, San Marino, Sudan, and Tunisia competed at the Olympic Games for the first time. Athletes from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago would represent the new (British) West Indies Federation, competing as "Antilles", but this nation would only exist for this single Olympiad. Athletes from Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia competed under the Rhodesia name while representing the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany would compete as the United Team of Germany from 1956 to 1964. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants that each country contributed.

hideParticipating National Olympic Committees
  •  Suriname also made its first Olympic appearance, but its lone athlete (Wim Esajas) withdrew from competition due to a scheduling error.[10]

Sports[]

The 1960 Summer Olympics featured 17 different sports encompassing 23 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 150 events. In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

Calendar[]

All dates are in Central European Time (UTC+1)
See also: Chronological summary of the 1960 Summer Olympics
OC Opening ceremony ● Event competitions 1 Gold medal events CC Closing ceremony
August / September 25
Thu 		26
Fri 		27
Sat 		28
Sun 		29
Mon 		30
Tue 		31
Wed 		1
Thu 		2
Fri 		3
Sat 		4
Sun 		5
Mon 		6
Tue 		7
Wed 		8
Thu 		9
Fri 		10
Sat 		11
Sun 		Events
Ceremonies OC CC N/A
Athletics 2 4 7 3 3 4 4 6 1 34
Basketball ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 1 1
Boxing ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 10 10
Canoeing ● ● 7 7
Cycling 2 1 2 1 6
Diving ● 1 1 1 ● ● 1 4
Equestrian pictogram.svg Equestrian ● 1 1 ● ● 2 1 5
Fencing ● 1 ● 1 1 1 ● 1 ● 1 1 1 8
Field hockey ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 1 ● ● 1
Football ● ● ● ● ● ● 1 1
Gymnastics ● ● ● 2 5 7 14
Modern pentathlon ● ● ● ● ● 2 2
Rowing ● ● ● ● 7 7
Sailing ● ● ● ● ● ● 5 5
Shooting ● 1 1 ● 1 2 1 6
Swimming ● 2 1 2 2 3 2 3 15
Water polo ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 1 1
Weightlifting 2 2 2 1 7
Wrestling ● ● ● ● 8 ● ● ● ● 8 16
Daily medal events 2 4 0 11 5 14 8 11 15 0 14 15 12 12 11 15 1 150
Cumulative total 2 6 6 17 22 36 44 55 70 70 84 99 111 123 134 149 150
August / September 25
Thu 		26
Fri 		27
Sat 		28
Sun 		29
Mon 		30
Tue 		31
Wed 		1
Thu 		2
Fri 		3
Sat 		4
Sun 		5
Mon 		6
Tue 		7
Wed 		8
Thu 		9
Fri 		10
Sat 		11
Sun 		Total events


Medal count[]

Main article: 1960 Summer Olympics medal table

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1960 Games:[11]

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Soviet Union432931103
2 United States34211671
3 Italy*13101336
4 United Team of Germany12191142
5 Australia88622
6 Turkey7209
7 Hungary68721
8 Japan47718
9 Poland461121
10 Czechoslovakia3238
Totals (10 nations)134112105351

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Factsheet - Opening Ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad" (PDF) (Press release). International Olympic Committee. 9 October 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  2. ^ "IOC VOTE HISTORY". Archived from the original on 25 May 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2008.
  3. ^ "Toronto has made 5 attempts to host the Olympics. Could the sixth be the winner?". thestar.com. 24 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  5. ^ Coplan, Joseph (19 July 2000). "Profiling Jeff Farrell, 1968 ISHOF Honor Swimmer". USMS. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  6. ^ Zaborney, Mark (11 March 2016). "Ramon 'Buddy' Carr (1926-2016): TPD officer coached gold-medalist boxer". Toledo Blade.
  7. ^ Henderson, Jon (26 June 2012). "Great Olympic Moments: UCLA friends Rafer Johnson and Yang Chuan-kwang make decathlon history in 1960". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  8. ^ Maraniss, David (2008). Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World (1st ed.). New York City, NY: Simon & Schuster. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-4165-3407-5.
  9. ^ "OLYMPICS AND TELEVISION - The Museum of Broadcast Communications". Museum.tv. Archived from the original on 27 July 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  10. ^ Official Olympic Reports. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006.
  11. ^ Byron, Lee; Cox, Amanda; Ericson, Matthew (4 August 2008). "A Map of Olympic Medals". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 February 2012.

External links[]

Preceded by
Melbourne/Stockholm 		Summer Olympic Games
Rome
XVII Olympiad (1960) 		Succeeded by
Tokyo
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