Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

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Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
VenueOlympic Stadium
DatesAugust 31 (heats and quarterfinals)
September 1 (semifinals)
September 2 (final)
Competitors51 from 35 nations
Winning time1:46.48 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Peter Snell
 New Zealand
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Roger Moens
 Belgium
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) George Kerr
 British West Indies
← 1956
1964 →

The men's 800 metres middle distance event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 31 and September 2.[1] Fifty-one athletes from 35 nations competed.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

All three nations earning medals in 1960 were new to the podium in the event. The event was won by Peter Snell of New Zealand, the nation's first medal in the men's 800 metres. Snell would defend his title in 1964. Roger Moens took silver, earning Belgium's first medal. George Kerr took bronze for the British West Indies, one of only two medals that nation earned in its brief Olympic history (the 4 × 400 metres relay bronze a few days later would be the other). After four straight gold medals from 1936 to 1956, the United States failed to even make the final.

Summary[]

Only six men were seeded into the final. From the gun Christian Wägli led the pack of five runners off the turn, with only Manfred Matuschewski already beaten. Falling in the back of the pack was Peter Snell from lane 6, the far outside. Wägli held the lead down the final backstretch and through the final turn, with Roger Moens moving in behind him ready to pounce out of a still tight pack. Snell was still at the back, boxed in with George Kerr to his outside. Coming off the turn, Moens pounced, passing Wägli in lane 2 with clear sailing to victory. But Moens' move broke up the pack, it was a free-for-all sprint to the finish. With Wägli struggling on the rail, Snell had a path down lane 1. On the outside Kerr passed Paul Schmidt and was sprinting in lane 3. A surprised Moens looked to his inside to see who the competitor was who was passing him. It was Snell with more power. Moens tried to accelerate again but Snell's strength was too much. Looking at Snell again he leaned for the line but too little too late to catch Snell.

Background[]

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1956 returned. Roger Moens of Belgium was the favorite; he had set the world record in 1955 but missed the 1956 Games due to injury. George Kerr of Jamaica (then competing as part of the British West Indies) was "expected to be his biggest challenger".[2]

Guyana, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Rhodesia, and Tunisia appeared in the event for the first time; the British West Indies federation competed for the only Games of its existence, though members Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago had each previously had competitors in the 800 metres. Great Britain and the United States each made their 13th appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

Competition format[]

For the first time, the 800 metres was run over four rounds. The final, which had been 9 men from 1920 to 1952 but was reduced to 8 in 1956, was further reduced to only 6 men in 1960. There were nine first-round heats, each with between 6 and 8 athletes (before withdrawals); the top three runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were four quarterfinals, each with 6 or 7 athletes (again, before withdrawals); the top three in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were two semifinals with 6 athletes each; the top three runners in each semifinal advanced to the six-man final.[2][3]

Records[]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1948 Summer Olympics.

World record  Roger Moens (BEL) 1:45.7 Oslo, Norway 3 August 1955
Olympic record  Tom Courtney (USA) 1:47.7 Melbourne, Australia 26 November 1956

Six of the 12 semifinalists came in under the Olympic record time, but George Kerr was the first and fastest in that round, setting the record at 1:47.26. That lasted only until the final, however, as all three medalists beat the time. Peter Snell's gold-winning 1:46.48 stood as the new Olympic record after the event.

Schedule[]

For the first time since 1920, two rounds (round 1 and the quarterfinals) were held on the same day.

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Wednesday, 31 August 1960 11:00
16:35
Round 1
Quarterfinals
Thursday, 1 September 1960 16:40 Semifinals
Friday, 2 September 1960 16:45 Final

Results[]

Heats[]

The fastest three runners in each of the nine heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1[]

Lambrechts ran in heat 2. Parsch ran in heat 7.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Donal Smith  New Zealand 1:51.86 Q
2 Valery Bulyshev  Soviet Union 1:51.83 Q
3 Zbigniew Makomaski  Poland 1:52.70 Q
4 Brian Hewson  Great Britain 1:54.73
5 Yair Pantilat  Israel 1:54.86
6 George Johnson  Liberia 1:56.04
Jos Lambrechts  Belgium DNS
Péter Parsch  Hungary DNS

Heat 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Tom Farrell  Great Britain 1:49.05 Q
2 Jerry Siebert  United States 1:49.08 Q
3 Jos Lambrechts  Belgium 1:49.24 Q
4 Pierre-Yvon Lenoir  France 1:49.41
5 Jaromír Šlégr  Czechoslovakia 1:50.23
6 Moussa Said  Ethiopia 1:50.49

Heat 3[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Peter Snell  New Zealand 1:48.22 Q
2 Christian Wägli  Switzerland 1:48.88 Q
3 Ernie Cunliffe  United States 1:48.95 Q
4 István Rózsavölgyi  Hungary 1:49.51
Ismael Delgado  Puerto Rico DNS
Abdul Ghafar Ghafoori  Afghanistan DNS

Heat 4[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Tony Blue  Australia 1:50.82 Q
2 Ergas Leps  Canada 1:50.93 Q
3 Manfred Matuschewski  United Team of Germany 1:51.17 Q
4 Vasily Savinkov  Soviet Union 1:51.49
5 Konstantinos Moragiemos  Greece 1:54.60
6 Ahmed Lazreg  Morocco 1:55.91

Heat 5[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abram Kryvosheiev  Soviet Union 1:53.49 Q
2 Jörg Balke  United Team of Germany 1:53.72 Q
3 John Wenk  Great Britain 1:54.27 Q
4 Norbert Haupert  Luxembourg 1:54.83
5 Frederick Owusu  Ghana 1:55.41
6 Egon Oehri  Liechtenstein 2:00.49

Heat 6[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Roger Moens  Belgium 1:50.73 Q
2 Per Knuts  Sweden 1:51.36 Q
3 Lajos Kovács  Hungary 1:51.45 Q
4 Stefan Lewandowski  Poland 1:51.75
5 Svavar Markússon  Iceland 1:52.88
6 Abdeslem Dargouth  Tunisia 1:54.87

Heat 7[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 George Kerr  British West Indies 1:51.11 Q
2 Terry Sullivan  Rhodesia 1:51.26 Q
3 Péter Parsch  Hungary 1:51.34 Q
4 Borut Ingolič  Yugoslavia 1:51.51
5 Pertti Ålander  Finland 1:52.20
6 Zbigniew Orywał  Poland 1:55.89
A. Nur Farah   DNS

Heat 8[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Paul Schmidt  United Team of Germany 1:50.97 Q
2 Rudolf Klaban  Austria 1:50.96 Q
3 Ronnie Delany  Ireland 1:51.19 Q
4 Joe Mullins  Canada 1:51.46
5 Gianfranco Baraldi  Italy 1:52.15
6 Julio Gómez  Spain 1:53.90
7 Somsakdi Tongaram  Thailand 1:57.24

Heat 9[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Tom Murphy  United States 1:52.30 Q
2 Ralph Gomes  Guyana 1:53.06 Q
3 Ekrem Koçak  Turkey 1:59.12 Q
4 Sig Ohlemann  Canada 2:07.40
Julian Brown  Bahamas DNS
Wim Esajas  Suriname DNS

Quarterfinals[]

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Tom Murphy  United States 1:48.12 Q
2 Christian Wägli  Switzerland 1:48.15 Q
3 Manfred Matuschewski  United Team of Germany 1:48.24 Q
4 Donal Smith  New Zealand 1:48.52
5 Terry Sullivan  Rhodesia 1:50.01
Jos Lambrechts  Belgium DNS
Péter Parsch  Hungary DNS

Quarterfinal 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Paul Schmidt  United Team of Germany 1:51.38 Q
2 Abram Krivosheyev  Soviet Union 1:51.40 Q
3 Jerry Siebert  United States 1:51.53 Q
4 Zbigniew Makomaski  Poland 1:51.72
5 Ralph Gomes  Guyana 1:52.47
6 Lajos Kovács  Hungary 1:52.55
7 Per Knuts  Sweden 1:52.91

Quarterfinal 3[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 George Kerr  British West Indies 1:49.58 Q
2 Ernie Cunliffe  United States 1:49.83 Q
3 Tony Blue  Australia 1:50.05 Q
4 John Wenk  Great Britain 1:50.13
5 Valery Bulyshev  Soviet Union 1:50.74
6 Ronnie Delany  Ireland 1:51.42

Quarterfinal 4[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Roger Moens  Belgium 1:48.69 Q
2 Peter Snell  New Zealand 1:48.84 Q
3 Jörg Balke  United Team of Germany 1:48.98 Q
4 Rudolf Klaban  Austria 1:50.32
5 Tom Farrell  Great Britain 1:50.84
6 Ergas Leps  Canada 1:52.13
7 Ekrem Koçak  Turkey 1:52.66

Semifinals[]

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 George Kerr  British West Indies 1:47.26 Q, OR
2 Christian Wägli  Switzerland 1:47.40 Q
3 Manfred Matuschewski  United Team of Germany 1:47.54 Q
4 Jörg Balke  United Team of Germany 1:47.63
5 Tony Blue  Australia 1:47.97
6 Tom Murphy  United States 1:48.29

Semifinal 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Peter Snell  New Zealand 1:47.34 Q
2 Roger Moens  Belgium 1:47.49 Q
3 Paul Schmidt  United Team of Germany 1:47.95 Q
4 Jerry Siebert  United States 1:48.20
5 Abram Krivosheyev  Soviet Union 1:48.25
6 Ernie Cunliffe  United States 1:50.92

Final[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Peter Snell  New Zealand 1:46.48 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Roger Moens  Belgium 1:46.55
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) George Kerr  British West Indies 1:47.25
4 Paul Schmidt  United Team of Germany 1:47.82
5 Christian Wägli  Switzerland 1:48.19
6 Manfred Matuschewski  United Team of Germany 1:52.21

References[]

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "800 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, pp. 80–83.
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