Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles
Men's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the XVII Olympiad | ||||||||||
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![]() San Marino stamp commemorating 1960 Olympic athletics | ||||||||||
Venue | Olympic Stadium | |||||||||
Dates | August 31 (heats) September 1 (semifinals) September 2 (final) | |||||||||
Competitors | 34 from 23 nations | |||||||||
Winning time | 49.3 OR | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics | ||
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Track events | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | |
800 m | men | women |
1500 m | men | |
5000 m | men | |
10,000 m | men | |
80 m hurdles | women | |
110 m hurdles | men | |
400 m hurdles | men | |
3000 m steeplechase | men | |
4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
4 × 400 m relay | men | |
Road events | ||
Marathon | men | |
20 km walk | men | |
50 km walk | men | |
Field events | ||
Long jump | men | women |
Triple jump | men | |
High jump | men | women |
Pole vault | men | |
Shot put | men | women |
Discus throw | men | women |
Javelin throw | men | women |
Hammer throw | men | |
Combined events | ||
Decathlon | men | |
The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 31 and September 2.[1] There were 34 competitors from 23 nations.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Glenn Davis of the United States, the first man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the 400 metres hurdles. As of the 2016 Games, he remains the only man to do so; three others have won two gold medals in the event, but all three did so in nonconsecutive Games. It was the United States' fifth consecutive and 10th overall victory in the event. The Americans also completed their second consecutive (and fourth overall) medal sweep in the event, as Cliff Cushman took silver and Dick Howard took bronze.
Background
This was the 12th time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.
One of the six finalists from the 1956 Games returned: gold medalist Glenn Davis of the United States. Davis was favored to repeat; he had lowered his own world record to 49.2 seconds in 1958 and taken four of the last five AAU titles (not competing in the 1959 event). He was joined on the American team by Dick Howard (Pan American runner-up, 1959 AAU champion) and Cliff Cushman (third at the PanAm Games). The biggest challenger to Davis was Gert Potgieter of South Africa, the 1958 Commonwealth Games champion and 440 yards hurdles world record holder who had been in medal contention in the 1956 Olympic final before hitting the last hurdle and finishing sixth. Potgieter, however, had been injured in an automobile accident and was unable to compete in Rome.[2]
Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Norway, and Tunisia each made their debut in the event; East and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany for the first time. The United States made its 12th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every edition of the event to that point.
Competition format
The competition used the three-round format used every Games since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.
A significant change, however, was the introduction of the "fastest loser" system. Previously, advancement depended solely on the runners' place in their heat. The 1960 competition added advancement places to the fastest runners across the heats in the quarterfinals who did not advance based on place.
There were 6 quarterfinal heats with between 5 and 6 athletes each. The top 2 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals, along with the next 2 fastest overall. The 14 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 7 athletes each, with the top 3 in each semifinal advancing to the 6-man final.[2]
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
World record | ![]() |
49.2 | Budapest, Hungary | 6 August 1958 |
Olympic record | ![]() |
50.1 | Melbourne, Australia | 23 November 1956 |
Four runners went under 50 seconds (hand-timed) in the final, the first time any had done so in the Olympics. Glenn Davis's time of 49.3 seconds was the new record.
Schedule
The competition used a three-day schedule, with each round on a separate day, for the first time.
All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
Date | Time | Round |
---|---|---|
Wednesday, 31 August 1960 | 15:00 | Quarterfinals |
Thursday, 1 September 1960 | 16:15 | Semifinals |
Friday, 2 September 1960 | 16:00 | Final |
Results
Quarterfinals
The fastest two hurdlers in each of the six heats and the next two fastest advanced to the semifinal round.
Quarterfinal 1
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bruno Galliker | ![]() |
51.0 | 51.20 | |
2 | Dick Howard | ![]() |
51.2 | 51.32 | |
3 | Anubes da Silva | ![]() |
52.1 | 52.25 | |
4 | Max Boyes | ![]() |
52.1 | 52.32 | |
5 | Wiesław Król | ![]() |
52.4 | 52.52 | |
6 | Mohamed Zouaki | ![]() |
55.2 | 55.65 |
Quarterfinal 2
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jan Gulbrandsen | ![]() |
52.2 | 52.39 | Q |
2 | Glenn Davis | ![]() |
52.2 | 52.41 | Q |
3 | Arnold Matsulevich | ![]() |
52.9 | 53.00 | |
4 | George Shepherd | ![]() |
53.0 | 53.05 | |
5 | Marcel Lambrechts | ![]() |
53.5 | 53.67 |
Quarterfinal 3
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cliff Cushman | ![]() |
51.8 | 51.98 | Q |
2 | Willi Matthias | ![]() |
52.1 | 52.23 | Q |
3 | Keiji Ogushi | ![]() |
52.4 | 52.58 | |
4 | Chris Goudge | ![]() |
52.6 | 52.75 | |
5 | Muhammad Yaqub | ![]() |
52.8 | 52.91 | |
6 | Mongi Soussi Zarrouki | ![]() |
54.3 | 54.34 |
Quarterfinal 4
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgy Chevychalov | ![]() |
51.8 | 51.97 | Q |
2 | Salvatore Morale | ![]() |
52.0 | 52.13 | Q |
3 | Per-Owe Trollsås | ![]() |
52.3 | 52.49 | |
4 | Wolfgang Fischer | ![]() |
53.2 | 53.35 | |
5 | Dimitrios Skourtis | ![]() |
53.7 | 53.85 |
Quarterfinal 5
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Helmut Janz | ![]() |
51.1 | 51.30 | Q |
2 | Bartonjo Rotich | ![]() |
51.2 | 51.39 | Q |
3 | Jussi Rintamäki | ![]() |
51.5 | 51.70 | q |
4 | Elio Catola | ![]() |
51.8 | 51.94 | q |
5 | Fahir Özgüden | ![]() |
55.3 | 55.43 | |
6 | Nazzar Al-Jamali | ![]() |
58.0 | Unknown |
Quarterfinal 6
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | John Metcalf | ![]() |
52.1 | 52.24 | Q |
2 | Moreno Martini | ![]() |
52.1 | 52.26 | Q |
3 | Boris Kriunov | ![]() |
52.5 | 52.66 | |
4 | Víctor Maldonado | ![]() |
52.6 | 52.79 | |
5 | Zdzisław Kumiszcze | ![]() |
53.3 | 53.47 | |
6 | Li Po-Ting | ![]() |
54.1 | 54.23 |
Semifinals
The fastest three hurdlers in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.
Semifinal 1
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Glenn Davis | ![]() |
51.1 | 51.20 | Q |
2 | Jussi Rintamäki | ![]() |
51.1 | 51.20 | Q |
3 | Helmut Janz | ![]() |
51.4 | 51.55 | Q |
4 | Georgy Chevychalov | ![]() |
52.0 | 52.14 | |
5 | Elio Catola | ![]() |
52.3 | 52.44 | |
6 | Jan Gulbrandsen | ![]() |
52.4 | 52.56 | |
7 | Moreno Martini | ![]() |
52.4 | 52.57 |
Semifinal 2
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cliff Cushman | ![]() |
50.8 | 50.89 | Q |
2 | Dick Howard | ![]() |
50.8 | 50.91 | Q |
3 | Bruno Galliker | ![]() |
51.3 | 51.47 | Q |
4 | Salvatore Morale | ![]() |
51.3 | 51.48 | |
5 | Bartonjo Rotich | ![]() |
51.8 | 51.97 | [3] |
6 | Willi Matthias | ![]() |
51.8 | 51.95 | [3] |
7 | John Metcalf | ![]() |
52.5 | 52.72 |
Final
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Glenn Davis | ![]() |
49.3 | 49.51 | OR |
![]() |
Cliff Cushman | ![]() |
49.6 | 49.77 | |
![]() |
Dick Howard | ![]() |
49.7 | 49.90 | |
4 | Helmut Janz | ![]() |
49.9 | 50.05 | |
5 | Jussi Rintamäki | ![]() |
50.8 | 50.98 | |
6 | Bruno Galliker | ![]() |
51.0 | 51.11 | |
Wind: +0.1 m/s |
Results summary
References
- ^ "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 400 metres Hurdles". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ a b c "400 metres Hurdles, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
- ^ a b c d Rotich was placed ahead of Matthias in the second semifinal despite the auto-time showing that Matthias finished faster.