Jump to content

Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Men's marathon
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
VenueArch of Constantine, Rome
DatesSeptember 10
Competitors69 from 35 nations
Winning time2:15:16.2 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Abebe Bikila
 Ethiopia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Rhadi Ben Abdesselam
 Morocco
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Barry Magee
 New Zealand
← 1956
1964 →
Official Video Marathon Highlights Video on YouTube

The men's marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, was held on Saturday September 10, 1960. There were 69 participants from 35 nations.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. Abebe Bikila, who ran the race barefoot, finished in world record time and became the first sub-Saharan African to win an Olympic gold medal.[2] All three of the medalists came from nations which had never before won an Olympic marathon medal. The winning margin was 25.4 seconds.

Background

[edit]

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1956 marathon included gold medalist Alain Mimoun of France, silver medalist Franjo Mihalić of Yugoslavia, fourth-place finisher Lee Chang-hoon of South Korea, eighth-place finisher Evert Nyberg of Sweden, and tenth-place finisher Eino Oksanen of Finland. Sergei Popov of the Soviet Union, the world record holder and one of only two men (along with Jim Peters) to have run under 2 hours and 20 minutes, was favored.[3]

Ceylon, Liberia, Morocco, and Tunisia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its 14th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format and course

[edit]

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a point-to-point course; it was the first marathon to neither start nor end at the Olympic Stadium. The course started at the Piazza di Campidoglio. It was a triangular loop, running along many of the wonders of Ancient Roma. The course passed along the Caracalla Baths, ran down the Appian Way, and finished under the Arch of Constantine.[3]

Records

[edit]

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1960 Summer Olympics.

World record  Sergei Popov (URS) 2:15:17.0 Stockholm, Sweden 24 August 1958
Olympic record  Emil Zátopek (TCH) 2:23:03.2 Helsinki, Finland 27 July 1952

Abebe Bikila set a new world record at 2:15:16.2; this record is still the record for barefoot running.[4]

Schedule

[edit]

The 1960 marathon started so late that the course required torchlight for the runners to see. The last finisher arrived at nearly 9:15 p.m. local time.[3]

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 10 September 1960 17:30 Final

Results

[edit]
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Abebe Bikila  Ethiopia 2:15:16.2 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Rhadi Ben Abdesselam  Morocco 2:15:41.6
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Barry Magee  New Zealand 2:17:18.2
4 Konstantin Vorobyov  Soviet Union 2:19:09.6
5 Sergey Popov  Soviet Union 2:19:18.8
6 Thyge Thøgersen  Denmark 2:21:03.4
7 Abebe Wakgira  Ethiopia 2:21:09.4
8 Bakir Benaïssa  Morocco 2:21:21.4
9 Osvaldo Suárez  Argentina 2:21:26.6
10 Franjo Škrinjar  Yugoslavia 2:21:40.2
11 Nikolay Rumyantsev  Soviet Union 2:21:49.4
12 Franjo Mihalić  Yugoslavia 2:21:52.6
13 Keith James  South Africa 2:22:58.6
14 Pavel Kantorek  Czechoslovakia 2:22:59.8
15 Gumersindo Gómez  Argentina 2:23:00.0
16 Denis O'Gorman  Great Britain 2:24:16.2
17 Miguel Navarro  Spain 2:24:17.4
18 Jeff Julian  New Zealand 2:24:50.6
19 John J. Kelley  United States 2:24:58.0
20 Lee Chang-hoon  South Korea 2:25:02.2
21 Arnold Vaide  Sweden 2:25:40.2
22 Gerry McIntyre  Ireland 2:26:03.0
23 Olavi Manninen  Finland 2:26:33.0
24 Eino Oksanen  Finland 2:26:38.0
25 Arthur Keily  Great Britain 2:27:00.0
26 Tor Torgersen  Norway 2:27:30.0
27 Myitung Naw  Burma 2:28:17.0
28 Bruno Bartholome  United Team of Germany 2:28:39.0
29 Brian Kilby  Great Britain 2:28:55.0
30 Alex Breckenridge  United States 2:29:38.0
31 Kurao Hiroshima  Japan 2:29:40.0
32 Kazumi Watanabe  Japan 2:29:45.0
33 Juan Silva  Chile 2:31:18.0
34 Alain Mimoun  France 2:31:20.0
35 Paul Genève  France 2:31:20.0
36 Frans Künen  Netherlands 2:31:25.0
37 Francesco Perrone  Italy 2:31:32.0
38 Silvio De Florentis  Italy 2:31:54.0
39 Linus Diaz  Ceylon 2:32:12.0
40 Lal Chand  India 2:32:13.0
41 Johannes Lauridsen  Denmark 2:32:32.0
42 Willie Dunne  Ireland 2:33:08.0
43 Ian Sinfield  Australia 2:34:16.0
44 Arthur Wittwer  Switzerland 2:34:42.2
45 Jagmal Singh  India 2:35:01.0
46 Nobuyoshi Sadanaga  Japan 2:35:11.0
47 Lee Sang-cheol  South Korea 2:35:14.0
48 Gordon McKenzie  United States 2:35:16.0
49 Ahmed Labidi  Tunisia 2:35:43.0
50 Walter Lemos  Argentina 2:36:55.0
51 Ray Puckett  New Zealand 2:37:36.0
52 Dolfi Gruber  Austria 2:37:40.0
53 Antti Viskari  Finland 2:38:06.0
54 Allan Lawrence  Australia 2:38:46.0
55 Gordon Dickson  Canada 2:38:46.0
56 Lothar Beckert  United Team of Germany 2:40:10.0
57 Günter Havenstein  United Team of Germany 2:41:14.0
58 Evert Nyberg  Sweden 2:42:59.0
59 Arap Sum Kanuti  Kenya 2:46:55.2
60 Ranjit Bhatia  India 2:57:06.0
61 Allal Saoudi  Morocco 2:59:41.0
62 Alifu Massaquoi  Liberia 3:43:18.0
Hedi Dhaoui  Tunisia DNF
Vito Di Terlizzi  Italy DNF
Mouldi Essalhi  Tunisia DNF
Gerhart Hecker  Hungary DNF
Kim Yeon-beom  South Korea DNF
Bertie Messitt  Ireland DNF
Aurèle Vandendriessche  Belgium DNF
Constantin Grecescu  Romania DNS
Erik Östbye  Sweden DNS
Dave Power  Australia DNS
Tadeusz Starzyński-Starybrat  Poland DNS
Cyprian Tseriwa  Zimbabwe DNS

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's Marathon". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  2. ^ Henry, Mike (2013). Black History: More Than Just a Month. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 68. ISBN 9781475802610. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Guinness World Records fastest marathon run in bare feet". www.guinnessworldrecords.com. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
[edit]