Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

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Men's 400 metres
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
Venue
Olympic Stadium
Dates3–6 September
Competitors59 from 44 nations
Winning time44.9 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Otis Davis  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Carl Kaufmann  United Team of Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Malcolm Spence  South Africa
← 1956
1964 →
Official Video Highlights

The men's 400 metres was an event at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. The competition was held between September 3 and September 6, 1960. 59 competitors from 44 nations entered, but 54 competitors from 41 nations participated.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Otis Davis of the United States, the second consecutive and ninth overall title in the event for an American. Carl Kaufmann's silver was the second straight silver for a German in the event, while Malcolm Spence's bronze was the first medal for South Africa in the 400 metres since 1920.

Summary

This race was settled via

Life Magazine.[2] In fourth place, Milkha Singh ran the Indian national record that lasted 44 years until the 2004 Olympics.[3]

There is potential confusion with two athletes in the competition named Malcolm Spence, both qualifying to the second semifinal. The (one year) younger Malcolm Spence representing South Africa eventually netted the bronze medal, while the senior Malcolm Spence from Jamaica, shortened his name to "Mal" while representing the British West Indies, achieved a bronze as part of their 4x400 metres relay, one second ahead of the 4th place South African team.

In the final, South African Malcolm Spence took off hard from the gun, making up the stagger and passing Milkha Singh to his outside before the second turn. Through the second turn, Otis Davis gained ground strongly, passing Spence to his outside halfway through the turn, emerging onto the home straight with the lead, two lanes inside of him Carl Kaufmann also gained on the turn and emerged slightly ahead of Spence. Kaufmann gained steadily on Davis but never caught him, desperately diving at the finish line from a half meter back but unable to get more than his head ahead of Davis. Singh was the best of the rest, holding his own the second half of the race against the initial lead of Spence, but unable to gain much ground. Ultimately Spence held on for bronze.

Background

This was the fourteenth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Of the finalists from 1956, bronze medalist

Voitto Hellstén of Finland and sixth-place finisher Malcolm Spence returned in 1960. The field was relatively open, with no clear favorite.[4]

Afghanistan, the Bahamas, the British West Indies, Ghana, Guyana, Tunisia, and Uganda appeared in this event for the first time. The United States made its fourteenth appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. There were 9 heats in the first round, each scheduled to have 6 or 7 athletes but with some dropping to as low as 4 after withdrawals. The top three runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were 4 quarterfinals of 6 or 7 runners each; the top three athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 6 runners each. The top three runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making a six-man final.[4][5]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Lou Jones (USA) 45.2
Los Angeles, United States
30 June 1956
Olympic record  George Rhoden (JAM) 45.9 Helsinki, Finland 25 July 1952

Otis Davis matched the Olympic record of 45.9 seconds in the quarterfinals. In the first semifinal, he set a new Olympic record at 45.5 seconds; by the end of the semifinals, four men had matched (Milkha Singh) or beaten (Malcolm Spence at 45.8 seconds, Carl Kaufmann at 45.7 seconds, and Otis at 45.5 seconds) the old record. In the final, the fifth- and sixth-place finishers (Manfred Kinder and Earl Young matched the old record—but still finished a full second behind the leaders, as Otis and Kaufmann broke the world record with 44.9 second finishes to take gold and silver. Singh's 45.6 seconds in the final set a national record that stood for 44 years.

Schedule

The semifinals and final were on different days for the first time since 1912.

All times are

UTC+1
)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 3 September 1960 09:50
16:10
Round 1
Quarterfinals
Monday, 5 September 1960 16:15 Semifinals
Tuesday, 6 September 1960 15:45 Finals

Results

First round

The top three runners in each of the 9 heats advanced.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Manfred Kinder  United Team of Germany 46.7 Q
2 Edgar Davis  South Africa 47.2 Q
3 Malcolm Yardley  Great Britain 47.3 Q
4 Josef Trousil  Czechoslovakia 47.4
5 John Asare-Antwi  Ghana 47.7
6 Kimitada Hayase  Japan 49.1
7 Habib Sayed  Afghanistan 53.8

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1
Alf Pettersson
 Sweden 48.3 Q
2 Robbie Brightwell  Great Britain 48.4 Q
3 Konstantin Grachev  Soviet Union 49.3 Q
4 Felix Heuertz  Luxembourg 50.2
George Kerr
 British West Indies DNS
N. Romero  Venezuela DNS

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Carl Kaufmann  United Team of Germany 47.3 Q
2 Barry Robinson  New Zealand 47.6 Q
3 Lodewijk De Clerck  Belgium 47.9 Q
4 Anubes da Silva  Brazil 48.0
5 Csaba Csutorás  Hungary 48.2
6 Hugh Bullard  Bahamas 51.1

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Malcolm Spence  South Africa 46.7 Q
2 Kevan Gosper  Australia 47.1 Q
3 Terry Tobacco  Canada 47.4 Q
4 Gadi Ado  Uganda 49.0
5 Marcel Lambrechts  Belgium 49.5
6 Jorge Terán  Mexico 49.6
7 Brahim Karabi  Tunisia 52.0

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 German Guenard  Puerto Rico 47.3 Q
2 Jerzy Kowalski  Poland 48.3 Q
3 Giuseppe Bommarito  Italy 48.6 Q
4 Li Po-ting  
Formosa
49.5
5 Clayton Glasgow  
Guyana
50.7
6 George Johnson  Liberia 51.4

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Jack Yerman  United States 47.2 Q
2 Milkha Singh  India 47.6 Q
3 Stanisław Swatowski  Poland 48.1 Q
4
Manikavasagam Jegathesan
 Malaya 48.4
5
Iván Rodríguez
 Puerto Rico 49.6
6 Claro Pellosis  Philippines 51.4

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mal Spence  British West Indies 47.6 Q
2 Earl Young  United States 47.6 Q
3 Bartonjo Rotich  Kenya 47.7 Q
4 Zdenĕk Váňa  Czechoslovakia 48.3
5
Vasilios Sillis
 Greece 48.4
6
Manum Bumroongpruck
 Thailand 49.6

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abdul Karim Amu  Nigeria 46.8 Q
2 Gordon Day  South Africa 47.1 Q
3 Hans-Joachim Reske  United Team of Germany 47.2 Q
4
Voitto Hellstén
 Finland 48.4
5 Jassim Karim Kuraishi  Iraq 49.2
6 Fahir Özgüden  Turkey 50.7

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Otis Davis  United States 46.8 Q
2 Jim Wedderburn  British West Indies 47.4 Q
3 John Wrighton  Great Britain 47.4 Q
4 René Weber  Switzerland 47.6
5 Moussa Said  Ethiopia 48.2
6 Amos Grodzinowsky  Israel 48.9

Quarterfinal round

The top three in each of the 4 heats advanced.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Carl Kaufmann  United Team of Germany 46.5 Q
2 Milkha Singh  India 46.5 Q
3 Malcolm Spence  British West Indies 46.9 Q
4 Terry Tobacco  Canada 47.5
5 Edgar Davis  South Africa 48.0
6 Malcolm Yardley  Great Britain 48.8
Alf Pettersson  Sweden DNS

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Jack Yerman  United States 46.4 Q
2 Kevan Gosper  Australia 46.5 Q
3 Manfred Kinder  United Team of Germany 46.7 Q
4 Jim Wedderburn  British West Indies 47.0
5 German Guenard  Puerto Rico 47.2
6 John Wrighton  Great Britain 48.4

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Earl Young  United States 46.1 Q
2 Robbie Brightwell  Great Britain 46.2 Q
3 Gordon Day  South Africa 46.3 Q
4 Hans-Joachim Reske  United Team of Germany 47.3
5 Stanisław Swatowski  Poland 47.4
6 Konstantin Grachov  Soviet Union 47.6
7 Bartonjo Rotich  Kenya 47.8

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Otis Davis  United States 45.9 Q, =OR
2 Malcolm Spence  South Africa 46.1 Q
3 Abdel Karim Amu  Nigeria 46.6 Q
4 Jerzy Kowalski  Poland 46.7
5 Giuseppe Bommarito  Italy 47.5
6 Barry Robinson  New Zealand 48.3
7 Lodewijk De Clerck  Belgium 48.4

Semifinal round

The top three in each of the 4 heats advanced.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes
1 Otis Davis  United States 45.5 45.62 Q
2 Milkha Singh  India 45.9 46.08 Q
3 Manfred Kinder  United Team of Germany 46.0 46.13 Q
4 Robbie Brightwell  Great Britain 46.1 46.25
5 Gordon Day  South Africa 46.7 46.84
6 Kevan Gosper  Australia 47.1 47.28

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes
1 Carl Kaufmann  United Team of Germany 45.7 45.88 Q
2 Malcolm Spence  South Africa 45.8 46.01 Q
3 Earl Young  United States 46.1 46.29 Q
4 Abdul Karim Amu  Nigeria 46.6 46.74
5 Mal Spence  British West Indies 46.8 46.99
6 Jack Yerman  United States 48.9 48.96

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 3 Otis Davis  United States 44.9 45.07 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1 Carl Kaufmann  United Team of Germany 44.9 45.08 WR
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 4 Malcolm Spence  South Africa 45.5 45.60
4 5 Milkha Singh  India 45.6 45.73 NR
5 6 Manfred Kinder  United Team of Germany 45.9 46.04
6 2 Earl Young  United States 45.9 46.07

References

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 400 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  2. ^ "Otis Davis, 1960 400 meter and 4x400m Olympic Champion". 13 September 2009.
  3. ^ "rediff.com Olympics Special: Milkha Singh on the race of his life".
  4. ^ a b "400 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  5. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 75–79.