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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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 | ||
---|---|---|
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
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
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 | Glenn Davis (USA) | 49.2 | Budapest, Hungary | 6 August 1958 |
Olympic record | Eddie Southern (USA) | 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
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 | Switzerland | 51.0 | 51.20 | |
2 | Dick Howard |
United States | 51.2 | 51.32 | |
3 | Anubes da Silva | Brazil | 52.1 | 52.25 | |
4 | Max Boyes | Great Britain | 52.1 | 52.32 | |
5 | Wiesław Król | Poland | 52.4 | 52.52 | |
6 | Mohamed Zouaki | Morocco | 55.2 | 55.65 |
Quarterfinal 2
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jan Gulbrandsen | Norway | 52.2 | 52.39 | Q |
2 | Glenn Davis | United States | 52.2 | 52.41 | Q |
3 | Arnold Matsulevich |
Soviet Union | 52.9 | 53.00 | |
4 | George Shepherd |
Canada | 53.0 | 53.05 | |
5 | Marcel Lambrechts | Belgium | 53.5 | 53.67 |
Quarterfinal 3
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cliff Cushman |
United States | 51.8 | 51.98 | Q |
2 | Willi Matthias | United Team of Germany | 52.1 | 52.23 | Q |
3 | Keiji Ogushi | Japan | 52.4 | 52.58 | |
4 | Chris Goudge | Great Britain | 52.6 | 52.75 | |
5 | Muhammad Yaqub | Pakistan | 52.8 | 52.91 | |
6 | Mongi Soussi Zarrouki | Tunisia | 54.3 | 54.34 |
Quarterfinal 4
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgy Chevychalov | Soviet Union | 51.8 | 51.97 | Q |
2 | Salvatore Morale | Italy | 52.0 | 52.13 | Q |
3 | Per-Owe Trollsås | Sweden | 52.3 | 52.49 | |
4 | Wolfgang Fischer | United Team of Germany | 53.2 | 53.35 | |
5 | Dimitrios Skourtis | Greece | 53.7 | 53.85 |
Quarterfinal 5
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Helmut Janz | United Team of Germany | 51.1 | 51.30 | Q |
2 | Bartonjo Rotich | Kenya | 51.2 | 51.39 | Q |
3 | Jussi Rintamäki | Finland | 51.5 | 51.70 | q |
4 | Elio Catola | Italy | 51.8 | 51.94 | q |
5 | Fahir Özgüden | Turkey | 55.3 | 55.43 | |
6 | Nazzar Al-Jamali | Iraq | 58.0 | Unknown |
Quarterfinal 6
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | John Metcalf | Great Britain | 52.1 | 52.24 | Q |
2 | Moreno Martini | Italy | 52.1 | 52.26 | Q |
3 | Boris Kriunov | Soviet Union | 52.5 | 52.66 | |
4 | Víctor Maldonado | Venezuela | 52.6 | 52.79 | |
5 | Zdzisław Kumiszcze | Poland | 53.3 | 53.47 | |
6 | Li Po-Ting |
Formosa |
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 | United States | 51.1 | 51.20 | Q |
2 | Jussi Rintamäki | Finland | 51.1 | 51.20 | Q |
3 | Helmut Janz | United Team of Germany | 51.4 | 51.55 | Q |
4 | Georgy Chevychalov | Soviet Union | 52.0 | 52.14 | |
5 | Elio Catola | Italy | 52.3 | 52.44 | |
6 | Jan Gulbrandsen | Norway | 52.4 | 52.56 | |
7 | Moreno Martini | Italy | 52.4 | 52.57 |
Semifinal 2
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cliff Cushman |
United States | 50.8 | 50.89 | Q |
2 | Dick Howard |
United States | 50.8 | 50.91 | Q |
3 | Bruno Galliker | Switzerland | 51.3 | 51.47 | Q |
4 | Salvatore Morale | Italy | 51.3 | 51.48 | |
5 | Bartonjo Rotich | Kenya | 51.8 | 51.97 | [3] |
6 | Willi Matthias | United Team of Germany | 51.8 | 51.95 | [3] |
7 | John Metcalf | Great Britain | 52.5 | 52.72 |
Final
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) |
Time (auto) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Glenn Davis | United States | 49.3 | 49.51 | OR | |
Cliff Cushman |
United States | 49.6 | 49.77 | ||
Dick Howard |
United States | 49.7 | 49.90 | ||
4 | Helmut Janz | United Team of Germany | 49.9 | 50.05 | |
5 | Jussi Rintamäki | Finland | 50.8 | 50.98 | |
6 | Bruno Galliker | Switzerland | 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.