Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

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Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
John Devitt
VenueStadio Olimpico del Nuoto
DatesAugust 26, 1960 (heats &
semifinals)
August 27, 1960 (final)
Competitors51 from 34 nations
Winning time55.2 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) John Devitt
 Australia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lance Larson
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Manuel dos Santos
 Brazil
← 1956
1964 →

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 26 and 27.[1] There were 51 competitors from 34 nations.[2] Nations were limited to two swimmers each, down from three in previous Games. The event was won by John Devitt of Australia over Lance Larson of the United States in a controversial, disputed finish that resulted in a push for electronic timing. It was Australia's second consecutive victory in the event, third-most all-time behind the United States' 7 gold medals and Hungary's 3. Devitt, silver medalist four years earlier, was the fifth man to win multiple medals in the event. Manuel dos Santos earned Brazil's first medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle with his bronze.

Controversy

Results were decided by finish judges who relied on their eyes and did not use replays. Three judges were assigned to each finishing position. There were three official timers in 1960 for each lane and swimmer, all timing by hand. All three timers for Devitt, in lane three, timed him in 55.2 seconds. The three timers for lane four timed Lance Larson in 55.0, 55.1, and 55.1 seconds.[3]

Former Olympic swimmer and

FINA co-founder Max Ritter inspected the judge's scorecards. Two of the three first-place judges found that Devitt had finished first and the third found for Larson. Of the three-second-place judges, two found that Devitt finished second and one found that Larson was second. Ritter pointed out to chief judge Henry Runströmer of Sweden that the scorecards indicated a tie. Runstrümer cast the deciding vote and declared Devitt the winner. However, the rules at that time did not provide for the chief judge to have a vote or give him the right to break ties.[4] Ties were supposed to be broken by referring to the timing machine. The official results placed Devitt first and Larson second, both with the identical time of 55.2 seconds.[5] The United States team appealed, bolstered by videotaped footage of the finish that appeared to show Larson the winner.[6] The appeal jury, headed by Jan de Vries, also the President of FINA in 1960, rejected the appeal, keeping Devitt the winner.[7] This controversy would pave the way for electronic touchpads to be included in swimming events to determine finish and accurate timing.[2]

Background

This was the 13th appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.[2]

Two of the eight finalists from the 1956 Games returned: gold medalist Jon Henricks and silver medalist John Devitt, both of Australia. The reduction in the limit of swimmers per nation from three to two made an Australian sweep repeat impossible.

Jeff Farrell was the favorite coming into the year, but an emergency appendectomy a week before the U.S. trials resulted in him finishing fourth and not making the team for the individual event (though he did get a place on the relay team). The two Australian veterans would have been strong competition for him, with Devitt (the world record holder) having a slight edge over Henricks since the last Olympics; however, with Farrell out and Henricks falling ill in Rome (still competing but clearly not at full strength), Devitt became the strong favorite. American swimmers were always dangerous, with Lance Larson and Bruce Hunter the United States pair this Games.[2]

Malaya (later Malaysia), Malta, and Turkey each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 13th appearance, having competed at each edition of the event to date.

Competition format

The competition used a three-round (heats, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 7 heats of between 6 and 8 swimmers each. The top 24 swimmers advanced to the semifinals. There were 3 semifinals of 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1960 Summer Olympics.

World record  John Devitt (AUS) 54.6 Brisbane, Australia 28 January 1957
Olympic record  Jon Henricks (AUS) 55.4 Melbourne, Australia 30 November 1956

John Devitt and Lance Larson both had official times of 55.2 in the final, breaking the Olympic record.

Schedule

Date Time Round
Friday, 26 August 1960 8:30
20:30
Heats
Semifinals
Saturday, 27 August 1960 21:05 Final

Results

Heats

Lance Larson and Bruce Hunter

Seven heats were held; the swimmers with the fastest 24 times advanced to the semifinals. This round took place on August 26.

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 7 Lance Larson  United States 55.7 Q
2 2 John Devitt  Australia 56.0 Q
3 7 Aubrey Bürer  South Africa 56.3 Q
3 Manuel dos Santos  Brazil 56.3 Q
2 Alain Gottvallès  France 56.3 Q
6 4 Gyula Dobay  Hungary 56.5 Q
3 Andrzej Salamon  Poland 56.5 Q
8 6 Bruce Hunter  United States 56.6 Q
9 6 Dick Pound  Canada 56.7 Q
10 1 Karri Käyhkö  Finland 56.8 Q
11 5 Jon Henricks  Australia 56.9 Q
12 5 Per-Ola Lindberg  Sweden 57.1 Q
13 1 Keigo Shimizu  Japan 57.3 Q
14 5 László Lantos  Hungary 57.4 Q
15 7 Katsuki Ishihara  Japan 57.5 Q
16 3 Jorge Escalante  Mexico 57.6 Q
3 Cam Grout  Canada 57.6 Q
18 3 Ron Kroon  Netherlands 57.7 Q
19 7 Bernard Aluchna  Poland 57.9 Q
2 Uwe Jacobsen  United Team of Germany 57.9 Q
2 Igor Luzhkovsky  Soviet Union 57.9 Q
22 7 Paul Voell  United Team of Germany 58.0 Q
23 1 Ezio Della Savia  Italy 58.2 Q
4 Vitaly Sorokin  Soviet Union 58.2 Q
25 1 Gert Kölli  Austria 58.3
6 Rubén Roca  Cuba 58.3
27 4 Bengt Nordwall  Sweden 58.5
28 6 Janez Kocmur  Yugoslavia 58.7
29 4 Jan Bouwman  Netherlands 58.8
30 6 Giorgio Perondini  Italy 58.9
31 5 Stanley Clarke  Great Britain 59.1
2 Achmad Dimyati  Indonesia 59.1
33 7 William O'Donnell  Great Britain 59.2
34 3 Gérard Gropaiz  France 59.3
35 4 Amiram Trauber  Israel 59.7
36 5 Fernando de Abreu  Brazil 1:00.1
37 2 Luis Nicolao  Argentina 1:00.2
1 Herlander Ribeiro  Portugal 1:00.2
39 7 Gojko Arneri  Yugoslavia 1:00.5
40 1 Leopoldo Rodés  Spain 1:00.7
41 5 Guðmundur Gíslason  Iceland 1:00.8
42 7 Itzhak Luria  Israel 1:00.9
43 4 Cheung Kin Man  Hong Kong 1:01.1
44 6 Phan Hữu Dong  Vietnam 1:01.3
45 3 Peter Bärtschi  Switzerland 1:02.9
46 5 Freddie Elizalde  Philippines 1:03.0
6 Ünsal Fikirci  Turkey 1:03.0
48 2 Fong Seow Jit  Malaya 1:03.4
49 1 René Wagner  Luxembourg 1:04.3
50 2 Alfred Grixti  Malta 1:07.8
51 5 Christopher Dowling  Malta 1:08.9

Semifinals

Manuel dos Santos and Gyula Dobay

Three semifinal races were held; the fastest eight swimmers advanced to the final. The semifinals were held on August 26.

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 1 Lance Larson  United States 55.5 Q
2 1 Bruce Hunter  United States 55.7 Q
3 2 John Devitt  Australia 55.8 Q
4 3 Gyula Dobay  Hungary 56.3 Q
3 Manuel dos Santos  Brazil 56.3 Q
6 3 Per-Ola Lindberg  Sweden 56.4 Q
7 1 Aubrey Bürer  South Africa 56.5 Q
2 Dick Pound  Canada 56.5 Q
9 3 Karri Käyhkö  Finland 56.6
10 2 Andrzej Salamon  Poland 56.9
11 1 Keigo Shimizu  Japan 57.1
12 2 Jon Henricks  Australia 57.2
13 2 Uwe Jacobsen  United Team of Germany 57.4
14 1 Igor Luzhkovsky  Soviet Union 57.5
15 3 Bernard Aluchna  Poland 57.8
3 Katsuki Ishihara  Japan 57.8
17 3 Ron Kroon  Netherlands 57.9
18 1 Cam Grout  Canada 58.0
2 László Lantos  Hungary 58.0
20 3 Ezio Della Savia  Italy 58.4
1 Paul Voell  United Team of Germany 58.4
22 1 Alain Gottvallès  France 58.5
23 2 Vitaly Sorokin  Soviet Union 58.7
24 2 Jorge Escalante  Mexico 59.0

Final

Lance Larson

The final was held on August 27.

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) John Devitt  Australia 55.2 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lance Larson  United States 55.2 OR
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Manuel dos Santos  Brazil 55.4
4 Bruce Hunter  United States 55.6
5 Gyula Dobay  Hungary 56.3
6 Dick Pound  Canada 56.3
7 Aubrey Bürer  South Africa 56.3
8 Per-Ola Lindberg  Sweden 57.1

References

  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  3. ^ David Maraniss, Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World, Simon & Schuster, New York City, p. 130 (2008).
  4. ^ Maraniss, Rome 1960 p. 132
  5. ^ Maraniss, Rome 1960, p. 131
  6. ^ Maraniss, Rome 1960, p. 137
  7. ^ Maraniss, Rome 1960, p. 138