1960 Summer Olympics

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Olympic games

The 1960 Summer Olympics (Template:Langx), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad (Template:Langx) and commonly known as Rome 1960 (Template:Langx), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awarded the administration of the 1908 Summer Olympics. However, following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906, the city had no choice but to decline and pass the honour to London. The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals at the 1960 Games.

The 1st Paralympic Games were held in Rome in conjunction with the 1960 Summer Olympics, marking the first time such events coincided.

Host city selection

On 15 June 1955, at the 50th IOC Session in Paris, France, Rome won the right to host the 1960 Games, having beaten Brussels, Mexico City, Tokyo, Detroit, Budapest and finally Lausanne. Tokyo and Mexico City would subsequently host the proceeding 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics respectively.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Toronto was initially interested in the bidding, but was automatically removed from consideration when it failed to return the IOC's mandatory questionnaire by the deadline. The questionnaire may have been mislaid in the confusion following the death of the Toronto bid's chief organiser, Robert Hood Saunders, in a plane crash weeks before the deadline.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This was the first of five unsuccessful attempts by Toronto to secure the Summer Olympics, the most recent being a bid for the 2008 Games.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

1960 Summer Olympics bidding results<ref name=votes>Template:Cite web</ref>
City	Country	Round
City	Country	1	2	3
Rome	Template:Flag	15	26	35
Lausanne	Template:Flag	14	21	24
Detroit	Template:Flag	6	11	—
Budapest	Template:Flag	8	1	—
Brussels	Template:Flag	6	—	—
Mexico City	Template:Flag	6	—	—
Tokyo	Template:Flag	4	—	—

Highlights

File:Torcia Olimpica Roma 1960.jpg

The Olympic Torch of Rome 1960

Swedish sprint canoeist Gert Fredriksson won his sixth Olympic title.
Fencer Aladár Gerevich of Hungary won his sixth consecutive gold medal in the team sabre event.
The Japanese men's gymnastics team won the first of five successive golds (see 1976 Summer Olympics).
The United States men's national basketball team—led by promising college players Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West—captured its fifth straight Olympic gold medal.
Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm won his fourth straight gold medal in the Finn class. Others to emulate his performance in an individual event are Al Oerter, Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps, Kaori Icho, Mijaín López and, if the Intercalated (Interspaced) Games of 1906 are included, Ray Ewry.
German Armin Hary won the 100 metres in an Olympic record time of 10.2 seconds. American Dave Sime also ran 10.2 s in the final, but was credited with silver after a controversial video review.
Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track. She was acclaimed as "the fastest woman in the world".
Jeff Farrell won two gold medals in swimming. He underwent an emergency appendectomy six days before the Olympic Trials.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Abebe Bikila sprints away from Rhadi Ben Abdesselam.jpg

Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia wins the marathon barefooted

Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon barefooted to become the first African and Ethiopian Olympic champion.
18-year-old Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal. Ramon "Buddy" Carr was his coach.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Herb Elliott of Australia won the men's 1500 meters in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic history.
Rafer Johnson defeated his rival, fellow U.C.L.A. Bruin and friend C.K. Yang in one of the greatest Decathlon events in Olympic history.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Lance Larson of the United States was controversially denied a 100 metres freestyle swimming gold, despite showing the best time.
16-years-old phenom Chris von Saltza won four medals in women's swimming, three of them gold.
The future Constantine II, last King of Greece (abdicated and ended hybrid monarchy, 1973) won his country a gold in sailing: dragon class.
The Pakistani Men's Field Hockey team broke a run of Indian team victories since 1928, defeating India in the final and winning Pakistan's first Olympic gold medal.
Wrestlers Shelby Wilson, and Doug Blubaugh, who wrestled together growing up, won gold medals in their respective weight classes.

Lowlights

Danish cyclist Knud Jensen collapsed during the 100km team race because of heat stroke and later died in the hospital. It was suspected that he had been under the influence of Roniacol, a blood circulation stimulant.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The International Olympic Committee stated on its website that "drugs were implicated, although that was never proven."<ref>1967: Creation of the IOC Medical Commission</ref> It was the second time (and as of 2024, the most recent) an athlete died in competition at the Olympics, after the death of Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lázaro at the 1912 Summer Olympics.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Historical landmarks

South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under its apartheid regime. It would not be allowed to return until 1992, by when apartheid in sport was being abolished.
Singapore competed for the first time under its own flag, which was to become its national flag after independence, as the British had granted it self-government a year earlier. Tan Howe Liang won silver in the Weightlifting lightweight category, which was the first time (and the only time until 2008) that an athlete from Singapore won an Olympic medal.

Non-medal winners

Finnish Vilho Ylönen, a field shooter, shot a bullseye to a wrong target; in doing so, he dropped from second place to fourth.
Peter Camejo, a 2004 American vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, competed in yachting for Venezuela.
The future Queen Sofía of Spain represented her native Greece in sailing events.

Broadcasting

CBS paid Template:USD (equivalent to $Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year) for the exclusive right to broadcast the Games in the United States. This was the first Summer Olympic games to be telecast in North America. In addition to CBS in the United States, the Olympics were telecast for the first time in Canada (on CBC Television) and in Mexico (through the networks of Telesistema Mexicano). Since television broadcast satellites were still two years into the future, CBS, CBC, and TSM shot and edited videotapes in Rome, fed the tapes to Paris where they were re-recorded onto other tapes which were then loaded onto jet planes to North America. Planes carrying the tapes landed at Idlewild Airport in New York City, where mobile units fed the tapes to CBS, to Toronto for the CBC, and to Mexico City for TSM. Despite this arrangement, many daytime events were broadcast in North America, especially on CBS and CBC, the same day they took place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Venues

Template:Main

File:Rome Olympics 1960 - Opening Day.jpg

Opening Ceremony in 1960 Summer Olympics in Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy

Olympic Stadium² (Stadio Olimpico) – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian events
Flaminio Stadium¹ (Stadio Flaminio) – football finals
Swimming Stadium¹ – swimming, diving, water polo, modern pentathlon (swimming)
Sports Palace¹ (Palazzo dello sport) – basketball, boxing
Olympic Velodrome¹ – cycling (track), field hockey
Small Sports Palace¹ (Palazzetto dello Sport) – basketball, weightlifting
Marble Stadium² (Stadio dei Marmi) – field hockey preliminaries
Baths of Caracalla – gymnastics
Basilica of Maxentius – wrestling
Palazzo dei Congressi – fencing
Umberto I Shooting Range¹ – modern pentathlon (shooting), shooting (pistol/ rifle)
Roses Swimming Pool¹ (Piscina delle Rose) – water polo
Lake Albano, Castelgandolfo – rowing, canoeing
Piazza di Siena, Villa Borghese gardens – equestrian (dressage, eventing – jumping, jumping – individual)
Pratoni del Vivaro, Rocca di Papa – equestrian (eventing)
Gulf of Naples, Naples – yachting
Communal Stadium, Florence – football/soccer preliminaries
Communal Stadium, Grosseto – football/soccer preliminaries
Communal Stadium, L'Aquila – football/soccer preliminaries
Ardenza Stadium, Livorno – football/soccer preliminaries
Adriatico Stadium, Pescara – football/soccer preliminaries
Saint Paul's Stadium, Naples – football/soccer preliminaries
Campo Tre Fontane – field hockey preliminaries
Acqua Santa Golf Club Course – modern pentathlon (running)
Arch of Constantine – athletics (marathon finish)
Cesano Infantry School Range – shooting (300 m free rifle)
Lazio Pigeon Shooting Stand – shooting (trap shotgun)
Passo Corese – modern pentathlon (riding)
Grande Raccordo Anulare – athletics (marathon)
Via Appian Antica – athletics (marathon)
Via Cassia – cycling (individual road race)
Via Flaminia – cycling (individual road race)
Via Cristoforo Colombo – athletics (marathon), cycling (road team time trial)
Via di Grottarossa – cycling (individual road race)

¹ New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. ² Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Games

Participating National Olympic Committees

File:1960 Summer Olympic games countries.png

Participants

File:1960 Summer olympics team numbers.gif

Number of athletes per country

A total of 83 nations participated at the Rome Games. Athletes from Morocco, San Marino, Sudan, and Tunisia competed at the Olympic Games for the first time. Athletes from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago would represent the new (British) West Indies Federation, competing as "Antilles", but this nation would only exist for this single Olympiad. Athletes from Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia competed under the Rhodesia name while representing the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany would compete as the United Team of Germany from 1956 to 1964. Athletes from the People's Republic of China last competed at the 1952 Summer Games but had since withdrawn from the Olympic movement due to a dispute with the Republic of China over the right to represent China.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants that each country contributed.

Participating National Olympic Committees
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Template:FlagIOC also made its first Olympic appearance, but its lone athlete (Wim Esajas) withdrew from competition due to a scheduling error.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

IOC Letter Code	Country	Athletes
AFG	Template:FlagIOC	12
ANT	Template:FlagIOC	13
ARG	Template:FlagIOC	92
AUS	Template:FlagIOC	189
AUT	Template:FlagIOC	103
BAH	Template:FlagIOC	17
BEL	Template:FlagIOC	108
BER	Template:FlagIOC	9
BRA	Template:FlagIOC	71
GUY	Template:FlagIOC	5
BUL	Template:FlagIOC	98
BIR	Template:FlagIOC	10
CAN	Template:FlagIOC	85
CEY	Template:FlagIOC	5
CIL	Template:FlagIOC	9
COL	Template:FlagIOC	16
CUB	Template:FlagIOC	12
CSV	Template:FlagIOC	116
DAN	Template:FlagIOC	100
ETI	Template:FlagIOC	10
FIG	Template:FlagIOC	2
FIN	Template:FlagIOC	117
RCF	Template:FlagIOC	27
FRA	Template:FlagIOC	238
EUA	Template:FlagIOC	294
GHA	Template:FlagIOC	13
GRB	Template:FlagIOC	253
GRE	Template:FlagIOC	48
HAI	Template:FlagIOC	1
HOK	Template:FlagIOC	4
UNG	Template:FlagIOC	180
ISL	Template:FlagIOC	9
IND	Template:FlagIOC	45
INS	Template:FlagIOC	22
IRN	Template:FlagIOC	23
IRK	Template:FlagIOC	21
IRL	Template:FlagIOC	49
ISR	Template:FlagIOC	23
ITA	Template:FlagIOC	280
GIA	Template:FlagIOC	162
KEN	Template:FlagIOC	27
COR	Template:FlagIOC	35
LIB	Template:FlagIOC	19
LBR	Template:FlagIOC	4
LIE	Template:FlagIOC	5
LUX	Template:FlagIOC	52
MAL	Template:FlagIOC	9
MAT	Template:FlagIOC	10
MEX	Template:FlagIOC	69
MON	Template:FlagIOC	11
MAR	Template:FlagIOC	47
PBA	Template:FlagIOC	110
ATO	Template:FlagIOC	5
NZL	Template:FlagIOC	37
NGR	Template:FlagIOC	12
NOR	Template:FlagIOC	40
PAK	Template:FlagIOC	44
PAN	Template:FlagIOC	6
PER	Template:FlagIOC	31
PHI	Template:FlagIOC	40
POL	Template:FlagIOC	185
POR	Template:FlagIOC	65
PUR	Template:FlagIOC	27
RHO	Template:FlagIOC	14
ROM	Template:FlagIOC	98
SMA	Template:FlagIOC	9
SIN	Template:FlagIOC	5
SAF	Template:FlagIOC	55
URS	Template:FlagIOC	283
SPA	Template:FlagIOC	144
SUD	Template:FlagIOC	10
SVE	Template:FlagIOC	134
SVI	Template:FlagIOC	149
THA	Template:FlagIOC	20
TUN	Template:FlagIOC	42
TUR	Template:FlagIOC	49
UGA	Template:FlagIOC	10
RAU	Template:FlagIOC	74
SUA	Template:FlagIOC	292
URU	Template:FlagIOC	34
VEN	Template:FlagIOC	36
VIE	Template:FlagIOC	3
JUG	Template:FlagIOC	116
Total	5,347

Sports

The 1960 Summer Olympics featured 17 different sports encompassing 23 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 150 events. In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

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