Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles explained

Event:	Men's 110 metres hurdles
Games:	1960 Summer
Venue:	Olympic Stadium
Dates:	September 3 (heats and quarterfinals) September 5 (semifinals and final)
Competitors:	36
Nations:	21
Win Value:	13.8
Longnames:	yes
Gold:	Lee Calhoun
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Willie May
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Hayes Jones
Bronzenoc:	USA
Prev:	1956
Next:	1964

The men's 110 metres hurdling event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between September 3 and September 5.^[1] Thirty-six athletes from 21 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Lee Calhoun of the United States, the first man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the 110 metres hurdles. It was the sixth of nine consecutive American victories, and the 12th overall gold medal for the United States in the 110 metres hurdles. It was also the fourth of four consecutive American podium sweeps, and the eighth overall sweep by the United States in the event.

Background

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1956 returned: gold medalist Lee Calhoun of the United States, fourth-place finisher Martin Lauer of the United Team of Germany, and fifth-place finisher Stanko Lorger of Yugoslavia. Calhoun was favored to win again, though Lauer was a serious contender; they shared the world record at 13.2 seconds. Lauer was the only serious threat to the American team sweeping the medals again.^[2]

Afghanistan, the British West Indies, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, and Uganda each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 14th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

Competition format

For the first time, the competition expanded to four rounds. The first round consisted of four heats, with 6 or 7 hurdlers each (before a withdrawal left one heat with only 5). The top four hurdlers in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were four quarterfinals of 6 hurdles each; the top three hurdlers in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The 12 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 6 hurdlers each; the top three hurdlers in each advanced to the 6-man final.^[2] ^[3]

Records

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

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national records were established during the competition:

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Saturday, 3 September 1960	9:00 18:10	Round 1 Quarterfinals
Monday, 5 September 1960	15:15 16:45	Semifinals Final

Results

Round 1

The fastest four hurdlers in each of the six heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	4	Martin Lauer		14.3	14.45
2	6	Jean Baptiste Okello		14.4	14.59
3	2	Giovanni Cornacchia		14.6	14.77
4	5	Marcel Duriez		14.7	14.90
5	3	Seraphino Antao		15.0	15.13
6	1	Çetin Şahiner		15.6	15.75
				Wind: +0.2 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	1	Hayes Jones		14.2	14.32
2	4	Mykola Berezutskiy		14.3	14.50
3	3	Milad Petrušić		14.6	14.74
4	5	Paolo Zamboni		14.7	14.82
5	2	John Chittick		14.7	14.86
data-sort-value=6	—	6	Abdul Wardak
				Wind: +0.4 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	5	Willie May		14.0	14.16
2	3	Valentin Chistyakov		14.3	14.45
3	1	Bob Birrell		14.7	14.82
4	4	Klaus Gerbig		14.7	14.87
5	6	Saka Oloko		14.9	15.04
6	2	Nazzar Al-Jamali		15.8	15.99
				Wind: +0.2 m/s

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	5	Lee Calhoun		14.3	14.37
2	2	Edmond Roudnitska		14.4	14.53
3	1	Ghulam Raziq		14.6	14.68
4	6	Peter Hildreth		14.8	14.90
5	7	Georgios Marsellos		14.8	14.92
6	4	Pétur Rögnvaldsson		15.2	15.38
data-sort-value=7	—	3	Isaac Elie
				Wind: +0.9 m/s

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	6	Keith Gardner		14.3	14.46
2	4	Stanko Lorger		14.4	14.56
3	5	Nereo Svara		14.9	15.03
4	1	Vic Matthews		14.9	15.07
5	3	Jagmohan Singh		15.2	15.34
6	2	Abdul Malik		15.4	15.52
				Wind: +0.9 m/s

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	4	Anatoly Mikhaylov		14.4	14.53
2	5	Karl-Ernst Schottes		14.8	14.90
3	3	Roman Muzyk		14.8	14.94
4	6	Aggrey Awori		15.2	15.36
5	2	Jacques Déprez		17.1	17.24
data-sort-value=6	—	1
				Wind: +0.1 m/s

Quarterfinals

The fastest three hurdlers in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	Lee Calhoun		14.1	14.16
2	Jean Baptiste Okello		14.3	14.48	,
3	Nikolay Berezutsky		14.4	14.57
4	Giovanni Cornacchia		14.5	14.68
5	Peter Hildreth		14.6	14.78
6	Karl-Ernst Schottes		14.6	14.81
				Wind: +0.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	Martin Lauer		13.9	14.06
2	Keith Gardner		14.3	14.45
3	Ghulam Raziq		14.4	14.51
4	Edmond Roudnitska		14.5	14.66
5	Milad Petrušić		14.6	14.71
6	Paolo Zamboni		14.9	15.02
				Wind: +0.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	Willie May		13.8	13.92
2	Anatoly Mikhaylov		13.9	14.02
3	Stanko Lorger		14.4	14.56
4	Aggrey Awori		14.8	14.94
5	Klaus Gerbig		14.8	14.97
6	Vic Matthews		15.0	15.12
				Wind: +0.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	Hayes Jones		14.1	14.19
2	Valentin Chistyakov		14.3	14.51
3	Nereo Svara		14.4	14.59
4	Roman Muzyk		14.5	14.68
5	Bob Birrell		14.6	14.78
6	Marcel Duriez		15.0	15.19
				Wind: +0.0 m/s

Semifinals

The fastest three hurdlers in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	4			13.7	13.87
2	6	Hayes Jones		14.1	14.22
3	2	Keith Gardner		14.2	14.32
4	5	Nereo Svara		14.3	14.50
5	3	Jean Baptiste Okello		14.4	14.59
6	1	Nikolay Berezutsky		14.6	14.69
				Wind: +0.1 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	1			13.7	13.88
2	4	Martin Lauer		14.0	14.13
3	3	Valentin Chistyakov		14.3	14.46
4	5	Ghulam Raziq		14.3	14.49
5	2	Stanko Lorger		14.5	14.83
data-sort-value=6	—	6	Anatoly Mikhaylov
				Wind: +0.1 m/s

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
	2			13.8	13.98
	1			13.8	13.99
	6			14.0	14.17
4	3			14.0	14.20
5	4			14.4	14.55
6	5			14.6	14.71
				Wind: +0.1 m/s

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 110 metres Hurdles . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417172629/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1960/ATH/mens-110-metres-hurdles.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 17 September 2017 . sports-reference.com.
Web site: 110 metres Hurdles, Men . Olympedia . 19 August 2020.
Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 107–10.