Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres explained

Event:Men's 200 metres
Games:1960 Summer
Venue:Olympic Stadium
Dates:2–3 September
Competitors:62
Nations:47
Longnames:yes
Win Value:20.5
Gold:Livio Berruti
Goldnoc:ITA
Silver:Lester Carney
Silvernoc:USA
Bronze:Abdoulaye Seye
Bronzenoc:FRA
Prev:1956
Next:1964

The men's 200 metres was held on 2 September and 3 September as part of the athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics, which were held in Rome. 74 athletes from 54 nations entered, but only 62 athletes from 47 nations ultimately competed.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.1 seconds by Livio Berruti of Italy, the first victory in the event by a nation outside of North America and snapping a five-Games winning streak (and two-Games medal sweep streak) by the United States. The Americans finished with a silver medal, by Lester Carney, to extend their medal streak to six Games. Abdoulaye Seye of France took bronze. Berruti's gold and Seye's bronze were the first medal for their nations in the men's 200 metres.

Background

This was the 13th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. One of the six finalists from the 1956 Games returned: sixth-place finisher José da Conceição of Brazil. The favorite was American Ray Norton, the 1959 and 1960 AAU champion and 1959 Pan American Games winner. Italian Livio Berruti was the only man who had defeated Norton in any 200 metres race in 1959, and the home crowd in Rome hoped for a medal from him.[2]

Afghanistan, the British West Indies, Fiji, Ghana, Kenya, and Morocco each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 13th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

Competition format

The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. 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 first round who did not advance based on place.

There were 12 heats of between 5 and 6 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 3 fastest overall. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 6 or 7 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top 3 athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.[2]

Records

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

Livio Berruti's hand-timed 20.5 seconds in the semifinal equalled the world record and set a new Olympic record; he equalled this time in the Final.

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

DateTimeRound
Friday, 2 September 1960 9:00
15:20 		Heats
Quarterfinals
Saturday, 3 September 1960 15:45
18:00 		Semifinals
Final

Results

Heats

The top two runners in each of the 12 heats advanced, as well as the next three fastest runners from across all heats.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Paul Genevay21.2
2 Vadym Arkhypchuk21.5
3 James Omagbemi26.2
— Iftikhar Shahdata-sort-value=99.9
Abebe Hailoudata-sort-value=99.9
Enrique Figueroladata-sort-value=99.9

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Les Carney21.1
2 David Segal21.3
3 Peter Laeng21.6
4 Shahrudin Mohamed Ali22.3
data-sort-value=5— Hilmar Thorbjörnssondata-sort-value=99.9

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Stone Johnson21.7
2 Nikolaos Georgopoulos22.0
3 Clayton Glasgow22.6
4 James Roberts23.1
data-sort-value=5— Harry Jeromedata-sort-value=99.9

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Marcel Wendelin21.6
2 Leonid Bartenev21.8
3 Michael Okantey21.8
4 Santiago Plaza22.0
5 Huang Suh-Chuang22.9
6 Abdul Khaliq23.1

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Peter Radford21.1
2 Erasmus Amukun21.3
3 Csaba Csutorás21.7
4 Sitiveni Moceidreke21.8
5 Elmar Kunauer22.2
data-sort-value=6— Emmanuel Putudata-sort-value=99.9

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ray Norton21.2
2 David Jones21.2
3 Yuriy Konovalov21.4
4 Ramón Vega21.8
5 Patrick Lowry22.1
data-sort-value=6— Vilém Mandlíkdata-sort-value=99.9

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Livio Berruti21.0
2 Tom Robinson21.4
3 Lloyd Murad21.8
4 Pentti Rekola22.2
5 Bouchaib El-Maachi22.3
data-sort-value=6— Jalal Gozaldata-sort-value=99.9

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Dennis Johnson21.2
2 José da Conceição21.3
3 Sebald Schnellmann21.4
4 Jean-Pierre Barra22.3
5 Enrique Bautista23.0
6 Ali Yusuf Zaid23.1

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abdoulaye Seye21.1
2 Carl Fredrik Bunæs21.3
3 Clifton Bertrand21.3
4 Amos Grodzinowsky21.8
5 Barry Robinson22.2
6 Lennart Jonsson22.3

Heat 10

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Marian Foik21.1
2 Jocelyn Delecour21.3
3 Armando Sardi21.6
4 Lynn Eves21.9
5 Mikhail Bachvarov22.2
6 Roger Bofferding23.2

Heat 11

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Seraphino Antao21.3
2 Rafael Romero21.4
3 Manfred Germar21.6
4 Romain Poté22.1
5 Melanio Asensio22.3
6 Aydin Onur22.5

Heat 12

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Edward Jefferys21.1
2 Salvatore Giannone21.5
3 Kimitada Hayase22.3
4 Falih Fahmi22.6
5 Dennis Tipping22.9
data-sort-value=6— Milkha Singhdata-sort-value=99.9

Quarterfinals

The first three in each quarterfinal qualified for the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Stone Johnson20.9
2 Edward Jefferys21.1
3 Tom Robinson21.2
4 Erasmus Amukun21.3
5 Yuriy Konovalov21.3
6 Clifton Bertrand21.4
7 Rafael Romero21.4

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abdoulaye Seye20.8
2 Ray Norton21.0
3 David Segal21.1
4 Seraphino Antao21.3
5 Vadym Arkhypchuk21.5
6 José da Conceição21.5
7 Nikolaos Georgopoulos22.0

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Les Carney20.9
2 Peter Radford21.0
3 Dennis Johnson21.1
4 Jocelyn Delecour21.5
5 Leonid Bartenev21.5
6 Sebald Schnellmann21.5
7 Salvatore Giannone21.8

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Livio Berruti20.8
2 Marian Foik20.9
3 Paul Genevay21.1
4 David Jones21.2
5 Carl Fredrik Bunæs21.4
6 Marcel Wendelin21.6

Semifinals

The first three in each semifinal qualified for the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abdoulaye Seye20.8
2 Marian Foik21.0
3 Les Carney21.1
4 Edward Jefferys21.3
5 Tom Robinson21.5
data-sort-value=6— David Segaldata-sort-value=99.9

Semifinal 2

Berruti tied the world record of 20.5 seconds.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Livio Berruti20.5 ,
2 Ray Norton20.7
3 Stone Johnson20.8
4 Peter Radford20.9
5 Dennis Johnson21.0
6 Paul Genevay21.0

Final

Berruti tied again the world record of 20.5 seconds

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
Livio Berruti20.5
Les Carney20.6
Abdoulaye Seye20.7
4 Marian Foik20.8
5 Stone Johnson20.8
6 Ray Norton20.9

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 200 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417174337/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1960/ATH/mens-200-metres.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 10 July 2017 . Sports Reference.
  2. Web site: 200 metres, Men . Olympedia . 30 December 2020.

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