Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's discus throw

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Men's discus throw
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
Al oerter roma 1960.jpg
Al Oerter
Venue Olympic Stadium
DatesSeptember 6 (qualifying round)
September 7 (final round)
Competitors35 from 22 nations
Winning distance59.18 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Al Oerter
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Rink Babka
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Dick Cochran
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  1956
1964  

The men's discus throw throwing event at the 1960 Summer Olympics took place on September 6 & September 7. [1] Thirty-five athletes from 22 nations competed. [2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Al Oerter of the United States, the nation's third consecutive and 10th overall victory in the men's discus throw. It was Oerter's second gold medal in the event; he would go on to win four. Oerter was the sixth man to win two medals in the event, and the third to win two gold medals. The United States earned its second consecutive and third overall medal sweep in the event, as Rink Babka took silver and Dick Cochran bronze.

Background

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning finalists from the 1956 Games were gold medalist Al Oerter of the United States, sixth-place finisher (and 1948 gold medalist and 1952 silver medalist) Adolfo Consolini of Italy, seventh-place finisher Ferenc Klics of Hungary, twelfth-place finisher Kim Bukhantsov of the Soviet Union, thirteenth-place finisher Fanie du Plessis of South Africa, fourteenth-place finisher Erik Uddebom of Sweden, and fifteenth-place finisher Mesulame Rakuro of Fiji. Oerter and Rink Babka were the favorites, with Oerter a slight edge. Oerter was AAU champion in 1957, 1969, and 1960; Babka beat Oerter in the U.S. Olympic trials and set the world record a month before the Games. [2]

Bulgaria, Iraq, and New Zealand each made their debut in the men's discus throw; Germany competed as the "United Team of Germany" for the first time. The United States made its 14th appearance, having competed in every edition of the Olympic men's discus throw to date.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 52.00 metres advanced to the final (a steep increase from 1956's 47.00 metres, which had allowed 16 men to advance, though not nearly steep enough: 22 men beat the qualifying mark in 1960). If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top six competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted. [2] [3]

Records

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

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Rink Babka  (USA)59.91 Walnut, United States 12 August 1960
Olympic recordUS flag 48 stars.svg  Al Oerter  (USA)56.36 Melbourne, Australia 27 November 1956

Al Oerter had a very short throw in the first set of qualifying round throws, but in the second set he qualified for the final with a launch that broke his own Olympic record by over 2 metres—landing at 58.43 metres. His teammates Rink Babka (three times) and Dick Cochran (once) both exceeded the old record in the final, but only Oerter was able to beat his new record; Oerter threw 59.18 metres in the fifth throw of the final. All six of Oerter's final throws were longer than the old record.

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

DateTimeRound
Tuesday, 6 September 19609:00Qualifying
Wednesday, 7 September 196015:00Final

Results

All throwers reaching 52.00 metres advanced to the finals. All distances are listen in metres.

Qualifying

RankAthleteNation123DistanceNotes
1 Al Oerter Flag of the United States.svg  United States 46.3358.43 OR 58.43Q, OR
2 József Szécsényi Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 55.5255.52Q
3 Pentti Repo Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 54.8454.84Q
4 Rink Babka Flag of the United States.svg  United States 54.4854.48Q
5 Edmund Piątkowski Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 54.4154.41Q
6 Vladimir Trusenyov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 54.3154.31Q
7 Dick Cochran Flag of the United States.svg  United States 53.7953.79Q
8 Cees Koch Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 53.4853.48Q
9 Zdeněk Čihák Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 49.7951.8353.4253.42Q
10 Ferenc Klics Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 53.3453.34Q
11 Todor Artarski Flag of Bulgaria (1948-1967).svg  Bulgaria X53.3353.33Q
12 Kim Bukhantsov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 53.0853.08Q
13 Lothar Milde Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 53.0453.04Q
14 Zenon Begier Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 53.0353.03Q
15 Carmelo Rado Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 52.9852.98Q
16 Stein Haugen Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 52.7552.75Q
17 Zdeněk Němec Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 52.6852.68Q
18 Viktor Kompaniyets Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 50.6752.6652.66Q
19 Antonios Kounadis Flag of Greece (1828-1978).svg  Greece 52.4952.49Q
20 Adolfo Consolini Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 52.3852.38Q
21 Manfred Grieser Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 50.2252.2052.20Q
22 Warwick Selvey Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 52.0752.07Q
23 Fanie du Plessis Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg  South Africa X49.8451.8651.86
24 Östen Edlund Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 51.7649.1549.7051.76
25 Carol Lindroos Flag of Finland.svg  Finland X51.07X51.07
26 Pierre Alard Flag of France.svg  France 51.0248.8950.3251.02
27 Erik Uddebom Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 50.0450.8750.8350.87
28 Les Mills Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 49.6950.7644.7550.76
29 Franco Grossi Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 48.7648.6450.4350.43
30 Fritz Kühl Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany X50.40X50.40
31 Mike Lindsay Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 49.07X50.1550.15
32 Mesulame Rakuro Flag of Fiji (1924-1970).svg  Fiji 44.7347.0647.1847.18
33 Haider Khan Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 45.7546.5741.5746.57
34 Nayef Mohamed Hameed Flag of Iraq (1959-1963).svg  Iraq 38.1338.5039.3739.37
Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo Flag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain XXXNo mark
Gideon Ariel Flag of Israel.svg  Israel DNS
Herbert EgermannFlag of Austria.svg  Austria DNS
Salem El-Jisr Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon DNS

Final

RankAthleteNation123456DistanceNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Al Oerter Flag of the United States.svg  United States 57.6456.7356.5356.7359.18 OR 57.1959.18 OR
Silver medal icon.svg Rink Babka Flag of the United States.svg  United States 58.0258.0256.1454.9357.5257.4158.02
Bronze medal icon.svg Dick Cochran Flag of the United States.svg  United States X54.7548.7154.5157.1654.4957.16
4 József Szécsényi Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 54.58X54.8655.2255.7955.6155.79
5 Edmund Piątkowski Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 54.0651.5254.29X55.12X55.12
6 Viktor Kompaniyets Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 55.0653.38X53.52X51.0855.06
7 Carmelo Rado Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 51.1052.6554.00Did not advance54.00
8 Kim Bukhantsov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 52.4252.5953.61Did not advance53.61
9 Pentti Repo Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 53.4452.8151.08Did not advance53.44
10 Ferenc Klics Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 50.1051.6153.37Did not advance53.37
11 Stein Haugen Flag of Norway.svg  Norway XX53.36Did not advance53.36
12 Lothar Milde Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 52.2251.2653.33Did not advance53.33
13 Zdeněk Čihák Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 52.7553.2951.51Did not advance53.29
14 Zenon Begier Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 51.6750.9353.18Did not advance53.18
15 Vladimir Trusenyov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 52.1651.9852.93Did not advance52.93
16 Manfred Grieser Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 52.1752.1152.69Did not advance52.69
17 Adolfo Consolini Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 50.8452.4451.08Did not advance52.44
18 Antonios Kounadis Flag of Greece (1828-1978).svg  Greece 52.42X50.56Did not advance52.42
19 Zdeněk Němec Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 52.0549.4452.14Did not advance52.14
20 Todor Artarski Flag of Bulgaria (1948-1967).svg  Bulgaria 49.1452.12XDid not advance52.12
21 Warwick Selvey Flag of Australia.svg  Australia X49.34XDid not advance49.34
22 Cees Koch Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands X49.21XDid not advance49.21

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References

  1. "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's Discus Throw". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Discus Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  3. Official Report, vol. 2, p. 152.