Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

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Men's 100 metres
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
Venue Stadio Olimpico
Rome, Italy
Dates31 August 1960 (heats, quarterfinals)
1 September 1960 (semifinals, final)
Competitors61 from 45 nations
Winning time10.2 seconds
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Armin Hary Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany
Silver medal icon.svg Dave Sime Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Peter Radford Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain
  1956
1964  
Official Video Highlights TV-icon-2.svg
Official Video Highlights

The men's 100 metres was an event at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. The competition was held at the Olympic Stadium on 31 August and 1 September. Sixty-five competitors from 48 nations entered, but 61 competitors from 45 nations participated. [1] Nations were limited to three athletes each under rules set at the 1930 Olympic Congress.

The event was won in a photo finish by Armin Hary of the United Team of Germany, earning the first Olympic title by a German runner in the event (Fritz Hofmann was second in 1896) and breaking the United States' streak of five straight wins. American Dave Sime was the silver medalist, posting the same Olympic record time (10.2 seconds) as Hary (they were separated by a photo-finish).

Summary

Since winning the 1958 European Championship, Armin Hary was a known commodity. His incredible reaction time supposedly had been clocked using high speed cameras at .03 of a second, [2] while normal humans react from .15 upward. Some of his competitors thought he was using some sort of trickery.

Along with Enrique Figuerola asking for a pause, the proceedings to start this 10 second race took 20 minutes. Hary's incredible reaction to the gun and sprint form through the acceleration phase has been studied for generations, [3] [4] needless to say it put him in the lead, on the outside of the track in lane 6, putting nearly a 2-metre gap on Peter Radford to his inside. Dave Sime was the slowest out of the blocks with a deficit to make up across the track from Hary in lane 1. But make up the deficit he did, gaining with every step, passing the field by 70 metres and gaining until he was virtually running stride for stride against Hary at the line. Hary held Sime off, leaning at the tape to take the gold. With the fastest closing speed over the last 20 metres, Radford made up a big gap, to take the slight edge over Figueola and Frank Budd all finishing together.

Later, as a professor of sports science, Radford said he thinks he figured out the "tell" Hary used to anticipate the gun.

"He'd wait until we were all on our fingertips in the set position. Then he'd take up his place, pause momentarily – and run. He might get caught with a false start, but he might also get away with it." [5]

Hary ran representing the United Team of Germany, a combined team of German athletes from East and West Germany.

Background

This was the fourteenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Manfred Germar, 5th place in 1956, was the only finalist from the Melbourne Games to return in 1960. Notable entrants, along with Hary and Germar, were Americans Ray Norton (U.S. Olympic trial champion), Dave Sime, and Frank Budd, and Canada's Harry Jerome (who shared the world record with Hary at 10 seconds flat). [6]

The British West Indies, Fiji, Kenya, Morocco, South Korea, and Sudan were represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first fourteen Olympic men's 100 metres events.

Competition format

The event retained the same basic four round format from 1920–1956: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. However, the format was tweaked for the first time since 1936. The number of heats was reduced from 12 to 9 (with six or seven athletes per heat), with the number of runners advancing from each heat increased from 2 to 3. This led to 27 quarterfinalists (up from 24), so the 4 quarterfinal heats were now unbalanced: one had 6 athletes while the other three had 7. As before, however, the top 3 in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, once again with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final. [6]

Records

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

World record 10.0 Flag of Germany.svg Armin Hary Zürich, Switzerland 21 June 1960
10.0 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Harry Jerome Saskatoon, Canada 15 July 1960
Olympic record10.3 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Tolan Los Angeles, USA 1 August 1932
10.3 Flag of the United States.svg Ralph Metcalfe Los Angeles, USA 1 August 1932
10.3 Flag of the United States.svg Jesse Owens Berlin, Germany 2 August 1936
10.3 Flag of the United States.svg Harrison Dillard London, United Kingdom 31 July, 1948
10.3 Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Morrow Melbourne, Australia 23 November 1956
10.3 Flag of the United States.svg Ira Murchison Melbourne, Australia 23 November 1956
10.3 Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Morrow Melbourne, Australia 24 November 1956

Armin Hary broke the 28-year-old Olympic record with a 10.2 second run in the quarterfinals. He (along with Dave Sime) matched that 10.2 second result in the final.

Results

Heats

The top three runners in each of the 9 heats advanced.

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Enrique Figuerola Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba 10.4Q
2 Carl Fredrik Bunæs Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 10.7Q
3 Yuriy Konovalov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 10.7Q
4 Suthi Manyakass Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 10.8
5 Mikhail Bachvarov Flag of Bulgaria (1948-1967).svg  Bulgaria 11.0
6 Amos Grodzinowsky Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 11.1
7 Raj Joshi Tilak Flag of India.svg  India 11.3

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Seraphino Antao Flag of British East Africa.svg  Kenya 10.5Q
2 Armin Hary Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 10.6Q
3 Heinz Müller Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland 10.8Q
4 Gustav Ntiforo Flag of the Union of African States (1958-1961).svg  Ghana 11.0
5 Isaac Gómez Flag of the Philippines (1936-1985, 1986-1998).svg  Philippines 11.0
6 Dennis Tipping Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 11.2
7 Abdul Khaliq Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 11.2

Heat 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Horacio Esteves Flag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 10.4Q
2 Dennis Johnson Flag of the West Indies Federation.svg  British West Indies 10.4Q
3 Dave Sime Flag of the United States.svg  United States 10.5Q
4 Lynn Eves Flag of Canada (1957-1965).svg  Canada 10.8
5 Aggrey Awori Flag of the Uganda Protectorate.svg  Uganda 10.9
6 Patrick Lowry Flag of Ireland (3-2).svg  Ireland 10.9
7 Roba Negousse Flag of Ethiopia (1897-1974).svg  Ethiopia 11.3

Heat 4

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Harry Jerome Flag of Canada (1957-1965).svg  Canada 10.5Q
2 Jocelyn Delecour Flag of France.svg  France 10.5Q
3 Erasmus Amukun Flag of the Uganda Protectorate.svg  Uganda 10.6Q
4 Affonso da Silva Flag of Brazil (1960-1968).svg  Brazil 10.8
5 Bouchaib El-Maachi Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 10.9
6 Shahrudin Mohamed Ali Flag of Malaya.svg  Malaya 10.9
- James Omagbemi Flag of Nigeria (1952-1960).svg  Nigeria DNS

Heat 5

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Tom Robinson Flag of the Bahamas (1953-1964).svg  Bahamas 10.5Q
2 Lloyd Murad Flag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 10.7Q
3 Sitiveni Moceidreke Flag of Fiji (1924-1970).svg  Fiji 10.8Q
4 George Short Flag of Canada (1957-1965).svg  Canada 10.9
5 Emmanuel Putu Flag of Liberia.svg  Liberia 11.2
6 Kim Jong-cheol Flag of South Korea (1949-1984).svg  South Korea 11.5

Heat 6

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Ray Norton Flag of the United States.svg  United States 10.7Q
2 Gusman Kosanov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 10.7Q
3 Santiago Plaza Flag of Mexico (1934-1968).svg  Mexico 10.8Q
4 Walter Mahlendorf Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 10.8
5 Romain Poté Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 11.0
6 Aydin Onur Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 11.3
7 Abdul Hadi Shekaib Flag of Afghanistan (1931-1973).svg  Afghanistan 11.6

Heat 7

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 David Jones Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 10.5Q
2 Abdoulaye Seye Flag of France.svg  France 10.6Q
3 Rafael Romero Flag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 10.7Q
4 Elmar Kunauer Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 11.0
5 Huang Suh-chuang Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Formosa 11.2
6 Khudhir Zalata Flag of Iraq (1959-1963).svg  Iraq 11.3
-Iftikhar ShahFlag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan DNF

Heat 8

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Marian Foik Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 10.5Q
2 Edward Jefferys Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg  South Africa 10.6Q
3 Claude Piquemal Flag of France.svg  France 10.7Q
4 Jalal Gozal Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 10.9
5 Manfred Germar Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 11.0
6 Hamdan El-Tayeb Flag of Sudan (1956-1970).svg  Sudan 11.1
7 José Albarrán Flag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain 11.2

Heat 9

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Peter Radford Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 10.4Q
2 Frank Budd Flag of the United States.svg  United States 10.4Q
3 Edvin Ozolin Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 10.7Q
4 Hilmar Thorbjörnsson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 10.9
5 Nikolaos Georgopoulos Flag of Greece (1828-1978).svg  Greece 11.0
6 Moustafa Abdel Kader Flag of the United Arab Republic (1958-1971).svg  Egypt 11.2
7 James Roberts Flag of Liberia.svg  Liberia 11.2

Quarterfinal

The top three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Horacio EstevesFlag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 10.5Q
2Tom RobinsonFlag of the Bahamas (1953-1964).svg  Bahamas 10.6Q
3Ray NortonFlag of the United States.svg  United States 10.6Q
4Jocelyn DelecourFlag of France.svg  France 10.7
5Edward JefferysFlag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg  South Africa 10.7
6Edvīns OzoliņšFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 10.7
7Heinz MüllerCivil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland 10.8

Quarterfinal 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Armin HaryFlag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 10.2Q, OR
2Dave SimeFlag of the United States.svg  United States 10.3Q
3Marian FoikFlag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 10.4Q
4Dennis JohnsonFlag of the West Indies Federation.svg  British West Indies 10.4
5Carl Fredrik BunæsFlag of Norway.svg  Norway 10.5
6Yuriy KonovalovFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 10.5
7Sitiveni MoceidrekeFlag of Fiji (1924-1970).svg  Fiji 10.7

Quarterfinal 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Frank BuddFlag of the United States.svg  United States 10.4Q
2Enrique FiguerolaFlag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba 10.4Q
3David JonesFlag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 10.5Q
4Erasmus AmukunFlag of the Uganda Protectorate.svg  Uganda 10.6
5Claude PiquemalFlag of France.svg  France 10.6
6Gusman KosanovFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 10.7
7Santiago PlazaFlag of Mexico (1934-1968).svg  Mexico 10.8

Quarterfinal 4

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Harry JeromeFlag of Canada (1957-1965).svg  Canada 10.4Q
2Peter RadfordFlag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 10.4Q
3Seraphino AntaoFlag of British East Africa.svg  Kenya 10.4Q
4Abdoulaye SeyeFlag of France.svg  France 10.4
5Lloyd MuradFlag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 10.8
6Rafael RomeroFlag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 11.1

Semifinals

The top three runners in each of the two semifinals advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Peter RadfordFlag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 10.4Q
2Enrique FiguerolaFlag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba 10.4Q
3Frank BuddFlag of the United States.svg  United States 10.5Q
4Marian FoikFlag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 10.5
5Tom RobinsonFlag of the Bahamas (1953-1964).svg  Bahamas 10.5
-Harry JeromeFlag of Canada (1957-1965).svg  Canada DNF

Semifinal 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Armin HaryFlag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 10.3Q
2Dave SimeFlag of the United States.svg  United States 10.4Q
3Ray NortonFlag of the United States.svg  United States 10.4Q
4David JonesFlag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 10.4
5Horacio EstevesFlag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 10.5
6Seraphino AntaoFlag of British East Africa.svg  Kenya 10.6

Final

100 m final, left-right: Armin Hary, Peter Radford, Enrique Figuerola, Ray Norton, Frank Budd, Dave Sime Men 100m final 1960 Olympics.jpg
100 m final, left-right: Armin Hary, Peter Radford, Enrique Figuerola, Ray Norton, Frank Budd, Dave Sime

Armin Hary and Dave Sime tied the Olympic record.

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Armin Hary Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany 10.2 =OR
Silver medal icon.svg Dave Sime Flag of the United States.svg  United States 10.2 =OR
Bronze medal icon.svg Peter Radford Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 10.3
4 Enrique Figuerola Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba 10.3
5 Frank Budd Flag of the United States.svg  United States 10.3
6 Ray Norton Flag of the United States.svg  United States 10.4

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 100 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  2. Phillips, Ellen (1997). The XVII Olympiad: Rome 1960, Innsbruck 1964. World Sport Research & Publications. ISBN   978-1-888383-00-3.
  3. Congress, Library of (1978). "Library of Congress Catalogs: Films and Other Materials for Projection".
  4. "The Rocket Sprint Start, 2011 Edition, now Available!". 2011-11-30.
  5. Lamont, Tom (2010-01-10). "Frozen in time: Armin Hary wins 100m Olympic Gold, Rome, 1960". The Guardian.
  6. 1 2 "100 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 July 2020.