Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump

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Men's high jump
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
John Thomas, Robert Shavlakadze, Valery Brumel 1960.jpg
Thomas, Shavlakadze, and Brumel
Venue Olympic Stadium
DateSeptember 1
Competitors32 from 23 nations
Winning height2.16 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Robert Shavlakadze
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Silver medal icon.svg Valery Brumel
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Bronze medal icon.svg John Thomas
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  1956
1964  

The men's high jump field event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place on September 1. [1] Thirty-two athletes from 23 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 Robert Shavlakadze of the Soviet Union, the nation's first victory in the men's high jump. Valery Brumel took silver; both men surpassed the previous best placing for the Soviet team of bronze. American John Thomas took bronze to keep alive the United States' streak of medaling in every edition of the Olympic men's high jump.

Background

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1956 Games were gold medalist Charles Dumas of the United States, silver medalist Chilla Porter of Australia, fourth-place finisher Stig Pettersson of Sweden, and eleventh-place finisher Maurice Fournier of France. The world record holder, and possibly the odds-on favourite in 1960, was John Thomas of the United States. Valery Brumel of the Soviet Union was considered his biggest challenger; Dumas and the other Soviet athletes (Robert Shavlakadze and Viktor Bolshov) were also outside contenders. [2]

Iraq and Tunisia each made their debut in the event; Germany appeared for the first time as the United Team of Germany. The United States appeared for the 14th time, having competed at each edition of the Olympic men's high jump to that point.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1912. There were two distinct rounds of jumping with results cleared between rounds. The qualifying round had the bar set at 1.90 metres, 1.95 metres, and 2.00 metres. All jumpers clearing 2.00 metres in the qualifying round advanced to the final. The final had jumps at 1.90 metres, 1.95 metres, 2.00 metres, 2.03 metres, 2.06 metres, 2.09 metres, 2.12 metres, and then increased by 0.02 metres until a winner was found. Each athlete had three attempts at each height. [2] [3]

Records

The world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1960 Summer Olympics:

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  John Thomas  (USA)2.22 Palo Alto, United States 1 July 1960
Olympic recordUS flag 48 stars.svg  Charles Dumas  (USA)2.12 Melbourne, Australia 23 November 1956

Each of the three Soviets matched the Olympic record of 2.12 metres: Valery Brumel, Robert Shavlakadze, and Viktor Bolshov. John Thomas skipped that height; he joined the three Soviets in all successfully breaking the Olympic record at 2.14 metres. Shavlakadze and Brumel were able to extend the new record further, to 2.16 metres, where it stood at the end of the 1960 Games.

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

DateTimeRound
Thursday, 1 September 19609:00
15:15
Qualifying
Final

Results

Key

All jumpers reaching 2.00 metres advanced to the finals. All heights are listed in metres.

Qualifying

RankAthleteNation1.901.952.00HeightNotes
1 John Thomas Flag of the United States.svg  United States o2.00Q
2 Viktor Bolshov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union oo2.00Q
Stig Pettersson Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden oo2.00Q
4 Maurice Fournier Flag of France.svg  France ooo2.00Q
Robert Kotei Flag of the Union of African States (1958-1961).svg  Ghana ooo2.00Q
Jiří Lanský Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia ooo2.00Q
Kjell-Åke Nilsson Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden ooo2.00Q
Sándor Noszály Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary ooo2.00Q
Cornel Porumb Flag of Romania (1952-1965).svg  Romania ooo2.00Q
Robert Shavlakadze Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union ooo2.00Q
11 Theo Püll Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany xooo2.00Q
12 Piotr Sobotta Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland oxxoo2.00Q
13 Valery Brumel Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union oxo2.00Q
Gordon Miller Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain oxo2.00Q
15 Charlie Dumas Flag of the United States.svg  United States ooxo2.00Q
Joe Faust Flag of the United States.svg  United States ooxo2.00Q
17 Mahamat Idriss Flag of France.svg  France ooxxo2.00Q
18 Kuniyoshi Sugioka Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan oxxx1.95
19 René Maurer Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland ooxxx1.95
Werner Pfeil Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany ooxxx1.95
Eero Salminen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland ooxxx1.95
22 Helmut Donner Flag of Austria.svg  Austria xooxxx1.95
Jón Pétursson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland xooxxx1.95
24 Crawford Fairbrother Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain oxoxxx1.95
Peter Riebensahm Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany oxoxxx1.95
26 Đorđe Majtan Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg  Yugoslavia xxoxxx1.95
27 Chilla Porter Flag of Australia.svg  Australia oxxoxxx1.95
28 Samuel Igun Flag of Nigeria (1952-1960).svg  Nigeria oxxx1.90
29 Gurbachan Singh Randhawa Flag of India.svg  India xxoxxx1.90
Mohamed Abdul Razzak Flag of Iraq (1959-1963).svg  Iraq xxxNo mark
Sylvain Bitan Flag of Tunisia (1959-1999).svg  Tunisia xxxNo mark
Çetin Şahiner Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey xxxNo mark

Final

RankAthleteNation1.901.952.002.032.062.092.122.142.162.18MarkNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Robert Shavlakadze Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union xoooooooxxx2.16 OR
Silver medal icon.svg Valery Brumel Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union oooxoxxoxoxoxxx2.16 OR
Bronze medal icon.svg John Thomas Flag of the United States.svg  United States oooxoxxx2.14
4 Viktor Bolshov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union oooooxoxxx2.14
5 Stig Pettersson Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden ooxxoxxoxxx2.09
6 Charlie Dumas Flag of the United States.svg  United States ooxxx2.03
7 Jiří Lanský Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia ooooxxx2.03
Kjell-Åke Nilsson Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden ooooxxx2.03
Theo Püll Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  United Team of Germany ooooxxx2.03
10 Robert Kotei Flag of the Union of African States (1958-1961).svg  Ghana ooxoxxx2.03
11 Cornel Porumb Flag of Romania (1952-1965).svg  Romania oooxoxxx2.03
12 Mahamat Idriss Flag of France.svg  France xoxoxoxxx2.03
13 Sándor Noszály Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary ooxoxxoxxx2.03
14 Maurice Fournier Flag of France.svg  France ooxxx2.00
15 Piotr Sobotta Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland oooxxx2.00
16 Gordon Miller Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain ooxxoxxx2.00
17 Joe Faust Flag of the United States.svg  United States ooxxx1.95

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Viktor Bolshov is a retired Soviet high jumper. He competed in the 1960 Olympics finishing fourth behind his teammates Robert Shavlakadze, world record holder Valery Brumel and American John Thomas. During the course of the competition all four equaled the Olympic record, Shavlakadze, the first jumper in the order set the record first. Based on current rules, Bolshov would have tied Thomas for the bronze medal, but at the time jumpers were penalized for the number of attempts and Bolshov took seven attempts during the competition to Thomas' five.

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's High Jump". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "High Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  3. Official Report, p. 132.