The 1960 Winter Olympics were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort in Squaw Valley, California, United States. The resort was chosen to host the Games at the 1956 meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Squaw Valley was an undeveloped resort in 1955, so the infrastructure and all of the venues were built between 1956 and 1960 at a cost of US$80,000,000. The layout was designed to be intimate, allowing spectators and competitors to reach most of the venues on foot.
Rafer Lewis Johnson was an American decathlete and film actor. He was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, having won silver in 1956. He had previously won a gold in the 1955 Pan American Games. He was the USA team's flag bearer at the 1960 Olympics and lit the Olympic cauldron at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
New Zealand at the 1956 Summer Olympics was represented by a team of 53 competitors and 12 officials. Selection of the team for the Games in Melbourne, Australia, was the responsibility of the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association. New Zealand's flagbearer at the opening ceremony was Ritchie Johnston. The New Zealand team finished 16th on the medal table, winning a total of two medals, both of which were gold.
Canada competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden. 92 competitors, 77 men and 15 women, took part in 81 events in 14 sports.
Egypt boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, because of the British and French involvement in the Suez Crisis. The equestrian events for the 1956 Games, however, were held in Stockholm, Sweden, five months earlier, due to Australian quarantine regulations, and three Egyptian riders competed in the show jumping events. None of the athletes won individual medals and they failed to place in the team competition due to one rider's failure to finish the individual tournament.
The United States competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. It was the first Summer Olympics in which the athletes marched under the present 50-star flag. 292 competitors, 241 men and 51 women, took part in 147 events in 17 sports. The 1960 Summer Olympics was the first Olympics in history that was being covered by a television provider. American network CBS became the first official broadcaster of the games, by purchasing the rights to cover the Rome Olympics. The 1960 Summer Olympics also brought one of the first appearances of one of the greatest heavyweight boxers ever, Muhammad Ali. Since these Olympic Games occurred before his conversion to Islam, he fought under the name Cassius Clay.
Robert James Elder, OC is a Canadian retired businessman and former equestrian. He competed at six Olympic Games between 1956 and 1984, winning one gold and one bronze medal. He missed the 1964 and 1980 Olympics because Canada did not send eventing and jumping teams there.
Robert L. Simpson was a professional Canadian football player for the Ottawa Rough Riders, and was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1976. He was an IRFU all-star at four different positions throughout his career and was a two-time Grey Cup champion, winning with Ottawa in 1951 and 1960. He also represented Canada in basketball at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.
Lorne Kenneth Loomer was a Canadian competition rower and Olympic champion.
Robert Willis "Jack" Morey Jr. was an American competition rower and Olympic champion. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, where he received a gold medal in the men's eight with the American team. He graduated from Yale University in 1958 and was a member of Skull and Bones. He served in the United States Navy aboard the icebreaker USS Atka as a lieutenant jg. and would later earn an MBA from Harvard Business School.
George N. Johnson is a Liberian athlete. He competed for Liberia at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics. He competed in the 400 metres, 800 metres and the 4×100 metres relay.
The men's marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, was held on Saturday September 10, 1960. There were 69 participants from 35 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. Abebe Bikila, who ran the race barefoot, finished in world record time and became the first sub-Saharan African to win an Olympic gold medal. All three of the medalists came from nations which had never before won an Olympic marathon medal.
Gustav Fischer was a Swiss equestrian athlete who competed at five Summer Olympic Games, winning a total of five medals. He won medals in the team dressage events in the 1952, 1956, 1964, and 1968 games; there was no team dressage event held in 1960, but he won an individual dressage medal in that year.
Ralph Hamilton Roberts was a New Zealand sailor and sports administrator.
Emmanuel Putu is a Liberian sprinter. He competed in the 100 metres at the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1960 Summer Olympics.
John Gilbert "Jack" Beckner was an American artistic gymnast, coach and referee. He competed at the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics with the best individual result of seventh place on the vault and horizontal bar in 1956. His elder brother Dick was also part of the 1956 Olympic gymnastics team.
Beverly Dawn Edith Weigel, with her first name commonly misspelled as Beverley and since her marriage known as Beverly Robertson, is a New Zealand athlete. Mainly active as a long jumper, but also as a sprinter, she represented her country at the 1956 Summer Olympics, the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Robert Monclar was a French basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1952 Summer Olympics, the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1960 Summer Olympics.
