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

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.

Men's 200 metres
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
VenueOlympic Stadium
Dates2–3 September
Competitors62 from 47 nations
Winning time20.5 =WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Livio Berruti
 Italy
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lester Carney
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Abdoulaye Seye
 France
← 1956
1964 →

Background

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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

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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

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

World record   Stone Johnson (USA) 20.5 Stanford, United States 2 July 1960
Olympic record   Bobby Morrow (USA) 20.6 Melbourne, Australia 27 November 1956

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

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All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

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

Results

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Heats

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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

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Paul Genevay   France 21.2 Q
2 Vadym Arkhypchuk   Soviet Union 21.5 Q
3 James Omagbemi   Nigeria 26.2
Iftikhar Shah   Pakistan DNS
Abebe Hailou   Ethiopia DNS
Enrique Figuerola   Cuba DNS

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Les Carney   United States 21.1 Q
2 David Segal   Great Britain 21.3 Q
3 Peter Laeng   Switzerland 21.6
4 Shahrudin Mohamed Ali   Malaya 22.3
Hilmar Thorbjörnsson   Iceland DNS

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Stone Johnson   United States 21.7 Q
2 Nikolaos Georgopoulos   Greece 22.0 Q
3 Clayton Glasgow   Guyana 22.6
4 James Roberts   Liberia 23.1
Harry Jerome   Canada DNS

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Marcel Wendelin   United Team of Germany 21.6 Q
2 Leonid Bartenev   Soviet Union 21.8 Q
3 Michael Okantey   Ghana 21.8
4 Santiago Plaza   Mexico 22.0
5 Huang Suh-Chuang   Formosa 22.9
6 Abdul Khaliq   Pakistan 23.1

Heat 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Peter Radford   Great Britain 21.1 Q
2 Erasmus Amukun   Uganda 21.3 Q
3 Csaba Csutorás   Hungary 21.7
4 Sitiveni Moceidreke   Fiji 21.8
5 Elmar Kunauer   Austria 22.2
Emmanuel Putu   Liberia DNS

Heat 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ray Norton   United States 21.2 Q
2 David Jones   Great Britain 21.2 Q
3 Yuriy Konovalov   Soviet Union 21.4 q
4 Ramón Vega   Puerto Rico 21.8
5 Patrick Lowry   Ireland 22.1
Vilém Mandlík   Czechoslovakia DNF

Heat 7

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Livio Berruti   Italy 21.0 Q
2 Tom Robinson   Bahamas 21.4 Q
3 Lloyd Murad   Venezuela 21.8
4 Pentti Rekola   Finland 22.2
5 Bouchaib El-Maachi   Morocco 22.3
Jalal Gozal   Indonesia DNS

Heat 8

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Dennis Johnson   British West Indies 21.2 Q
2 José da Conceição   Brazil 21.3 Q
3 Sebald Schnellmann   Switzerland 21.4 q
4 Jean-Pierre Barra   Belgium 22.3
5 Enrique Bautista   Philippines 23.0
6 Ali Yusuf Zaid   Afghanistan 23.1

Heat 9

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abdoulaye Seye   France 21.1 Q
2 Carl Fredrik Bunæs   Norway 21.3 Q
3 Clifton Bertrand   British West Indies 21.3 q
4 Amos Grodzinowsky   Israel 21.8
5 Barry Robinson   New Zealand 22.2
6 Lennart Jonsson   Sweden 22.3

Heat 10

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Marian Foik   Poland 21.1 Q
2 Jocelyn Delecour   France 21.3 Q
3 Armando Sardi   Italy 21.6
4 Lynn Eves   Canada 21.9
5 Mikhail Bachvarov   Bulgaria 22.2
6 Roger Bofferding   Luxembourg 23.2

Heat 11

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Seraphino Antao   Kenya 21.3 Q
2 Rafael Romero   Venezuela 21.4 Q
3 Manfred Germar   United Team of Germany 21.6
4 Romain Poté   Belgium 22.1
5 Melanio Asensio   Spain 22.3
6 Aydin Onur   Turkey 22.5

Heat 12

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Edward Jefferys   South Africa 21.1 Q
2 Salvatore Giannone   Italy 21.5 Q
3 Kimitada Hayase   Japan 22.3
4 Falih Fahmi   Iraq 22.6
5 Dennis Tipping   Australia 22.9
Milkha Singh   India DNS

Quarterfinals

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The first three in each quarterfinal qualified for the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Stone Johnson   United States 20.9 Q
2 Edward Jefferys   South Africa 21.1 Q
3 Tom Robinson   Bahamas 21.2 Q
4 Erasmus Amukun   Uganda 21.3
5 Yuriy Konovalov   Soviet Union 21.3
6 Clifton Bertrand   British West Indies 21.4
7 Rafael Romero   Venezuela 21.4

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abdoulaye Seye   France 20.8 Q
2 Ray Norton   United States 21.0 Q
3 David Segal   Great Britain 21.1 Q
4 Seraphino Antao   Kenya 21.3
5 Vadym Arkhypchuk   Soviet Union 21.5
6 José da Conceição   Brazil 21.5
7 Nikolaos Georgopoulos   Greece 22.0

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Les Carney   United States 20.9 Q
2 Peter Radford   Great Britain 21.0 Q
3 Dennis Johnson   British West Indies 21.1 Q
4 Jocelyn Delecour   France 21.5
5 Leonid Bartenev   Soviet Union 21.5
6 Sebald Schnellmann   Switzerland 21.5
7 Salvatore Giannone   Italy 21.8

Quarterfinal 4

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Paul Genevay and Livio Berruti in quarterfinal 4, interrupted by a pigeon
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Livio Berruti   Italy 20.8 Q
2 Marian Foik   Poland 20.9 Q
3 Paul Genevay   France 21.1 Q
4 David Jones   Great Britain 21.2
5 Carl Fredrik Bunæs   Norway 21.4
6 Marcel Wendelin   United Team of Germany 21.6

Semifinals

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The first three in each semifinal qualified for the final.

Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abdoulaye Seye   France 20.8 Q
2 Marian Foik   Poland 21.0 Q
3 Les Carney   United States 21.1 Q
4 Edward Jefferys   South Africa 21.3
5 Tom Robinson   Bahamas 21.5
David Segal   Great Britain DSQ

Semifinal 2

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Berruti tied the world record of 20.5 seconds.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Livio Berruti   Italy 20.5 Q, =WR
2 Ray Norton   United States 20.7 Q
3 Stone Johnson   United States 20.8 Q
4 Peter Radford   Great Britain 20.9
5 Dennis Johnson   British West Indies 21.0
6 Paul Genevay   France 21.0

Final

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Berruti tied again the world record of 20.5 seconds

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Livio Berruti   Italy 20.5 =WR
  Les Carney   United States 20.6
  Abdoulaye Seye   France 20.7
4 Marian Foik   Poland 20.8
5 Stone Johnson   United States 20.8
6 Ray Norton   United States 20.9

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 200 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b "200 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
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