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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
VenueStadio Olimpico
Rome, Italy
Dates31 August (heats, quarterfinals)
1 September 1960 (semifinals, final)
Competitors61 from 45 nations
Winning time10.2 seconds
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Armin Hary  United Team of Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Dave Sime  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Peter Radford  Great Britain
← 1956
1964 →
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

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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

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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

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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

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

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

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Heats

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

Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Enrique Figuerola  Cuba 10.4 Q
2 Carl Fredrik Bunæs  Norway 10.7 Q
3 Yuriy Konovalov  Soviet Union 10.7 Q
4 Suthi Manyakass  Thailand 10.8
5 Mikhail Bachvarov  Bulgaria 11.0
6 Amos Grodzinowsky  Israel 11.1
7 Raj Joshi Tilak  India 11.3

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Seraphino Antao  Kenya 10.5 Q
2 Armin Hary  United Team of Germany 10.6 Q
3 Heinz Müller  Switzerland 10.8 Q
4 Gustav Ntiforo  Ghana 11.0
5 Isaac Gómez  Philippines 11.0
6 Dennis Tipping  Australia 11.2
7 Abdul Khaliq  Pakistan 11.2

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Horacio Esteves  Venezuela 10.4 Q
2 Dennis Johnson  British West Indies 10.4 Q
3 Dave Sime  United States 10.5 Q
4 Lynn Eves  Canada 10.8
5 Aggrey Awori  Uganda 10.9
6 Patrick Lowry  Ireland 10.9
7 Roba Negousse  Ethiopia 11.3

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Harry Jerome  Canada 10.5 Q
2 Jocelyn Delecour  France 10.5 Q
3 Erasmus Amukun  Uganda 10.6 Q
4 Affonso da Silva  Brazil 10.8
5 Bouchaib El-Maachi  Morocco 10.9
6 Shahrudin Mohamed Ali  Malaya 10.9
- James Omagbemi  Nigeria DNS

Heat 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Tom Robinson  Bahamas 10.5 Q
2 Lloyd Murad  Venezuela 10.7 Q
3 Sitiveni Moceidreke  Fiji 10.8 Q
4 George Short  Canada 10.9
5 Emmanuel Putu  Liberia 11.2
6 Kim Jong-cheol  South Korea 11.5

Heat 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ray Norton  United States 10.7 Q
2 Gusman Kosanov  Soviet Union 10.7 Q
3 Santiago Plaza  Mexico 10.8 Q
4 Walter Mahlendorf  United Team of Germany 10.8
5 Romain Poté  Belgium 11.0
6 Aydin Onur  Turkey 11.3
7 Abdul Hadi Shekaib  Afghanistan 11.6

Heat 7

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 David Jones  Great Britain 10.5 Q
2 Abdoulaye Seye  France 10.6 Q
3 Rafael Romero  Venezuela 10.7 Q
4 Elmar Kunauer  Austria 11.0
5 Huang Suh-chuang  Formosa 11.2
6 Khudhir Zalata  Iraq 11.3
- Iftikhar Shah  Pakistan DNF

Heat 8

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Marian Foik  Poland 10.5 Q
2 Edward Jefferys  South Africa 10.6 Q
3 Claude Piquemal  France 10.7 Q
4 Jalal Gozal  Indonesia 10.9
5 Manfred Germar  United Team of Germany 11.0
6 Hamdan El-Tayeb  Sudan 11.1
7 José Albarrán  Spain 11.2

Heat 9

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Peter Radford  Great Britain 10.4 Q
2 Frank Budd  United States 10.4 Q
3 Edvin Ozolin  Soviet Union 10.7 Q
4 Hilmar Thorbjörnsson  Iceland 10.9
5 Nikolaos Georgopoulos  Greece 11.0
6 Moustafa Abdel Kader  Egypt 11.2
7 James Roberts  Liberia 11.2

Quarterfinal

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

Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Horacio Esteves  Venezuela 10.5 Q
2 Tom Robinson  Bahamas 10.6 Q
3 Ray Norton  United States 10.6 Q
4 Jocelyn Delecour  France 10.7
5 Edward Jefferys  South Africa 10.7
6 Edvīns Ozoliņš  Soviet Union 10.7
7 Heinz Müller  Switzerland 10.8

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Armin Hary  United Team of Germany 10.2 Q, OR
2 Dave Sime  United States 10.3 Q
3 Marian Foik  Poland 10.4 Q
4 Dennis Johnson  British West Indies 10.4
5 Carl Fredrik Bunæs  Norway 10.5
6 Yuriy Konovalov  Soviet Union 10.5
7 Sitiveni Moceidreke  Fiji 10.7

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Frank Budd  United States 10.4 Q
2 Enrique Figuerola  Cuba 10.4 Q
3 David Jones  Great Britain 10.5 Q
4 Erasmus Amukun  Uganda 10.6
5 Claude Piquemal  France 10.6
6 Gusman Kosanov  Soviet Union 10.7
7 Santiago Plaza  Mexico 10.8

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Harry Jerome  Canada 10.4 Q
2 Peter Radford  Great Britain 10.4 Q
3 Seraphino Antao  Kenya 10.4 Q
4 Abdoulaye Seye  France 10.4
5 Lloyd Murad  Venezuela 10.8
6 Rafael Romero  Venezuela 11.1

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Peter Radford  Great Britain 10.4 Q
2 Enrique Figuerola  Cuba 10.4 Q
3 Frank Budd  United States 10.5 Q
4 Marian Foik  Poland 10.5
5 Tom Robinson  Bahamas 10.5
- Harry Jerome  Canada DNF

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Armin Hary  United Team of Germany 10.3 Q
2 Dave Sime  United States 10.4 Q
3 Ray Norton  United States 10.4 Q
4 David Jones  Great Britain 10.4
5 Horacio Esteves  Venezuela 10.5
6 Seraphino Antao  Kenya 10.6

Final

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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.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Armin Hary  United Team of Germany 10.2 =OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Dave Sime  United States 10.2 =OR
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Peter Radford  Great Britain 10.3
4 Enrique Figuerola  Cuba 10.3
5 Frank Budd  United States 10.3
6 Ray Norton  United States 10.4
  • Wind speed = -0.0 m/s

References

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  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. ^ a b "100 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
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