1960 Summer Olympics

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The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, were celebrated in 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had been awarded the organization of the 1908 Summer Olympics, but, after the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, had to decline and pass the honours to London. In 1955, the city beat out Lausanne, Detroit, Budapest, Brussels, Mexico City and Tokyo for the rights to the Games.

CBS paid $394,000 for the right to broadcast the Games in the United States.

Highlights

Soviet gymnasts won 15 of 16 possible medals in women's gymnastics
Danish sailer Paul Elvstrøm won his fourth straight gold medal in the Finn class. The only others to emulate his performance in an individual event are Al Oerter, Carl Lewis and, if the Intercalated Games of 1906 are included, Ray Ewry.
Finnish Vilho Ylönen, a field shooter, shot a bullseye to a wrong target and was dropped from the second place to fourth.
The future Constantine II, King of Greece, won his country a gold in sailing Dragon Class.
Fencer Aladar Gerevich of Hungary won his sixth consecutive gold medal in the team sabre event (1932-1936, 1948-1960).
Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track.
Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon bare-footed to become the first black African Olympic champion although he specialized in the 25 km race.
Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal.
The Japanese men's gymnastics team won the first of five successive golds, the last of which was won in 1976, in Montreal.
South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under the apartheid regime. They would not be allowed to return until 1992, after the abandonment of apartheid and during the transition to majority rule.
Swedish canoer Gert Fredriksson won his sixth Olympic title.
Danish cyclist Knud Enemark collapsed during his race under the influence of amphetamines and later died in the hospital. It was the second time an athlete died in competition at the Olympics, after the death of Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lazaro at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Australian athlete Herb Elliott won the men's 1500 meters in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic history.
American athlete Rafer Johnson defeated his rival and friend C.K. Yang in one of the greatest decathlon events in Olympic history.
2004 American vice-presidential candidate Peter Camejo competed in yachting for Venezuela.
Armin Hary won the 100 m in a world record time of 10.2 seconds.
Pakistan broke India's dominance in Olympic Men's Field Hockey by becoming the first team in history to beat India in Olympic Field Hockey since 1928 and winning its first ever Olympic gold medal in the process. India had already won 6 previous hockey golds in the Summer Olympics.
Queen Sofía of Spain represented Greece in sailing events.
Jeff Farrell, U.S., won two gold medals in swimming after undergoing an emergency appendectomy six days before the Olympic Trials

Venues

Olympic Stadium² (Stadio Olimpico) - opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian events
Flaminio Stadium¹ (Stadio Flaminio) - football/soccer finals
Swimming Stadium¹ - swimming, diving, water polo
Sports Palace¹ (Palazzo dello sport) - basketball, boxing
Olympic Velodrome¹ - cycling, hockey
Small Sports Palace¹ (Palazzetto dello Sport) - basketball, weightlifting
Marble Stadium² (Stadio dei Marmi) - hockey preliminaries
Baths of Caracalla - gymnastics
Basilica of Maxentius - wrestling
Palazzo dei Congressi - fencing
Umberto I Shooting Range¹ - shooting
Roses Swimming Pool¹ (Piscina delle Rose) - water polo
Lake Albano, Castelgandolfo - rowing, canoeing
Piazza di Siena, Villa Borghese gardens - equestrian events
Pratoni del Vivaro, Rocca di Papa - equestrian events
Bay of Naples, Naples - yachting
Communal Stadium, Florence - football/soccer preliminaries
Communal Stadium, Grosseto - football/soccer preliminaries
Communal Stadium, L'Aquila - football/soccer preliminaries
Ardenza Stadium, Livorno - football/soccer preliminaries
Adriatico Stadium, Pescara - football/soccer preliminaries
Fuorigrotta Stadium, Naples - football/soccer preliminaries

¹ New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. ² Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Participating nations

A total of 84 nations participated at the Rome Games. Athletes from Morocco, San Marino, Sudan, and Tunisia competed at the Olympic Games for the first time. Suriname also made its first Olympic appearance, but its lone athlete withdrew from competition, leaving a total of 83 nations that actually competed. Athletes from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago would represent the new West Indies Federation, but this nation would only exist for this single Olympiad. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany would compete as the United Team of Germany from 1956-1964.

Medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:

1		43	29	31	103
2		34	21	16	71
3	(host nation)	13	10	13	36
4		12	19	11	42
5		8	8	6	22
6		7	2	0	9
7		6	8	7	21
8		4	7	7	18
9		4	6	11	21
10		3	2	3	8

External links

IOC Site on 1960 Summer Olympics

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Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 12:05:40 PDT (GMT -0700)
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