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

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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 →

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.

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
1st place, gold medalist(s) Livio Berruti  Italy 20.5 =WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Les Carney  United States 20.6
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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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