The 1960 Summer Olympics (Italian: Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad (Italian: Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 (Italian: Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awarded the administration of the 1908 Summer Olympics. However, following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906, the city had no choice but to decline and pass the honour to London. The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals at the 1960 Games. The 1st Paralympic Games were held in Rome in conjunction with the 1960 Summer Olympics, marking the first time such events coincided.
Host city selection
On 15 June 1955, at the 50th IOC Session in Paris, France, Rome won the right to host the 1960 Games, having beaten Brussels, Mexico City, Tokyo, Detroit, Budapest and finally Lausanne. Tokyo and Mexico City would subsequently host the proceeding 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics respectively. Toronto was initially interested in the bidding, but was automatically removed from consideration when it failed to return the IOC's mandatory questionnaire by the deadline. The questionnaire may have been mislaid in the confusion following the death of the Toronto bid's chief organiser, Robert Hood Saunders, in a plane crash weeks before the deadline. This was the first of five unsuccessful attempts by Toronto to secure the Summer Olympics, the most recent being a bid for the 2008 Games.
Highlights
Swedish sprint canoeist Gert Fredriksson won his sixth Olympic title. Fencer Aladár Gerevich of Hungary won his sixth consecutive gold medal in the team sabre event. The Japanese men's gymnastics team won the first of five successive golds (see 1976 Summer Olympics). The United States men's national basketball team—led by promising college players Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West—captured its fifth straight Olympic gold medal. Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm won his fourth straight gold medal in the Finn class. Others to emulate his performance in an individual event are Al Oerter, Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps, Kaori Icho, Mijaín López and, if the Intercalated (Interspaced) Games of 1906 are included, Ray Ewry. German Armin Hary won the 100 metres in an Olympic record time of 10.2 seconds. Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track. She was acclaimed as "the fastest woman in the world". Jeff Farrell won two gold medals in swimming. He underwent an emergency appendectomy six days before the Olympic Trials.
Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon barefooted to become the first African and Ethiopian Olympic champion. 18-year-old Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal. Ramon "Buddy" Carr was his coach. Herb Elliott of Australia won the men's 1500 meters in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic history. Rafer Johnson defeated his rival, fellow U.C.L.A. Bruin and friend C.K. Yang in one of the greatest Decathlon events in Olympic history. Lance Larson of the United States was controversially denied a 100 metres freestyle swimming gold, despite showing the best time. 16-years-old phenom Chris von Saltza won four medals in women's swimming, three of them gold. The future Constantine II, last King of Greece (abdicated and ended hybrid monarchy, 1973) won his country a gold in sailing: dragon class. The Pakistani Men's Field Hockey team broke a run of Indian team victories since 1928, defeating India in the final and winning Pakistan's first Olympic gold medal. Wrestlers Shelby Wilson, and Doug Blubaugh, who wrestled together growing up, won gold medals in their respective weight classes.
Lowlights
Danish cyclist Knud Jensen collapsed during the 100km team race because of heat stroke and later died in the hospital. It was suspected that he had been under the influence of Roniacol, a blood circulation stimulant. The International Olympic Committee stated on its website that "drugs were implicated, although that was never proven." It was the second time (and as of 2024, the most recent) an athlete died in competition at the Olympics, after the death of Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lázaro at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Historical landmarks
South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under its apartheid regime. It would not be allowed to return until 1992, by when apartheid in sport was being abolished. Singapore competed for the first time under its own flag, which was to become its national flag after independence, as the British had granted it self-government a year earlier. Tan Howe Liang won silver in the Weightlifting lightweight category, which was the first time (and the only time until 2008) that an athlete from Singapore won an Olympic medal.
Non-medal winners
Finnish Vilho Ylönen, a field shooter, shot a bullseye to a wrong target; in doing so, he dropped from second place to fourth. Peter Camejo, a 2004 American vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, competed in yachting for Venezuela. The future Queen Sofía of Spain represented her native Greece in sailing events.
Broadcasting
CBS paid US$394,000 (equivalent to $3.19 million in 2024) for the exclusive right to broadcast the Games in the United States. This was the first Summer Olympic games to be telecast in North America. In addition to CBS in the United States, the Olympics were telecast for the first time in Canada (on CBC Television) and in Mexico (through the networks of Telesistema Mexicano). Since television broadcast satellites were still two years into the future, CBS, CBC, and TSM shot and edited videotapes in Rome, fed the tapes to Paris where they were re-recorded onto other tapes which were then loaded onto jet planes to North America. Planes carrying the tapes landed at Idlewild Airport in New York City, where mobile units fed the tapes to CBS, to Toronto for the CBC, and to Mexico City for TSM. Despite this arrangement, many daytime events were broadcast in North America, especially on CBS and CBC, the same day they took place.
Venues
Olympic Stadium2 (Stadio Olimpico) – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian events Flaminio Stadium1 (Stadio Flaminio) – football finals Swimming Stadium1 – swimming, diving, water polo, modern pentathlon (swimming) Sports Palace1 (Palazzo dello sport) – basketball, boxing Olympic Velodrome1 – cycling (track), field hockey Small Sports Palace1 (Palazzetto dello Sport) – basketball, weightlifting Marble Stadium2 (Stadio dei Marmi) – field hockey preliminaries Baths of Caracalla – gymnastics Basilica of Maxentius – wrestling Palazzo dei Congressi – fencing Umberto I Shooting Range1 – modern pentathlon (shooting), shooting (pistol/ rifle) Roses Swimming Pool1 (Piscina delle Rose) – water polo Lake Albano, Castelgandolfo – rowing, canoeing Piazza di Siena, Villa Borghese gardens – equestrian (dressage, eventing – jumping, jumping – individual) Pratoni del Vivaro, Rocca di Papa – equestrian (eventing) Gulf 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 Saint Paul's Stadium, Naples – football/soccer preliminaries Campo Tre Fontane – field hockey preliminaries Acqua Santa Golf Club Course – modern pentathlon (running) Arch of Constantine – athletics (marathon finish) Cesano Infantry School Range – shooting (300 m free rifle) Lazio Pigeon Shooting Stand – shooting (trap shotgun) Passo Corese – modern pentathlon (riding) Grande Raccordo Anulare – athletics (marathon) Via Appian Antica – athletics (marathon) Via Cassia – cycling (individual road race) Via Flaminia – cycling (individual road race) Via Cristoforo Colombo – athletics (marathon), cycling (road team time trial) Via di Grottarossa – cycling (individual road race) 1 New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. 2 Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.
Games
Participating National Olympic Committees
A total of 83 nations participated at the Rome Games. Athletes from Morocco, San Marino, Sudan, and Tunisia competed at the Olympic Games for the first time. Athletes from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago would represent the new (British) West Indies Federation, competing as "Antilles", but this nation would only exist for this single Olympiad. Athletes from Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia competed under the Rhodesia name while representing the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany would compete as the United Team of Germany from 1956 to 1964. Athletes from the People's Republic of China last competed at the 1952 Summer Games but had since withdrawn from the Olympic movement due to a dispute with the Republic of China over the right to represent China. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants that each country contributed.
Suriname also made its first Olympic appearance, but its lone athlete (Wim Esajas) withdrew from competition due to a scheduling error.
Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees
Sports
The 1960 Summer Olympics featured 17 different sports encompassing 23 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 150 events. In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
Calendar
All dates are in Central European Time (UTC+1)
Medal count
These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1960 Games:
1960 Summer Paralympics 1960 Winter Olympics Olympic Games held in Italy 1956 Winter Olympics – Cortina D'Ampezzo 1960 Summer Olympics – Rome 2006 Winter Olympics – Turin 2026 Winter Olympics – Milan and Cortina D'Ampezzo List of IOC country codes Universiades celebrated in Italy 1959 Summer Universiade – Turin 1966 Winter Universiade – Sestriere 1970 Summer Universiade – Turin 1975 Winter Universiade – Livigno 1975 Summer Universiade – Rome 1985 Winter Universiade – Belluno 1997 Summer Universiade – Sicily 2003 Winter Universiade – Tarvisio 2007 Winter Universiade – Turin 2013 Winter Universiade – Trentino 2019 Summer Universiade – Naples 2025 Winter Universiade – Turin Deaflympics celebrated in Italy 1957 Summer Deaflympics – Milan 2001 Summer Deaflympics – Rome 2019 Winter Deaflympics – Province of Sondrio
"Rome 1960". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World, David Maraniss, New York, NY, U.S.: Simon & Schuster, 2008. The program of the 1960 Rome Olympics LIFE 12 Sep 1960
Demo article adapted from 1960 Summer Olympics on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply.
