1960 Summer Olympics

The Games of the XVII Olympiad were held in 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had been awarded the organisation of the 1908 Summer Olympics, but had to decline and pass the honours to London. This time, they beat Lausanne, Detroit, Budapest, Brussels, Mexico City and Tokyo.

Table of contents

1 Highlights

Highlights

Danish sailer Paul Elvstrøm[?] wins his forth straight gold medal in the Finn class, the first athlete to achieve this feat in an individual event. The only other two to have emulated his performance are Al Oerter[?] and Carl Lewis.
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, wins three gold medals in the sprint events on the track.
Abebe Bikila[?] of Ethiopia wins the marathon bare-footed to become the first black African Olympic Champion.
Cassius Clay, later better known as Muhammad Ali, wins boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal.
South Africa appears in the Olympic arena for the last time under the apartheid regime. They would be allowed again only in 1992.
Swedish canoer[?] Gert Fredriksson[?] wins his sixth Olympic title.
Danish cyclist Knut Jensen[?] 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.

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Pos

Country

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

IOC Site on 1960 Summer Olympics (http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1960)