The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 31 and September 2. There were 34 competitors from 23 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Glenn Davis of the United States, the first man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the 400 metres hurdles. As of the 2016 Games, he remains the only man to do so; three others have won two gold medals in the event, but all three did so in nonconsecutive Games. It was the United States' fifth consecutive and 10th overall victory in the event. The Americans also completed their second consecutive (and fourth overall) medal sweep in the event, as Cliff Cushman took silver and Dick Howard took bronze.

Background

This was the 12th time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

One of the six finalists from the 1956 Games returned: gold medalist Glenn Davis of the United States. Davis was favored to repeat; he had lowered his own world record to 49.2 seconds in 1958 and taken four of the last five AAU titles (not competing in the 1959 event). He was joined on the American team by Dick Howard (Pan American runner-up, 1959 AAU champion) and Cliff Cushman (third at the PanAm Games). The biggest challenger to Davis was Gert Potgieter of South Africa, the 1958 Commonwealth Games champion and 440 yards hurdles world record holder who had been in medal contention in the 1956 Olympic final before hitting the last hurdle and finishing sixth. Potgieter, however, had been injured in an automobile accident and was unable to compete in Rome.

Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Norway, and Tunisia each made their debut in the event; East and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany for the first time. The United States made its 12th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every edition of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition used the three-round format used every Games since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): heats, semifinals, and a final. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.

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 qualifying heats who did not advance based on place.

There were 6 heats with between 5 and 6 athletes each. The top 2 men in each heat advanced to the semifinals, along with the next 2 fastest overall. The 14 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 7 athletes each, with the top 3 in each semifinal advancing to the 6-man final.

Records

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

Four runners went under 50 seconds (hand-timed) in the final, the first time any had done so in the Olympics. Glenn Davis's time of 49.3 seconds was the new record.

Schedule

The competition used a three-day schedule, with each round on a separate day, for the first time.

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round Wednesday, 31 August 1960 15:00 Heats Thursday, 1 September 1960 16:15 Semifinals Friday, 2 September 1960 16:00 Final

Results

Heats

The fastest two hurdlers in each of the six heats and the next two fastest advanced to the semifinal round.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time(hand) Time(auto) Notes 1 Bruno Galliker 51.0 51.20 2 Dick Howard 51.2 51.32 3 Anubes da Silva 52.1 52.25 4 Max Boyes 52.1 52.32 5 Wiesław Król 52.4 52.52 6 Mohamed Zouaki 55.2 55.65

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time(hand) Time(auto) Notes 1 Jan Gulbrandsen 52.2 52.39 2 Glenn Davis 52.2 52.41 3 Arnold Matsulevich 52.9 53.00 4 George Shepherd 53.0 53.05 5 Marcel Lambrechts 53.5 53.67 Soedjanoedji

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time(hand) Time(auto) Notes 1 Cliff Cushman 51.8 51.98 2 Willi Matthias 52.1 52.23 3 Keiji Ogushi 52.4 52.58 4 Chris Goudge 52.6 52.75 5 Muhammad Yaqub 52.8 52.91 6 Mongi Soussi Zarrouki 54.3 54.34

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time(hand) Time(auto) Notes 1 Georgy Chevychalov 51.8 51.97 2 Salvatore Morale 52.0 52.13 3 Per-Owe Trollsås 52.3 52.49 4 Wolfgang Fischer 53.2 53.35 5 Dimitrios Skourtis 53.7 53.85 Habib Sayed

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time(hand) Time(auto) Notes 1 Helmut Janz 51.1 51.30 2 Bartonjo Rotich 51.2 51.39 3 Jussi Rintamäki 51.5 51.70 4 Elio Catola 51.8 51.94 5 Fahir Özgüden 55.3 55.43 6 Nazzar Al-Jamali 58.0 Unknown

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time(hand) Time(auto) Notes 1 John Metcalf 52.1 52.24 2 Moreno Martini 52.1 52.26 3 Boris Kriunov 52.5 52.66 4 Víctor Maldonado 52.6 52.79 5 Zdzisław Kumiszcze 53.3 53.47 6 Li Po-Ting 54.1 54.23

Semifinals

The fastest three hurdlers in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time(hand) Time(auto) Notes 1 Glenn Davis 51.1 51.20 2 Jussi Rintamäki 51.1 51.20 3 Helmut Janz 51.4 51.55 4 Georgy Chevychalov 52.0 52.14 5 Elio Catola 52.3 52.44 6 Jan Gulbrandsen 52.4 52.56 7 Moreno Martini 52.4 52.57

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time(hand) Time(auto) Notes 1 Cliff Cushman 50.8 50.89 2 Dick Howard 50.8 50.91 3 Bruno Galliker 51.3 51.47 4 Salvatore Morale 51.3 51.48 5 Bartonjo Rotich 51.8 51.97 Rotich was placed ahead of Matthias in the second semifinal despite the auto-time showing that Matthias finished faster. 6 Willi Matthias 51.8 51.95 7 John Metcalf 52.5 52.72

Final

Rank Athlete Nation Time(hand) Time(auto) Notes Glenn Davis 49.3 49.51 Cliff Cushman 49.6 49.77 Dick Howard 49.7 49.90 4 Helmut Janz 49.9 50.05 5 Jussi Rintamäki 50.8 50.98 6 Bruno Galliker 51.0 51.11 Wind: +0.1 m/s

Results summary

Rank Athlete Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Notes Glenn Davis 52.41 51.20 49.51 Cliff Cushman 51.98 50.89 49.77 Dick Howard 51.32 50.91 49.90 4 Helmut Janz 51.30 51.55 50.05 5 Jussi Rintamäki 51.70 51.20 50.98 6 Bruno Galliker 51.20 51.47 51.11 7 Salvatore Morale 52.13 51.48 Did not advance 8 Bartonjo Rotich 51.39 51.97 9 Willi Matthias 52.23 51.95 10 Georgy Chevychalov 51.97 52.14 11 Elio Catola 51.94 52.44 12 Jan Gulbrandsen 52.39 52.56 13 Moreno Martini 52.26 52.57 14 John Metcalf 52.24 52.72 15 Anubes da Silva 52.25 Did not advance 16 Max Boyes 52.32 17 Per-Owe Trollsås 52.49 18 Wiesław Król 52.52 19 Keiji Ogushi 52.58 20 Boris Kriunov 52.66 21 Chris Goudge 52.75 22 Víctor Maldonado 52.79 23 Muhammad Yaqub 52.91 24 Arnold Matsulevich 53.00 25 George Shepherd 53.05 26 Wolfgang Fischer 53.35 27 Zdzisław Kumiszcze 53.47 28 Marcel Lambrechts 53.67 29 Dimitrios Skourtis 53.85 30 Li Po-Ting 54.23 31 Mongi Soussi Zarrouki 54.34 32 Fahir Özgüden 55.43 33 Mohamed Zouaki 55.65 34 Nazzar Al-Jamali 58.0

References