The men's decathlon at the 1960 Summer Olympics took place between 5 September and 6 September at the Stadio Olimpico.
Summary Despite the presence of previous world record holder Vasili Kuznetsov, the competition quickly became a battle between UCLA training partners Rafer Johnson and Yang Chuan-kwang, also known as C.K. Yang. After two years of training together under "Ducky" Drake, each knew the other's abilities.
Yang's abilities lay in the speed events, building an almost 90 point lead in the first two events (100m and long jump). Johnson was superior in the throwing events. At the end of the first day, Johnson had a 55-point advantage.
The second day began with Yang speeding to a 180-point advantage in the 110 hurdles. Johnson countered with a 270-point gain in the Discus. Yang continued to dominate in the pole vault but Johnson set a personal record in the event, minimizing Yang's gain. Yang followed that by staying close to Johnson in the javelin, leaving the final event, Yang's best event, the 1500m to decide the competition. Both knew Yang would need to defeat Johnson by 10 seconds to win. Johnson did not break, finishing a mere 1.2 seconds behind Yang to claim the gold medal. Yang beat Johnson in seven of the ten events, but Johnson beat Yang by significant margins in the shot put and discus to win. The two warmly congratulated each other after the conclusion of the event and waved to the crowd.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
Results
100m RankAthleteCountryTimePointsNotes 1 Yang Chuan-kwang 10.7 1034 2 Klaus Grogorenz 10.8 990 3 Rafer Johnson 10.9 948 4 Vasili Kuznetsov 11.1 870 4 Seppo Suutari 11.1 870 4 Héctor Thomas 11.1 870 7 Mirko Kolnik 11.2 834 8 Rodolfo Mijares 11.3 800 8 Fritz Vogelsang 11.3 800 8 Walter Meier 11.3 800 8 Evert Kamerbeek 11.3 800 8 Herman Timme 11.3 800 13 Dave Edstrom 11.4 768 13 Yuriy Kutenko 11.4 768 13 Manfred Bock 11.4 768 13 Franco Sar 11.4 768 17 Markus Kahma 11.5 737 17 Léopold Marien 11.5 737 17 Hans Muchitsch 11.5 737 17 Alois Buchel 11.5 737 17 Philip Mulkey 11.5 737 22 Gurbachan Singh Randhawa 11.6 707 22 Yuri Diachkov 11.6 707 22 Juris Laipenieks 11.6 707 22 Joze Brodnik 11.6 707 26 Panayotis Epitropoulos 11.7 638 27 Holm Bjoergvin 11.8 650 27 Luciano Paccagnella 11.8 650 29 Júlio Santos 12.0 597 29 George Stulac 12.0 597
Long jump RankAthleteCountry123MarkPoints 1 Yang Chuan-kwang 7.46 7.13 7.37 7.46 950 2 Rafer Johnson 7.21 6.92 7.35 7.35 906 3 Evert Kamerbeek 7.21 7.21 856 4 Hans Muchitsch 6.95 7.14 7.14 932 5 Yuri Diachkov 7.12 7.09 6.70 7.12 825 6 Vasili Kuznetsov 6.95 6.86 6.96 6.96 773 7 Fritz Vogelsang 6.94 6.65 6.74 6.94 767 8 Seppo Suutari 6.58 6.94 6.94 767 9 Klaus Grogorenz 6.60 6.93 6.84 6.93 764 10 Yuriy Kutenko 6.71 6.93 6.64 6.93 764 11 Markus Kahma 6.71 6.93 6.93 764 12 Mirko Kolnik 6.47 6.93 6.93 764 12 Holm Bjoergvin 6.47 6.93 6.93 764 14 Herman Timme 6.93 6.93 764 15 Joze Brodnik 6.37 6.78 6.91 6.91 758 16 Juris Laipenieks 6.77 5.78 6.88 6.88 749 17 Philip Mulkey 6.57 6.51 6.43 6.57 746 18 Gurbachan Singh Randhawa 6.87 6.87 746 19 Héctor Thomas 6.15 6.55 6.81 6.81 728 20 Manfred Bock 6.79 7.37 6.79 722 21 Luciano Paccagnella 6.50 6.73 6.73 704 22 Franco Sar 6.63 6.69 6.67 6.69 692 23 Léopold Marien 6.09 6.62 6.62 672 24 Alois Buchel 6.05 6.51 6.54 6.54 651 25 Dave Edstrom 6.16 6.39 6.39 610 26 Júlio Santos 6.21 6.14 6.32 6.32 592 27 Panayotis Epitropoulos 6.03 6.23 6.22 6.23 570 28 Rodolfo Mijares 6.20 6.20 562 29 George Stulac 5.92 5.65 5.92 493 30 Walter Meier NM 0
Shot put RankAthleteCountry123MarkPoints 1 Rafer Johnson 14.55 15.82 15.26 15.82 976 2 Seppo Suutari 14.29 14.96 14.96 872 3 Markus Kahma 14.55 - 14.55 827 4 Vasili Kuznetsov 14.41 14.46 14.46 817 5 Luciano Paccagnella 14.18 13.11 14.18 788 6 Philip Mulkey 14.10 13.77 13.82 14.10 780 7 Yuriy Kutenko 12.51 13.97 13.83 13.97 767 8 Franco Sar 13.49 13.89 13.80 13.89 759 9 Evert Kamerbeek 13.76 13.57 13.71 13.76 746 10 Walter Meier 13.68 13.25 13.34 13.68 738 11 Dave Edstrom 13.59 13.54 13.10 13.59 729 12 Holm Bjoergvin 13.58 13.36 13.58 728 13 Héctor Thomas 12.93 13.42 13.24 13.42 712 14 Yang Chuan-kwang 12.42 13.33 13.33 703 15 Yuri Diachkov 12.55 13.22 13.21 13.22 692 16 Herman Timme 13.19 12.84 11.20 13.19 689 17 Mirko Kolnik 12.68 13.10 13.10 681 18 George Stulac 13.32 12.21 12.74 13.32 648 19 Juris Laipenieks 12.24 11.86 12.65 12.65 640 20 Klaus Grogorenz 11.75 12.42 12.42 619 21 Joze Brodnik 12.30 8.27 12.30 609 22 Panayotis Epitropoulos 12.06 11.74 11.79 12.06 587 23 Manfred Bock 10.83 12.03 11.45 12.03 584 24 Fritz Vogelsang 11.11 11.49 11.78 11.78 562 25 Léopold Marien 10.68 11.38 11.44 11.44 535 26 Gurbachan Singh Randhawa 11.35 11.24 10.57 11.35 528 27 Hans Muchitsch 10.26 10.77 11.77 11.77 505 28 Júlio Santos 10.65 10.85 10.67 10.85 488 29 Rodolfo Mijares 9.74 10.59 10.59 467 30 Alois Buchel 9.20 9.49 9.71 9.71 406
High jump RankAthleteCountryMarkPoints 1 Gurbachan Singh Randhawa 1.90 900 1 Yang Chuan-kwang 1.90 900 3 Rafer Johnson 1.85 832 3 Manfred Bock 1.85 832 3 Yuri Diachkov 1.85 832 3 Herman Timme 1.83 806 6 Seppo Suutari 1.83 806 6 Walter Meier 1.83 806 6 Philip Mulkey 1.83 806 10 Hans Muchitsch 1.80 770 10 Luciano Paccagnella 1.80 770 10 Franco Sar 1.80 770 10 Yuriy Kutenko 1.80 770 10 Evert Kamerbeek 1.80 770 10 Joze Brodnik 1.80 770 16 Markus Kahma 1.75 711 16 Vasili Kuznetsov 1.75 711 16 Héctor Thomas 1.75 711 16 Holm Bjoergvin 1.75 711 16 Léopold Marien 1.75 711 21 Klaus Grogorenz 1.73 689 21 Panayotis Epitropoulos 1.73 689 21 Alois Buchel 1.73 689 24 Fritz Vogelsang 1.70 656 24 Mirko Kolnik 1.70 656 24 George Stulac 1.70 656 27 Juris Laipenieks 1.65 605 27 Rodolfo Mijares 1.65 605 27 Júlio Santos 1.65 605 - Dave Edstrom - -
400m RankAthleteCountryTimePoints 1 Klaus Grogorenz 48.0 1015 2 Yang Chuan-kwang 48.1 1005 3 Rafer Johnson 48.3 985 4 Walter Meier 49.5 884 5 Fritz Vogelsang 50.0 844 6 Vasili Kuznetsov 50.2 828 7 Léopold Marien 50.5 807 7 Markus Kahma 50.5 807 7 Rodolfo Mijares 50.5 807 7 Manfred Bock 50.5 807 11 Yuri Diachkov 50.7 793 12 Joze Brodnik 51.0 772 13 Yuriy Kutenko 51.1 765 13 Evert Kamerbeek 51.1 765 15 Herman Timme 51.2 758 16 Hans Muchitsch 51.3 751 16 Franco Sar 51.3 751 18 Holm Bjoergvin 51.8 716 18 Seppo Suutari 51.8 716 20 Gurbachan Singh Randhawa 52.0 702 21 Philip Mulkey 52.2 690 22 George Stulac 53.0 642 23 Juris Laipenieks 53.2 630 24 Panayotis Epitropoulos 53.6 606 25 Mirko Kolnik 53.9 588 26 Héctor Thomas 54.1 576 27 Luciano Paccagnella 54.3 565 - Alois Buchel - Retired - Júlio Santos - Retired
110m hurdles RankAthleteCountryTime Points 1 Yang Chuan-kwang 14.6 923 2 Franco Sar 14.7 894 3 Evert Kamerbeek 14.9 840 4 Vasili Kuznetsov 15.0 813 5 Rafer Johnson 15.3 740 5 Fritz Vogelsang 15.3 740 5 Yuri Diachkov 15.3 740 8 Léopold Marien 15.5 694 9 Seppo Suutari 15.6 673 9 Yuriy Kutenko 15.6 673 11 Herman Timme 15.7 652 11 Joze Brodnik 15.7 652 11 Luciano Paccagnella 15.7 652 14 Hans Muchitsch 15.8 632 15 Markus Kahma 15.9 612 16 Walter Meier 16.0 593 17 Manfred Bock 16.1 575 18 Holm Bjoergvin 16.2 557 19 Gurbachan Singh Randhawa 16.4 523 20 Klaus Grogorenz 16.9 443 20 Héctor Thomas 16.9 443 22 Juris Laipenieks 17.1 413 23 Rodolfo Mijares 17.3 385 24 Panayotis Epitropoulos 18.1 283 24 Philip Mulkey 18.1 283 26 George Stulac 18.4 250 - Mirko Kolnik - Did not start
Discus throw RankAthleteCountry123MarkPoints 1 Vasili Kuznetsov 44.34 45.05 50.52 50.52 972 2 Franco Sar 48.98 47.94 49.58 49.58 935 3 Rafer Johnson 44.54 48.24 48.49 48.49 894 4 Luciano Paccagnella 43.27 42.93 45.67 45.67 797 5 Yuriy Kutenko 45.48 44.22 45.63 45.63 795 6 Markus Kahma 44.93 43.32 44.37 44.93 773 7 Evert Kamerbeek 42.52 44.31 44.31 753 8 Héctor Thomas 31.33 40.77 40.77 648 9 Juris Laipenieks 36.30 38.25 40.49 40.49 640 10 Klaus Grogorenz 38.59 28.98 40.12 40.12 630 11 Yang Chuan-kwang 39.83 37.91 36.59 39.83 622 12 Holm Bjoergvin 38.78 39.50 36.87 39.50 612 13 Walter Meier 39.18 39.09 38.07 39.18 603 14 Herman Timme 36.92 37.95 39.08 39.08 601 15 Seppo Suutari 37.94 37.94 571 16 Yuri Diachkov 37.87 36.47 35.18 37.87 569 17 Manfred Bock 37.02 37.69 37.69 564 18 Joze Brodnik 31.24 37.66 37.66 563 19 Rodolfo Mijares 34.14 36.61 37.55 37.55 561 20 George Stulac 34.33 37.35 36.67 37.35 555 21 Fritz Vogelsang 35.54 34.40 37.03 37.03 547 22 Panayotis Epitropoulos 33.07 34.14 34.68 34.68 487 23 Léopold Marien 34.06 33.98 34.28 34.28 477 24 Philip Mulkey 34.12 34.12 473 25 Hans Muchitsch 31.79 30.63 30.94 31.79 418 - Gurbachan Singh Randhawa - - - DNS -
Pole vault RankAthleteCountryMarkPoints 1 Yang Chuan-kwang 4.30 915 2 Yuriy Kutenko 4.20 855 3 Rafer Johnson 4.10 795 3 Joze Brodnik 4.10 795 5 Fritz Vogelsang 4.00 745 6 Vasili Kuznetsov 3.90 695 6 Manfred Bock 3.90 695 8 Franco Sar 3.80 645 8 Yuri Diachkov 3.80 645 8 Evert Kamerbeek 3.80 645 11 Klaus Grogorenz 3.70 596 11 Walter Meier 3.70 596 13 Luciano Paccagnella 3.60 556 13 Markus Kahma 3.60 556 31 George Stulac 3.60 556 16 Seppo Suutari 3.50 516 17 Rodolfo Mijares 3.40 476 18 Léopold Marien 3.30 438 18 Juris Laipenieks 3.30 438 18 Holm Bjoergvin 3.30 438 18 Herman Timme 3.30 438 22 Hans Muchitsch 3.20 400 22 Héctor Thomas 3.20 400 - Panayotis Epitropoulos NM 0 - Philip Mulkey - Retired
Javelin throw RankAthleteCountry123MarkPoints 1 Yuriy Kutenko 71.44 62.88 70.03 71.44 1031 2 Vasili Kuznetsov 71.20 61.62 62.12 71.20 1024 3 Rafer Johnson 69.76 67.04 63.90 69.76 980 4 Yang Chuan-kwang 65.90 68.22 65.11 68.22 937 5 Joze Brodnik 57.70 59.54 65.30 65.30 858 6 Manfred Bock 63.63 58.78 - 63.63 817 7 Juris Laipenieks 55.81 61.44 55.31 61.44 764 8 Klaus Grogorenz 58.48 60.81 60.81 750 9 Markus Kahma 60.50 59.93 56.37 60.50 743 10 Seppo Suutari 49.23 59.86 58.46 59.86 729 11 Evert Kamerbeek 45.40 57.49 49.91 57.49 677 12 Holm Bjoergvin 56.69 54.20 57.45 57.45 676 13 Franco Sar 50.74 55.74 50.64 55.74 641 14 Fritz Vogelsang 48.39 50.94 52.61 52.61 578 15 Herman Timme 51.74 51.74 561 16 Héctor Thomas 51.15 51.15 549 17 Panayotis Epitropoulos 50.38 50.66 50.55 50.66 540 18 George Stulac 50.40 45.66 50.20 50.40 536 19 Luciano Paccagnella 48.60 48.09 - 48.60 503 20 Walter Meier 47.33 46.74 - 47.33 480 21 Léopold Marien 42.57 42.81 44.71 44.71 434 22 Rodolfo Mijares 38.99 42.62 43.36 43.36 411 23 Hans Muchitsch 38.44 38.44 330 - Yuri Diachkov - - - - Retired
1500m RankAthleteCountryTime Points 1 Markus Kahma 4:22.8 582 2 Hans Muchitsch 4:23.3 575 3 Klaus Grogorenz 4:27.0 536 4 Manfred Bock 4:27.6 530 5 Fritz Vogelsang 4:27.7 528 6 Walter Meier 4:30.6 500 7 Joze Brodnik 4:37.7 434 8 Léopold Marien 4:40.0 414 9 Holm Bjoergvin 4:40.6 409 10 Evert Kamerbeek 4:43.6 384 11 Yuriy Kutenko 4:44.2 379 12 Yang Chuan-kwang 4:48.5 345 13 Franco Sar 4:49.2 340 14 Rodolfo Mijares 4:49.3 339 15 Rafer Johnson 4:49.7 336 16 Vasili Kuznetsov 4:53.8 306 17 Panayotis Epitropoulos 4:55.0 297 18 Luciano Paccagnella 4:55.4 294 19 Juris Laipenieks 4:57.5 279 20 George Stulac 4:59.6 265 21 Seppo Suutari 5:04.8 231 22 Herman Timme 5:21.4 137 23 Héctor Thomas 5:25.2 116
Final standings The best scores in each event are highlighted in yellow. These scores were split between six competitors, with the gold medallist Rafer Johnson achieving the best result in the shot put by 104 points.