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Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

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Men's 1500 metres
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueOlympic Stadium
DatesSeptember 3 (final) (heats)
September 6 (final)
Competitors39 from 25 nations
Winning time3:35.6 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Herb Elliott
 Australia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Michel Jazy
 France
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) István Rózsavölgyi
 Hungary
← 1956
1964 →

The men's 1500 metres was an event at the 1960 Summer Olympics, held on 3 and 6 September. Thirty-nine athletes from 25 nations competed.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Herb Elliott of Australia, the nation's second victory in the 1500 metres and first since 1896. Michel Jazy of France took silver, the third time a French athlete had achieved that mark. Hungary won its first 1500 metres medal with István Rózsavölgyi's bronze.

Summary

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The 1500 final was much more of an endurance race than contemporary strategic races. Michel Bernard took the lead from the beginning and dared the field to stay with him. Arne Hamarsland and Jim Grelle struggled as the pack strung out quickly. With two laps to go, Herb Elliott upped the ante, taking the lead and pushing the pace. István Rózsavölgyi was the last to drop off with Jazy close behind Rózsavölgyi. But Elliott was gone, cleanly ahead going into the final lap. Waiting on the final backstretch, his coach Percy Cerutty prearranged that he would wave a yellow towel if Elliott was in danger of being caught from behind or close to the world record. A confused Elliott saw the towel and accelerated, pushing hard to the finish. Elliott's three second victory took an additional half second out of his own world record. His record would last for seven years before being improved upon by Jim Ryun. Behind Elliott, Jazy managed to catch Rózsavölgyi for the silver medal.[2]

Background

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This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Twelfth-place finisher Merv Lincoln of Australia was the only finalist from 1956 to return, though multiple semifinalists did. Lincoln's countryman Herb Elliott was the "overwhelming favorite" in the race; he had taken the world records in both the 1500 metres and the mile in 1958 and never lost a race at either distance. Lincoln, as well as Michel Jazy of France and István Rózsavölgyi of Hungary (who had both competed in 1956 without making the final), were expected to compete for silver.[1]

Iraq, Israel, Liechtenstein, Rhodesia, Romania, and Tunisia each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 14th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the men's 1500 metres at each Games to that point.

Competition format

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The competition used the two-round format that had been in place since 1908 (except for one three-round version in 1952). There were three heats with 14 or 15 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top three runners in each advancing to the final race; the 9-man final was reduced from previous versions of the competition which used a 12-man final.[1][3]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1960 Summer Olympics.

World record  Herb Elliott (AUS) 3:36.0 Gothenburg, Sweden 28 August 1958
Olympic record  Ron Delany (IRL) 3:41.2 Melbourne, Australia 1 December 1956

During the final, Herb Elliott broke his own world record by 0.4 seconds, running 3:35.6. The top six men in the final all surpassed the old Olympic record.

Schedule

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All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 3 September 1960 17:15 Semifinals
Tuesday, 6 September 1960 16:15 Final

Results

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Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Herb Elliott  Australia 3:41.50 Q
2 István Rózsavölgyi  Hungary 3:42.15 Q
3 Dyrol Burleson  United States 3:42.40 Q
4 Terry Sullivan  Rhodesia 3:42.96
5 Yevgeny Momotkov  Soviet Union 3:43.80
6 Olavi Salonen  Finland 3:46.57
7 Rudolf Klaban  Austria 3:47.24
8 Arthur Hannemann  United Team of Germany 3:47.57
9 Laurie Reed  Great Britain 3:48.24
10 Joe Mullins  Canada 3:53.45
11 Tomás Barris  Spain 3:56.10
12 Mohamed Gouider  Tunisia 3:58.52
Zbigniew Orywał  Poland DNF
Abdul Ghafar Ghafoori  Afghanistan DNS

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Michel Bernard  France 3:42.34 Q
2 Jim Grelle  United States 3:43.65 Q
3 Arne Hamarsland  Norway 3:44.63 Q
4 Brian Kent-Smith  Great Britain 3:46.21
5 Albie Thomas  Australia 3:46.95
6 Siegfried Valentin  United Team of Germany 3:46.99
7 Svavar Markússon  Iceland 3:47.20
8 Alfredo Rizzo  Italy 3:47.56
9 Andrei Barabaș  Romania 3:47.71
10 Muharrem Dalkılıç  Turkey 3:47.18
11 Dhira Phiphobmongkol  Thailand 4:24.4
Péter Parsch  Hungary DNF
Egon Oehri  Liechtenstein DNF
Ralph Gomes  Guyana DNS
Roger Moens  Belgium DNS

Semifinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Dan Waern  Sweden 3:44.18 Q
2 Michel Jazy  France 3:45.03 Q
3 Zoltan Vamoș  Romania 3:45.07 Q
4 Adolf Schwarte  United Team of Germany 3:45.46
5 Lajos Kovács  Hungary 3:46.20
6 Mike Wiggs  Great Britain 3:46.61
7 Merv Lincoln  Australia 3:47.18
8 Evangelos Depastas  Greece 3:48.77
9 Pete Close  United States 3:50.69
10 Olavi Vuorisalo  Finland 3:52.68
11 Stefan Lewandowski  Poland 3:59.75
12 Yair Pantilat  Israel 4:00.14
13 Kassim Mukhtar  Iraq 4:00.33
Karl Schaller  Switzerland DNS

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Herb Elliott  Australia 3:35.6 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Michel Jazy  France 3:38.4
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) István Rózsavölgyi  Hungary 3:39.2
4 Dan Waern  Sweden 3:40.0
5 Zoltan Vamoș  Romania 3:40.8
6 Dyrol Burleson  United States 3:40.9
7 Michel Bernard  France 3:41.5
8 Jim Grelle  United States 3:45.0
9 Arne Hamarsland  Norway 3:45.0

References

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  1. ^ a b c "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  3. ^ Official Report, pp. 84–87.