Rome (1960)
Rome had been awarded the organization of the 1908 Summer Olympics, but after the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, was forced to decline and pass the honors to London.
Interesting Facts
- Soviet gymnasts won 15 of 16 possible medals in women’s gymnastics
- Danish sailer Paul Elvstrøm won his fourth straight gold medal in the Finn class. The only others to emulate his performance in an individual event are Al Oerter, Carl Lewis and, if the Intercalated Games of 1906 are included, Ray Ewry.
- Finnish Vilho Ylönen, a field shooter, shot a bullseye to a wrong target and was dropped from the second place to fourth.
- The future Constantine II, King of Greece, won his country a gold in sailing Dragon Class.
- 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, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track.
- Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon bare-footed to become the first black African Olympic champion.
- Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing’s light-heavyweight gold medal.
- The Japanese men’s gymnastics team won the first of five successive golds, the last of which was won in 1976, in Montreal.
- South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under its apartheid regime. It would not be allowed to return until 1992, after the abandonment of apartheid and during the transition to majority rule.
- Swedish canoer Gert Fredriksson won his sixth Olympic title.
- Danish cyclist Knud Enemark collapsed during his race under the influence of Roniacol 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 Lázaro at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
- Australian athlete Herb Elliott won the men’s 1500 meters in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic history.
- American athlete Rafer Johnson defeated his rival and friend C.K. Yang in one of the greatest decathlon events in Olympic history.
- Peter Camejo, a 2004 American vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, competed in yachting for Venezuela.
- Armin Hary won the 100 m in a world-record time of 10.2 seconds.
- Pakistan broke India’s dominance in Olympic Men’s Field Hockey by becoming the first team in history to beat India in Olympic Field Hockey since 1928 and winning its first ever Olympic gold medal in the process. India had already won 6 previous hockey golds in the Summer Olympics.
- Queen Sofía of Spain represented Greece in sailing events.
- Jeff Farrell of the United States won two gold medals in swimming after undergoing an emergency appendectomy six days before the Olympic Trials
- 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. Coincidentally, it was the first time an athlete from Singapore won an Olympic medal, when Tan Howe Liang won silver in the Weightlifting lightweight category.
- CBS paid $394,000 for the right to broadcast the Games in the United States