Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
80 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men
3000 m steeplechase	men
4 × 100 m relay	men	women
4 × 400 m relay	men
Road events
Marathon	men
20 km walk	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Decathlon	men
v t e

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, 34 events in athletics were contested, 24 by men and 10 by women. There were a total number of 1016 participating athletes from 73 countries.

Medal summary

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Armin Hary  United Team of Germany	10.2 (=OR)	Dave Sime  United States	10.2 (=OR)	Peter Radford  Great Britain	10.3
200 metres details	Livio Berruti  Italy	20.5 (=WR)	Lester Carney  United States	20.6	Abdoulaye Seye  France	20.7
400 metres details	Otis Davis  United States	44.9 (WR)	Carl Kaufmann  United Team of Germany	44.9 (WR)	Malcolm Spence  South Africa	45.5
800 metres details	Peter Snell  New Zealand	1:46.3 (OR)	Roger Moens  Belgium	1:46.5	George Kerr  British West Indies	1:47.1
1500 metres details	Herb Elliott  Australia	3:35.6 (WR)	Michel Jazy  France	3:38.4	István Rózsavölgyi  Hungary	3:39.2
5000 metres details	Murray Halberg  New Zealand	13:43.4	Hans Grodotzki  United Team of Germany	13:44.6	Kazimierz Zimny  Poland	13:44.8
10,000 metres details	Pyotr Bolotnikov  Soviet Union	28:32.2 (OR)	Hans Grodotzki  United Team of Germany	28:37.0	David Power  Australia	28:38.2
110 metres hurdles details	Lee Calhoun  United States	13.8	William May  United States	13.8	Hayes Jones  United States	14.0
400 metres hurdles details	Glenn Davis  United States	49.3 (OR)	Clifton Cushman  United States	49.6	Dick Howard  United States	49.7
3000 metres steeplechase details	Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak  Poland	8:34.2 (OR)	Nikolay Sokolov  Soviet Union	8:36.4	Semyon Rzhishchin  Soviet Union	8:42.2
4 × 100 metres relay details	United Team of Germany (EUA) Bernd Cullmann Armin Hary Walter Mahlendorf Martin Lauer	39.5 (=WR)	Soviet Union (URS) Gusman Kosanov Leonid Bartenev Yuriy Konovalov Edvin Ozolin	40.1	Great Britain (GBR) Peter Radford David Jones David Segal Nick Whitehead	40.2
4 × 400 metres relay details	United States (USA) Jack Yerman Earl Young Glenn Davis Otis Davis	3:02.2 (WR)	United Team of Germany (EUA) Manfred Kinder Joachim Reske Johannes Kaiser Carl Kaufmann	3:02.7	British West Indies (BWI) George Kerr James Wedderburn Keith Gardner Malcolm Spence	3:04.0
Marathon details	Abebe Bikila  Ethiopia	2:15:16.2 (WB)	Rhadi Ben Abdesselam  Morocco	2:15:41.6	Barry Magee  New Zealand	2:17:18.2
20 kilometres walk details	Vladimir Golubnichy  Soviet Union	1:34:07.2	Noel Freeman  Australia	1:34:16.4	Stan Vickers  Great Britain	1:34.56.4
50 kilometres walk details	Don Thompson  Great Britain	4:25:30.0 (OR)	John Ljunggren  Sweden	4:25:47.0	Abdon Pamich  Italy	4:27:55.4
High jump details	Robert Shavlakadze  Soviet Union	2.16 m (OR)	Valeriy Brumel  Soviet Union	2.16 m (OR)	John Thomas  United States	2.14 m
Pole vault details	Don Bragg  United States	4.70 m (OR)	Ron Morris  United States	4.60 m	Eeles Landström  Finland	4.55 m
Long jump details	Ralph Boston  United States	8.12 m (OR)	Irvin Roberson  United States	8.11 m	Igor Ter-Ovanesyan  Soviet Union	8.04 m
Triple jump details	Józef Szmidt  Poland	16.81 m (OR)	Vladimir Goryaev  Soviet Union	16.63 m	Vitold Kreer  Soviet Union	16.43 m
Shot put details	Bill Nieder  United States	19.68 m (OR)	Parry O'Brien  United States	19.11 m	Dallas Long  United States	19.01 m
Discus throw details	Al Oerter  United States	59.18 m (OR)	Rink Babka  United States	58.02 m	Dick Cochran  United States	57.16 m
Hammer throw details	Vasili Rudenkov  Soviet Union	67.10 m (OR)	Gyula Zsivótzky  Hungary	65.79 m	Tadeusz Rut  Poland	65.64 m
Javelin throw details	Viktor Tsybulenko  Soviet Union	84.64 m	Walter Krüger  United Team of Germany	79.36 m	Gergely Kulcsár  Hungary	78.57 m
Decathlon details	Rafer Johnson  United States	8392 (OR)	Yang Chuan-Kwang  Formosa	8334	Vasili Kuznetsov  Soviet Union	7809

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Wilma Rudolph  United States	11.0	Dorothy Hyman  Great Britain	11.3	Giuseppina Leone  Italy	11.3
200 metres details	Wilma Rudolph  United States	24.0	Jutta Heine  United Team of Germany	24.4	Dorothy Hyman  Great Britain	24.7
800 metres details	Lyudmila Shevtsova  Soviet Union	2:04.3 (=WR)	Brenda Jones  Australia	2:04.4	Ursula Donath  United Team of Germany	2:05.6
80 metres hurdles details	Irina Press  Soviet Union	10.8	Carole Quinton  Great Britain	10.9	Gisela Birkemeyer  United Team of Germany	11.0
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States (USA) Martha Hudson Lucinda Williams Barbara Jones Wilma Rudolph	44.5	United Team of Germany (EUA) Martha Langbein Anni Biechl Brunhilde Hendrix Jutta Heine	44.8	Poland (POL) Teresa Wieczorek Barbara Janiszewska Celina Jesionowska Halina Richter	45.0
High jump details	Iolanda Balaș  Romania	1.85 m (OR)	Jarosława Jóźwiakowska  Poland	1.71 m	none awarded as there was a tie for silver
			Dorothy Shirley  Great Britain
Long jump details	Vera Krepkina  Soviet Union	6.37 m (OR)	Elżbieta Krzesińska  Poland	6.27 m	Hildrun Claus  United Team of Germany	6.21 m
Shot put details	Tamara Press  Soviet Union	17.32 m (OR)	Johanna Lüttge  United Team of Germany	16.61 m	Earlene Brown  United States	16.42 m
Discus throw details	Nina Ponomaryova  Soviet Union	55.10 m (OR)	Tamara Press  Soviet Union	52.59 m	Lia Manoliu  Romania	52.36 m
Javelin throw details	Elvīra Ozoliņa  Soviet Union	55.98 m (OR)	Dana Zátopková  Czechoslovakia	53.78 m	Birutė Kalėdienė  Soviet Union	53.45 m

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	12	8	6	26
2	Soviet Union (URS)	11	5	5	21
3	United Team of Germany (EUA)	2	8	3	13
4	Poland (POL)	2	2	3	7
5	New Zealand (NZL)	2	0	1	3
6	Great Britain (GBR)	1	3	4	8
7	Australia (AUS)	1	2	1	4
8	Italy (ITA)	1	0	2	3
9	Romania (ROU)	1	0	1	2
10	Ethiopia (ETH)	1	0	0	1
11	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	2	3
12	France (FRA)	0	1	1	2
13	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	0	1
	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	0	1	0	1
	Formosa (ROC)	0	1	0	1
	Morocco (MAR)	0	1	0	1
	Sweden (SWE)	0	1	0	1
18	British West Indies (BWI)	0	0	2	2
19	Finland (FIN)	0	0	1	1
	South Africa (RSA)	0	0	1	1
Totals (20 entries)		34	35	33	102

Records broken

During the 1960 Summer Olympic Games, 28 new Olympic records and 4 new world records were set in the athletics events.

Men's Olympic and world records

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
100 metres	August 31	Final	Armin Hary	United Team of Germany	10.2 s	OR
200 metres	September 3	Semi-Final	Livio Berruti	Italy	20.5 s	OR
400 metres	September 6	Final	Otis Davis	United States	44.9 s	OR	WR
800 metres	September 2	Final	Peter Snell	New Zealand	1:46.3	OR
1,500 metres	September 6	Final	Herb Elliott	Australia	3:35.6	OR	WR
10,000 metres	September 8	Final	Pyotr Bolotnikov	Soviet Union	28:32.2	OR
4x400 metre relay	September 8	Final	Jack Yerman Earl Young Glenn Davis Otis Davis	United States	3:02.2	OR	WR
400 metre hurdles	September 2	Final	Glenn Davis	United States	49.3 s	OR
3,000 metre steeplechase	September 3	Final	Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak	Poland	8:34.2	OR
Marathon	September 10	Final	Abebe Bikila	Ethiopia	2:15:16.2	OR
50km walk	September 7	Final	Don Thompson	Great Britain	4:25:30.0	OR
High jump	September 3	Final	Robert Shavlakadze Valeriy Brumel	Soviet Union	2.16 m	OR
Long jump	September 2	Final	Ralph Boston	United States	8.12 m	OR
Triple jump	September 6	Final	Józef Szmidt	Poland	16.81 m	OR
Pole vault	September 7	Final	Don Bragg	United States	4.70 m	OR
Shot put	August 31	Final	Bill Nieder	United States	19.68 m	OR
Hammer throw	September 3	Final	Vasily Rudenkov	Soviet Union	67.10 m	OR
Decathlon	September 6	Final	Rafer Johnson	United States	8,392 points	OR

Women's Olympic and world records

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
100 metres	September 2	Semi-Final	Wilma Rudolph	United States	11.3 s	OR
200 metres	September 3	First Round	Wilma Rudolph	United States	23.2 s	OR
800 metres	September 7	Final	Lyudmila Shevtsova	Soviet Union	2:04.03	OR
80 metre hurdles	August 31	Semi-Final	Irina Press	Soviet Union	10.6 s	OR
4x100 metre relay	September 7	First Round	Martha Hudson Lucinda Williams Barbara Jones Wilma Rudolph	United States	44.4 s	OR	WR
High jump	September 8	Final	Iolanda Balaş	Romania	1.85 m	OR
Long jump	August 31	Final	Vera Krepkina	Soviet Union	6.37 m	OR
Discus throw	September 5	Final	Nina Romashkova	Soviet Union	55.10 m	OR
Shot put	September 2	Final	Tamara Press	Soviet Union	17.32 m	OR
Javelin throw	September 1	Final	Elvīra Ozoliņa	Soviet Union	55.98 m	OR