Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres
Introduction The men's 200 metres was held on 2 September and 3 September as part of the athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics, which were held in Rome. 74 athletes from 54 nations entered, but only 62 athletes from 47 nations ultimately competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Livio Berruti of Italy, the first victory in the event by a nation outside of North America and snapping a five-Games winning streak (and two-Games medal sweep streak) by the United States. The Americans finished with a silver medal, by Lester Carney, to extend their medal streak to six Games. Abdoulaye Seye of France took bronze. Berruti's gold and Seye's bronze were the first medal for their nations in the men's 200 metres.
Background This was the 13th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. One of the six finalists from the 1956 Games returned: sixth-place finisher José da Conceição of Brazil. The favorite was American Ray Norton, the 1959 and 1960 AAU champion and 1959 Pan American Games winner. Italian Livio Berruti was the only man who had defeated Norton in any 200 metres race in 1959, and the home crowd in Rome hoped for a medal from him.Afghanistan, the British West Indies, Fiji, Ghana, Kenya, and Morocco each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 13th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.
Competition format The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. 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 heats in the first round who did not advance based on place.There were 12 heats of between 5 and 6 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 3 fastest overall. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 6 or 7 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top 3 athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.
Records Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.Livio Berruti's hand-timed 20.5 seconds in the semifinal equalled the world record and set a new Olympic record; he equalled this time in the Final.
Schedule All times are Central European Time (UTC+1) Date Time Round Friday, 2 September 1960  '''9:00''''''15:20'''  '''Heats''''''Quarterfinals''' Saturday, 3 September 1960  '''15:45''''''18:00'''  '''Semifinals''''''Final'''
Results ===Heats===The top two runners in each of the 12 heats advanced, as well as the next three fastest runners from across all heats.====Heat 1==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Paul Genevay  21.2   2 Vadym Arkhypchuk 21.5   3 James Omagbemi26.2   — Iftikhar Shah   Abebe Hailou   Enrique Figuerola   ====Heat 2==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Les Carney  21.1   2 David Segal  21.3   3 Peter Laeng 21.6   4 Shahrudin Mohamed Ali 22.3   — Hilmar Thorbjörnsson   ====Heat 3==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Stone Johnson21.7   2 Nikolaos Georgopoulos22.0   3 Clayton Glasgow22.6   4 James Roberts23.1   — Harry Jerome   ====Heat 4==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Marcel Wendelin21.6   2 Leonid Bartenev21.8   3 Michael Okantey21.8   4 Santiago Plaza22.0   5 Huang Suh-Chuang22.9   6 Abdul Khaliq23.1  ====Heat 5==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Peter Radford21.1   2 Erasmus Amukun21.3   3 Csaba Csutorás21.7   4 Sitiveni Moceidreke21.8   5 Elmar Kunauer22.2   — Emmanuel Putu   ====Heat 6==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Ray Norton21.2   2 David Jones21.2   3 Yuriy Konovalov21.4   4 Ramón Vega21.8   5 Patrick Lowry22.1   — Vilém Mandlík   ====Heat 7==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Livio Berruti21.0   2 Tom Robinson21.4   3 Lloyd Murad21.8   4 Pentti Rekola22.2   5 Bouchaib El-Maachi22.3   — Jalal Gozal   ====Heat 8==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Dennis Johnson21.2   2 José da Conceição21.3   3 Sebald Schnellmann21.4   4 Jean-Pierre Barra22.3   5 Enrique Bautista23.0   6 Ali Yusuf Zaid23.1  ====Heat 9==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Abdoulaye Seye21.1   2 Carl Fredrik Bunæs21.3   3 Clifton Bertrand21.3   4 Amos Grodzinowsky21.8   5 Barry Robinson22.2   6 Lennart Jonsson22.3  ====Heat 10==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Marian Foik21.1   2 Jocelyn Delecour21.3   3 Armando Sardi21.6   4 Lynn Eves21.9   5 Mikhail Bachvarov22.2   6 Roger Bofferding23.2  ====Heat 11==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Seraphino Antao21.3   2 Rafael Romero21.4   3 Manfred Germar21.6   4 Romain Poté22.1   5 Melanio Asensio22.3   6 Aydin Onur22.5  ====Heat 12==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Edward Jefferys21.1   2 Salvatore Giannone21.5   3 Kimitada Hayase22.3   4 Falih Fahmi22.6   5 Dennis Tipping22.9   — Milkha Singh   ===Quarterfinals===The first three in each quarterfinal qualified for the semifinals.====Quarterfinal 1==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Stone Johnson20.9   2 Edward Jefferys21.1   3 Tom Robinson21.2   4 Erasmus Amukun21.3   5 Yuriy Konovalov21.3   6 Clifton Bertrand21.4   7 Rafael Romero21.4  ====Quarterfinal 2==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Abdoulaye Seye20.8   2 Ray Norton21.0   3 David Segal  21.1   4 Seraphino Antao21.3   5 Vadym Arkhypchuk 21.5   6 José da Conceição21.5   7 Nikolaos Georgopoulos22.0  ====Quarterfinal 3==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Les Carney  20.9   2 Peter Radford21.0   3 Dennis Johnson21.1   4 Jocelyn Delecour21.5   5 Leonid Bartenev21.5   6 Sebald Schnellmann21.5   7 Salvatore Giannone21.8  ====Quarterfinal 4====Paul Genevay and Livio Berruti in quarterfinal 4, interrupted by a pigeon Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Livio Berruti20.8   2 Marian Foik20.9   3 Paul Genevay 21.1   4 David Jones21.2   5 Carl Fredrik Bunæs21.4   6 Marcel Wendelin21.6  ===Semifinals===The first three in each semifinal qualified for the final.====Semifinal 1==== Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Abdoulaye Seye20.8   2 Marian Foik21.0   3 Les Carney  21.1   4 Edward Jefferys21.3   5 Tom Robinson21.5   — David Segal    ====Semifinal 2====Berruti tied the world record of 20.5 seconds. Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes 1 Livio Berruti20.5  ,  2 Ray Norton20.7   3 Stone Johnson20.8   4 Peter Radford20.9   5 Dennis Johnson21.0   6 Paul Genevay 21.0  ===Final===Berruti tied again the world record of 20.5 seconds Rank  Athlete  Nation  Time  Notes  Livio Berruti20.5    Les Carney  20.6    Abdoulaye Seye20.7   4 Marian Foik20.8   5 Stone Johnson20.8   6 Ray Norton20.9
References
External links * Olympic Report 1960 Volume 2