The men's 110 metres hurdling event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between September 3 and September 5. Thirty-six athletes from 21 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Lee Calhoun of the United States, the first man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the 110 metres hurdles. It was the sixth of nine consecutive American victories, and the 12th overall gold medal for the United States in the 110 metres hurdles. It was also the fourth of four consecutive American podium sweeps, and the eighth overall sweep by the United States in the event.

Background

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1956 returned: gold medalist Lee Calhoun of the United States, fourth-place finisher Martin Lauer of the United Team of Germany, and fifth-place finisher Stanko Lorger of Yugoslavia. Calhoun was favored to win again, though Lauer was a serious contender; they shared the world record at 13.2 seconds. Lauer was the only serious threat to the American team sweeping the medals again.

Afghanistan, the British West Indies, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, and Uganda each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 14th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

Competition format

For the first time, the competition expanded to four rounds. The first round consisted of four heats, with 6 or 7 hurdlers each (before a withdrawal left one heat with only 5). The top four hurdlers in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were four quarterfinals of 6 hurdles each; the top three hurdlers in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The 12 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 6 hurdlers each; the top three hurdlers in each advanced to the 6-man final.Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 107–10.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1960 Summer Olympics.

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national records were established during the competition:

Nation Athlete Round Time Jean Baptiste Okello Quarterfinal 1 14.3

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round Saturday, 3 September 1960 9:0018:10 Round 1Quarterfinals Monday, 5 September 1960 15:1516:45 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Round 1

The fastest four hurdlers in each of the six heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 4 Martin Lauer 14.3 14.45 2 6 Jean Baptiste Okello 14.4 14.59 3 2 Giovanni Cornacchia 14.6 14.77 4 5 Marcel Duriez 14.7 14.90 5 3 Seraphino Antao 15.0 15.13 6 1 Çetin Şahiner 15.6 15.75 Wind: +0.2 m/s

Heat 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 1 Hayes Jones 14.2 14.32 2 4 Mykola Berezutskiy 14.3 14.50 3 3 Milad Petrušić 14.6 14.74 4 5 Paolo Zamboni 14.7 14.82 5 2 John Chittick 14.7 14.86 — 6 Abdul Wardak Wind: +0.4 m/s

Heat 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 5 Willie May 14.0 14.16 2 3 Valentin Chistyakov 14.3 14.45 3 1 Bob Birrell 14.7 14.82 4 4 Klaus Gerbig 14.7 14.87 5 6 Saka Oloko 14.9 15.04 6 2 Nazzar Al-Jamali 15.8 15.99 Wind: +0.2 m/s

Heat 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 5 Lee Calhoun 14.3 14.37 2 2 Edmond Roudnitska 14.4 14.53 3 1 Ghulam Raziq 14.6 14.68 4 6 Peter Hildreth 14.8 14.90 5 7 Georgios Marsellos 14.8 14.92 6 4 Pétur Rögnvaldsson 15.2 15.38 — 3 Isaac Elie Wind: +0.9 m/s

Heat 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 6 Keith Gardner 14.3 14.46 2 4 Stanko Lorger 14.4 14.56 3 5 Nereo Svara 14.9 15.03 4 1 Vic Matthews 14.9 15.07 5 3 Jagmohan Singh 15.2 15.34 6 2 Abdul Malik 15.4 15.52 Wind: +0.9 m/s

Heat 6

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 4 Anatoly Mikhaylov 14.4 14.53 2 5 Karl-Ernst Schottes 14.8 14.90 3 3 Roman Muzyk 14.8 14.94 4 6 Aggrey Awori 15.2 15.36 5 2 Jacques Déprez 17.1 17.24 — 1 Eef Kamerbeek Wind: +0.1 m/s

Quarterfinals

The fastest three hurdlers in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 Lee Calhoun 14.1 14.16 2 Jean Baptiste Okello 14.3 14.48 , 3 Nikolay Berezutsky 14.4 14.57 4 Giovanni Cornacchia 14.5 14.68 5 Peter Hildreth 14.6 14.78 6 Karl-Ernst Schottes 14.6 14.81 Wind: +0.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 Martin Lauer 13.9 14.06 2 Keith Gardner 14.3 14.45 3 Ghulam Raziq 14.4 14.51 4 Edmond Roudnitska 14.5 14.66 5 Milad Petrušić 14.6 14.71 6 Paolo Zamboni 14.9 15.02 Wind: +0.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 Willie May 13.8 13.92 2 Anatoly Mikhaylov 13.9 14.02 3 Stanko Lorger 14.4 14.56 4 Aggrey Awori 14.8 14.94 5 Klaus Gerbig 14.8 14.97 6 Vic Matthews 15.0 15.12 Wind: +0.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 Hayes Jones 14.1 14.19 2 Valentin Chistyakov 14.3 14.51 3 Nereo Svara 14.4 14.59 4 Roman Muzyk 14.5 14.68 5 Bob Birrell 14.6 14.78 6 Marcel Duriez 15.0 15.19 Wind: +0.0 m/s

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 4 Willie May 13.7 13.87 2 6 Hayes Jones 14.1 14.22 3 2 Keith Gardner 14.2 14.32 4 5 Nereo Svara 14.3 14.50 5 3 Jean Baptiste Okello 14.4 14.59 6 1 Nikolay Berezutsky 14.6 14.69 Wind: +0.1 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 1 Lee Calhoun 13.7 13.88 2 4 Martin Lauer 14.0 14.13 3 3 Valentin Chistyakov 14.3 14.46 4 5 Ghulam Raziq 14.3 14.49 5 2 Stanko Lorger 14.5 14.83 — 6 Anatoly Mikhaylov Wind: +0.1 m/s

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) 2 Lee Calhoun 13.8 13.98 1 Willie May 13.8 13.99 6 Hayes Jones 14.0 14.17 4 3 Martin Lauer 14.0 14.20 5 4 Keith Gardner 14.4 14.55 6 5 Valentin Chistyakov 14.6 14.71 Wind: +0.1 m/s

References