History

In Rome, where the ancient Olympics had ended more than 1600 years earlier, the 1960 Olympic venues were a curious blend of ancient and modern architecture. Near the brand-new Olympic stadium, sports palace and velodrome, wrestling was contested in the Basilica of Maxentius, which had hosted matches 2,000 years before; gymnastics took place in the Baths of Caracalla, and the marathon was run along the Appian Way, finishing at the Arch of Constantine.

Italian preparations for the games set a new standard for Olympic sites, in that the entire infrastructure was upgraded. Superhighways and tunnels were built to ease the traffic burden, and an entire new water supply system was constructed. The Villagio Olympico, which housed a record 5,348 athletes from 84 nations, was a true village, with parks, play areas, and shops. After the athletes left, it became low-cost housing for government workers.

The Rome Olympics were the first to be thoroughly covered on broadcast television. Eurovision brought live telecasts of many events to Europe, and CBS paid $394,000 for U. S. rights. Since there was no way of relaying broadcasts across the Atlantic, the network flew tapes to New York City daily.

For the United States, the track and field star was the graceful Wilma Rudolph, who won both sprints and ran the anchor leg on the 4 x 100-meter relay team to win a third gold medal. She helped make up for disappointments in the men's sprints. Armin Hary of Germany won the 100-meter and Livio Berrutti of Italy was the surprise winner of the 200-meter sprint, in world record time. The American sprint relay team had a good shot at a gold medal, but was disqualified for an illegal pass.

However, Otis Davis of the U. S. set a world record in the 400-meter and two Americans won their second straight gold medals in the hurdles, Lee Calhoun in the 110-meter and Glenn Davis in the 400-meter. Both Davises, Otis and Glenn, were on the gold medal 4 x 400-meter relay team.

Other world records were set by Australia's Herb Elliott, in the 1500-meter run; barefoot runner Abibe Bikila, in the marathon; and by the German 4 x 100-meter relay team, led by Hary.

American men were more successful in the field events than on the track. Don Bragg won the pole vault, Ralph Boston the long jump. Bill Nieder beat favored teammate Parry O'Brien in the shotput and Al Oerter won the second of his historic four gold medals in the discus.

The marathon featured an intensely close competition between two good friends and UCLA teammates, Rafer Johnson of the United States and C. K. Yang, representing the Republic of China. Yang had better scores than Johnson in seven of the ten events, but Johnson's great superiority in weight throws gave him a 58-point victory, the narrowest margin in Olympic history.

The Soviet Union dominated women's track and field, aside from the sprints. Led by sisters Tamara and Irina Press, they won six of the other seven events. Irina took the 80-meter hurdles, Tamara the shot put. The 800-meter run, restored to the program for the first time since 1924, was won by Soviet Lyudmila Shevtsova in world record time.

Men's swimming was pretty much a contest between Australia and the United States. The Aussies won four of the six individual races, but U. S. depth led to victories and world records in both relays. There was some controversy over the 100-meter freestyle, where Lance Larson of the U. S. appeared to win by a touch, but Australia's John Devitt was awarded the gold medal by the judges after much discussion. (Electronic timing wasn't used until the 1968 games.)

In women's swimming, Dawn Fraser of Australia won the second of her three gold medals in the 100-meter freestyle, but American teen-agers ruled five of the other six events. Sixteen-year-old Chris Von Saltza led the way with three gold medals. She won the 400-meter freestyle and anchored both relay teams which, like their male counterparts, won gold medals in world record times.

Another teen-ager, 17-year-old Ingrid Kramer of Germany, won both diving events, breaking an American stranglehold. She was the first woman from outside the U. S. to win a gold medal in diving since 1920. However, Bob Webster won the platform event and Gary Tobian the springboard event to give American men a gold-medal sweep.

Italian fans cheered wildly at the boxing arena, where six of their countrymen reached the finals and three won gold medals. Among them was Nino Benvenuti, who went on to become world middleweight champion. The United States also had three gold medalists, led by 18-year-old Cassius Marcellus Clay in the light-heavyweight division. He later became better known as Muhammad Ali.

The term "Dream Team" hadn't been coined yet, but it could have been applied to the 1960 U. S. basketball squad, probably the greatest team put together until professionals were allowed to play in 1992. The roster included Walt Bellamy, Terry Dischinger, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry West. All went on to stardom in the NBA, four of them won the league's rookie of the year award, and three of them - Lucas, Robertson, and West - are in the basketball hall of fame.

Unfortunately, a tragedy marred the 1960 cycling competition. Danish cyclist Knud Jensen collapsed and died during the road race, and it was discovered that drug use was a contributing factor. That was a precursor of what was to become a major problem, not only in the Olympics, but in all of sports.

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