Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres


These are the official results of the Men's 400 metres event at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. The competition was held on September 3, 1960 and to on September 6, 1960. 59 competitors from 44 nations entered, but participated 54 competitors from 41 nations.
This race was settled via photo finish using one of the first experimental attempts at fully automatic timing. Carl Kaufmann made a diving lunge at the finish line, his head crossing the line first. But it is the torso that counts and Otis Davis, running upright had his body ahead of Kaufmann. After a suspenseful pause, Davis was ruled the winner. The photo made further famous after being published in Life Magazine. In fourth place, Milkha Singh ran the Indian national record that lasted 44 years until the 2004 Olympics.
There is potential confusion with two athletes in the competition named Malcolm Spence, both qualifying to the second semifinal. The younger Malcolm Spence representing South Africa eventually netted the Bronze medal, while the senior Malcolm Spence from Jamaica, shortened his name to "Mal" while representing the British West Indies, achieved a Bronze as part of their 4x400 metres relay, one second ahead of the 4th place South African team.
In the final, South African Malcolm Spence took off hard from the gun, making up the stagger and passing Milkha Singh to his outside before the second turn. Through the second turn, Otis Davis gained ground strongly, passing Spence to his outside halfway through the turn, emerging onto the home straight with the lead, two lanes inside of him Carl Kaufmann also gained on the turn and emerged slightly ahead of Spence. Kaufmann gained steadily on Davis but never caught him, desperately diving at the finish line from a half meter back but unable to get more than his head ahead of Davis. Singh was the best of the rest, holding his own the second half of the race against the initial lead of Spence, but unable to gain much ground. Ultimately Spence held on for bronze.

Results

First round

The top three runners in each of the 9 heats advanced.

First round, heat 1

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Manfred Kinder46.7 seconds
2Edgar Davis47.2 seconds
3Malcolm Yardley47.3 seconds
4Josef Trousil47.4 seconds
5John Asare-Antwi47.7 seconds
6Kimitada Hayase49.1 seconds
7Habib Sayed53.8 seconds

First round, heat 2

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Alf Pettersson48.3 seconds
2Robbie Brightwell48.4 seconds
3Konstantin Grachev49.3 seconds
4Felix Heuertz50.2 seconds
-George KerrDNS
-N. RomeroDNS

First round, heat 3

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Carl Kaufmann47.3 seconds
2Barry Robinson47.6 seconds
3Lodewijk De Clerck47.9 seconds
4Anubes da Silva48.0 seconds
5Csaba Csutorás48.2 seconds
6Hugh Bullard51.1 seconds

First round, heat 4

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Malcolm Spence46.7 seconds
2Kevan Gosper47.1 seconds
3Terry Tobacco47.4 seconds
4Gadi Ado49.0 seconds
5Marcel Lambrechts49.5 seconds
6Jorge Terán49.6 seconds
7Brahim Karabi52.0 seconds

First round, heat 5

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1German Guenard47.3 seconds
2Jerzy Kowalski48.3 seconds
3Giuseppe Bommarito48.6 seconds
4Li Po-ting49.5 seconds
5Clayton Glasgow50.7 seconds
6George Johnson51.4 seconds

First round, heat 6

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Jack Yerman47.2 seconds
2Milkha Singh47.6 seconds
3Stanisław Swatowski48.1 seconds
4Manikavasagam Jegathesan48.4 seconds
5Iván Rodríguez49.6 seconds
6Claro Pellosis51.4 seconds

First round, heat 7

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Mal Spence47.6 seconds
2Earl Young47.6 seconds
3Bartonjo Rotich47.7 seconds
4Zdenĕk Váňa48.3 seconds
5Vasilios Sillis48.4 seconds
6Manum Bumroongpruck49.6 seconds

First round, heat 8

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Abdul Karim Amu46.8 seconds
2Gordon Day47.1 seconds
3Hans-Joachim Reske47.2 seconds
4Voitto Hellstén48.4 seconds
5Jassim Karim Kuraishi49.2 seconds
6Fahir Özgüden50.7 seconds

First round, heat 9

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Otis Davis46.8 seconds
2Jim Wedderburn47.4 seconds
3John Wrighton47.4 seconds
4René Weber47.6 seconds
5Moussa Said48.2 seconds
6Amos Grodzinowsky48.9 seconds

Quarterfinal round

The top three in each of the 4 heats advanced.

Quarterfinal round, heat 1

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Carl Kaufmann46.5 seconds
2Milkha Singh46.5 seconds
3Malcolm Spence46.9 seconds
4Terry Tobacco47.5 seconds
5Edgar Davis48.0 seconds
6Malcolm Yardley48.8 seconds
-Alf PetterssonDNS

Quarterfinal round, heat 2

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Jack Yerman46.4 seconds
2Kevan Gosper46.5 seconds
3Manfred Kinder46.7 seconds
4Jim Wedderburn47.0 seconds
5German Guenard47.2 seconds
6John Wrighton48.4 seconds

Quarterfinal round, heat 3

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Earl Young46.1 seconds
2Robbie Brightwell46.2 seconds
3Gordon Day46.3 seconds
4Hans-Joachim Reske47.3 seconds
5Stanisław Swatowski47.4 seconds
6Konstantin Grachov47.6 seconds
7Bartonjo Rotich47.8 seconds

Quarterfinal round, heat 4

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Otis Davis45.9 seconds =OR
2Malcolm Spence46.1 seconds
3Abdel Karim Amu46.6 seconds
4Jerzy Kowalski46.7 seconds
5Giuseppe Bommarito47.5 seconds
6Barry Robinson48.3 seconds
7Lodewijk De Clerck48.4 seconds

Semifinal round

The top three in each of the 4 heats advanced.

Semifinal round, heat 1

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Otis Davis45.5 seconds
2Milkha Singh45.9 seconds
3Manfred Kinder46.0 seconds
4Robbie Brightwell46.1 seconds
5Gordon Day46.7 seconds
6Kevan Gosper47.1 seconds

Semifinal round, heat 2

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Carl Kaufmann45.7 seconds
2Malcolm Spence45.8 seconds
3Earl Young46.1 seconds
4Abdul Karim Amu46.6 seconds
5Mal Spence46.8 seconds
6Jack Yerman48.9 seconds

Final

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Otis Davis44.9 seconds WR
2Carl Kaufmann44.9 seconds =WR
3Malcolm Spence45.5 seconds
4Milkha Singh45.6 seconds NR
5Manfred Kinder45.9 seconds
6Earl Young45.9 seconds