Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metres


The women's 800 metres middle distance event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between September 6 and September 7. This was the return of the event for the first time since 1928.
Dixie Willis had the best time in qualifying, thus the Olympic record though Lyudmila Shevtsova had set the world record a month earlier in Moscow. In the final Willis took the race out, marked by Shevtsova. By the final straightaway, Brenda Jones was also with Shevtsova and looking fast challenging Willis for the lead. Suddenly Willis stepped on the curb and fell off the track into the infield. Shevtsova edged into the lead and dipped at the finish to equal her own world record and take the gold in 2:04.3. Jones was electronically timed at being.08 behind though electronic timing would not become official for another 17 years. Ursula Donath was the lucky German who was a step behind the top three when Willis exited to get the bronze. Less than two years later, Wilis would improve the world record by three seconds.

Results

Heats

The top two runners in each of the four heats and the next fastest one advanced to the final round.
Heat one
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Antje Gleichfeld2:11.05OR
2Brenda Jones2:11.14
3Zinaida Matistovich2:11.57
4Maryvonne Dupureur2:12.42
5Diane Charles2:14.24
6Zofia Walasek2:16.44
7Lee Hak-ja2:28.4

Heat two
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Ursula Donath2:07.92OR
2Beata Żbikowska2:09.57
3Florica Grecescu2:10.10
4Olga Kazi2:11.07
5Gilda Jannaccone2:13.72
6Phyllis Perkins2:15.41
-Pat DanielsDQ

Heat three
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Lyudmila Lysenko2:09.31
2Gizella Sasvári-Csóka2:09.77
3Krystyna Nowakowska2”09.81
4Eleanor Haslam2:10.17
5Bedřiška Kulhavá2:10.23
6Gerda Kraan2:10.71
7Nicole Goullieux2:13.53

Heat four
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Dixie Willis2:06.03OR
2Joy Jordan2:07.29
3Vera Kummerfeldt2:07.34
4Yekaterina Parlyuk2:07.71
5Ine ter Laak-Spijk2:10.36
6Gül Çiray2:11.55

Final

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Lyudmila Lysenko2:04.50WR
Brenda Jones2:04.58
Ursula Donath2:05.73
4Vera Kummerfeldt2:06.07
5Antje Gleichfeld2:06.63
6Joy Jordan2:07.95
7Gizella Sasvári-Csóka2:08.11
8Beata Żbikowska2:11.91
-Dixie WillisDNF

Key: WR = world record; OR = Olympic record; DNF = did not finish; DQ = disqualified