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Games of the XVII Olympiad
Host city	Rome, Italy
Nations participating	83
Athletes participating	5,338 (4,727 men, 611 women)
Events	150 in 17 sports
Opening ceremony	August 25
Closing ceremony	September 11
Officially opened by	President Giovanni Gronchi
Athlete's Oath	Adolfo Consolini
Olympic Torch	Giancarlo Peris
Stadium	Stadio Olimpico

The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Rome, Italy, in 1960. Rome had been awarded the organization of the 1908 Summer Olympics, but after the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, was forced to decline and pass the honors to London.

Host Selection

On June 15, 1955, at the 50th IOC Session in Paris, France, Rome beat out Lausanne, Detroit, Budapest (being the first city of the Eastern Bloc to bid for the hosting of the Olympics), Brussels, Mexico City and Tokyo for the rights to the Games.

The vote results below, in chart form, are compliments of the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page.

1960 Summer Olympics Bidding Results
City	NOC	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
Rome	Italy	15	26	35
Lausanne	Switzerland	14	21	24
Detroit	United States	6	11	-
Budapest	Hungary	8	1	-
Brussels	Belgium	6	-	-
Mexico City	Mexico	6	-	-
Tokyo	Japan	4	-	-

Highlights

• Soviet gymnasts won 15 of 16 possible medals in women's gymnastics
• Danish sailer Paul Elvstrøm won his fourth straight gold medal in the Finn class. The only others to emulate his performance in an individual event are Al Oerter, Carl Lewis and, if the Intercalated Games of 1906 are included, Ray Ewry.
• Finnish Vilho Ylönen, a field shooter, shot a bullseye to a wrong target and was dropped from the second place to fourth.
• The future Constantine II, King of Greece, won his country a gold in sailing Dragon Class.
• Fencer Aladar Gerevich of Hungary won his sixth consecutive gold medal in the team sabre event (1932–1936, 1948–1960).
• Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track. She was acclaimed as "the fastest woman in the world".
• Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon bare-footed to become the first black African Olympic champion.
• Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal.
• The Japanese men's gymnastics team won the first of five successive golds, the last of which was won in 1976, in Montreal.
• South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under its apartheid regime. It would not be allowed to return until 1992, after the abandonment of apartheid and during the transition to majority rule.
• Swedish canoer Gert Fredriksson won his sixth Olympic title.
• Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen collapsed during his race under the influence of Roniacol and later died in the hospital. It was the second time an athlete died in competition at the Olympics, after the death of Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lázaro at the 1912 Summer Olympics.^[1]
• Australian athlete Herb Elliott won the men's 1500 meters in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic history.
• American athlete Rafer Johnson defeated his rival and friend C.K. Yang in one of the greatest decathlon events in Olympic history.
• Peter Camejo, a 2004 American vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, competed in yachting for Venezuela.
• Armin Hary won the 100 metres in an Olympic record time of 10.2 seconds.
• Pakistan broke India's dominance in Olympic Men's Field Hockey by becoming the first team in history to beat India in Olympic Field Hockey since 1928 and winning its first ever Olympic gold medal in the process. India had already won 6 previous hockey golds in the Summer Olympics.
• Queen Sofía of Spain represented Greece in sailing events.
• Jeff Farrell of the United States won two gold medals in swimming after undergoing an emergency kidney transplant six days before the Olympic Trials
• Singapore competed for the first time under its own flag, which was to become its national flag after independence, as the British had granted it self government a year earlier. Coincidentally, it was the first time (and only time until 2008) an athlete from Singapore won an Olympic medal, when Tan Howe Liang won silver in the Weightlifting lightweight category.
• CBS paid $394,000 for the right to broadcast the Games in the United States.^[2].

Venues

• Olympic Stadium² (Stadio Olimpico) - opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian events
• Flaminio Stadium¹ (Stadio Flaminio) - football/soccer finals
• Swimming Stadium¹ - swimming, diving, water polo
• Sports Palace¹ (Palazzo dello sport) - basketball, boxing
• Olympic Velodrome¹ - cycling, hockey
• Small Sports Palace¹ (Palazzetto dello Sport) - basketball, weightlifting
• Marble Stadium² (Stadio dei Marmi) - hockey preliminaries
• Baths of Caracalla - gymnastics
• Basilica of Maxentius - wrestling
• Palazzo dei Congressi - fencing
• Umberto I Shooting Range¹ - shooting
• Roses Swimming Pool¹ (Piscina delle Rose) - water polo
• Lake Albano, Castelgandolfo - rowing, canoeing
• Piazza di Siena, Villa Borghese gardens - equestrian events
• Pratoni del Vivaro, Rocca di Papa - equestrian events
• Bay of Naples, Naples - yachting
• Communal Stadium, Florence - football/soccer preliminaries
• Communal Stadium, Grosseto - football/soccer preliminaries
• Communal Stadium, L'Aquila - football/soccer preliminaries
• Ardenza Stadium, Livorno - football/soccer preliminaries
• Adriatico Stadium, Pescara - football/soccer preliminaries
• Saint Paul's Stadium, Naples - football/soccer preliminaries

¹ New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. ² Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Events and Medals awarded

See for individual sports and for medal winners, ordered by sport:

Participating nations

Participants

A total of 84 nations participated at the Rome Games. Athletes from Morocco, San Marino, Sudan, and Tunisia competed at the Olympic Games for the first time. Suriname also made its first Olympic appearance, but its lone athlete withdrew from competition, leaving a total of 83 nations that actually competed. Athletes from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago would represent the new (British) West Indies Federation, but this nation would only exist for this single Olympiad. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany would compete as the United Team of Germany from 1956-1964.

Medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	43	29	31	103
2	United States	34	21	16	71
3	Italy (host nation)	13	10	13	36
4	Germany	12	19	11	42
5	Australia	8	8	6	22
6	Turkey	7	2	0	9
7	Hungary	6	8	7	21
8	Japan	4	7	7	18
9	Poland	4	6	11	21
10	Czechoslovakia	3	2	3	8

See also

• 1960 Summer Paralympics
• International Olympic Committee
• IOC country codes

Notes

External links

• Rome 1960 from the International Olympic Committee
• The program of the 1960 Rome Olympics