The men's marathon at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

Rome, Italy , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg ...

, was held on Saturday September 10, 1960. There were 69 participants from 35 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Abebe Bikila ''Shambel'' Abebe Bikila ( am, ሻምበል አበበ ቢቂላ; August 7, 1932 – October 25, 1973) was an Ethiopian marathon runner who was a back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. He is the first Ethiopian Olympic gold medalist, winnin ...

, who ran the race barefoot, finished in world record time and became the first

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

n to win an Olympic gold medal. All three of the medalists came from nations which had never before won an Olympic marathon medal.

Background

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1956 marathon included gold medalist

Alain Mimoun Alain Mimoun, born Ali Mimoun Ould Kacha (1 January 1921 – 27 June 2013), was an Algerian-born French long-distance runner who competed in track events, cross-country running and the marathon. He was the 1956 Olympic champion in the marathon ...

of France, silver medalist

Franjo Mihalić Franjo Mihalić (; 9 March 1920 – 14 February 2015) was a Yugoslav and Croatian long-distance runner best known for his 1958 win at the Boston Marathon and his marathon silver medal in the 1956 Summer Olympics. Mihalić competed mostly in marath ...

of Yugoslavia, fourth-place finisher Lee Chang-hoon of South Korea, eighth-place finisher

Evert Nyberg John Evert Nyberg (28 February 1925 – 17 August 2000) was a Swedish long-distance runner who won a bronze medal in the 5000 m event at the 1946 European Championships. He competed in the 5000 m at the 1948 Summer Olympics and in the marathon ...

of Sweden, and tenth-place finisher

Eino Oksanen Eino Ilmari Oksanen (7 May 1931 – 10 August 2022) was a Finnish marathon runner who won the Boston Marathon three times (1959, 1961 and 1962). Oksanen also won the 1957 Turku Marathon in Finland and the 1959 Athens Peace Marathon. See also * ...

of Finland. Sergei Popov of the Soviet Union, the world record holder and one of only two men (along with Jim Peters) to have run under 2 hours and 20 minutes, was favored. Ceylon, Liberia, Morocco, and Tunisia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its 14th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format and course

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a point-to-point course; it was the first marathon to neither start nor end at the Olympic Stadium. The course started at the Piazza di Campidoglio. It was a triangular loop, running along many of the wonders of Ancient Roma. The course passed along the Caracalla Baths, ran down the

Appian Way The Appian Way (Latin and Italian language, Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient Roman Republic, republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is ...

, and finished under the

Arch of Constantine The Arch of Constantine ( it, Arco di Costantino) is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvi ...

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1960 Summer Olympics.

set a new world record at 2:15:16.2; this record is still the record for barefoot running.

Schedule

The 1960 marathon started so late that the course required torchlight for the runners to see. The last finisher arrived at nearly 9:15 p.m. local time. All times are

Central European Time Central European Time (CET) is a standard time which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Europe and in a few North African countries. CET i ...

(

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)

Results

References

External links

Official report

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics - Men's marathon M Marathons at the Olympics Men's marathons

Oly Oly may refer to: * Oly, informal name for Olympia, Washington, United States * OLY (: ), postnominals granted to participants in the Olympics People with the name * Oly (born 1992), American singer-songwriter and musician * Oly Hicks (born 1968 ...

Men's events at the 1960 Summer Olympics