The men's triple jump field event at the

1960 Olympic Games The 1960 Olympics may refer to: *The 1960 Winter Olympics, which were held in Squaw Valley, United States *The 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympi ...

took place on September 6. Thirty-nine athletes from 24 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Józef Szmidt Józef Szmidt (born 28 March 1935 as Josef Schmidt) is a former Polish athlete. He was born in Miechowitz, Beuthen, Province of Upper Silesia, Germany. With a jump of 17.03m in 1960, Szmidt was the first triple jumper to reach 17 metres. Bio ...

of Poland won the gold medal. It was Poland's first medal and first victory in the men's triple jump. Vitold Kreyer of the Soviet Union repeated his bronze medal performance from 1956, becoming the sixth man to win two medals in the event. His countryman Vladimir Goryaev took silver; this made the Soviet Union the fourth nation to have two men on the podium in the same year in the triple jump (the United States, Sweden, and Japan) and the fourth nation to reach the podium three Games in a row (the United States, Finland, and Japan).

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 finalists from the 1956 Games were two-time gold medalist (and three-time finalist)

Adhemar da Silva Adhemar Ferreira da Silva (September 29, 1927 – January 12, 2001) was a Brazilian triple jumper. He won two Olympic gold medals and set four world records, the last being 16.56 metres in 1955 Pan American Games. In his early career he also ...

of Brazil, silver medalist

Vilhjálmur Einarsson Vilhjálmur Einarsson (5 June 1934 – 28 December 2019) was an Icelandic track and field athlete, and triple-jump silver medalist at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Vilhjálmur grew up in the East-Icelandic fishing vill ...

of Iceland, bronze medalist Vitold Kreyer of the Soviet Union, two men each from the United States ( Bill Sharpe and Ira Davis), Japan (

Koji Sakurai is a retired Japanese triple jumper. He competed at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics with the best achievement of seventh place in 1956. His personal best was 16.18 m, set in 1963. References 1936 births Living people Japanese male ...

and

Hiroshi Shibata is a Japanese sprinter and triple jumper. He competed in the triple jump at the 1956 Summer Olympics and in the triple jump and the men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici est ...

), and Finland (

Kari Rahkamo Kari Tapani Rahkamo (born 30 May 1933) is a Finnish athlete, politician, and Mayor of Helsinki in 1991–1996. He competed in the men's triple jump at the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Gio ...

and Hannu Rantala), Ryszard Malcherczyk of Poland, and Éric Battista of France. But among this veteran field, an Olympic newcomer was favored:

was the European champion and had broken the world record with the first over-17-metre jump at the Polish championships a month before the Games. Cuba, Iran, Iraq, and Spain each made their first appearance in the event; Germany made its first appearance as the "United Team of Germany". The United States competed for the 14th time, having competed at each of the Games so far.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936. In the qualifying round, each jumper received three attempts to reach the qualifying distance of 14.80 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. In the final round, each athlete had three jumps; the top six received an additional three jumps, with the best of the six to count.Official Report, vol. 2, p. 139.

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1956 Summer Olympics.

broke the Olympic record in the qualifying round with a jump of 16.44 metres; he improved on that further in the first jump of the final round (16.78 metres) and the third jump of the final round (16.81 metres).

Schedule

All times are Central European Time ( UTC+1)

Results

All jumpers reaching 15.50 metres advanced to the finals. All distances are listed in metres.

Qualifying

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics - Men's triple jump M Triple jump at the Olympics Men's events at the 1960 Summer Olympics