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

Men's 400 metres at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	3–6 September
Competitors	59 from 44 nations
Medalists
Otis Davis  United States Carl Kaufmann  United Team of Germany Malcolm Spence 23x15px South Africa

Official Video Highlights

Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
20 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Decathlon		men

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 (one year) 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

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time date/time
1	Manfred Kinder	United Team of Germany	46.7 seconds
2	Edgar Davis	23x15px South Africa	47.2 seconds
3	Malcolm Yardley	Great Britain	47.3 seconds
4	Josef Trousil	Czechoslovakia	47.4 seconds
5	John Asare-Antwi	23x15px Ghana	47.7 seconds
6	Kimitada Hayase	Japan	49.1 seconds
7	Habib Sayed	Afghanistan	53.8 seconds

First round, heat 2

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Alf Pettersson	Sweden	48.3 seconds
2	Robbie Brightwell	Great Britain	48.4 seconds
3	Konstantin Grachev	Soviet Union	49.3 seconds
4	Felix Heuertz	Luxembourg	50.2 seconds
-	George Kerr	British West Indies	DNS
-	N. Romero	23x15px Venezuela	DNS

First round, heat 3

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Carl Kaufmann	United Team of Germany	47.3 seconds
2	Barry Robinson	New Zealand	47.6 seconds
3	Lodewijk De Clerck	Belgium	47.9 seconds
4	Anubes Ferraz Da Silva	Brazil	48.0 seconds
5	Csaba Csutorás	Hungary	48.2 seconds
6	Hugh Bullard	23x15px Bahamas	51.1 seconds

First round, heat 4

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Malcolm Spence	23x15px South Africa	46.7 seconds
2	Kevan Gosper	Australia	47.1 seconds
3	Terry Tobacco	23x15px Canada	47.4 seconds
4	Gadi Ado	Uganda	49.0 seconds
5	Marcel Lambrechts	Belgium	49.5 seconds
6	Jorge Teran	Mexico	49.6 seconds
7	Brahim Karabi	23x15px Tunisia	52.0 seconds

First round, heat 5

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	German Guenard	Puerto Rico	47.3 seconds
2	Jerzy Kowalski	Poland	48.3 seconds
3	Giuseppe Bommarito	Italy	48.6 seconds
4	Li Po-Ting	Republic of China	49.5 seconds
5	Clayton Glasgow	Guyana	50.7 seconds
6	George Johnson	Liberia	51.4 seconds

First round, heat 6

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Jack Yerman	United States	47.2 seconds
2	Milkha Singh	India	47.6 seconds
3	Stanisław Swatowski	Poland	48.1 seconds
4	Manikavasagam Jegathesan	Malaysia	48.4 seconds
5	Iván Rodríguez	Puerto Rico	49.6 seconds
6	Claro Pellosis	23x15px Philippines	51.4 seconds

First round, heat 7

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Mal Spence	British West Indies	47.6 seconds
2	Earl Young	United States	47.6 seconds
3	Bartonjo Rotich	Kenya	47.7 seconds
4	Zdenĕk Váňa	Czechoslovakia	48.3 seconds
5	Vasilios Sillis	Greece	48.4 seconds
6	Manum Bumroongpruck	Thailand	49.6 seconds

First round, heat 8

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Abdul Karim Amu	23x15px Nigeria	46.8 seconds
2	Gordon Day	23x15px South Africa	47.1 seconds
3	Hans-Joachim Reske	United Team of Germany	47.2 seconds
4	Voitto Hellstén	Finland	48.4 seconds
5	Jassim Karim Kuraishi	Iraq	49.2 seconds
6	Fahir Özgüden	Turkey	50.7 seconds

First round, heat 9

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Otis Davis	United States	46.8 seconds
2	Jim Wedderburn	British West Indies	47.4 seconds
3	John Wrighton	Great Britain	47.4 seconds
4	René Weber	Switzerland	47.6 seconds
5	Moussa Said	23x15px Ethiopia	48.2 seconds
6	Amos Grodzinowsky	Israel	48.9 seconds

Quarterfinal round

The top three in each of the 4 heats advanced.

Quarterfinal round, heat 1

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Carl Kaufmann	United Team of Germany	46.5 seconds
2	Milkha Singh	India	46.5 seconds
3	Malcolm Spence	British West Indies	46.9 seconds
4	Terry Tobacco	23x15px Canada	47.5 seconds
5	Edgar Davis	23x15px South Africa	48.0 seconds
6	Malcolm Yardley	Great Britain	48.8 seconds
-	Alf Pettersson	Sweden	DNS

Quarterfinal round, heat 2

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Jack Yerman	United States	46.4 seconds
2	Kevan Gosper	Australia	46.5 seconds
3	Manfred Kinder	United Team of Germany	46.7 seconds
4	Jim Wedderburn	British West Indies	47.0 seconds
5	German Guenard	Puerto Rico	47.2 seconds
6	John Wrighton	Great Britain	48.4 seconds

Quarterfinal round, heat 3

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Earl Young	United States	46.1 seconds
2	Robbie Brightwell	Great Britain	46.2 seconds
3	Gordon Day	23x15px South Africa	46.3 seconds
4	Hans-Joachim Reske	United Team of Germany	47.3 seconds
5	Stanisław Swatowski	Poland	47.4 seconds
6	Konstantin Grachov	Soviet Union	47.6 seconds
7	Bartonjo Rotich	Kenya	47.8 seconds

Quarterfinal round, heat 4

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Otis Davis	United States	45.9 seconds =OR
2	Malcolm Spence	23x15px South Africa	46.1 seconds
3	Abdel Karim Amu	23x15px Nigeria	46.6 seconds
4	Jerzy Kowalski	Poland	46.7 seconds
5	Giuseppe Bommarito	Italy	47.5 seconds
6	Barry Robinson	New Zealand	48.3 seconds
7	Lodewijk De Clerck	Belgium	48.4 seconds

Semifinal round

The top three in each of the 4 heats advanced.

Semifinal round, heat 1

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Otis Davis	United States	45.5 seconds (45.62)
2	Milkha Singh	India	45.9 seconds (46.08)
3	Manfred Kinder	United Team of Germany	46.0 seconds (46.13)
4	Robbie Brightwell	Great Britain	46.1 seconds (46.25)
5	Gordon Day	23x15px South Africa	46.7 seconds (46.84)
6	Kevan Gosper	Australia	47.1 seconds (47.28)

Semifinal round, heat 2

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Carl Kaufmann	United Team of Germany	45.7 seconds (45.88)
2	Malcolm Spence	23x15px South Africa	45.8 seconds (46.01)
3	Earl Young	United States	46.1 seconds (46.29)
4	Abdul Karim Amu	23x15px Nigeria	46.6 seconds (46.74)
5	Mal Spence	British West Indies	46.8 seconds (46.99)
6	Jack Yerman	United States	48.9 seconds (48.96)

Final

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Otis Davis	United States	44.9 seconds (45.07) WR
2	Carl Kaufmann	United Team of Germany	44.9 seconds (45.08) =WR
3	Malcolm Spence	23x15px South Africa	45.5 seconds (45.60)
4	Milkha Singh	India	45.6 seconds (45.73) NR
5	Manfred Kinder	United Team of Germany	45.9 seconds (46.04)
6	Earl Young	United States	45.9 seconds (46.07)