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

The men's 400 metres was an event at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. The competition was held between September 3 and September 6, 1960. 59 competitors from 44 nations entered, but 54 competitors from 41 nations participated. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.01 seconds by Otis Davis of the United States, the second consecutive and ninth overall title in the event for an American. Carl Kaufmann's silver was the second straight silver for a German in the event, while Malcolm Spence's bronze was the first medal for South Africa in the 400 metres since 1920.

## Summary

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 was 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.

## Background

This was the fourteenth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Of the finalists from 1956, bronze medalist Voitto Hellstén of Finland and sixth-place finisher Malcolm Spence returned in 1960. The field was relatively open, with no clear favorite.
Afghanistan, the Bahamas, the British West Indies, Ghana, Guyana, Tunisia, and Uganda appeared in this event for the first time. The United States made its fourteenth appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

## Competition format

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. There were 9 heats in the first round, each scheduled to have 6 or 7 athletes but with some dropping to as low as 4 after withdrawals. The top three runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were 4 quarterfinals of 6 or 7 runners each; the top three athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 6 runners each. The top three runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making a six-man final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Lou Jones (USA) | 45.2 | Los Angeles, United States | 30 June 1956 |
| Olympic record | George Rhoden (JAM) | 45.9 | Helsinki, Finland | 25 July 1952 |
Otis Davis matched the Olympic record of 45.9 seconds in the quarterfinals. In the first semifinal, he set a new Olympic record at 45.5 seconds; by the end of the semifinals, four men had matched (Milkha Singh) or beaten (Malcolm Spence at 45.8 seconds, Carl Kaufmann at 45.7 seconds, and Otis at 45.5 seconds) the old record. In the final, the fifth- and sixth-place finishers (Manfred Kinder and Earl Young matched the old record—but still finished a full second behind the leaders, as Otis and Kaufmann broke the world record with 44.9 second finishes to take gold and silver. Singh's 45.6 seconds in the final set a national record that stood for 44 years.

## Schedule

The semifinals and final were on different days for the first time since 1912.
All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Saturday, 3 September 1960 | 09:50 16:10 | Round 1 Quarterfinals |
| Monday, 5 September 1960 | 16:15 | Semifinals |
| Tuesday, 6 September 1960 | 15:45 | Finals |

## Results
### First round

The top three runners in each of the 9 heats advanced.

#### Heat 1

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

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Alf Pettersson | Sweden | 48.3 | Q |
| 2 | Robbie Brightwell | Great Britain | 48.4 | Q |
| 3 | Konstantin Grachev | Soviet Union | 49.3 | Q |
| 4 | Felix Heuertz | Luxembourg | 50.2 | |
| — | George Kerr | British West Indies | DNS | |
| — | N. Romero | Venezuela | DNS | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Carl Kaufmann | United Team of Germany | 47.3 | Q |
| 2 | Barry Robinson | New Zealand | 47.6 | Q |
| 3 | Lodewijk De Clerck | Belgium | 47.9 | Q |
| 4 | Anubes da Silva | Brazil | 48.0 | |
| 5 | Csaba Csutorás | Hungary | 48.2 | |
| 6 | Hugh Bullard | Bahamas | 51.1 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Malcolm Spence | South Africa | 46.7 | Q |
| 2 | Kevan Gosper | Australia | 47.1 | Q |
| 3 | Terry Tobacco | Canada | 47.4 | Q |
| 4 | Gadi Ado | Uganda | 49.0 | |
| 5 | Marcel Lambrechts | Belgium | 49.5 | |
| 6 | Jorge Terán | Mexico | 49.6 | |
| 7 | Brahim Karabi | Tunisia | 52.0 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | German Guenard | Puerto Rico | 47.3 | Q |
| 2 | Jerzy Kowalski | Poland | 48.3 | Q |
| 3 | Giuseppe Bommarito | Italy | 48.6 | Q |
| 4 | Li Po-ting | Formosa | 49.5 | |
| 5 | Clayton Glasgow | Guyana | 50.7 | |
| 6 | George Johnson | Liberia | 51.4 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jack Yerman | United States | 47.2 | Q |
| 2 | Milkha Singh | India | 47.6 | Q |
| 3 | Stanisław Swatowski | Poland | 48.1 | Q |
| 4 | Manikavasagam Jegathesan | Malaya | 48.4 | |
| 5 | Iván Rodríguez | Puerto Rico | 49.6 | |
| 6 | Claro Pellosis | Philippines | 51.4 | |

#### Heat 7

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

#### Heat 8

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

#### Heat 9

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

### Quarterfinal round

The top three in each of the 4 heats advanced.

#### Quarterfinal 1

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

#### Quarterfinal 2

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

#### Quarterfinal 3

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

#### Quarterfinal 4

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

### Semifinal round

The top three in each of the 4 heats advanced.

#### Semifinal 1

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

#### Semifinal 2

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

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) | Time (auto) | Notes |
| | 3 | Otis Davis | United States | 44.9 | 45.07 | WR |
| | 1 | Carl Kaufmann | United Team of Germany | 44.9 | 45.08 | WR |
| | 4 | Malcolm Spence | South Africa | 45.5 | 45.60 | |
| 4 | 5 | Milkha Singh | India | 45.6 | 45.73 | NR |
| 5 | 6 | Manfred Kinder | United Team of Germany | 45.9 | 46.04 | |
| 6 | 2 | Earl Young | United States | 45.9 | 46.07 | |