# Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres was held on 2 September and 3 September as part of the athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics, which were held in Rome. 74 athletes from 54 nations entered, but only 62 athletes from 47 nations ultimately competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.1 seconds by Livio Berruti of Italy, the first victory in the event by a nation outside of North America and snapping a five-Games winning streak (and two-Games medal sweep streak) by the United States. The Americans finished with a silver medal, by Lester Carney, to extend their medal streak to six Games. Abdoulaye Seye of France took bronze. Berruti's gold and Seye's bronze were the first medal for their nations in the men's 200 metres.

## Background

This was the 13th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. One of the six finalists from the 1956 Games returned: sixth-place finisher José da Conceição of Brazil. The favorite was American Ray Norton, the 1959 and 1960 AAU champion and 1959 Pan American Games winner. Italian Livio Berruti was the only man who had defeated Norton in any 200 metres race in 1959, and the home crowd in Rome hoped for a medal from him.
Afghanistan, the British West Indies, Fiji, Ghana, Kenya, and Morocco each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 13th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

## Competition format

The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. A significant change, however, was the introduction of the "fastest loser" system. Previously, advancement depended solely on the runners' place in their heat. The 1960 competition added advancement places to the fastest runners across the heats in the first round who did not advance based on place.
There were 12 heats of between 5 and 6 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 3 fastest overall. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 6 or 7 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top 3 athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Stone Johnson (USA) | 20.5 | Stanford, United States | 2 July 1960 |
| Olympic record | Bobby Morrow (USA) | 20.6 | Melbourne, Australia | 27 November 1956 |
Livio Berruti's hand-timed 20.5 seconds in the semifinal equalled the world record and set a new Olympic record; he equalled this time in the Final.

## Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 2 September 1960 | 9:00 15:20 | Heats Quarterfinals |
| Saturday, 3 September 1960 | 15:45 18:00 | Semifinals Final |

## Results
### Heats

The top two runners in each of the 12 heats advanced, as well as the next three fastest runners from across all heats.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Paul Genevay | France | 21.2 | Q |
| 2 | Vadym Arkhypchuk | Soviet Union | 21.5 | Q |
| 3 | James Omagbemi | Nigeria | 26.2 | |
| — | Iftikhar Shah | Pakistan | DNS | |
| — | Abebe Hailou | Ethiopia | DNS | |
| — | Enrique Figuerola | Cuba | DNS | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Les Carney | United States | 21.1 | Q |
| 2 | David Segal | Great Britain | 21.3 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Laeng | Switzerland | 21.6 | |
| 4 | Shahrudin Mohamed Ali | Malaya | 22.3 | |
| — | Hilmar Thorbjörnsson | Iceland | DNS | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Stone Johnson | United States | 21.7 | Q |
| 2 | Nikolaos Georgopoulos | Greece | 22.0 | Q |
| 3 | Clayton Glasgow | Guyana | 22.6 | |
| 4 | James Roberts | Liberia | 23.1 | |
| — | Harry Jerome | Canada | DNS | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marcel Wendelin | United Team of Germany | 21.6 | Q |
| 2 | Leonid Bartenev | Soviet Union | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Michael Okantey | Ghana | 21.8 | |
| 4 | Santiago Plaza | Mexico | 22.0 | |
| 5 | Huang Suh-Chuang | Formosa | 22.9 | |
| 6 | Abdul Khaliq | Pakistan | 23.1 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Peter Radford | Great Britain | 21.1 | Q |
| 2 | Erasmus Amukun | Uganda | 21.3 | Q |
| 3 | Csaba Csutorás | Hungary | 21.7 | |
| 4 | Sitiveni Moceidreke | Fiji | 21.8 | |
| 5 | Elmar Kunauer | Austria | 22.2 | |
| — | Emmanuel Putu | Liberia | DNS | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ray Norton | United States | 21.2 | Q |
| 2 | David Jones | Great Britain | 21.2 | Q |
| 3 | Yuriy Konovalov | Soviet Union | 21.4 | q |
| 4 | Ramón Vega | Puerto Rico | 21.8 | |
| 5 | Patrick Lowry | Ireland | 22.1 | |
| — | Vilém Mandlík | Czechoslovakia | DNF | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Livio Berruti | Italy | 21.0 | Q |
| 2 | Tom Robinson | Bahamas | 21.4 | Q |
| 3 | Lloyd Murad | Venezuela | 21.8 | |
| 4 | Pentti Rekola | Finland | 22.2 | |
| 5 | Bouchaib El-Maachi | Morocco | 22.3 | |
| — | Jalal Gozal | Indonesia | DNS | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dennis Johnson | British West Indies | 21.2 | Q |
| 2 | José da Conceição | Brazil | 21.3 | Q |
| 3 | Sebald Schnellmann | Switzerland | 21.4 | q |
| 4 | Jean-Pierre Barra | Belgium | 22.3 | |
| 5 | Enrique Bautista | Philippines | 23.0 | |
| 6 | Ali Yusuf Zaid | Afghanistan | 23.1 | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Abdoulaye Seye | France | 21.1 | Q |
| 2 | Carl Fredrik Bunæs | Norway | 21.3 | Q |
| 3 | Clifton Bertrand | British West Indies | 21.3 | q |
| 4 | Amos Grodzinowsky | Israel | 21.8 | |
| 5 | Barry Robinson | New Zealand | 22.2 | |
| 6 | Lennart Jonsson | Sweden | 22.3 | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marian Foik | Poland | 21.1 | Q |
| 2 | Jocelyn Delecour | France | 21.3 | Q |
| 3 | Armando Sardi | Italy | 21.6 | |
| 4 | Lynn Eves | Canada | 21.9 | |
| 5 | Mikhail Bachvarov | Bulgaria | 22.2 | |
| 6 | Roger Bofferding | Luxembourg | 23.2 | |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Seraphino Antao | Kenya | 21.3 | Q |
| 2 | Rafael Romero | Venezuela | 21.4 | Q |
| 3 | Manfred Germar | United Team of Germany | 21.6 | |
| 4 | Romain Poté | Belgium | 22.1 | |
| 5 | Melanio Asensio | Spain | 22.3 | |
| 6 | Aydin Onur | Turkey | 22.5 | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Edward Jefferys | South Africa | 21.1 | Q |
| 2 | Salvatore Giannone | Italy | 21.5 | Q |
| 3 | Kimitada Hayase | Japan | 22.3 | |
| 4 | Falih Fahmi | Iraq | 22.6 | |
| 5 | Dennis Tipping | Australia | 22.9 | |
| — | Milkha Singh | India | DNS | |

### Quarterfinals

The first three in each quarterfinal qualified for the semifinals.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Stone Johnson | United States | 20.9 | Q |
| 2 | Edward Jefferys | South Africa | 21.1 | Q |
| 3 | Tom Robinson | Bahamas | 21.2 | Q |
| 4 | Erasmus Amukun | Uganda | 21.3 | |
| 5 | Yuriy Konovalov | Soviet Union | 21.3 | |
| 6 | Clifton Bertrand | British West Indies | 21.4 | |
| 7 | Rafael Romero | Venezuela | 21.4 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Abdoulaye Seye | France | 20.8 | Q |
| 2 | Ray Norton | United States | 21.0 | Q |
| 3 | David Segal | Great Britain | 21.1 | Q |
| 4 | Seraphino Antao | Kenya | 21.3 | |
| 5 | Vadym Arkhypchuk | Soviet Union | 21.5 | |
| 6 | José da Conceição | Brazil | 21.5 | |
| 7 | Nikolaos Georgopoulos | Greece | 22.0 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Les Carney | United States | 20.9 | Q |
| 2 | Peter Radford | Great Britain | 21.0 | Q |
| 3 | Dennis Johnson | British West Indies | 21.1 | Q |
| 4 | Jocelyn Delecour | France | 21.5 | |
| 5 | Leonid Bartenev | Soviet Union | 21.5 | |
| 6 | Sebald Schnellmann | Switzerland | 21.5 | |
| 7 | Salvatore Giannone | Italy | 21.8 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Livio Berruti | Italy | 20.8 | Q |
| 2 | Marian Foik | Poland | 20.9 | Q |
| 3 | Paul Genevay | France | 21.1 | Q |
| 4 | David Jones | Great Britain | 21.2 | |
| 5 | Carl Fredrik Bunæs | Norway | 21.4 | |
| 6 | Marcel Wendelin | United Team of Germany | 21.6 | |

### Semifinals

The first three in each semifinal qualified for the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Abdoulaye Seye | France | 20.8 | Q |
| 2 | Marian Foik | Poland | 21.0 | Q |
| 3 | Les Carney | United States | 21.1 | Q |
| 4 | Edward Jefferys | South Africa | 21.3 | |
| 5 | Tom Robinson | Bahamas | 21.5 | |
| — | David Segal | Great Britain | DSQ | |

#### Semifinal 2

Berruti tied the world record of 20.5 seconds.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Livio Berruti | Italy | 20.5 | Q, =WR |
| 2 | Ray Norton | United States | 20.7 | Q |
| 3 | Stone Johnson | United States | 20.8 | Q |
| 4 | Peter Radford | Great Britain | 20.9 | |
| 5 | Dennis Johnson | British West Indies | 21.0 | |
| 6 | Paul Genevay | France | 21.0 | |

### Final

Berruti tied again the world record of 20.5 seconds
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Livio Berruti | Italy | 20.5 | =WR |
| | Les Carney | United States | 20.6 | |
| | Abdoulaye Seye | France | 20.7 | |
| 4 | Marian Foik | Poland | 20.8 | |
| 5 | Stone Johnson | United States | 20.8 | |
| 6 | Ray Norton | United States | 20.9 | |