# Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 30 and 31. This swimming event used backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

## Medalists

| Gold | David Theile Australia |
| Silver | Frank McKinney United States |
| Bronze | Bob Bennett United States |

## Results
### Heats

Five heats were held; the fastest sixteen swimmers advanced to the Semifinals. The swimmers that advanced to the Semifinals are highlighted.

#### Heat One

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | John Monckton | Australia | 1:04.4 |
| 2 | József Csikány | Hungary | 1:04.5 |
| 3 | Wolfgang Wagner | Germany | 1:04.7 |
| 4 | Kazuo Tomita | Japan | 1:04.7 |
| 5 | Herman Verbauwen | Belgium | 1:05.0 |
| 6 | Julio Cabrera | Spain | 1:06.5 |
| 7 | Raúl Cerqueira | Portugal | 1:06.7 |
| 8 | Dimitrios Kolovos | Greece | 1:13.8 |

#### Heat Two

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Bob Bennett | United States | 1:02.0 |
| 2 | Leonid Barbier | Soviet Union | 1:03.5 |
| 3 | Jürgen Dietze | Germany | 1:04.0 |
| 4 | Jan Jiskoot | Netherlands | 1:05.9 |
| 5 | Friedrich Suda | Austria | 1:06.0 |
| 6 | Mihovil Dorčić | Yugoslavia | 1:06.0 |
| 7 | Joram Shnider | Israel | 1:11.1 |
| 8 | Ünsal Fikirci | Turkey | 1:15.2 |

#### Heat Three

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Robert Christophe | France | 1:04.0 |
| 2 | Graham Sykes | Great Britain | 1:04.8 |
| 3 | Bob Wheaton | Canada | 1:05.7 |
| 4 | Bengt-Olov Almstedt | Sweden | 1:05.9 |
| 5 | Alejandro Gaxiola | Mexico | 1:05.9 |
| 6 | Athos de Oliveira | Brazil | 1:07.9 |
| 7 | Rudy Muller | Luxembourg | 1:12.3 |

#### Heat Four

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | David Theile | Australia | 1:03.1 |
| 2 | Veiko Siimar | Soviet Union | 1:04.6 |
| 3 | Giuseppe Avellone | Italy | 1:05.4 |
| 4 | Haydn Rigby | Great Britain | 1:06.2 |
| 5 | Kazuo Watanabe | Japan | 1:08.4 |
| 6 | Lorenzo Cortez | Philippines | 1:08.7 |
| 7 | Rolf Burggraf | Switzerland | 1:11.0 |

#### Heat Five

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Frank McKinney | United States | 1:02.4 |
| 2 | Pedro Diz | Argentina | 1:04.7 |
| 3 | Stig-Olof Grenner | Finland | 1:04.7 |
| 4 | Claude Raffy | France | 1:05.8 |
| 5 | Gilberto Elsa | Italy | 1:05.8 |
| 6 | Enrique Rabell | Mexico | 1:08.0 |
| 7 | János Konrád | Hungary | 1:19.9 |

### Semifinals

Two heats were held; the fastest eight swimmers advanced to the Finals. Those that advanced are highlighted.

#### Semifinal One

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | David Theile | Australia | 1:03.1 |
| 2 | Robert Christophe | France | 1:03.7 |
| 3 | Bob Bennett | United States | 1:03.7 |
| 4 | John Monckton | Australia | 1:03.8 |
| 5 | Veiko Siimar | Soviet Union | 1:04.6 |
| 6 | Kazuo Tomita | Japan | 1:05.2 |
| 7 | Stig-Olof Grenner | Finland | 1:05.2 |
| 8 | Herman Verbauwen | Belgium | 1:06.2 |

#### Semifinal Two

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Frank McKinney | United States | 1:03.8 |
| 2 | Wolfgang Wagner | Germany | 1:03.9 |
| 3 | Leonid Barbier | Soviet Union | 1:04.3 |
| 4 | Jürgen Dietze | Germany | 1:04.7 |
| 5 | Graham Sykes | Great Britain | 1:04.7 |
| 6 | Pedro Diz | Argentina | 1:05.0 |
| 7 | József Csikány | Hungary | 1:05.2 |
| 8 | Giuseppe Avellone | Italy | 1:06.5 |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| | David Theile | Australia | 1:01.9 | OR |
| | Frank McKinney | United States | 1:02.1 | |
| | Bob Bennett | United States | 1:02.3 | |
| 4 | Robert Christophe | France | 1:03.2 | |
| 5 | Leonid Barbier | Soviet Union | 1:03.5 | |
| 6 | Wolfgang Wagner | United Team of Germany | 1:03.5 | |
| 7 | John Monckton | Australia | 1:04.1 | |
| 8 | Veiko Siimar | Soviet Union | 1:04.6 | |
Key: OR = Olympic record