Battle of Honey Springs

The men's discus throw throwing event at the 1960 Summer Olympics took place on September 6 & September 7.[1] Thirty-five athletes from 22 nations competed.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Al Oerter of the United States, the nation's third consecutive and 10th overall victory in the men's discus throw. It was Oerter's second gold medal in the event; he would go on to win four. Oerter was the sixth man to win two medals in the event, and the third to win two gold medals. The United States earned its second consecutive and third overall medal sweep in the event, as Rink Babka took silver and Dick Cochran bronze.

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 gold medalist Al Oerter of the United States, sixth-place finisher (and 1948 gold medalist and 1952 silver medalist) Adolfo Consolini of Italy, seventh-place finisher Ferenc Klics of Hungary, twelfth-place finisher Kim Bukhantsov of the Soviet Union, thirteenth-place finisher Fanie du Plessis of South Africa, fourteenth-place finisher Erik Uddebom of Sweden, and fifteenth-place finisher Mesulame Rakuro of Fiji. Oerter and Rink Babka were the favorites, with Oerter a slight edge. Oerter was AAU champion in 1957, 1969, and 1960; Babka beat Oerter in the U.S. Olympic trials and set the world record a month before the Games.[2]

Bulgaria, Iraq, and New Zealand each made their debut in the men's discus throw; Germany competed as the "United Team of Germany" for the first time. The United States made its 14th appearance, having competed in every edition of the Olympic men's discus throw to date.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 52.00 metres advanced to the final (a steep increase from 1956's 47.00 metres, which had allowed 16 men to advance, though not nearly steep enough: 22 men beat the qualifying mark in 1960). If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top six competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted.[2][3]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Rink Babka (USA) 59.91 Walnut, United States 12 August 1960
Olympic record  Al Oerter (USA) 56.36 Melbourne, Australia 27 November 1956

Al Oerter had a very short throw in the first set of qualifying round throws, but in the second set he qualified for the final with a launch that broke his own Olympic record by over 2 metres—landing at 58.43 metres. His teammates Rink Babka (three times) and Dick Cochran (once) both exceeded the old record in the final, but only Oerter was able to beat his new record; Oerter threw 59.18 metres in the fifth throw of the final. All six of Oerter's final throws were longer than the old record.

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Tuesday, 6 September 1960 9:00 Qualifying
Wednesday, 7 September 1960 15:00 Final

Results

All throwers reaching 52.00 metres advanced to the finals. All distances are listen in metres.

Qualifying

Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 Al Oerter  United States 46.33 58.43 OR 58.43 Q, OR
2 József Szécsényi  Hungary 55.52 55.52 Q
3 Pentti Repo  Finland 54.84 54.84 Q
4 Rink Babka  United States 54.48 54.48 Q
5 Edmund Piątkowski  Poland 54.41 54.41 Q
6 Vladimir Trusenyov  Soviet Union 54.31 54.31 Q
7 Dick Cochran  United States 53.79 53.79 Q
8 Cees Koch  Netherlands 53.48 53.48 Q
9 Zdeněk Čihák  Czechoslovakia 49.79 51.83 53.42 53.42 Q
10 Ferenc Klics  Hungary 53.34 53.34 Q
11 Todor Artarski  Bulgaria X 53.33 53.33 Q
12 Kim Bukhantsov  Soviet Union 53.08 53.08 Q
13 Lothar Milde  United Team of Germany 53.04 53.04 Q
14 Zenon Begier  Poland 53.03 53.03 Q
15 Carmelo Rado  Italy 52.98 52.98 Q
16 Stein Haugen  Norway 52.75 52.75 Q
17 Zdeněk Němec  Czechoslovakia 52.68 52.68 Q
18 Viktor Kompaniyets  Soviet Union 50.67 52.66 52.66 Q
19 Antonios Kounadis  Greece 52.49 52.49 Q
20 Adolfo Consolini  Italy 52.38 52.38 Q
21 Manfred Grieser  United Team of Germany 50.22 52.20 52.20 Q
22 Warwick Selvey  Australia 52.07 52.07 Q
23 Fanie du Plessis  South Africa X 49.84 51.86 51.86
24 Östen Edlund  Sweden 51.76 49.15 49.70 51.76
25 Carol Lindroos  Finland X 51.07 X 51.07
26 Pierre Alard  France 51.02 48.89 50.32 51.02
27 Erik Uddebom  Sweden 50.04 50.87 50.83 50.87
28 Les Mills  New Zealand 49.69 50.76 44.75 50.76
29 Franco Grossi  Italy 48.76 48.64 50.43 50.43
30 Fritz Kühl  United Team of Germany X 50.40 X 50.40
31 Mike Lindsay  Great Britain 49.07 X 50.15 50.15
32 Mesulame Rakuro  Fiji 44.73 47.06 47.18 47.18
33 Haider Khan  Pakistan 45.75 46.57 41.57 46.57
34 Nayef Mohamed Hameed  Iraq 38.13 38.50 39.37 39.37
Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo  Spain X X X No mark
Gideon Ariel  Israel DNS
Herbert Egermann  Austria DNS
Salem El-Jisr  Lebanon DNS

Final

Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Al Oerter  United States 57.64 56.73 56.53 56.73 59.18 OR 57.19 59.18 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Rink Babka  United States 58.02 58.02 56.14 54.93 57.52 57.41 58.02
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Dick Cochran  United States X 54.75 48.71 54.51 57.16 54.49 57.16
4 József Szécsényi  Hungary 54.58 X 54.86 55.22 55.79 55.61 55.79
5 Edmund Piątkowski  Poland 54.06 51.52 54.29 X 55.12 X 55.12
6 Viktor Kompaniyets  Soviet Union 55.06 53.38 X 53.52 X 51.08 55.06
7 Carmelo Rado  Italy 51.10 52.65 54.00 Did not advance 54.00
8 Kim Bukhantsov  Soviet Union 52.42 52.59 53.61 Did not advance 53.61
9 Pentti Repo  Finland 53.44 52.81 51.08 Did not advance 53.44
10 Ferenc Klics  Hungary 50.10 51.61 53.37 Did not advance 53.37
11 Stein Haugen  Norway X X 53.36 Did not advance 53.36
12 Lothar Milde  United Team of Germany 52.22 51.26 53.33 Did not advance 53.33
13 Zdeněk Čihák  Czechoslovakia 52.75 53.29 51.51 Did not advance 53.29
14 Zenon Begier  Poland 51.67 50.93 53.18 Did not advance 53.18
15 Vladimir Trusenyov  Soviet Union 52.16 51.98 52.93 Did not advance 52.93
16 Manfred Grieser  United Team of Germany 52.17 52.11 52.69 Did not advance 52.69
17 Adolfo Consolini  Italy 50.84 52.44 51.08 Did not advance 52.44
18 Antonios Kounadis  Greece 52.42 X 50.56 Did not advance 52.42
19 Zdeněk Němec  Czechoslovakia 52.05 49.44 52.14 Did not advance 52.14
20 Todor Artarski  Bulgaria 49.14 52.12 X Did not advance 52.12
21 Warwick Selvey  Australia X 49.34 X Did not advance 49.34
22 Cees Koch  Netherlands X 49.21 X Did not advance 49.21

References

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's Discus Throw". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Discus Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, p. 152.