Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres
The 1500 final was much more of an endurance race than contemporary strategic races. Michel Bernard took the lead from the beginning and dared the field to stay with him. Arne Hamarsland and Jim Grelle struggled as the pack strung out quickly. With two laps to go, Herb Elliott upped the ante, taking the lead and pushing the pace. István Rózsavölgyi was the last to drop off with Jazy close behind Rózsavölgyi. But Elliott was gone, cleanly ahead going into the final lap. Waiting on the final backstretch, his coach Percy Cerutty prearranged that he would wave a yellow towel if Elliott was in danger of being caught from behind or close to the world record. A confused Elliott saw the towel and accelerated, pushing hard to the finish. Elliott's three second victory took an additional half second out of his own world record. His record would last for seven years before being improved upon by Jim Ryun. Behind Elliott, Jazy managed to catch Rózsavölgyi for the silver medal.[1]
| Men's 1500 metres at the Games of the XVII Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Olympic Stadium | |||||||||
| Dates | September 3 (final) (heats) September 6 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 39 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| 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 | |
Results
Heats
The fastest three runners in each of the three heats advanced to the final round.
Heat one
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Herb Elliott |  | 3:41.50 | |
| 2 | István Rózsavölgyi |  | 3:42.15 | |
| 3 | Dyrol Burleson |  | 3:42.40 | |
| 4 | Terry Sullivan | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:42.96 | |
| 5 | Yevgeny Momotkov | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:43.80 | |
| 6 | Olavi Salonen |  | 3:46.57 | |
| 7 | Rudolf Klaban |  | 3:47.24 | |
| 8 | Arthur Hannemann | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:47.57 | |
| 9 | Laurie Reed |  | 3:48.24 | |
| 10 | Joe Mullins | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:53.45 | |
| 11 | Tomás Barris | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:56.10 | |
| 12 | Mohamed Gouider | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:58.52 | |
| - | Zbigniew Orywał | .svg.png){kind=small} | DNF | |
Heat two
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michel Bernard |  | 3:42.34 | |
| 2 | Jim Grelle | | 3:43.65 | |
| 3 | Arne Hamarsland |  | 3:44.63 | |
| 4 | Brian Kent-Smith | | 3:46.21 | |
| 5 | Albie Thomas | | 3:46.95 | |
| 6 | Siegfried Valentin | | 3:46.99 | |
| 7 | Svavar Markússon |  | 3:47.20 | |
| 8 | Alfredo Rizzo |  | 3:47.56 | |
| 9 | Andrei Barabaș | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:47.71 | |
| 10 | Muharrem Dalkılıç |  | 3:47.18 | |
| 11 | Dhira Phiphobmongkol |  | 4:24.4 | |
| - | Péter Parsch | | DNF | |
| - | Egon Oehri |  | DNF | |
Heat three
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Waern |  | 3:44.18 | |
| 2 | Michel Jazy | | 3:45.03 | |
| 3 | Zoltan Vamoș | | 3:45.07 | |
| 4 | Adolf Schwarte | | 3:45.46 | |
| 5 | Lajos Kovács | | 3:46.20 | |
| 6 | Mike Wiggs | | 3:46.61 | |
| 7 | Merv Lincoln | | 3:47.18 | |
| 8 | Evangelos Depastas | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:48.77 | |
| 9 | Pete Close | | 3:50.69 | |
| 10 | Olavi Vuorisalo | | 3:52.68 | |
| 11 | Stefan Lewandowski | | 3:59.75 | |
| 12 | Yair Pantilat |  | 4:00.14 | |
| 13 | Kassim Mukhtar | .svg.png){kind=small} | 4:00.33 | |
Final
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Herb Elliott | | 3:35.6 | WR |
 | Michel Jazy | | 3:38.4 | |
 | István Rózsavölgyi | | 3:39.2 | |
| 4 | Dan Waern | | 3:40.0 | |
| 5 | Zoltan Vamoș | | 3:40.8 | |
| 6 | Dyrol Burleson | | 3:40.9 | |
| 7 | Michel Bernard | | 3:41.5 | |
| 8 | Jim Grelle | | 3:45.0 | |
| 9 | Arne Hamarsland | | 3:45.0 | |
Key: WR = world record; DNF = did not finish
References
- "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2017.