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

Left-right: Frank McKinney, David Theile and Bob Bennett

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 30 and 31.[1] 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
1 David Theile  Australia 1:01.9 OR
2 Frank McKinney  United States 1:02.1
3 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

References

  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Backstroke". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2016.