Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metres

The women's 800 metres middle distance event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between September 6 and September 7.[1] This was the return of the event for the first time since 1928.

Women's 800 metres
at the Games of the XVII Olympiad
VenueOlympic Stadium
DatesSeptember 6 (heats)
September 7 (final)
Medalists
Lyudmila Lysenko
 Soviet Union
Brenda Jones
 Australia
Ursula Donath
 United Team of Germany
Video on YouTube Official Video

Dixie Willis had the best time in qualifying, thus the Olympic record though Lyudmila Shevtsova had set the world record a month earlier in Moscow. In the final Willis took the race out, marked by Shevtsova. By the final straightaway, Brenda Jones was also with Shevtsova and looking fast challenging Willis for the lead. Suddenly Willis stepped on the curb and fell off the track into the infield. Shevtsova edged into the lead and dipped at the finish to equal her own world record and take the gold in 2:04.3. Jones was electronically timed at being .08 behind though electronic timing would not become official for another 17 years. Ursula Donath was the lucky (somewhat unified) German who was a step behind the top three when Willis exited to get the bronze. Less than two years later, Wilis would improve the world record by three seconds.

Results

Heats

The top two runners in each of the four heats (blue) and the next fastest one (pink) advanced to the final round.

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Antje Gleichfeld United Team of Germany2:11.05OR
2Brenda Jones Australia2:11.14
3Zinaida Matistovich Soviet Union2:11.57
4Maryvonne Dupureur France2:12.42
5Diane Charles Great Britain2:14.24
6Zofia Walasek Poland2:16.44
7Lee Hak-ja South Korea2:28.4

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ursula Donath United Team of Germany2:07.92OR
2Beata Żbikowska Poland2:09.57
3Florica Grecescu Romania2:10.10
4Olga Kazi Hungary2:11.07
5Gilda Jannaccone Italy2:13.72
6Phyllis Perkins Great Britain2:15.41
-Pat Daniels United StatesDQ

Heat 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Lyudmila Lysenko Soviet Union2:09.31
2Gizella Sasvári-Csóka Hungary2:09.77
3Krystyna Nowakowska Poland2”09.81
4Eleanor Haslam Canada2:10.17
5Bedřiška Kulhavá Czechoslovakia2:10.23
6Gerda Kraan Netherlands2:10.71
7Nicole Goullieux France2:13.53

Heat 4

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Dixie Willis Australia2:06.03OR
2Joy Jordan Great Britain2:07.29
3Vera Kummerfeldt United Team of Germany2:07.34
4Yekaterina Parlyuk Soviet Union2:07.71
5Ine ter Laak-Spijk Netherlands2:10.36
6Gül Çiray Turkey2:11.55

Final

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
Lyudmila Lysenko Soviet Union2:04.50WR
Brenda Jones Australia2:04.58
Ursula Donath United Team of Germany2:05.73
4Vera Kummerfeldt United Team of Germany2:06.07
5Antje Gleichfeld United Team of Germany2:06.63
6Joy Jordan Great Britain2:07.95
7Gizella Sasvári-Csóka Hungary2:08.11
8Beata Żbikowska Poland2:11.91
-Dixie Willis AustraliaDNF

Key: WR = world record; OR = Olympic record; DNF = did not finish; DQ = disqualified

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Women's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.