1960 Summer Olympics

Highlights

Soviet gymnasts won 15 of 16 possible medals in women's gymnastics
Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm won his fourth straight gold medal in the Finn class. The only others to emulate his performance in an individual event are Al Oerter, Carl Lewis, Ben Ainslie and, if the Intercalated Games of 1906 are included, Ray Ewry.
Finnish Vilho Ylönen, a field shooter, shot a bullseye to a wrong target and was dropped from the second place to fourth.
The future Constantine II, King of Greece, won his country a gold in sailing Dragon Class.
Fencer Aladár Gerevich of Hungary won his sixth consecutive gold medal in the team sabre event (1932–1936, 1948–1960).
Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track. She was acclaimed as "the fastest woman in the world".
Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon bare-footed to become the first black African Olympic champion.
Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal.
Ramon "Buddy" Carr was one of the boxing coaches that led this team to winning gold.
The Japanese men's gymnastics team won the first of five successive golds, the last of which was won in 1976, in Montreal.
South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under its apartheid regime. It would not be allowed to return until 1992, after which apartheid in sport had been abolished.
The United States men's national basketball team—led by future Basketball Hall of Famers Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West—captured its fifth straight Olympic gold medal.
Swedish canoer Gert Fredriksson won his sixth Olympic title.
Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen collapsed during his race under the influence of Roniacol and later died in the hospital. It was the second time an athlete died in competition at the Olympics, after the death of Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lázaro at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Australian athlete Herb Elliott won the men's 1500 meters in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic history.
American athlete Rafer Johnson defeated his rival and friend C.K. Yang in one of the greatest decathlon events in Olympic history.
Peter Camejo, a 2004 American vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, competed in yachting for Venezuela.
Armin Hary won the 100 metres in an Olympic record time of 10.2 seconds.
Pakistan broke India's dominance in Olympic Men's Field Hockey by becoming the first team in history to beat India in Olympic Field Hockey since 1928 and winning its first ever Olympic gold medal in the process. India had already won 6 previous hockey golds in the Summer Olympics.
The future Queen Sofía of Spain represented Greece in sailing events.
Jeff Farrell of the United States won two gold medals in swimming after undergoing an emergency appendectomy six days before the Olympic Trials.
Singapore competed for the first time under its own flag, which was to become its national flag after independence, as the British had granted it self-government a year earlier. Coincidentally, it was the first time (and only time until 2008) an athlete from Singapore won an Olympic medal, and also the only medal Singapore won as a British colony, when Tan Howe Liang won silver in the Weightlifting lightweight category.
American wrestlers Shelby Wilson, and Doug Blubaugh both won gold medals in their respective weight classes. Both men were raised in the town of Ponca City, Oklahoma and wrestled together through high school and college.
CBS paid $394,000 for the right to broadcast the Games in the United States.
This was the first Summer Olympic games to be telecast in North America. In addition to CBS in the United States, the Olympics were telecast for the first time in Canada (on CBC Television) and in Mexico (through the networks of Telesistema Mexicano).