Athletics at the 1960 Roma Summer Games:

There was no heavy favorite in this event in 1960. The best US runner was likely Otis Davis, but he was a relative newcomer to the event. No European runner had really established themselves as the leader in Europe. One interesting challenger was India's Milkha Singh, who had won the 1958 Commonwealth Games, the first major title won in track & field athletics from that nation. The final was led by South Africa's Malcolm Spence (not to be confused with Jamaica's Mal Spence, who did not survive the semi-finals). Davis accelerated as he entered the final turn, and pulled ahead. On the final straight, Germany's Carl Kaufmann began to close. He dove at the tape, but Davis won in a photo-finish. Both Davis and Kaufmann were credited with the world record of 44.9, Davis winning on auto-time, 45.07 to 45.08.