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Athletics at the 1960 Roma Summer Games:

Men's 50 kilometres Walk

Athletics at the 1960 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games

Events:
Phases:

Host City: Roma, Italy
Venue(s): Olympic Stadium, Roma
Date Started: September 7, 1960
Date Finished: September 7, 1960

Gold: GBR Don Thompson
Silver: SWE John Ljunggren
Bronze: ITA Abdon Pamich

Summary

Track & field statistician Richard Hymans has pointed out that this race is unique in Olympic history as it contained the Olympic champions in this event from five consecutive Games – 1948-1964. The Italian favorite was Abdon Pamich, who had placed fourth in Melbourne. Donald Thompson (GBR) had also raced in Melbourne but was overcome by the heat and did not finish. To prepare himself for the heat of Roma, he trained in his bathroom after setting it up as a steam room with a hot shower and electric heaters. After several of the leaders were disqualified, Thompson moved into the lead at the halfway point. The 1948 champion, John Ljunggren, caught Thompson at 35 km., but Thompson steadied and eventually pulled ahead to win by the closest margin in the race thru the 1960 Olympics.

Final Standings

Rank Athlete Age Team NOC Medal T
1 Don Thompson 27 Great Britain GBR Gold 4-25:30.0 OB
2 John Ljunggren 40 Sweden SWE Silver 4-25:47.0
3 Abdon Pamich 26 Italy ITA Bronze 4-27:55.4
4 Oleksandr Shcherbyna 29 Soviet Union URS 4-31:44.0
5 Tom Misson 30 Great Britain GBR 4-33:03.0
6 Alex Oakley 34 Canada CAN 4-33:08.6
7 Pino Dordoni 34 Italy ITA 4-33:27.2
8 Zora Singh 31 India IND 4-37:44.6
9 Anatoly Vedyakov 29 Soviet Union URS 4-39:57.6
10 Antonio De Gaetano 26 Italy ITA 4-41:01.6
11 Ladislav Moc 28 Czechoslovakia TCH 4-42:33.6
12 George Hazle 35 South Africa RSA 4-43:18.8
13 Max Weber 38 Germany GER 4-44:47.4
14 Svatopluk Sýkora 35 Czechoslovakia TCH 4-46:14.6
15 Ajit Singh 23 India IND 4-47:28.4
16 Horst Astroth 36 Germany GER 4-50:57.0
17 Josef Doležal 39 Czechoslovakia TCH 4-51:18.6
18 José Ribas 32 Spain ESP 4-51:20.0
19 Ron Laird 22 United States USA 4-53:21.6
20 Frank O'Reilly 36 Ireland IRL 4-54:40.0
21 Charles Sowa 27 Luxembourg LUX 4-57:00.4
22 Louis Marquis 30 Switzerland SUI 5-00:13.0
23 Bruce MacDonald 32 United States USA 5-00:47.6
24 John Allen 34 United States USA 5-03:15.2
25 Alfred Leiser 31 Switzerland SUI 5-06:55.0
26 Mohamed Ben Lazhar 31 Tunisia TUN 5-07:57.4
27 René Charrière 37 Switzerland SUI 5-09:00.8
28 Jacques Arnoux 22 France FRA 5-10:22.0
AC Albert Johnson 29 Great Britain GBR DQ
AC Grigory Klimov 27 Soviet Union URS DQ
AC Guillermo Weller 47 Argentina ARG DQ
AC Kurt Sakowski 29 Germany GER DQ
AC Noel Freeman 21 Australia AUS DQ
AC Ronald Crawford 24 Australia AUS DQ
AC Erik Söderlund 35 Sweden SWE DNF
AC Åke Söderlund 35 Sweden SWE DNF
AC Norman Read 29 New Zealand NZL DNF
AC Naoui Zlassi 30 Tunisia TUN DNF
AC Béla Dinesz 29 Hungary HUN DNF