Swimming at the 1960 Roma Summer Games:

The last five world records in this event had been set by Australia’s John Konrads, with four, and Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamanaka, silver medalist from 1960, with one. Konrads held the current mark with 4:15.9 set in Sydney in February 1960. But the defending champion was Murray Rose and he was back as well. By 1960 Rose and Yamanaka were students at the University of Southern California, both on the swim team there. In the heats Alan Somers of the United States broke the Olympic record with 4:19.2. But he was well back in the final, as Rose won quite easily, outdistancing Yamanaka by over three seconds, as they repeated their 1-2 finish from Melbourne, with Konrads pulling up for the bronze medal in a photo finish over Britain’s Ian Black. In Chicago in 1962, Rose would break Konrads’ world record by posting 4:13.4.