Rome 1960 - Olympic Games Winners

Start:

25 Aug 1960

End:

11 Sep 1960

Countries:

Athletes:

5338

Sports:

Events:

150

City:

Rome, Italy (Neapol - Sailing)

Rome, the Italian capital, won the right to host the Games of the 17 Olympiad in June 1955 at the 50th IOC session in Paris.
The other candidate cities were Detroit, USA; Budapest, Hungary; Lausanne, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City and Brussels, Belgium.
Events were held at the modern arenas and in famous ancient sites such as the Caracalla Thermal Baths - Gymnastics and the Maxence Basilica - Wrestling.

President Giovanni Gronchi officially opened the Olympic Games 1960 at the new Olympic Stadium with a total capacity of up to 90,000 spectators.
Thousands of athletes, except for the Soviet competitors, had received the blessing of Pope John XXIII in St.Peter's Square.
The 1960 Olympic Games were the first to be fully covered by television - these Games were broadcast live in 18 European countries and with a time delay of a few hours in the USA and Canada.
Among the many winners in the Olympics 1960 was a light-heavyweight boxer from the USA named Cassius CLAY. Later, after changing his name to Muhammad ALI, he became the greatest heavyweight champion ever.
The first African Olympic champion became marathon runner Abebe BIKILA from Ethiopia while running the race barefoot.