The seventeenth Summer Olympics in 1960 were held in Rome from 25 August to 11 September. They were the first summer Olympics for Italy, the first winter games in this country were held four years earlier in the small town of Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Rome was elected as the capital of the 17th Summer Olympic Games at the 50th session of the Inter-National Olympic Committee in Paris on June 15, 1955. The main rival of Rome was the Swiss Lausanne, but in the final vote Rome won with a score of 35:24.
The eternal city was remarkably prepared for the competition, the athletes competed in 18 complexes. Historical objects were used for the competition: the ancient baths of Caracalla hosted gymnasts, wrestling mats were placed in the Basilica de Maxentius, the route of the marathon ran along the ancient Apia road to the Colosseum.
Five and a half thousand athletes from 83 countries competed for 150 sets of medals in 18 sports. The opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics were held at the new Foro Italico stadium, which could seat 90,000 spectators.
The Soviet national team arrived at the Games with 285 people. The account of gold medals was opened by Vera Krepkina, who jumped the farthest in length. Lyudmila Shevtsova won the 800m race, Elvira Ozolina won gold for javelin throwing. Irina Press won the 80m race, her sister Tamara excelled in shot put and discus throwing, taking silver, and Nina Ponomareva got the gold medal.
Among the male athletes in the USSR national team, Viktor Tsibulenko (gold in the javelin throw), Vasily Rudenkov (hammer throw) distinguished themselves. Pyotr Bolotnikov won the 10 km race, Robert Shavlakadze won the high jump, Vladimir Golubnichy won the 20 km race.
American runner Wilma Rudolph enjoyed immense popularity at the Games, earning a well-deserved gold. For her graceful run, she was nicknamed the Black Gazelle. The first Olympic champion representing Africa was the marathon runner Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia), who ran the entire distance barefoot.
Of our boxers, only lightweight Oleg Grigoriev received the title of champion. In Rome, the star rose to Cassius Clay, who won the light heavyweight title at 18. He then changed his name to Muhammad Ali and was voted the greatest heavyweight champion in professional boxing. Among the Soviet wrestlers, Ivan Bogdan, Avtandil Koridze and Oleg Karavaev became prize-winners.
The rower Vyacheslav Ivanov won the singles competition, repeating his Melbourne success. Soviet kayaker Antonina Seredina won singles and a pair with Maria Shubina.
Soviet fencers performed well. For the first time in the history of the Olympics, the men's and women's foil teams won victories, the individual tournament was won by the athlete Viktor Zhdanovich.
The best athlete of the Games was recognized the Soviet weightlifter Yuri Vlasov, who set Olympic records in heavy weight for all three movements, as well as in the total of classic triathlon (537, 5 kg). His records became world records at the same time. With the light hand of Yuri, the path to this title was opened for Vasily Alekseev, Leonid Zhabotinsky and Andrei Chemerkin.
This was the first Olympics to receive full television coverage. Live broadcasts were carried out in 18 European countries, and with a slight delay due to the time difference in the United States and Canada.
At the Games, 74 Olympic records were set, of which 27 exceeded world records. The Soviet team retained the leading position in the unofficial team event, winning 103 medals, 43 of which were gold. Second place went to the USA team (71 awards, 34 gold medals). The third was the united team of Germany (FRG and GDR), which received 42 medals (12 gold).
