Olympic Games of 1960

Date: Winter Games, February 18-28; Summer Games, August 26-September 11

An amateur athletic competition between various nations. Cold War mentality permeated the 1960 Olympics, and many Americans viewed the Games as an arena for competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Origins and History

The Olympic Games of 1960 were held in the heat of the Cold War. The tension between the Soviets and the Americans was heightened when a U.S. spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union between the Winter and Summer Games. The United States, which was forced to compete against the highly subsidized athletes of Eastern Bloc countries, continued to insist on complete amateur status for Olympic athletes. In both the winter and summer competitions, the United States fell far short of the Soviet Union in the number of medals won, although many memorable performances were recorded.

The Winter Games

The eighth Winter Olympics was held in Squaw Valley, California, from February 18 to 28. The opening and closing ceremonies were directed by Walt Disney and featured five thousand participants, including a twenty-six-hundred-voice chorus and a thirteen-hundred-piece band. More than eight hundred athletes representing thirty nations competed in seventeen events in the Winter Games, generally recognized as one of the most successful and efficient Olympics ever held. The United States finished second to the Soviet Union, winning ten medals to the Soviets’ twenty-one.

The most publicized competition and the most memorable of the Winter Games was the stunning gold medal performance of the unheralded U.S. hockey team. In this “miracle on ice,” the Americans upset the highly favored Soviet team, 3-2, and then defeated Czechoslovakia, 9-4, for the gold medal. Other top American athletes included Carol Heiss, who became immensely popular after winning a gold medal in women’s figure skating; Dave Jenkins, who won a gold medal in men’s figure skating; and Penny Pitou, who won two silver medals in downhill skiing.

The Summer Games

The seventeenth Summer Olympics was held in Rome, Italy, from August 26 to September 11. The ancient city offered a spectacular mixture of old and new architecture; events were held in centuries-old structures and modern buildings. The event was larger than any previous Olympics, with more than five thousand athletes from eighty-three nations taking part. The Olympics was the first covered by a U.S. network, the Columbia Broadcasting System. The United States finished a distant second to the Soviet Union in number of medals won, one hundred and three to seventy-one.

The United States did not produce a large number of medals in the Summer Games, but some of the most memorable achievements were made by Americans. One of the nation’s favorite athletes was eighteen-year-old Cassius Clay, nicknamed the “Louisville Lip,” who won the light heavyweight boxing gold medal. The appeal of Clay, who later became Muhammad Ali, went beyond his boxing ability. He bantered constantly with the Roman crowds, quoted poetry, and was a favorite of the press.

In track and field, Wilma Rudolph, unable to walk without a brace on her left leg until age eleven, became one of the world’s best-known female athletes when she won gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter events and as anchor of the 400-meter relay. The United States won the men’s long jump for the eighth consecutive time when Ralph Boston broke Jesse Owen’s twenty-four-year-old Olympic record. Don Bragg took the eleventh consecutive gold medal for the United States in the pole vault. In one of the more publicized competitions, Rafer Johnson of the United States defeated his best friend and University of California at Los Angeles, teammate, C. K. Yang of Taiwan, in a very close battle in the decathlon to take the gold medal.

Gold medal winners included the U.S. basketball team, featuring Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry Lucas; Gary Tobian, who won the ninth-straight gold medal for the United States in springboard diving; and the U.S. swimming relay teams, which captured the gold in two men’s relays and two women’s relays. Carolyn Schuler took the gold in the 100-meter butterfly, defeating teammate Carolyn Wood whose excellent performance in the trial had made her the favorite to win.

Impact

Despite the pregame tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the 1960 Olympic Games were recognized for the goodwill and sportsmanship displayed by the athletes. Following the Winter Games, the virtually unknown resort of Squaw Valley emerged as one of the premier ski resorts in the world, and figure skating champion Heiss gained considerable fame as a professional skater. Clay (Ali) became heavyweight champion and one of the most recognized sports figures in the world. Rudolph was recognized as the top female athlete of the decade and was very active in the Civil Rights movement, and ten of the members of the basketball team went on to play professionally in the National Basketball Association. U.S. Olympic officials were becoming acutely aware that the insistence on complete amateur status was placing American athletes at a disadvantage in international competition.

Additional Information

The Olympics are covered in more detail in An Approved History of the Olympic Games (1984), by Bill Henry and Patricia Henry Yeomans.