Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 30 and 31.[1] This swimming event used backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Left-right: Frank McKinney, David Theile and Bob Bennett

Medalists

Gold	David Theile  Australia
Silver	Frank McKinney  United States
Bronze	Bob Bennett  United States

Results

Heats

Five heats were held; the fastest sixteen swimmers advanced to the Semifinals. The swimmers that advanced to the Semifinals are highlighted.

Heat One

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	John Monckton	Australia	1:04.4
2	József Csikány	Hungary	1:04.5
3	Wolfgang Wagner	Germany	1:04.7
4	Kazuo Tomita	Japan	1:04.7
5	Herman Verbauwen	Belgium	1:05.0
6	Julio Cabrera	Spain	1:06.5
7	Raúl Cerqueira	Portugal	1:06.7
8	Dimitrios Kolovos	Greece	1:13.8

Heat Two

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Bob Bennett	United States	1:02.0
2	Leonid Barbier	Soviet Union	1:03.5
3	Jürgen Dietze	Germany	1:04.0
4	Jan Jiskoot	Netherlands	1:05.9
5	Friedrich Suda	Austria	1:06.0
6	Mihovil Dorčić	Yugoslavia	1:06.0
7	Joram Shnider	Israel	1:11.1
8	Ünsal Fikirci	Turkey	1:15.2

Heat Three

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Robert Christophe	France	1:04.0
2	Graham Sykes	Great Britain	1:04.8
3	Bob Wheaton	Canada	1:05.7
4	Bengt-Olov Almstedt	Sweden	1:05.9
5	Alejandro Gaxiola	Mexico	1:05.9
6	Athos de Oliveira	Brazil	1:07.9
7	Rudy Muller	Luxembourg	1:12.3

Heat Four

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	David Theile	Australia	1:03.1
2	Veiko Siimar	Soviet Union	1:04.6
3	Giuseppe Avellone	Italy	1:05.4
4	Haydn Rigby	Great Britain	1:06.2
5	Kazuo Watanabe	Japan	1:08.4
6	Lorenzo Cortez	Philippines	1:08.7
7	Rolf Burggraf	Switzerland	1:11.0

Heat Five

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Frank McKinney	United States	1:02.4
2	Pedro Diz	Argentina	1:04.7
3	Stig-Olof Grenner	Finland	1:04.7
4	Claude Raffy	France	1:05.8
5	Gilberto Elsa	Italy	1:05.8
6	Enrique Rabell	Mexico	1:08.0
7	János Konrád	Hungary	1:19.9

Semifinals

Two heats were held; the fastest eight swimmers advanced to the Finals. Those that advanced are highlighted.

Semifinal One

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	David Theile	Australia	1:03.1
2	Robert Christophe	France	1:03.7
3	Bob Bennett	United States	1:03.7
4	John Monckton	Australia	1:03.8
5	Veiko Siimar	Soviet Union	1:04.6
6	Kazuo Tomita	Japan	1:05.2
7	Stig-Olof Grenner	Finland	1:05.2
8	Herman Verbauwen	Belgium	1:06.2

Semifinal Two

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Frank McKinney	United States	1:03.8
2	Wolfgang Wagner	Germany	1:03.9
3	Leonid Barbier	Soviet Union	1:04.3
4	Jürgen Dietze	Germany	1:04.7
5	Graham Sykes	Great Britain	1:04.7
6	Pedro Diz	Argentina	1:05.0
7	József Csikány	Hungary	1:05.2
8	Giuseppe Avellone	Italy	1:06.5

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	David Theile	Australia	1:01.9	OR
	Frank McKinney	United States	1:02.1
	Bob Bennett	United States	1:02.3
4	Robert Christophe	France	1:03.2
5	Leonid Barbier	Soviet Union	1:03.5
6	Wolfgang Wagner	United Team of Germany	1:03.5
7	John Monckton	Australia	1:04.1
8	Veiko Siimar	Soviet Union	1:04.6

Key: OR = Olympic record

References

1. "Swimming at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Backstroke". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2016.