Workshop 2 history as we lived it

1. WORKSHOP 2: HISTORY
AS WE LIVED IT
1960: ITALIAN OLYMPIC GAMES

3. THE GAMES OF THE XVII
OLYMPIAD

4. The Opening Ceremony of the Games of the XVII
Olympiad was celebrated in the Olympic Stadium
at 16.30 hrs. during the afternoon of 25th
August.

5. The Greek team led the parade by virtue of
a privilege accorded to them in each
Olympiad. The teams marched in ranks of
four along the track of the Stadium and
subsequently turned off to take up their
positions in the centre of the grass field.
After the Greeks, the other teams
marched in parade order in accordance
with Italian alphabetical order. The Italian
team closed the parade. Each team took
up its position in the space allotted to it,
thus creating a final picture of brilliant but
harmonious colour.

6. At the end of the marshalling, the President of
the Organising Committee,Hon. Andreotti,
accompanied by the President of the
International Olympic Committee, Mr.
Brundage, made his way to the podium
situated at the centre of the field to pronounce
his opening speech, underlining the
evergrowing progress of the Olympic Games.

7. Over 5,000 athletes representing
83 countries participated in the
Rome Games. The track-and-
field competition starred Abebe
Bikila of Ethiopia, who, with his
victory in the marathon,
became the first black African
to win an Olympic gold medal.
Women’s athletics were
dominated by American
sprinter Wilma Rudolph, who
won three gold medals.

8. The decathlon featured a tightly contested battle
between Rafer Johnson of the United States
and Yang Chuan-kwang of Taiwan, close
friends who both attended the University of
California at Los Angeles and trained under the
same coach.

9. Although Yang outperformed Johnson in seven
events, the American’s dominance in the throwing
events made the difference, and he outscored
Yang by 58 points to win the gold medal. Middle-
distance runner Peter Snell of New Zealand won
the first of his three career gold medals.

10. The swimming events were
dominated by the U.S. and
Australian teams, which
between them won all but
one of the gold medals.
Ingrid Kramer of Germany
won both of the women’s
diving events.

11. The U.S. basketball team took its
fifth consecutive gold medal;
the squad, which starred
Oscar Robertson, Jerry West,
Jerry Lucas, and Walt
Bellamy, was considered by
many at the time to be the
best team ever assembled.
American Cassius Clay (later
known as Muhammad Ali) first
gained international attention
as the light heavyweight
boxing champion.