Cuhel (54.6) and Taylor (55.0) were quickest in the heats, and Taylor
won the first and faster semi-final in 53.4, ahead of Cuhel (53.8) and
Burghley (54.0), the Briton looking particularly easy. Livingstone won
the other semi in 54.0 from Facelli (54.2), with Pettersson edging out
John Gibson, the number three American.
Burghley and Livingstone were the early leaders of the final, and
Livingstone began to lose ground after halfway. At the eighth hurdle
Burghley led by half a metre from Cuhel, with Taylor and Facelli inch-
es behind the reigning champion. Facelli hit the hurdle, and lost ground
rapidly. Burghley chopped his stride approaching the last hurdle, and
cleared it ahead of Cuhel by a metre, his winning margin. Taylor closed
in on Cuhel, and Pettersson finished fastest of all. Burghley’s full name
was David George Brownlow Cecil, Lord Burghley, and subsequently
the sixth Marquis of Exeter. He later became President of the IAAF and
a Vice-President of the IOC.