Final 21:10 | | time | | gap | L | Y | Rk | 1. John Devitt | Australia | 55.2s | OR | | 3 | 23 | 1. | 2. Lance Larson | United States | 55.2s | OR | | 4 | 20 | 2. | 3. Manuel Dos Santos | Brazil | 55.4s | | +0.2s | 6 | 21 | 3. | 4. Bruce Hunter | United States | 55.6s | | +0.4s | 5 | 21 | 4. | 5. Gyula Dobai | Hungary | 56.3s | | +1.1s | 2 | 22 | 5. | 6. Dick Pound | Canada | 56.3s | | +1.1s | 1 | 18 | 6. | 7. Aubrey Burer | South Africa | 56.3s | | +1.1s | 8 | 21 | 7. | 8. Per-Ola Lindberg | Sweden | 57.1s | | +1.9s | 7 | 20 | 8. | Semis | | time | | gap | L | Y | Rk | 1. Lance Larson | United States | 55.5s | | | 4 | 20 | 1. | 2. Bruce Hunter | United States | 55.7s | | +0.2s | 3 | 21 | 2. | 1. John Devitt | Australia | 55.8s | | +0.3s | 4 | 23 | 3. | 1. Manuel Dos Santos | Brazil | 56.3s | | +0.8s | 4 | 21 | 4. | 2. Gyula Dobai | Hungary | 56.3s | | +0.8s | 5 | 22 | 5. | 3. Per-Ola Lindberg | Sweden | 56.4s | | +0.9s | 6 | 20 | 6. | 3. Aubrey Burer | South Africa | 56.5s | | +1.0s | 5 | 21 | 7. | 2. Dick Pound | Canada | 56.5s | | +1.0s | 3 | 18 | 7. | 4. Karri Kalervo Kayhko | Finland | 56.6s | | +1.1s | 3 | 22 | 9. | 3. Andrzej Salamon | Poland | 56.9s | | +1.4s | 5 | 24 | 10. | 4. Keigo Shimizu | Japan | 57.1s | | +1.6s | 2 | 21 | 11. | 4. Jon Henricks | Australia | 57.2s | | +1.7s | 6 | 25 | 12. | 5. Uwe Jacobsen | UT Germany | 57.4s | | +1.9s | 1 | 19 | 13. | 5. Igor Luzhkovsky | Soviet Union | 57.5s | | +2.0s | 1 | 22 | 14. | 5. Bernard Aluchna | Poland | 57.8s | | +2.3s | 7 | 23 | 15. | 6. Katsuki Ishihara | Japan | 57.8s | | +2.3s | 2 | 21 | 15. | 7. Ronald Ron Kroon | Netherlands | 57.9s | | +2.4s | 1 | 17 | 17. | 6. Cameron Grout | Canada | 58.0s | | +2.5s | 7 | 20 | 18. | 6. Laszlo Lantos | Hungary | 58.0s | | +2.5s | 2 | 21 | 18. | 8. Ezio Della Savia | Italy | 58.4s | | +2.9s | 8 | 18 | 20. | 7. Paul Voell | UT Germany | 58.4s | | +2.9s | 8 | 25 | 20. | 8. Alain Gottvalles | France | 58.5s | | +3.0s | 6 | 18 | 22. | 7. Vitaly Sorokin | Soviet Union | 58.7s | | +3.2s | 8 | 24 | 23. | 7. Jorge Escalante | Mexico | 59.0s | | +3.5s | 7 | 20 | 24. | Heats | | time | | gap | L | Y | Rk | 1. Lance Larson | United States | 55.7s | | | 4 | 20 | 1. | 1. John Devitt | Australia | 56.0s | | +0.3s | 4 | 23 | 2. | 2. Aubrey Burer | South Africa | 56.3s | | +0.6s | 6 | 21 | 3. | 1. Manuel Dos Santos | Brazil | 56.3s | | +0.6s | 4 | 21 | 3. | 1. Gyula Dobai | Hungary | 56.5s | | +0.8s | 4 | 22 | 5. | 2. Andrzej Salamon | Poland | 56.5s | | +0.8s | 8 | 24 | 5. | 1. Bruce Hunter | United States | 56.6s | | +0.9s | 4 | 21 | 7. | 2. Dick Pound | Canada | 56.7s | | +1.0s | 6 | 18 | 8. | 1. Karri Kalervo Kayhko | Finland | 56.8s | | +1.1s | 4 | 22 | 9. | 2. Alain Gottvalles | France | 56.9s | | +1.2s | 3 | 18 | 10. | 1. Jon Henricks | Australia | 56.9s | | +1.2s | 4 | 25 | 10. | 2. Per-Ola Lindberg | Sweden | 57.1s | | +1.4s | 5 | 20 | 12. | 2. Keigo Shimizu | Japan | 57.3s | | +1.6s | 5 | 21 | 13. | 3. Laszlo Lantos | Hungary | 57.4s | | +1.7s | 3 | 21 | 14. | 3. Katsuki Ishihara | Japan | 57.5s | | +1.8s | 5 | 21 | 15. | 4. Jorge Escalante | Mexico | 57.6s | | +1.9s | 3 | 20 | 16. | 3. Cameron Grout | Canada | 57.6s | | +1.9s | 6 | 20 | 16. | 5. Ronald Ron Kroon | Netherlands | 57.7s | | +2.0s | 5 | 17 | 18. | 4. Bernard Aluchna | Poland | 57.9s | | +2.2s | 8 | 23 | 19. | 4. Uwe Jacobsen | UT Germany | 57.9s | | +2.2s | 6 | 19 | 19. | 3. Igor Luzhkovsky | Soviet Union | 57.9s | | +2.2s | 5 | 22 | 19. | 5. Paul Voell | UT Germany | 58.0s | | +2.3s | 3 | 25 | 22. | 3. Ezio Della Savia | Italy | 58.2s | | +2.5s | 2 | 18 | 23. | 2. Vitaly Sorokin | Soviet Union | 58.2s | | +2.5s | 3 | 24 | 23. | 4. Gert Kolli | Austria | 58.3s | | +2.6s | 3 | 20 | 25. | 3. Ruben Alejandro Roca Rosillo | Cuba | 58.3s | | +2.6s | 2 | 19 | 25. | 3. Bengt Nordwall | Sweden | 58.5s | | +2.8s | 5 | 19 | 27. | 4. Janez Kocmur | Yugoslavia | 58.7s | | +3.0s | 5 | 22 | 28. | 4. Jan Bouwman | Netherlands | 58.8s | | +3.1s | 6 | 24 | 29. | 5. Giorgio Perondini | Italy | 58.9s | | +3.2s | 3 | 22 | 30. | 4. Stanley Clarke | Great Britain | 59.1s | | +3.4s | 2 | 22 | 31. | 5. Achmad Dimyati | Indonesia | 59.1s | | +3.4s | 7 | 21 | 31. | 6. William O'Donnell | Great Britain | 59.2s | | +3.5s | 2 | 18 | 33. | 6. Gerard Gropaiz | France | 59.3s | | +3.6s | 2 | 17 | 34. | 5. Amiram Trauber | Israel | 59.7s | | +4.0s | 7 | 21 | 35. | 5. Fernando Nabuco De Abreu | Brazil | 1:00.1 | | +4.4s | 7 | 16 | 36. | 6. Luis Nicolao | Argentina | 1:00.2 | | +4.5s | 2 | 16 | 37. | 5. Herlander Felga Ribeiro | Portugal | 1:00.2 | | +4.5s | 7 | 17 | 37. | 7. Gojko Arneri | Yugoslavia | 1:00.5 | | +4.8s | 7 | 24 | 39. | 6. Leopoldo Rodes Pares | Spain | 1:00.7 | | +5.0s | 6 | 21 | 40. | 6. Gudmundur Gislasson | Iceland | 1:00.8 | | +5.1s | 6 | 19 | 41. | 8. Itzhak Luria | Israel | 1:00.9 | | +5.2s | 1 | 19 | 42. | 6. Kin-Man Cheung | Hong Kong | 1:01.1 | | +5.4s | 2 | 28 | 43. | 6. Phan Huu Dong | South Vietnam | 1:01.3 | | +5.6s | 7 | 21 | 44. | 7. Peter Bartschi | Switzerland | 1:02.9 | | +7.2s | 1 | 24 | 45. | 7. Frederico Elizalde | Philippines | 1:03.0 | | +7.3s | 1 | 20 | 46. | 7. Unsal Fikirci | Turkey | 1:03.0 | | +7.3s | 1 | 20 | 46. | 7. Seow Jit Fong | Malaya | 1:03.4 | | +7.7s | 1 | 18 | 48. | 7. Rene Wagner | Luxembourg | 1:04.3 | | +8.6s | 1 | 22 | 49. | 8. Alfred Grixti | Malta | 1:07.8 | | +12.1s | 8 | 17 | 50. | 8. Christopher Dowling | Malta | 1:08.9 | | +13.2s | 8 | 16 | 51. | -. Murray McLachlan | South Africa | DNS | | | 7 | 19 | -. |
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The 1960 Olympics were held in the days prior to automatic starting pistols, automatic touch pads, and electronic timing. There was an electronic timer at Rome, but it was used as a back-up system only. Results in 1960 were decided by finish judges who relied on their eyes and did not use replays. There were three first-place judges and three second-place judges. Of the three first-place judges, they were split, 2-1, favoring Devitt. The three second-place judges also favored Devitt for second, by 2-1. Therefore, the six judges were split, 3-3, in terms of who won.
There were three official timers in 1960 for each lane and swimmer, all timing by hand. All three timers for Devitt, in lane three, timed him in 55.2 seconds. The three timers for lane four, had timed Larson in 55.0, 55.1, and 55.1 seconds; thus timing seemed to favor Larson. The judges then turned to the electronic back-up timer to break the tie. The electronic timing had Larson in 55.10 seconds and Devitt in 55.16 seconds, a difference of about 4 inches. Using both the hand times and the electronic times, Larson's time should have been listed as 55.1 seconds, with Devitt at 55.2.
After a long delay, the chief judge, Henry Runstr's of Sweden cast the deciding vote and declared Devitt the winner. He ruled that Larson would be given the time of 55.2 seconds. However, the rules at that time did not provide for the chief judge to have a vote or give him the right to break ties. Ties were supposed to be broken by referring to the timing machine. The United States' team appealed. The appeal jury, headed by Jan de Vries (NED), also the President of the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) in 1960, rejected the appeal, keeping Devitt the winner.
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