1960 ROME OLYMPIC GAMES
(IOC)
Basketball was played for the fifth time at an Olympic Games in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
The holding of the Games in the eternal city of Rome re-created much of the spirit of the ancient Olympics. The ancient Olympics had ended in Rome some 1600 years earlier. The venues for the Rome Olympic Games were a blend of ancient and modern architecture. Venues such as the Basilica of Maxentuis rang again to the sounds of wrestling competition, and the Baths of Caracalla was home to the gymnastics. The marathon, won by a barefoot AbebeBikila from Ethiopia, was run along the ancient Appian Way to finish at the Arch of Constantine.
The Games were broadcast to a world-wide audience via television for the first time.
The Rome Olympics also marked (according to some) the appearance of the first “dream team” in basketball with the American team sweeping all before then with players such as Walt Bellamy, Terry Dischinger, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robinson and Jerry West.
Highlights of the Games
Wilma Rudolph from the USA won three Gold Medals in the track events-winning the women’s 100 and 200 metres and as a member of the 400x100 metres relay team.
Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) emerged as a great athlete when he won the light heavyweight boxing title at 19 years of age.
Boris Scakhlin (USSR) won 7 medals (4 Gold) in Gymnastics.
Chris von Saltza (USA) won 3 Gold Medals and a Silver Medal in the swimming.
Australian Highlights
The great run by Herb Elliot when he broke the world record and convincingly won the Gold Medal in the 1500 metres athletics.
Gold Medals in the Equestrian Events by Laurie Morgan (Three Day Equestrian), Bill Roycroft, Neil Lavis, and Laurie Morgan (Team Equestrian).
Gold Medals in swimming by John Devitt, Murray Rose, Jon Konrads, David Theile and Dawn Fraser.
The Olympic Village
The Olympic Village buildings were divided into eight quarters for the Men'sSection of the Village, one quarter for the Women's Section and one quarter for Athlete Services. Each of these quarters included a varying number of buildings ofapartments and rooms.Each quarter was provided with its own lodging services. Apartments varied from 2 to 5 rooms.
The Australian and USSR basketball teams chatting at the Olympic Village (L. Gaze)
Bill Wyatt sunbaking at the Olympic Village while Alan Hare and a USA player pose for the photo (L. Gaze)
Left to right: George Dancis, Bill Wyatt and Lindsay Gaze relax at the 1960 Olympic Village (G. Dancis)
The Opening Ceremony
The Australian Olympic Team marching at the Opening Ceremony
(IOC)
Australian Olympic Men’s Basketball Team Preparation
The 1960 Australian Men’s Olympic Basketball team was selected after the Australian Championships in September 1959. Only two players, Dancis and Inga Freidenfelds, had any prior Olympic experience, having played in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.
Unlike the 1956 Australian Olympic Team, the 1960 team was comprised of mainly young Australian born and developed players rather than being predominantly European in background as in 1956.
The players did much of their training by correspondence until March 1960 when the players assembled in Adelaide (some with their wives) for three months of preparation under Coach EricErkins of Adelaide a former Latvian migrant who had coached ASK Latvian Club teams to dominance in South Australia and the SA State Team to Australian Championship titles.
This period of training for the Australian Team meant great sacrifice by the players who were all amateurs and had to work part-time jobs during the day, if they could get employment. Most of the players were on Leave-Without-Pay from their employers back in their home States. Some lucky ones did have Leave-With-Pay, some of course were self employed in Adelaide. Playing for Australia in the Rome Olympics was of considerable financial sacrifice to all members of the team.
Terry Charlton from Newcastle, the youngest player on the team, comments, “Today our Olympians get daily allowances and all expenses paid, plus they travel First Class most of the time. You haven’t lived until you have done it the way we did.”
Left to right: George Dancis. Malcolm Heard and Ross Graham departing Australia on their way to Rome (R. Graham)
The players played as a team in the Adelaide District Basketball Competition as part of their preparation. The team left Adelaide at the end of July 1960 and traveled to Alice Springs and Darwin where the players and coaches conducted clinics, trained and played exhibition games.
From the Northern Territory the team traveled to the Philippines and played two games in Manila against the Philippine National Team. The Philippine National Team had already qualified for the Rome Olympics and they were a good test for the Australians who lost both games. From the Philippines the Australian Team travelled onto Hong Kong, and then India before landing in Rome. In Rome they played the very physical Italian Team in an exhibition match. “We were definitely surprised by the size of the Italians as we were expecting short and stocky players, but their height was daunting. They played tough and they were good shooters”, said team member Mal Heard. The Italians won 92-62.
The team then traveled to the Italian city of Bologna for the Olympic Qualification Tournament.
1960 Olympic Team departing Adelaide (The News Adelaide)
The Basketball Tournaments were played at the Palazzettodello Sport (Rome) and the Palazzo dello Sport (Bologna)
The Olympic Qualification Tournament
Basketball had exploded as a world sport and FIBA had 87 member countries most of whom wished to participate in the Olympic Games.
FIBA decided that only 16 teams could participate in the OlympicFinals Tournament in Rome. The first eightplaced teams from the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games automatically qualified for the finals in Rome. Italy as the host nation, three teams from outside Europe and four teams from a Qualification Tournament in Bologna would make up the 16 teams for the finals in Rome.
Bologna is the capital of Emilia-Romagna. It is the 7th largest city in Italy and is nicknamed “basket-city” because of their love of basketball.
The tournament used a new type of ball, which resembled a soccer ball and most teams had great difficulty adjusting to the ball. Mal Heard described the ball as follows. “At Bologna we were introduced to the type of ball to be used for the Olympics, it was a leather paneled ball similar to a soccer ball. When rolled across the floor the ball would roll in a large arc, indicating how much it was out of shape.”
The Australians were housed in accommodation four to a small room with little space between the beds. Not the ideal situation for four tall men.
The tournament was divided into four groups which would play round-robin games. Spain was to play in its first Olympic basketball tournament. Three groups had five teams in the group and there was one group of four teams. There were eighteen teams in the Bologna Tournament competing for four positions in the Finals in Rome. Competition was therefore very fierce.
The 18 countries competing in the Bologna Tournament were: West Germany, Belgium, Canada, Thailand, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Sudan, Surinam, Taiwan, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece, Israel, Poland, Switzerland and Australia.
Australia was drawn in Group D with Greece, Israel, Poland, and Switzerland.
Game 1: Australia 65 v Poland 115
Poland was a strong team in Europe though it had not been able to qualify for the Rome finals under the European qualification system adopted. They had not played in the Melbourne 1956 Olympics and in many ways as a nation they were still recovering from the Second World War.
Australia needed to get the tournament of to a good start with a win over a strong opponent.
This game was at 9am so an early start for all.
The Australians got off to a slow start. The refereeing and the ball were taking some getting used to as well as the European playing style of the Poles. The Australian Team was soon in foul-trouble and accumulated some seven fouls in the first few minutes of play. Poland was able to race to a 25-10 lead after six minutes. The Polish offense also created many fouls on the Australians as they attempted to defend. The Australians were forced to play tight defence all over the court but this exposed their defence close to the basket where the giant Polish centre was causing the Aussies great difficulty. The Australian cause was also affected by Bill Wyatt spraining his ankle and thereby limiting his play.
At half-time the Poles had established a commanding lead 58-32. In the second half the Australians resorted to zone defence to protect the players in foul trouble and to quell the Polish scoring rate. Inga Freidenfelds, one of the team’s main rebounders badly sprained his ankle and the Poles were able to continue their dominance inside. Poland surged away to a very strong win 115-65.
George Dancis was the main scorer for Australia and was well supported by Lindsay Gaze and John Heard, while Terry Charlton and Alan Dawe played well on defence.
Poland was to go on to be one of the four teams to qualify for the Finals in Rome. For Poland Wichowski scored 22 points.
Australia: Graham 4, Charlton 4, J Heard 7, Whitehead 2, Freidenfelds 21, Wyatt 3, Dawe 3, Dancis 15, Gaze 6. Free-throws 19/30 at 63.3% Poland 17/31 at 54%; Fouls: Australia 31, Whitehead 5, Dancis 5.
Game 2: Australia 64 v Switzerland 68
Switzerland had last competed in an Olympic basketball competition in London in 1948 where they came 21st out of 23 nations.They were “equal” 9th to 14thin Berlin in the 1936 Olympics.They were not considered to be a strong basketball country so the Australians felt they were a good chance to win their first game.
The Swiss had not yet played a game in the tournament and the Australians did not know what to expect from them. On the other-hand the Swiss had a good look at the Aussies in their game against Poland.
It was another 9am game but the Australians were better prepared and more confident than for the previous game.
The Swiss had a slight height advantage and again the Australians were racking up fouls early. George Dancis quickly got into foul trouble in the game and the team was without the injured Freidenfelds one of their major rebounders. The margin was close for much of the first half but with five minutes to go before the half-time the Swiss went on a scoring burst.
At half-time the Australians were in a very deep hole down 42-29.
In the second half the Australians were “controlling” the game and they were gradually able to whittle away the Swiss lead. With eight minutes remaining in the game the Australians were only two points behind. In the last few minutes there were numerous fouls called on the Australians and this resulted in five of their players fouling out of the game. The Swiss hung on to win 68-64 with their centre scoring 29 points. (The Swiss were to go on to finish in 15th place in the tournament). The Swiss also had an incredible 47 free-throws. John Heard led the Australians with 19 points.
Lindsay Gaze sums up. “The four point loss by Australia left the players lamenting the number of good chances squandered…….the price of experience is high”. For Switzerland Voison scored 29 points and Deforel 12 points.
Australia: Graham 6, Charlton 2, J. Heard 19, M. Heard 9, Whitehead 3, Wyatt 2, Dawe 1, Dancis 6, Gaze 16. Free-throws: Australia 22/39 at 56.4% Switzerland 27/47 at 57.4% J. Heard 5, M. Heard 5. Wyatt 5, Dawe 5, Dancis 5.
Game 3: Australia 49 v Israel 64
Israel had never played in an Olympic finals competition. They were still building as a nation and as a basketball country. However their close relationship to the USA did influence their training and playing style. They had defeated Greece (65-43) and lost to Poland (78-53) in their two previous games. The win over Greece demonstrated that they would be a tough opponent.
This game was yet another 9am game and Australia’s third game in a row at that time.
This time the Australians got off to a better start and the Israelis were playing tired. Colyn Whitehead was having a good game and big George Dancis was shooting and scoring well. Unfortunately Whitehead fouled out early.
At half-time Australia led 32-25.
After half-time the Israelis went to a zone defence and this proved to be a tactical victory as the Australians lapsed into numerous fundamental errors. The refereeing and the strange ball were leading to a lot of travelling and passing errors by Australia. With eight minutes to go in the game Israel surged to a good lead. They did not relinquish this lead and powered away to a 64-49 victory. Centre George Dancis led Australia with 19 points. Hamo 12 points and Lustig 11 were the main scorers for Israel.
“Most of the team believed that with a bit better organization and a stronger commitment we could have easily turned defeat into victory,” remembers Lindsay Gaze.Alan Dawe recalls, “This was by far our best game to this stage.”
Australia: Charlton 2, J. Heard 2, M. Heard 3, Whitehead 6, Freidenfelds 11, Wyatt 3, Dawe 3, Dancis 19. Free-throws: Australia 12/26 at 46.2 %, Israel 12/28 at 42.9%, Fouls: Australia 29 Israel 18, J. Heard 5, Whitehead 5.
Game 4: Australia 87 v Greece 108
Greece was a good European basketball nation. (Peter Demos, a member of the Australian1956 Olympic Basketball Team, had played for Greece before he migrated to Australia).
The Greeks had never played in Olympic Finals competition. In their previous games in this tournament they had lost to Israel 65-43,Poland 77-76 and had defeated Switzerland 71-54 so they were in solid form and confident.Could the Australians bounce back and win their first game?
This was the Australian Team’s first night game after three 9am games. The game was at 9pm.
The Australians changed their starting line-up but still got off to a poor start and the Greeks were able to establish a good lead. Some substitutions in the latter stages of the first half sparked a mini-revival but the Australiandefence was not holding the Greeks out.
At half-time the Australians were down 53-38 and would need a big effort in the second half.
At half-time the Australians had long discussions regarding their effort, lethargy and performance.
After half-time the Aussies ralliedto get within five points of the much more experienced Greeks but were unable to sustain the momentum and lost 108-87 in a very high scoring game.
Again the Australians had great difficulty in adjusting to the rules interpretations. There were 73 fouls called in the game. Six Australian players were fouled out of the game with five fouls each. The Greeks also had problems in this area as 35 of those 73 fouls were called on them. Australia was also inhibited by ankle injuries to Inga Freidenfelds and Bill Wyatt.Economou 28, Christeas 24 and Mourouzis 21were the main scorers for Greece while J. Heard 23 points was the main scorer for Australia.
Australia: Graham 4, Charlton 5, J. Heard 23, M. Heard 8, Whitehead 2, Freidenfelds 16, Hare 2, Wyatt 3, Dawe 7, Dancis 2, Gaze 15. Free-throws: Australia 28/45 at 62.2%, Greece 26/47 at 55.3%. Fouls: Australia 38, Greece 37, J. Heard 5, Whitehead 5, Dawe 5, Gaze 5, Graham 5, Dancis 5
Final Classification: Poland 4-0, Israel 3-1, Greece 2-2, Switzerland 1-3, Australia 0-4.
Poland and Israel qualified for the Quarter Finals of the Qualification Tournament.
Australia had not won a game in their pool and therefore was unable to qualify for the Finals in Rome.
By some mathematical formula Australia was then relegated to play for the last two positions in the Qualification Tournament. This seems a strange move as under most competition play the last teams in each group would play “cross over games with the two winners playing for 15th and 16th and the two losers playing for 17th and 18th
Game 5: Australia 84 v Sudan 62 (34-25)
Sudan was new to Olympic competition and though athletic did not have the skills or experience at this level. In their previous Group B games they had lost all their games as had Australia in their Group D games.
This game started at 10am. Sudan had also been decimated by injuries during the tournament and this was going to affect their performance. Inga Freidenfelds was unable to play for Australia in this game because of his ankle injury. The Australians were able to get off to a better start and had a seven point lead (34-25) at half-time. Australia’s dominance was emphasized by the fact that their dominant big-man George Dancis was only required to play about eight minutes in the game. The Australiansextended their lead in the second half to win comfortably 84-62. Australia had seven free-throws in the game while Sudan had 36.
Hassen 31 points and Attiya 10 were the main scorers for Sudan.
Australia: Graham 10, Hughes 8, Charlton 5, J. Heard 10, M. Heard 29, Whitehead 4, Hare 2, Dawe 4, Gaze 12. Free-throws: Australia 4/7 at 57% Sudan 16/36 at 44.4%, Fouls: Australia 28 Sudan 14, Wyatt 5.
“We had won our first game, although it was not a high performance. We were all pleased to win!” says Alan Dawe.
Australian leading scorers: John Heard 61 points (12.2ppg), Mal Heard 49 points (12.3ppg), Lindsay Gaze 49 points (9.8ppg), Inga Freidenfelds 48 points (16.0ppg) and George Dancis 42 points (8.4ppg). Australia committed 166 fouls with J. Heard 22, Dancis 21, Whitehead19 and Dawe 18 leading that category.There is no FIBA record of rebounds or assists for the tournament.
Inga Freidenfelds was 10th in scoring for the tournament at 16.0 points per game, Mal Heard was 29th (12.3ppg), John Heard 31st (12.2ppg), Lindsay Gaze 51st (9.8ppg) and George Dancis 65th (8.4ppg).
Terry Charlton sums up the Australian Team performance. “The speed and consistent accurate shooting of our opponents was just overwhelming. Every team played a much more up-tempo game both offensively and defensively than we did. Losing to Switzerland was definitely the most disappointing result of the Qualification Tournament.”
The Australian Team starting line-up usually consisted of Dancis, Whitehead, Freidenfelds, John Heard, and Lindsay Gaze. George Dancis was the leading scorer and rebounder for the Australians. Alan Dawe, Terry Charlton and Alan Hare were considered the team’s defensive specialists. Mal Heard and Ross Graham were the support centres for Dancis, while Mal Heard and Richard Hughes were the back-up forwards.
Final Placing in the Olympic Qualification Tournament Bologna:
1. Czechoslovakia
2. Spain
3. Hungary
4. Yugoslavia
5. Poland
6. Belgium
7. Canada
8. Israel
9. Germany
10. Greece
11. Taiwan
12. Austria
13 Thailand
14 Great Britain
15 Switzerland
16 Surinam
17 Australia
18 Sudan
(In the IOC Official 1960 Olympic Report Australia is positioned at 12th while Austria was placed 17th. This is a typing error by the IOC.)
Czechoslovakia, Spain, Yugoslavia and Hungary qualified for the Olympic Basketball Finals in Rome. However Chile (who had qualified from the Melbourne Olympic Games) withdrew from the Finals in Rome. Poland defeated Belgium in a playoff and became the fifth team from the Bologna Qualification Tournament to go to Rome.
After the Bologna Qualification Tournament the Australian Team was entered into a tournament in Rosetto, a resort on the Adriatic Coast of Italy. Here the team lost narrowly to Thailand 66-62, but defeated Sudan 74-62 and Great Britain 75-60.
After the tournament in Rosetto the Australian Team travelled to Rome. The team was able to stay in Rome, eat at the Olympic Village and attend the basketball Finals as well as watch other events including Herb Elliot from Australia win the 1500metres track event.
The Australian Team outside their hotel in Rome (L. Gaze)
Inga Freidenfelds and Team Manager Doug Harrison outside the Olympic Village (G. Dancis)
The Olympic Basketball Finals
The venues for the basketball finals were the Sports Arena and the Sports Palace. The Palazzo dello Sport was the largest Olympic basketball stadium in history with a capacity of 15,000 seats. The building was designed by Pier Luigi Nervi and was located in the fascist built EUR complex south of the city centre.
The16 teams for the Finals were divided into four groups of four. The USA, USSR, Brazil and Italy qualified for the Semi-Finals.
The USA team coached by Pete Newell and led by Oscar Robinson, Jerry West, Jerry Lucas, Walt Bellamy and Terry Dishenger(all College players at this time) were too strong and won the Gold Medal. (The Gold Medal was not won in a single game. The top four teams in the Semi-Finals were put into one Group and the win loss record of that Group after they played each other decided the positions of 1 to 4. The final positions were USA 3-0USSR 2-1 Brazil 1-3 Italy 0-3
Final Positions in the Rome Olympic Basketball Tournament:
1. USA
2. Soviet Union
3. Brazil
4. Italy
5. Czechoslovakia
6. Yugoslavia
7. Poland
8. Uruguay
9. Hungary
10. France
11. Philippines
12. Mexico
13. Puerto Rico
14 Spain
15 Japan
16. Bulgaria
The 1960 USA Olympic Team cutting the nets after they won the Gold Medal (L. Gaze)
Rule changes: Rule changes for the Rome Olympics included the elimination of the half-court line and the awarding of two free-throws in the last five minutes for each foul anywhere on the court.
The jump-shot was now more in vogue than in 1956 and the thirty seconds rule to shoot the ball introduced at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 had sped the game up.
Film Star Gregory Peck meets the Australians in the Olympic Village (L. Gaze)
Post Olympic Games Matches
After the Rome Olympic Basketball Finals the Australian Team travelled to Basel, Switzerland where they defeated a Swiss All Star Team.
Due to lack of funds, most of the team traveled home to Australia by ship on the “SS Strathaird”. Also on board the “Strathaird” was the 1960 West Indian Cricket Team.The Australian Team stopped off in Bombay to defeat a local Indian team in a game played on an outside court in temperatures over 50 degrees centigrade.
Overview
The Australians were very disappointed with their results in Bologna as they believed they had the talent to do better. What the powers in Australia were realizing was that if Australia was ever to do well in international competition then the Australian Basketball teams needed international competition not just long periods of training.
While the idea of training together as a team in Adelaide for three months prior to the tournament was a sound one, and one for which all members of the team made a great sacrifice in terms of their employment and families during this period, they had little strong competition let alone international competition.
“It was obvious to me that we lacked the experience of the other teams, had little international experience and our skill level and fitness…although reasonable for that time…was not equivalent to the European teams,” recalled Mal Heard.
Mal went on to say, “A shoe-string budget for travel and accommodation did not help our situation. In my case I lost over a stone (6.5kgs) while in Bologna”
“Unfortunately our preparation for such an event was sadly lacking. Our knowledge of our European opponents was very little. There was little time toadjust and turn our game around,” adds Alan Dawe.
Team-mate Terry Charlton comments, “There was no medical support included in the official party of Coach, Manager and Referee. All injuries were treated by the players themselves…the inclusion of an Assistant Coach would have been beneficial.”
In 1961 the Australian Basketball Union (ABU) conducted an enquiry into the results of the Australian Team at the Rome Olympics.
Among some of the conclusions of the enquiry were:
“A worrying factor was the refereeing….fouls were rained on the Australian team…who had been labeled as rough…thick and fast, and it was found very difficult to make an effective defence in the circumstances.”
“Another point worth mentioning is the poor type of ball used….which was markedly inferior to the American type ball we usually use.”
The ABU Report also recommended teams arrive earlier in the country of the Olympics, State referees to be advised to take closer attention to the travelling rule, Australian coaches be advised to place greater emphasis on defence, and greater efforts must be made to develop taller players.”
Judging by the results of the ABU enquiry and the better preparation that ensued for the 1964 Olympic team Terry Charlton’s concluding wordsare most appropriate.
“I consider the 1960 Australian Olympic Basketball Team players and officials, the first National Team to leave our shores to play in FIBA competition, were the trailblazers for other Australian Olympic Basketball campaigns.”
The 1960 Australian Olympic Men’s Basketball Team
Back row left to right:Colyn Whitehead, Terry Charlton, Mal Heard, Inga Freidenfelds,Richard Hughes, Ross Graham, George Dancis.
Front row left to right: Eric Erkins (Coach), Bill Wyatt, John Heard, Lindsay Gaze, Alan Hare,Alan Dawe,Doug Harrison (Manager) (Courtesy J. Heard)