The 1960 Rome Olympics: Spaces and Spectacle (24Th Ion P. Ioannides Memorial Lecture--Keynote Address‪)‬

For its winter 2010 number, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rome Summer Games, the journal Spaziosport assembled about three dozen prominent Italians to reflect on the significance of the Games of the XVII Olympiad. (1) These included medallists of the 1960 Olympics, and also political figures, architects, scholars, and journalists. Some of these individuals were intimately involved in the operation of the Games--most notably, Giulio Andreotti, president of the 1960 Organising Committee--while others knew the event only as history. One assessment that the contributors repeatedly offered as practically self-evident was that Rome 1960 was "the last Olympiad on a human scale." The Olympic Village is illustrative. There, a perimeter fence and an elaborate system of checkpoints had limited effect in keeping the athletes separate from their admiring fans. The barrier that divided the quarters for men and women competitors allowed for easy scaling. The national delegations paraded directly from the apartment blocks of the Olympic Village to the opening ceremony in the Stadio Olimpico. That ceremony featured no pyrotechnics--just some Italian military bands, the lighting of the Olympic torch and associated formalities, the parade of athletes, and the release of doves. Human resources for the Games were pared down, even compared to Melbourne 1956 (for instance, the number of referees dropped by about 40%). The track events were run on a clay (not rubber) surface, for the last time in the Olympics.