Athletics at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

The host stadium for the athletics events

At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in Perth, Australia. The stadium, set in the suburb of Floreat, was purpose-built for the competition. A total of 31 events were contested, of which 21 by male and 10 by female athletes. The competition was affected by hot weather and soldiers from the Australian Army were called upon to supply athletes with water throughout the competition.^[1] Heavy wind also affected the programme, with the sprints and jumps most affected by the conditions.

The 1962 Games saw the reintroduction of the men's 3000 metres steeplechase and the women's 880 yards – events which had both been absent for four editions, having previously been held at the 1934 British Empire Games. Kenyan Seraphino Antao's double gold in the sprints, an achievement which marked a breakthrough in the sport for his country. Dorothy Hyman completed the same feat on the women's side. Peter Snell won gold medals in both the 880 yds and the mile run. In the men's 3 miles race, Ron Clarke found himself outdone by reigning Olympics 5000 metres champion Murray Halberg. Women's thrower Valerie Young built upon her 1958 shot put gold with victories in both the shot put and discus throw.

One Games record was improved at the competition: Dixie Willis set a new mark in the women's 880 yards run.

Medal summary

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 yards	Seraphino Antao  Kenya	9.50	Tom Robinson  Bahamas	9.63	Michael Cleary  Australia	9.78
220 yards	Seraphino Antao  Kenya	21.28	Dave Jones  England	21.59	Johan du Preez  Rhodesia and Nyasaland	21.70
440 yards	George Kerr  Jamaica	46.74	Robbie Brightwell  England	46.86	Amos Omolo  Uganda	46.88
880 yards	Peter Snell  New Zealand	1:47.64 GR	George Kerr  Jamaica	1:47.90	Tony Blue  Australia	1:48.99
1 mile	Peter Snell  New Zealand	4:04.58	John Davies  New Zealand	4:05.12	Terry Sullivan  Rhodesia and Nyasaland	4:06.61
3 miles	Murray Halberg  New Zealand	13:34.15	Ron Clarke  Australia	13:35.92	Bruce Kidd  Canada	13:36.37
6 miles	Bruce Kidd  Canada	28:26.13 GR	Dave Power  Australia	28:33.53	John Merriman  Wales	28:40.26
120 yards hurdles	Ghulam Raziq  Pakistan	14.34	Dave Prince  Australia	14.48	Laurie Taitt  England	14.81
440 yards hurdles	Ken Roche  Australia	51.5	Kimaru Songok  Kenya	51.9	Benson Ishiepai  Uganda	52.3
3000 metres steeplechase	Trevor Vincent  Australia	8:43.4 GR	Maurice Herriott  England	8:45.0	Ron Blackney  Australia	9:00.6
4 × 110 yards relay	England (ENG) Alf Meakin David Jones Len Carter Peter Radford	40.62	Ghana (GHA) Bonner Mends Bukari Bashiru Michael Okantey Michael Ahey	40.74	Wales (WAL) David England Nick Whitehead Ron Jones Berwyn Jones	40.80
4 × 440 yards relay	Jamaica (JAM) George Kerr Laurie Khan Malcolm Spence Mel Spence	3:12.3	England (ENG) Adrian Metcalfe Barry Jackson Robert Setti Robbie Brightwell	3:10.2	Ghana (GHA) Ebenezer Quartey Frederick Owusu James Addy John Asare-Antwi	3:11.2
Marathon	Brian Kilby  England	2:21:17	Dave Power  Australia	2:22:16	Rod Bonella  Australia	2:24:07
High jump	Percy Hobson  Australia	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) GR	Chilla Porter  Australia	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	Anton Norris  Barbados	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Pole vault	Trevor Bickle  Australia	14 ft 9 in (4.50 m)	Danie Burger  Rhodesia and Nyasaland	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)	Ross Filshie  Australia	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Long jump	Michael Ahey  Ghana	26 ft 5 in (8.05 m)	Dave Norris  New Zealand	25 ft 4 3⁄4 in (7.74 m)	Wellesley Clayton  Jamaica	25 ft 4 1⁄4 in (7.73 m)
Triple jump	Ian Tomlinson  Australia	53 ft 2 in (16.21 m)	John Baguley  Australia	52 ft 9 1⁄4 in (16.08 m)	Fred Alsop  England	52 ft 7 in (16.03 m)
Shot put	Martyn Lucking  England	59 ft 4 in (18.08 m)	Mike Lindsay  Scotland	59 ft 2 1⁄2 in (18.05 m)	Dave Steen  Canada	58 ft 8 3⁄4 in (17.90 m)
Discus throw	Warwick Selvey  Australia	185 ft 3 1⁄2 in (56.48 m)	Mike Lindsay  Scotland	172 ft 6 in (52.58 m)	John Sheldrick  England	166 ft 3 in (50.67 m)
Hammer throw	Howard Payne  England	202 ft 3 in (61.65 m)	Dick Leffler  Australia	196 ft 3 1⁄2 in (59.83 m)	Robert Brown  Australia	189 ft 1 1⁄2 in (57.65 m)
Javelin throw	Alf Mitchell  Australia	256 ft 3 in (78.11 m) GR	Colin Smith  England	255 ft 8 1⁄2 in (77.94 m)	Nick Birks  Australia	246 ft 3 1⁄2 in (75.07 m)

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 yards	Dorothy Hyman  England	11.2	Doreen Porter  New Zealand	11.3	Brenda Cox  Australia	11.4
220 yards	Dorothy Hyman  England	24.00	Joyce Bennett  Australia	24.21	Margaret Burvill  Australia	24.42
880 yards	Dixie Willis  Australia	2:03.85 GR	Marise Chamberlain  New Zealand	2:05.66	Joy Jordan  England	2:05.96
80 metres hurdles	Pam Kilborn  Australia	11.07	Betty Moore  England	11.40	Avis McIntosh  New Zealand	11.47
4 × 110 yards relay	Australia (AUS) Brenda Cox Betty Cuthbert Glenys Beasley Joyce Bennett	46.71	England (ENG) Ann Packer Dorothy Hyman Daphne Arden Betty Moore	46.81	New Zealand (NZL) Avis McIntosh Doreen Porter Molly Cowan Nola Bond	46.93
High jump	Robyn Woodhouse  Australia	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Helen Frith  Australia	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Michele Mason  Australia	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Long jump	Pam Kilborn  Australia	20 ft 6 3⁄4 in (6.27 m)	Helen Frith  Australia	20 ft 5 3⁄4 in (6.24 m)	Janet Knee  Australia	20 ft 1 1⁄4 in (6.13 m)
Shot put	Valerie Young  New Zealand	49 ft 11 1⁄2 in (15.23 m)	Jean Roberts  Australia	47 ft 7 1⁄2 in (14.52 m)	Suzanne Allday  England	44 ft 6 in (13.56 m)
Discus throw	Valerie Young  New Zealand	164 ft 8 1⁄2 in (50.20 m)	Rosslyn Williams  Australia	153 ft 1 in (46.66 m)	Mary McDonald  Australia	151 ft 8 in (46.23 m)
Javelin throw	Sue Platt  England	164 ft 10 1⁄2 in (50.25 m)	Rosemary Morgan  England	162 ft 9 1⁄2 in (49.62 m)	Anna Pazera  Australia	159 ft 8 1⁄2 in (48.68 m)

Medal table

Key

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Australia	12	12	13	37
2	England	7	8	5	20
3	New Zealand	5	4	2	11
4	Jamaica	2	1	1	4
5	Kenya	2	1	0	3
6	Ghana	1	1	1	3
7	Canada	1	0	2	3
8	Pakistan	1	0	0	1
9	Scotland	0	2	0	2
10	Rhodesia and Nyasaland	0	1	2	3
11	Bahamas	0	1	0	1
12	Uganda	0	0	2	2
	Wales	0	0	2	2
14	Barbados	0	0	1	1
Total		31	31	31	93

References

Results

• Commonwealth Games Medallists - Men. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-08-28.
• Commonwealth Games Medallists - Women. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-08-28.

Athletics at the Commonwealth Games
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Commonwealth Games records