John Konrads: 1960 Rome Olympics Gold Medalist

1960 Rome Olympics, gold medal awarded to John Konrads for first place in the 1500 metres men's Freestyle; minted by Artistice Fiorenti in Florence and in the original cream coloured case of presentation. Konrads established a new Olympic record of 17 minutes 19.6 seconds with his winning performance. in the 1500 fi nal Konrads came from behind America's George Breen at around the 1100-metre mark; Murray Rose staying with him, always within about 3 seconds. in fact, rose swam the last 400 metres slightly faster than Konrads, but could not catch him. Konrads swam an average of 69 seconds for every 100 metres - only 8.6 seconds outside his almost incredible world record and just on 40 seconds better than rose's winning time in Melbourne 4 years earlier. (2 items)