Excerpts from the book:

"The Story of the Olympic Games -  776 B.C. to 1936 A.D." by John Kieran" described how  Raymond Barbuti  won the "only single" Track & Field Gold Medal in the IX Olympics:

"RAYMOND BARBUTI, the stocky, black-haired, heavy-legged runner from Syracuse, an all around athlete and star football player, saved the United States team from the humiliation of a shutout on the track by a stirring triumph in the 400-metre final.

 ..."As he (Barbuti) pounded down the track toward the tape, he knew someone was coming up on the outside and coming fast.  It was (James) "Ball" of  Canada and we was full of running.  Barbuti was  plunging along in sheer determination and desperation.  Agony was written on his twisted countenance, but he could see the tape ahead and, as he said later, he would 'make it or bust.'   In a last effort to  stave off defeat he threw himself over the finish line just as Ball seemed to draw even with him.  Barbuti pitched the cinder path on his face, completely used up.

"The finish was so close that even the nearby spectators couldn't  tell who had won.   A hush, and then came the decision.  Barbuti  by inches!  And thus the United States, except for the relays, won its single track event at Amsterdam."