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Olympic Games

XVI (16th) OLYMPIAD
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA | Nov 22nd - Dec 8th, 1956
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN | June 10th - 17th, 1956


Melbourne, AUS

Melbourne 1956

GAMES OF THE XVIth OLYMPIAD

MELBOURNE, AUS

STOCKHOLM, SWE

November 22 - December 8, 1956

June 10-17, 1956

Mascot - none

Mascot - none

67 countries
3184 athletes (371 women)

29 countries
158 athletes (13 women)

16 sports, 145 events

1 sport, 6 events

Opening - Prince Philip (UK)

Opening - King Gustav VI (SWE) and Queen Elizabeth II (UK)

Torch lit by - Ron Clarke

Torch lit by - Hans Wikne

Candidates: Buenos Aires, LA, Detroit, Mexico City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Montreal, SF

Candidates: Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, LA, Buenos Aires

Former Ukrainian sailor Vladimir Kuts set foot on the athletics track and never looked back. In this 5000m race he leads Britain's D. Gordon Pirie before going on to win a total of two Olympic gold medals.

Southern discomfort

For the first time the southern hemisphere welcomed the Olympic Games. Between November 22 and December 8 Melbourne played host to more than 3,000 athletes from 67 countries, including a unified team from East and West Germany following an IOC initiative.

However, despite attempts at making Melbourne's Olympic debut a truly memorable affair, the Games were marred by external events which caused disquiet within. The Franco-British naval involvement in the Suez Crisis and the invasion of Hungary by the Soviet military proved relevant issues, as did the second Egyptian-Israeli conflict in the Sinai and violence in North Africa (mostly in Algeria). In total, six countries boycotted the event - Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, the Netherlands, Spain and eventually, Switzerland.

Events in Melbourne - who had won the right to host the Games over Buenos Aires by a single vote - were also confounded by Australia's quarantine laws. As such, the equestrian events had to be held in Stockholm five months previously. In Stockholm, the Swiss team competed but were later absent in Melbourne.

Further difficulties emanated from the conflict involving the Peoples Republic of China and Formosa China, exiled on Taiwan. In addition, ongoing political tension in Central and Eastern Europe was reflected during play, with the Soviet and Hungarian water polo teams fighting in the swimming pool. For many Hungarians, the 16th Olympiad proved decisive - following Melbourne, 45 Hungarians defected to the West.

Despite the problems, sport and the Olympic ideal would eventually flourish. In total, 16 world records were broken, two were equaled, and 58 new Olympic records were set. Fine individual performances also left their mark on the Games - marred only by incidents owing their raison d'etre to a hostile political climate. During the ceremony for the closing of the Games, however, part of the Olympic ideal was restored when the athletes marched together, not in separate delegations, but with their hands joined in an atmosphere of sporting and joyous disorder.

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MELBOURNE 1956 GOLD MEDAL WINNERS
115 Men, 26 Women, 10 Open Events
2 new events (Men's & Women's Butterfly)
3 events changed (10km Walk becomes 20km, Sailing 6m becomes Sharpie, 1 Shooting)

ATHLETICS, Men
100m: Bobby Morrow, USA
200m: Bobby Morrow, USA
400m: Charles Jenkins, USA
800m: Tom Courtney, USA
1500m: Ron Delany, Ireland
5000m: Vladimir Kuts, USSA
10000m: Vladimir Kuts, USSR
4x100m: Untied States
4x400m: Untied States
110m Hurdles: Lee Calhoun, USA
400m Hurdles: Glenn Davis, USA
20km Walk: Leonid Spirin, USSR
50km Walk: Norman Read, New Zealand
3000m Steeplechase: Chris Brasher, Great Britain
Marathon: Alain Mimoun, France
Discus Throw: Al Oerter, USA
Hammer Throw: Hal Connolly, USA
High Jump: Charley Dumas, USA
Javelin Throw: Egil Danielsen, Norway
Long Jump: Greg Bell, USA
Pole Vault: Bob Richards, USA
Shot Put: Parry O'Brien, USA
Triple Jump: Adhemar Ferreira da Silva, Brazil
Decathlon: Mitt Campbell, USA

ATHLETICS, Women
100m: Betty Cuthbert, Australia
200m: Betty Cuthbert, Australia
4x100m: Australia
80m Hurdles: Shirley Strickland, Australia
Discus Throw: Olga Fikotova, Czechoslovakia
High Jump: Mildred McDaniel, USA
Javelin Throw: Inese Jaunzeme, USSR
Long Jump: Elzbieta Krzesinska, Poland
Shot Put: Tamara Tyschkevich, USSR

BASKETBALL
Team, men: United States

BOXING
51kg: Terence Spinks, Great Britain
54kg: Wolfgang Behrendt, Germany
57kg: Vladimir Safronov, USSR
60kg: Richard McTaggart, Great Britain
63.5kg: Vladimir Yengibaryan, USSR
67kg: Nicolae Linca, Romania
71kg: Laszlo Papp, Hungary
75kg: Gennady Shatkov, USSR
81kg: James Boyd, USA
81+kg: Pete Rademacher, USA

CANOE/KAYAK
M\C1 1000m: Leon Rotman, Romania
M\C1 10000m: Leon Rotman, Romania
M\C2 1000m: Alexe Dumitru/Simion Ismailciuc, Romania
M\C2 10000m: Grazian Botew/Pavel Kharin, USSR
M\K1 1000m: Gert Frederiksson, Sweden
M\K1 10000m: Gert Frederiksson, Sweden
M\K2 1000m: Meinrad Mittenberger/Michel Scheuer, Germany
M\K2 10000m: Janos Uranyi/Laszlo Fabian, Hungary
W\K1 500m: Yelisaveta Dementyeva, USSR

CYCLING, Men
Road Race: Ercole Baldini, Italy
Team Road Race: France
1km Time Trial: Leandro Faggin, Italy
2000m Sprint: Anthony John Marchant/Ian Brown, AUS
Sprint: Michel Rousseau, France
Team Pursuit: Italy

EQUESTRIAN, Open (Stockholm, Sweden)
Individual Dressage: Henri Saint Cyr, Sweden
Individual Jumping: Hans-Gunter Winkler, Germany
Individual 3-Day Event: Petrus Kastenman, Sweden
Team Dressage: Sweden
Team Jumping: Germany
Team 3-Day Event: Great Britain

FENCING
M\Individual Epee; Carlo Pavesi, Italy
M\Individual Foil: Christian D'Oriola, France
M\Individual Sabre: Rudolf Karpati, Hungary
M\Team Epee: Italy
M\Team Foil: Italy
M\Team Sabre: Hungary
W\Individual Foil: Gillian Sheen, Great Britain

FOOTBALL
Team, men: Soviet Union

GYMNASTICS
M\Floor Exercise: Valentin Muratov, USSR
M\Horizontal Bar: Takashi Ono, Japan
M\Parallel Bars: Viktor Chukarin, USSR
M\Pommel Horse: Borys Shakhlin, USSR
M\Rings: Albert Azaryan , USSR
M\Vault: Helmut Bantz, GER & Valentin Muratov, USSR
M\Individual All-Around: Viktor Chukarin, USSR
M\Team: Soviet Union
W\Balance Beam: Agnes Keleti, Hungary
W\Floor Exercise: Agnes Keleti, HUN & Larissa Latynina, URS
W\Uneven Bars: Agnes Keleti, Hungary
W\Vault: Larissa Latynina, USSR
W\Individual All-Around: Larissa Latynina, USSR
W\Team: Soviet Union
W\Team - Portable Apparatus: Hungary

HOCKEY
 Team, men: India

MODERN PENTATHLON
Individual: Lars Hall, Sweden
Team: Soviet Union

ROWING, Men
Single Sculls: Vyacheslav Ivanov, USSR
Double Sculls: Aleksandr Berkutov/Yuriy Tyukalov, USSR
Coxless Pair: Duvall Hecht/James Fifer, USA
Coxed Pair: United States
Coxless Four: Canada
Coxed Four: Italy
Eight: United States

SAILING
X\5.5m Class: Sweden
X\Dragon: Sweden
X\Star: United States
X\Sharpie: New Zealand
M\Finn: Paul Elvstrom, Denmark

SHOOTING, Men
100m R/Deer Single/Double Shot: Vitaly Romanenko, USSR
25m Rapid Fire Pistol; Stefan Petrescu, Romania
300m Free Rifle 3x40: Vassily Borissov, USSR
50m Free Pistol: Pentti Linnosvuo, Finland
50m Small-b\Bore Rifle 3x40: Anatoly Bogdanov, USSR
50m Small-Bore Rifle prone: Gerald Ouellette, Canada
Trap: Galliano Rossini, Italy

SWIMMING, Men
100m Freestyle: John Henricks, Australia
400m Freestyle: Murray Rose, Australia
1500m Freestyle: Murray Rose, Australia
100m Backstroke: David Theile, Australia
200m Breaststroke: Masaru Furukawa, Japan
200m Butterfly: William Yorzik, USA
4x200m Freestyle Relay: Australia
3m Springboard: Robert Clotowrthy, USA
10m Platform: Joaquin Capilla Perez, Mexico
WATER POLO: Hungary

SWIMMING, Women
100m Freestyle: Dawn Fraser, Australia
400m Freestyle: Lorraine Crapp, Australia
100m Backstroke: Judy Grinham, Great Britain
200m Breaststroke: Ursel Happe, Germany
100m Butterfly: Shelley Mann, USA
4x100m Freestyle Relay: Australia
3m Springboard: Patricia McCormick, USA
10m Platform: Patricia McCormick, USA

WEIGHTLIFTING
56kg: Charles Vinci, USA
60kg: Isaac Berger, USA
67.5kg: Igor Rybak, USSR
75kg: Fyodor Bogdanovski, USSR
82.5kg: Tommy Kono, USA
90kg: Arkady Vorobiev, USSR
90+kg: Paul Anderson, USA

WRESTLING, FREESTYLE
52kg: Mirian Zalkalamanidze, USSR
57kg: Mustafa Dagistanli, Turkey
62kg: Shozo Sasahara, Japan
67kg: Emamali Habibi, Iran
73kg: Mitsuo Ikeda, Japan
79kg: Nikola Stantschew, Bulgaria
87kg: Gholam Reza Takhti, Iran
87+kg: Hamit Kaplan, Turkey

WRESTLING, GRECO-ROMAN
52kg: Nikolai Solowjow, USSR
57kg: Konstantin Wyrupaev, USSR
62kg: Rauno Leonhard Makinen, Finland
67kg: Kyosti Emil Lehtonen, Finland
73kg: Mithat Bayrak, Turkey
79kg: Giwi Kartosija, USSR
87kg: Walentin Nikolajew, USSR
87+kg: Anatoli Parfjonow, USSR

17 Sports, 151 events

U
R
S

U
S
A

A
U
S

H
U
N

I
T
A

S
W
E

G
E
R

G
B
R

R
O
M

J
P
N

F
R
A

  

Athletics (BRA, IRL, NOR, NZL, POL, TCH)

5

16

4

        

1

    

1

33

Basketball

  

1

                  

1

Boxing

3

2

  

1

    

1

2

1

    

10

Canoe/Kayak

2

    

1

  

2

1

  

3

    

9

Cycling

    

1

  

3

          

2

6

Equestrian (in Stockholm, SWE)

          

3

2

1

      

6

Fencing

      

2

3

    

1

    

1

7

Football

1

                    

1

Gymnastics

11

    

4

    

1

    

1

  

17*

Hockey (IND)

                      

1

Modern Pentathlon

1

        

1

          

2

Rowing (CAN)

2

3

    

1

            

7

Sailing (DEN, NZL)

  

1

      

2

          

5

Shooting (CAN, FIN)

3

      

1

      

1

    

7

Swimming (Diving & Water Polo) (MEX)

  

5

8

1

    

1

1

  

1

  

18

Weightlifting

3

4

                  

7

Wrestling (BUL, FIN x2, IRI x2, TUR x3)

6

                

2

  

16

TOTAL

37

32

13

9

8

8

6

6

5

4

4

153

* 2 gold medals awarded in Gymnastics (W) Floor Exercise and (M) Vault

MELBOURNE 1956 MEDAL TALLY

Country

G

S

B

TTL

USSR

37

29

32

98

United States

32

25

17

74

Australia

13

8

14

35

Hungary

9

10

7

26

Italy

8

8

9

25

Sweden

8

5

6

19

Germany

6

13

7

26

Great Britain

6

7

11

24

Romania

5

3

5

13

Japan

4

10

5

19

France

4

4

6

14

Turkey

3

2

2

7

Finland

3

1

11

15

Iran

2

2

1

5

Canada

2

1

3

6

New Zealand

2

0

0

2

Poland

1

4

4

9

Czechoslovakia

1

4

1

6

Bulgaria

1

3

1

5

Denmark

1

2

1

4

Ireland

1

1

3

5

Norway

1

0

2

3

Mexico

1

0

1

2

Brazil

1

0

0

1

India

1

0

0

1

Yugoslavia

0

3

0

3

Chile

0

2

2

4

Belgium

0

2

0

2

Argentina

0

1

1

2

South Korea

0

1

1

2

Iceland

0

1

0

1

Pakistan

0

1

0

1

South Africa

0

0

4

4

Austria

0

0

2

2

BAH, GRE, SUI, URU

0

0

1

4

Total

153

153

163

469

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