Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the
1956 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m   men   women
200 m men women
400 m men
800 m men
1500 m men
5000 m men
10,000 m men
80 m hurdles women
110 m hurdles men
400 m hurdles men
3000 m
steeplechase		 men
4×100 m relay men women
4×400 m relay men
Road events
Marathon men
20 km walk men
50 km walk men
Field events
Long jump men women
Triple jump men
High jump men women
Pole vault men
Shot put men women
Discus throw men women
Javelin throw men women
Hammer throw men
Combined events
Decathlon men

At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, 33 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 9 for women. There were a total number of 720 participating athletes from 61 countries.

Medal summary

Men

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres
  Bobby Morrow
United States (USA)		10.5  Thane Baker
United States (USA)		10.5  Hector Hogan
Australia (AUS)		10.6
200 metres
  Bobby Morrow
United States (USA)		20.6
(OR)		  Andy Stanfield
United States (USA)		20.7  Thane Baker
United States (USA)		20.9
400 metres
  Charles Jenkins
United States (USA)		46.7  Karl-Friedrich Haas
Germany (EUA)		46.8  Voitto Hellstén
Finland (FIN)		47.0
 Ardalion Ignatyev
Soviet Union (URS)		47.0
800 metres
  Tom Courtney
United States (USA)		1:47.7
(OR)		  Derek Johnson
Great Britain (GBR)		1:47.8  Audun Boysen
Norway (NOR)		1:48.1
1500 metres
  Ron Delany
Ireland (IRL)		3:41.2
(OR)		  Klaus Richtzenhain
Germany (EUA)		3:42.0  John Landy
Australia (AUS)		3:42.0
5000 metres
  Vladimir Kuts
Soviet Union (URS)		13:39.6
(OR)		  Gordon Pirie
Great Britain (GBR)		13:50.6  Derek Ibbotson
Great Britain (GBR)		13:54.4
10,000 metres
  Vladimir Kuts
Soviet Union (URS)		28:45.6
(OR)		  József Kovács
Hungary (HUN)		28:52.4  Allan Lawrence
Australia (AUS)		28:53.6
110 metres hurdles
  Lee Calhoun
United States (USA)		13.5
(OR)		  Jack Davis
United States (USA)		13.5
(OR)		  Joel Shankle
United States (USA)		14.1
400 metres hurdles
  Glenn Davis
United States (USA)		50.1
(=OR)		  Eddie Southern
United States (USA)		50.8  Joshua Culbreath
United States (USA)		51.6
3000 metres steeplechase
  Chris Brasher
Great Britain (GBR)		8:41.2
(OR)		  Sándor Rozsnyói
Hungary (HUN)		8:43.6  Ernst Larsen
Norway (NOR)		8:44.0
4 × 100 metres relay
  United States (USA)
Thane Baker
Leamon King
Bobby Morrow
Ira Murchison		39.5
(WR)		  Soviet Union (URS)
Leonid Bartenev
Yuriy Konovalov
Vladimir Sukharev
Boris Tokarev		39.8  Germany (EUA)
Heinz Fütterer
Manfred Germar
Lothar Knörzer
Leonhard Pohl		40.3
4 × 400 metres relay
  United States (USA)
Tom Courtney
Charles Jenkins
Lou Jones
Jesse Mashburn		3:04.8  Australia (AUS)
Graham Gipson
Kevan Gosper
Leon Gregory
David Lean		3:06.2  Great Britain (GBR)
Peter Higgins
Derek Johnson
John Salisbury
Michael Wheeler		3:07.2
Marathon
  Alain Mimoun
France (FRA)		2:25:00  Franjo Mihalić
Yugoslavia (YUG)		2:26:32  Veikko Karvonen
Finland (FIN)		2:27:47
20 kilometres walk
  Leonid Spirin
Soviet Union (URS)		1:31:27.4  Antanas Mikenas
Soviet Union (URS)		1:32:03.0  Bruno Junk
Soviet Union (URS)		1:32:12.0
50 kilometres walk
  Norman Read
New Zealand (NZL)		4:30:42.8  Yevgeniy Maskinskov
Soviet Union (URS)		4:32:57.0  John Ljunggren
Sweden (SWE)		4:35:02.0
Long jump
  Greg Bell
United States (USA)		7.83 m  John Bennett
United States (USA)		7.68 m  Jorma Valkama
Finland (FIN)		7.48 m
Triple jump
  Adhemar da Silva
Brazil (BRA)		16.35 m
(OR)		  Vilhjálmur Einarsson
Iceland (ISL)		16.26 m  Vitold Kreer
Soviet Union (URS)		16.02 m
High jump
  Charles Dumas
United States (USA)		2.12 m
(OR)		  Chilla Porter
Australia (AUS)		2.10 m  Igor Kashkarov
Soviet Union (URS)		2.08 m
Pole vault
  Bob Richards
United States (USA)		4.56 m
(OR)		  Bob Gutowski
United States (USA)		4.53 m  Georgios Roubanis
Greece (GRE)		4.50 m
Shot put
  Parry O'Brien
United States (USA)		18.57 m
(OR)		  Bill Nieder
United States (USA)		18.18 m  Jiří Skobla
Czechoslovakia (TCH)		17.65 m
Discus throw
  Al Oerter
United States (USA)		56.36 m
(OR)		  Fortune Gordien
United States (USA)		54.81 m  Desmond Koch
United States (USA)		54.40 m
Javelin throw
  Egil Danielsen
Norway (NOR)		85.71 m
(WR)		  Janusz Sidło
Poland (POL)		79.98 m  Viktor Tsybulenko
Soviet Union (URS)		79.50 m
Hammer throw
  Harold Connolly
United States (USA)		63.19 m
(OR)		  Mikhail Krivonosov
Soviet Union (URS)		63.03 m  Anatoli Samotsvetov
Soviet Union (URS)		62.56 m
Decathlon
  Milt Campbell
United States (USA)		7937
(OR)		  Rafer Johnson
United States (USA)		7587  Vasili Kuznetsov
Soviet Union (URS)		7465

Women

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres
  Betty Cuthbert
Australia (AUS)		11.5  Christa Stubnick
Germany (EUA)		11.7  Marlene Matthews
Australia (AUS)		11.7
200 metres
  Betty Cuthbert
Australia (AUS)		23.4
(=OR)		  Christa Stubnick
Germany (EUA)		23.7  Marlene Matthews
Australia (AUS)		23.8
80 metres hurdles
  Shirley Strickland de la Hunty
Australia (AUS)		10.7
(OR)		  Gisela Köhler
Germany (EUA)		10.9  Norma Thrower
Australia (AUS)		11.0
4 × 100 metres relay
  Australia (AUS)
Norma Croker
Betty Cuthbert
Fleur Mellor
Shirley Strickland de la Hunty		44.5
(WR)		  Great Britain (GBR)
Heather Armitage
Anne Pashley
June Paul
Jean Scrivens		44.7  United States (USA)
Isabelle Daniels
Mae Faggs
Margaret Matthews
Wilma Rudolph		44.9
Long jump
  Elżbieta Krzesińska
Poland (POL)		6.35 m
(=WR)		  Willye White
United States (USA)		6.09 m  Nadezhda Dvalishvili
Soviet Union (URS)		6.07 m
High jump
  Mildred McDaniel
United States (USA)		1.76 m
(WR)		  Thelma Hopkins
Great Britain (GBR)		1.67 m none awarded
 Mariya Pisareva
Soviet Union (URS)		1.67 m
Shot put
  Tamara Tyshkevich
Soviet Union (URS)		16.59 m
(OR)		  Galina Zybina
Soviet Union (URS)		16.53 m  Marianne Werner
Germany (EUA)		15.61 m
Discus throw
  Olga Fikotová
Czechoslovakia (TCH)		53.69 m
(OR)		  Irina Beglyakova
Soviet Union (URS)		52.54 m  Nina Ponomaryova
Soviet Union (URS)		52.02 m
Javelin throw
  Inese Yaunzeme
Soviet Union (URS)		53.86 m
(OR)		  Marlene Ahrens
Chile (CHI)		50.38 m  Nadezhda Konyayeva
Soviet Union (URS)		50.28 m

Medal table

 Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States 16 10 5 31
2 Soviet Union 5 7 10 22
3 Australia 4 2 6 12
4 Great Britain 1 4 2 7
5 Poland 1 1 0 2
6 Norway 1 0 2 3
7 Czechoslovakia 1 0 1 2
8 Brazil 1 0 0 1
France 1 0 0 1
Ireland 1 0 0 1
New Zealand 1 0 0 1
12 Germany 0 5 2 7
13 Hungary 0 2 0 2
14 Chile 0 1 0 1
Iceland 0 1 0 1
Yugoslavia 0 1 0 1
17 Finland 0 0 3 3
18 Greece 0 0 1 1
Sweden 0 0 1 1

References