Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics

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Athletics
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Dates23 November to 1 December
No. of events33
Competitors720 from 61 nations
← 1952
1960 →

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
details
Bobby Morrow
 United States
10.5 Thane Baker
 United States
10.5 Hector Hogan
 Australia
10.6
200 metres
details
Bobby Morrow
 United States
20.6
(OR)
Andy Stanfield
 United States
20.7 Thane Baker
 United States
20.9
400 metres
details
Charles Jenkins
 United States
46.7 Karl-Friedrich Haas
 United Team of Germany
46.8 Voitto Hellstén
 Finland
47.0
Ardalion Ignatyev
 Soviet Union
47.0
800 metres
details
Tom Courtney
 United States
1:47.7
(OR)
Derek Johnson
 Great Britain
1:47.8 Audun Boysen
 Norway
1:48.1
1500 metres
details
Ron Delany
 Ireland
3:41.2
(OR)
Klaus Richtzenhain
 United Team of Germany
3:42.0 John Landy
 Australia
3:42.0
5000 metres
details
Vladimir Kuts
 Soviet Union
13:39.6
(OR)
Gordon Pirie
 Great Britain
13:50.6 Derek Ibbotson
 Great Britain
13:54.4
10,000 metres
details
Vladimir Kuts
 Soviet Union
28:45.6
(OR)
József Kovács
 Hungary
28:52.4 Allan Lawrence
 Australia
28:53.6
110 metres hurdles
details
Lee Calhoun
 United States
13.5
(OR)
Jack Davis
 United States
13.5
(OR)
Joel Shankle
 United States
14.1
400 metres hurdles
details
Glenn Davis
 United States
50.1
(=OR)
Eddie Southern
 United States
50.8 Joshua Culbreath
 United States
51.6
3000 metres steeplechase
details
Chris Brasher
 Great Britain
8:41.2
(OR)
Sándor Rozsnyói
 Hungary
8:43.6 Ernst Larsen
 Norway
8:44.0
4 × 100 metres relay
details
 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  United Team of Germany (EUA)
Heinz Fütterer
Manfred Germar
Lothar Knörzer
Leonhard Pohl
40.3
4 × 400 metres relay
details
 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
details
Alain Mimoun
 France
2:25:00 Franjo Mihalić
 Yugoslavia
2:26:32 Veikko Karvonen
 Finland
2:27:47
20 kilometres walk
details
Leonid Spirin
 Soviet Union
1:31:27.4 Antanas Mikenas
 Soviet Union
1:32:03.0 Bruno Junk
 Soviet Union
1:32:12.0
50 kilometres walk
details
Norman Read
 New Zealand
4:30:42.8 Yevgeniy Maskinskov
 Soviet Union
4:32:57.0 John Ljunggren
 Sweden
4:35:02.0
High jump
details
Charles Dumas
 United States
2.12 m
(OR)
Chilla Porter
 Australia
2.10 m Igor Kashkarov
 Soviet Union
2.08 m
Pole vault
details
Bob Richards
 United States
4.56 m
(OR)
Bob Gutowski
 United States
4.53 m Georgios Roubanis
 Greece
4.50 m
Long jump
details
Greg Bell
 United States
7.83 m John Bennett
 United States
7.68 m Jorma Valkama
 Finland
7.48 m
Triple jump
details
Adhemar Ferreira da Silva
 Brazil
16.35 m
(OR)
Vilhjálmur Einarsson
 Iceland
16.26 m Vitold Kreer
 Soviet Union
16.02 m
Shot put
details
Parry O'Brien
 United States
18.57 m
(OR)
Bill Nieder
 United States
18.18 m Jiří Skobla
 Czechoslovakia
17.65 m
Discus throw
details
Al Oerter
 United States
56.36 m
(OR)
Fortune Gordien
 United States
54.81 m Desmond Koch
 United States
54.40 m
Hammer throw
details
Harold Connolly
 United States
63.19 m
(OR)
Mikhail Krivonosov
 Soviet Union
63.03 m Anatoli Samotsvetov
 Soviet Union
62.56 m
Javelin throw
details
Egil Danielsen
 Norway
85.71 m
(WR)
Janusz Sidło
 Poland
79.98 m Viktor Tsybulenko
 Soviet Union
79.50 m
Decathlon
details
Milt Campbell
 United States
7937
(OR)
Rafer Johnson
 United States
7587 Vasili Kuznetsov
 Soviet Union
7465

Women

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres
details
Betty Cuthbert
 Australia
11.5 Christa Stubnick
 United Team of Germany
11.7 Marlene Matthews
 Australia
11.7
200 metres
details
Betty Cuthbert
 Australia
23.4
(=OR)
Christa Stubnick
 United Team of Germany
23.7 Marlene Matthews
 Australia
23.8
80 metres hurdles
details
Shirley Strickland de la Hunty
 Australia
10.7
(OR)
Gisela Köhler
 United Team of Germany
10.9 Norma Thrower
 Australia
11.0
4 × 100 metres relay
details
 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
High jump
details
Mildred McDaniel
 United States
1.76 m
(WR)
Thelma Hopkins
 Great Britain
Mariya Pisareva
 Soviet Union
1.67 m none awarded
Long jump
details
Elżbieta Krzesińska
 Poland
6.35 m
(=WR)
Willye White
 United States
6.09 m Nadezhda Dvalishvili
 Soviet Union
6.07 m
Shot put
details
Tamara Tyshkevich
 Soviet Union
16.59 m
(OR)
Galina Zybina
 Soviet Union
16.53 m Marianne Werner
 United Team of Germany
15.61 m
Discus throw
details
Olga Fikotová
 Czechoslovakia
53.69 m
(OR)
Irina Beglyakova
 Soviet Union
52.54 m Nina Ponomaryova
 Soviet Union
52.02 m
Javelin throw
details
Inese Jaunzeme
 Soviet Union
53.86 m
(OR)
Marlene Ahrens
 Chile
50.38 m Nadezhda Konyayeva
 Soviet Union
50.28 m

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States1610531
2 Soviet Union571022
3 Australia42612
4 Great Britain1427
5 Poland1102
6 Norway1023
7 Czechoslovakia1012
8 Brazil1001
 France1001
 Ireland1001
 New Zealand1001
12 United Team of Germany0527
13 Hungary0202
14 Chile0101
 Iceland0101
 Yugoslavia0101
17 Finland0033
18 Greece0011
 Sweden0011
Totals (19 entries)333433100

References