Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Athletics
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Athletics; at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
	Host stadium (shown in 2017)
Dates	23 November – 1 December
No. of events	33
Competitors	720 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 Hellsten Finland	47.0
400 metres details	Charles Jenkins United States	46.7	Karl-Friedrich Haas United Team of Germany	46.8	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	Al 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	Josh 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) Ira Murchison Leamon King Thane Baker Bobby Morrow	39.5 (WR)	Soviet Union (URS) Leonid Bartenyev Boris Tokarev Yuriy Konovalov Vladimir Sukharev	39.8	United Team of Germany (EUA) Lothar Knörzer Leonhard Pohl Heinz Fütterer Manfred Germar	40.3
4 × 400 metres relay details	United States (USA) Lou Jones Jesse Mashburn Charles Jenkins Tom Courtney	3:04.8	Australia (AUS) Leon Gregory David Lean Graham Gipson Kevan Gosper	3:06.2	Great Britain (GBR) John Salisbury Michael Wheeler Peter Higgins Derek Johnson	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 (OR)	Antanas Mikėnas 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	Yevgeny 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 (OR)	John Bennett United States	7.68 m	Jorma Valkama Finland	7.48 m
Triple jump details	Adhemar da Silva Brazil	16.35 m (OR)	Vilhjálmur Einarsson Iceland	16.26 m	Vitold Kreyer 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	Des Koch United States	54.40 m
Hammer throw details	Hal Connolly United States	63.19 m (OR)	Mikhail Krivonosov Soviet Union	63.03 m	Anatoliy 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 Mathews Australia	11.7
200 metres details	Betty Cuthbert Australia	23.4 (=OR)	Christa Stubnick United Team of Germany	23.7	Marlene Mathews 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) Shirley Strickland de la Hunty Norma Croker Fleur Mellor Betty Cuthbert	44.5 (WR)	Great Britain (GBR) Anne Pashley Jean Scrivens June Paul Heather Armitage	44.7	United States (USA) Mae Faggs Margaret Matthews Wilma Rudolph Isabelle Daniels	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


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	United Team of 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
18	Sweden	0	0	1	1
Totals (19 entries)		33	34	33	100