Australia at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Australia at the 1956 Summer Olympics
IOC code	AUS
NOC	Australian Olympic Committee
Website	www.olympics.com.au
in Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors	294 (250 men, 44 women)
Flag bearer	Mervyn Wood (rower)
Medals Ranked 3rd	Gold Silver Bronze Total 13 8 14 35
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games Australasia (1908–1912)

Australia was the host nation for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. However, due to Australian quarantine restrictions the equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden. 294 competitors, 250 men and 44 women, took part in 140 events in 18 sports.^[1]

Medalists

Gold

• Betty Cuthbert — Athletics, Women's 100 metres
• Betty Cuthbert — Athletics, Women's 200 metres
• Shirley Strickland — Athletics, Women's 80 m Hurdles
• Norma Croker, Betty Cuthbert, Fleur Wenham, and Shirley Strickland — Athletics, Women's 4 × 100 m Relay
• Joey Browne and Anthony Marchant — Cycling, Men's 2000 m Tandem
• Jon Henricks — Swimming, Men's 100 m Freestyle
• Murray Rose — Swimming, Men's 400 m Freestyle
• Murray Rose — Swimming, Men's 1500 m Freestyle
• David Theile — Swimming, Men's 100 m Backstroke
• John Devitt, Jon Henricks, Kevin O'Halloran, and Murray Rose — Swimming, Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay
• Dawn Fraser — Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle
• Lorraine Crapp — Swimming, Women's 400 m Freestyle
• Lorraine Crapp, Dawn Fraser, Faith Leech, and Sandra Morgan — Swimming, Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

Silver

• Graham Gipson, Kevan Gosper, Leon Gregory, and David Lean — Athletics, Men's 4 × 400 m Relay
• Chilla Porter — Athletics, Men's High Jump
• Stuart MacKenzie — Rowing, Men's Single Sculls
• John Devitt — Swimming, Men's 100 m Freestyle
• John Monckton — Swimming, Men's 100 m Backstroke
• Lorraine Crapp — Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle
• Dawn Fraser — Swimming, Women's 400 m Freestyle
• John Scott and Roland Tasker — Sailing, Men's Sharpie 12 m²

Bronze

• Hector Hogan — Athletics, Men's 100 metres
• John Landy — Athletics, Men's 1500 metres
• Allan Lawrence — Athletics, Men's 10.000 metres
• Norma Thrower — Athletics, Women's 80 m Hurdles
• Marlene Mathews — Athletics, Women's 100 metres
• Marlene Mathews — Athletics, Women's 200 metres
• Kevin Hogarth — Boxing, Men's Welterweight
• Walter Brown and Dennis Green — Canoeing, Men's K2 10,000 m Kayak Pairs
• Dick Ploog — Cycling, Men's 1000 m Sprint (Scratch)
• Murray Riley and Mervyn Wood — Rowing, Men's Double Sculls
• Michael Aikman, Angus Benfield, David Boykett, Bryan Doyle, Harold Hewitt, Jim Howden, Walter Howell, Garth Manton, and Adrian Monger — Rowing, Men's Eights
• Gary Chapman — Swimming, Men's 100 m Freestyle
• Faith Leech — Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle
• Douglas Buxton, Devereaux Mytton and Jock Sturrock — Sailing, Men's 5½ Meter Class

Athletics

Men's 110m Hurdles

• James Joyce
  • Heat — 14.7s (→ did not advance)
• Kenneth Doubleday
  • Heat — 14.8s (→ did not advance)
• John Chittick
  • Heat — 14.9s (→ did not advance)

Men's Marathon

• John Russell — 2:41:44 (→ 18th place)
• Keith Ollerenshaw — 2:48:12 (→ 25th place)
• Les Perry — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Basketball

Men's Team Competition

• Preliminary Round:
  • Lost to Brazil (66-89)
  • Lost to Chile (56-78)
  • Defeated Thailand (87-48)
  • Lost to Formosa (73-86)
  • Defeated Singapore (98-74)

Classification Matches:

• • 9th/12th place: Lost to Canada (83-38)
  • 11th/12th place: Lost to Formosa (87-70) → 12th place
• Team Roster:
  • Peter Demos
  • Geoff Heskett
  • Peter Bumbers
  • Stan Dargis
  • Inga Freidenfelds
  • Colin Burdett
  • George Dancis
  • Peter Sutton
  • Algis Ignatavicius
  • Merv Moy
  • Ken Finch
  • Bruce Flick
• Head Coach: Ken Watson

Boxing

Canoeing

Cycling

Sprint

• Dick Ploog — Bronze Medal

Time trial

• Warren Scarfe — 1:12.1 (→ 4th place)

Team pursuit

• Cliff Burvill
  Frank Brazier
  Roy Moore
  Warren Scarfe — 9th place

Tandem

• Anthony Marchant
  Joey Browne — Gold Medal

Individual road race

• John O'Sullivan — 5:36:58 (→ 41st place)
• Jim Nevin — 5:47:02 (→ 44th place)
• Ed Nestor — did not finish (→ no ranking)
• Jack Trickey — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Diving

Men's 3m Springboard

• Arthur Winther
  • Preliminary Round — 71.04 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
• Joseph McCann
  • Preliminary Round — 69.18 (→ did not advance, 19th place)
• Ronald Faulds
  • Preliminary Round — 68.84 (→ did not advance, 20th place)

Men's 10m Platform

• Francis Murphy
  • Preliminary Round — 66.29 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
• William Tully
  • Preliminary Round — 65.49 (→ did not advance, 18th place)
• Barry Holmes
  • Preliminary Round — 58.01 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)

Women's 3m Springboard

• Barbara McAulay
  • Preliminary Round — 60.19 (→ did not advance, 13th place)
• Roslyn Barton
  • Preliminary Round — 58.50 (→ did not advance, 15th place)
• Pat Howard
  • Preliminary Round — 53.89 (→ did not advance, 17th place)

Women's 10m Platform

• Barbara McAulay
  • Preliminary Round — 45.67 (→ did not advance, 14th place)
• Roslyn Barton
  • Preliminary Round — 41.96 (→ did not advance, 15th place)
• Adele Price
  • Preliminary Round — 35.28 (→ did not advance, 18th place)

Fencing

21 fencers, 18 men and 3 women, represented Australia in 1956.

Men's foil

• Brian McCowage
• Michael Sichel
• David McKenzie

Men's team foil

• Ray Buckingham, Brian McCowage, Rod Steele, David McKenzie, Michael Sichel, Tom Cross

Men's épée

• Ivan Lund
• Richard Stone
• Laurence Harding-Smith

Men's team épée

• James Wolfensohn, Ivan Lund, Keith Hackshall, Hilbert Van Dijk

Men's sabre

• Graham McKenzie
• Leslie Fadgyas
• Sandor Szoke

Men's team sabre

• Leslie Fadgyas, Alexander Martonffy, Emeric Santo, Leslie Kovacs, Sandor Szoke

Women's foil

• Denise O'Brien
• Lois Joseph
• Joy Hardon

Football

Gymnastics

Hockey

Men's Team Competition

• Team Roster
  • Alan Barblett
  • Geoffrey Bennett
  • Brian Booth
  • Kevin Carton
  • Kenneth Clarke
  • Ian Dick
  • John Dwyer
  • Maurice Foley
  • Louis Hailey
  • Glen Jobson
  • Dennis Kemp
  • Keith Leeson
  • Donald Mecklem
  • Eric Pearce
  • Gordon Pearce
  • Melville Pearce
  • Kenneth Reid
  • Raymond Whiteside

Modern pentathlon

Three male pentathletes represented Australia in 1956.

Individual

• Neville Sayers
• Sven Coomer
• George Nicoll

Team

• Neville Sayers
• Sven Coomer
• George Nicoll

Rowing

Sailing

Shooting

Twelve shooters represented Australia in 1956.

25 m pistol

• Johnnie Maitland
• Peter Papps

50 m pistol

• Len Tolhurst
• Rodney Johnson

300 m rifle, three positions

• Ian Wrigley
• Norman Goff

50 m rifle, three positions

• Don Tolhurst
• Norman Rule

50 m rifle, prone

• Don Tolhurst
• Norman Rule

100m running deer

• Colin Anderson
• Noel Hall

Trap

• John Bryant
• Clement Mudford

Swimming

Water polo

Weightlifting

Wrestling

References