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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
← 19521960 →

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
v t e

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
					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
	Sweden	0	0	1	1
Totals (19 entries)		33	34	33	100

References

• International Olympic Committee results database
• Athletics Australia

v t e Athletics at the Summer Olympics
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Events	Track 100 m 200 m 400 m 800 m 1500 m 5000 m 10,000 m 4 × 100 m relay 4 × 400 m relay Sprint hurdles 400 m hurdles Steeplechase Field Shot put Discus throw Hammer throw Javelin throw Pole vault High jump Long jump Triple jump Others Combined events Marathon Race walking Defunct Cross country Team races 60 metres Weight throw Wheelchair racing Professional events Handicap events
List of medalists men women Records Venues Medal sweeps

• Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics
• Events at the 1956 Summer Olympics
• 1956 in athletics (track and field)
• Athletics at the Summer Olympics