Encyclopedia > 1956 Summer Olympics

  Article Content

1956 Summer Olympics

The Games of the XVI Olympiad were held in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia, although the equestrian[?] events could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations. Therefore, these events were held in Stockholm, Sweden, marking the second, and so far last time, that events of the same Olympics were held in different countries.

Games of the XVI Olympiad
Nations participating67
Athletes participating3,184 (2,813 men, 371 women)
Events145 in 17 sports
Opening ceremoniesNovember 22, 1956
June 10, 1956
Closing ceremoniesDecember 8, 1956
June 17, 1956
Officially opened byPrince Philip
Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden
Athlete's OathJohn Landy[?]
?
Judge's Oath:-
Olympic TorchRon Clarke[?]
Hans Wikne[?]

Table of contents

Highlights

  • Because Melbourne is situated in the southern hemisphere, the Olympics are held late in the year.
  • Two international events lead to nations boycotting the Olympics. The first is the British and French involvement in the Suez Crisis, which leads to the absence of Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq. The Soviet handling of the rebellion Hungary leads to the absence of Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Hungary and the Soviet Union were themselves present, which among others led to a hotly contested and violent water polo encounter between the nations. In total, 45 Hungarians defected to the West after the Olympics. A third boycott came from the People's Republic of China, which protested against presence of Taiwan (under the name Formosa).
  • After being banned from the Olympics in 1948, a team of only West German athletes took part in 1952. This year, athletes from both East and West Germany would compete in a combined team. This remarkable combination would disappear at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
  • Home-runner Betty Cuthbert becomes the "Golden Girl" by winning three track gold medals. Her performance is equalled by sprinter Bobby Joe Morrow.
  • Another Australian, Murray Rose[?], also wins three gold medals in the swimming pool.
  • Soviet runner Vladimir Kuts[?] wins both the 5000 and 10000 m.

Medals Awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Medal Count

PosCountryGoldSilverBronzeTotal

References

Internal Links

External Links

Bibliography


Summer Olympics

1896 | 1900 | 1904 | 1906 | 1908 | 1912 | 1920 | 1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012

Winter Olympics

1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1994 | 1998 | 2002 | 2006 | 2010



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Christiania

... in the city of Copenhagen. This is a disambiguation page; that is, one that just points to other pages that might otherwise have the same name. If you followed a ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 27.4 ms