Olympic Games Melbourne 1956

Melbourne 1956

Date21 November - 8 December

CountryAustralia, Sweden

Athletes3314

Teams72

Events151

Results Highlights

About the Games

O-hosts

Melbourne won the right to host the 1956 Olympic Games by one vote over Buenos Aires.

Great Rivalry

French long-distance runner Alain Mimoun had tasted Olympic defeat on the track three times at the hands of Czech Emil Zátopek. However, in the marathon, it was Mimoun who pulled away to record a comfortable victory. He waited at the finish line for Zátopek, his old friend and great rival, who trotted home in sixth place.

Dominant Team

The U.S. basketball team, led by Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, put on the most dominant performance in Olympic history. They scored more than twice as many points as their opponents and won each of their games by at least 30 points.

Symbol of Unity

Prior to 1956, the athletes in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies marched in alphabetical order by National Olympic Committees. However, in Melbourne, following a suggestion by a young Chinese apprentice carpenter living in Australia named John Ian Wing, the athletes entered the stadium together during the Closing Ceremony as a symbol of global unity.

NOCs: 72

Athletes: 3,314 (376 women, 2,938 men)

Events: 145

Volunteers: N/A

In Oceania

This was the first time that the Games had been held in Oceania.

Equestrian Sports in Stockholm

To allow for the equestrian sports to be held and to avoid the problem of quarantine for horses entering Australia, the Games took place in two different cities (Stockholm and Melbourne), in two different countries (Sweden and Australia), on two different continents (Europe and Oceania) and in two different seasons (June and November). This is the only time in the Games' hundred-year existence that the unity of time and place, as stipulated in the Charter, has not been observed.

The Two Germanys Under One Flag

The International Olympic Committee had great political success in managing to bring together the two Germanys (East and West) within a combined team (EUA) competing under a black, red and yellow flag with the Olympic rings, and with "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's IX Symphony as their anthem. This practice would take place for the following two editions of the Games.

The First Games Boycott

The Soviet invasion of Hungary provoked protests from numerous Western countries, and some of them, such as Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands, withdrew from the Games. On another matter, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq refused to participate in protest of the Franco-British Suez intervention. And the People's Republic of China refused to participate because of the presence of the Republic of China (Taiwan). This conflict would take 28 years to be resolved.