Dec 222022
Australia at 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympic Games
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Australia at Olympics
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Australia was the host nation for the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics. 294 athletes (250 men and 44 women) competed for Australia in 140 events in 18 Olympic sports. Australian athletes have competed in all of the Summer Olympic Games since they started.

Australia won 35 medals, 20 of them in Swimming. In Athletics Betty Cuthbert won 3 gold and Shirley Strickland won 2 gold medals. In Swimming Murray Rose won 3 gold and Jon Henricks won 2 gold. Dawn Fraser and Lorraine Crapp each won 2 gold 1 silver medals in Swimming.

Host1st2nd3rdDates
XVI 1956  Melbourne1381422 Nov – 9 Dec

The following records are Australians who won gold, silver or bronze medals at the 1956 Olympic Games.

Equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden due to Australian quarantine.

Sandra Morgan was the youngest athlete for Australia (14 years 182 days) and Noel Hall oldest (43 years 9 days). Melbourne Summer Games had 3,189 participants (2,818 men, 371 women) from 67 nations.

1956 Melbourne Australia

 SportEventCompetitors
1stAthleticsWomen’s 80m hurdlesShirley Strickland
1stAthleticsWomen’s 100mBetty Cuthbert
1stAthleticsWomen’s 200mBetty Cuthbert
1stAthleticsWomen’s 4x100m relayNorma Croker, Betty Cuthbert, Fleur Wenham, Shirley Strickland
1stCyclingMen’s 2000m tandemJoey Browne, Anthony Marchant
1stSwimmingWomen’s 100m freestyleDawn Fraser
1stSwimmingWomen’s 400m freestyleLorraine Crapp
1stSwimmingWomen’s 4x100m freestyle relayLorraine Crapp, Dawn Fraser,  Sandra Morgan, Faith Leech
1stSwimmingMen’s 100m freestyleJon Henricks
1stSwimmingMen’s 400m freestyleMurray Rose
1stSwimmingMen’s 1500m freestyleMurray Rose
1stSwimmingMen’s 100m backstrokeDavid Theile
1stSwimmingMen’s 4x200m freestyle relayJohn Devitt, Jon Henricks, Kevin O’Halloran, Murray Rose
2ndAthleticsMen’s high jumpChilla Porter
2ndAthleticsMen’s 4x400m relayGraham Gipson, Kevan Gosper, Leon Gregory,  David Lean
2ndRowingMen’s single scullsStuart MacKenzie
2ndSailingMen’s sharpie 12mJohn Scott, Roland Tasker
2ndSwimmingWomen’s 100m freestyleLorraine Crapp
2ndSwimmingWomen’s 400m freestyleDawn Fraser
2ndSwimmingMen’s 100m freestyleJohn Devitt
2ndSwimmingMen’s 100m backstrokeJohn Monckton
3rdAthleticsWomen’s 80m hurdlesNorma Thrower
3rdAthleticsWomen’s 100mMarlene Mathews
3rdAthleticsWomen’s 200mMarlene Mathews
3rdAthleticsMen’s 100mHector Hogan
3rdAthleticsMen’s 1500mJohn Landy
3rdAthleticsMen’s 10,000mAllan Lawrence
3rdBoxingMen’s welterweightKevin Hogarth
3rdCanoeingMen’s K2 10,000m kayak pairsWalter Brown, Dennis Green
3rdCyclingMen’s 1000m sprint (scratch)Dick Ploog
3rdRowingMen’s double scullsMurray Riley, Mervyn Wood
3rdRowingMen’s eightsMichael Aikman, Bryan Doyle, Angus Benfield, David Boykett, Harold Hewitt, James Howden, Walter Howell, Garth Manton, Adrian Monger
3rdSailingMen’s 5.5m classDouglas Buxton, Devereaux Mytton, Jock Sturrock
3rdSwimmingWomen’s 100m freestyleFaith Leech
3rdSwimmingMen’s 100m freestyleGary Chapman

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