The1956 Summer Olympics, officially theGames of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded asMelbourne 1956, were an internationalmulti-sport event held inMelbourne,Victoria,Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of theequestrian events, which were held inStockholm, Sweden, in June 1956.
These Games were the first to be staged in theSouthern Hemisphere andOceania, as well as the first to be held outside Europe and North America. Melbourne is the most southerly city ever to host the Olympics. Due to the Southern Hemisphere's seasons being different from those in the Northern Hemisphere, the 1956 Games did not take place at the usual time of year, because of the need to hold the events during the warmer weather of the host's spring/summer (which corresponds to the Northern Hemisphere's autumn/winter), resulting in the only summer games ever to be held in November and December. Australia hosted the Games for a second time in2000 inSydney,New South Wales, and will host them again in2032 inBrisbane,Queensland.
The Olympic equestrian events could not be held in Melbourne due to Australia's strictquarantine regulations,[2] so they were held in Stockholm five months earlier. This was the second time the Olympics were not held entirely in one country, the first being the1920 Summer Olympics inAntwerp,Belgium, with some events taking place inAmsterdam, Netherlands. Despite uncertainties and various complications encountered during the preparations, the 1956 Games went ahead in Melbourne as planned and turned out to be a success. Started during the 1956 Games was the "Parade of Athletes" at the closing ceremonies.
One of the most notable events of the games was acontroversial water polo match between the Soviet Union and the defending champions,Hungary. The Soviet Union had recently suppressed ananti-authoritarian revolution in Hungary and violence broke out between the teams during the match, resulting in numerous injuries. When Hungary'sErvin Zádor suffered bleeding after being punched by Soviet Union'sValentin Prokopov, spectators attempted to join the violence, but they were blocked by police. The match was cancelled, with Hungary being declared the winner because they were in the lead.
Melbourne was selected as the host city over bids fromBuenos Aires, Mexico City, Montreal, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and San Francisco at the 43rdIOC Session in Rome, Italy on 28 April 1949. Mexico City, Montreal and Los Angeles would eventually be selected to host the1968,1976 and1984 Summer Olympics[9] respectively.
Many members of theIOC were skeptical about Melbourne as an appropriate site. Its location in the Southern Hemisphere was a major concern since the reversal of seasons would mean the Games must be held during the northern winter. The November–December schedule was thought likely to inconvenience athletes from theNorthern Hemisphere, who were accustomed to resting during their winter.[citation needed]
Notwithstanding these concerns, the field of candidates eventually narrowed to two Southern Hemisphere cities, these being Melbourne andBuenos Aires,Argentina. Melbourne was selected, in 1949, to host the 1956 Olympics by a one-vote margin. The first sign of trouble was the revelation that Australian equine quarantine would prevent the country from hosting the equestrian events.[2] Stockholm was selected as the alternative site, so equestrian competition began on 10 June, five and a half months before the rest of the Olympic Games were to open.
The above problems of the Melbourne Games were compounded by bickering over financing among Australian politicians. Eventually, in March 1953, theState Government accepted a £2 million loan from theCommonwealth Government to build theOlympic Village, which would accommodate up to 6,000 people, inHeidelberg West. After the Olympics, the houses in the village were handed back to theHousing Commission for general public housing.[11]
At one point, IOC PresidentAvery Brundage suggested that Rome, which was to host the 1960 Games, was so far ahead of Melbourne in preparations that it might be ready as a replacement site in 1956. Constructing of the sporting venues was given priority over the athlete's village.[12] The village was designed as a whole new suburb with semi-detached houses and flats, the first village that both sexes could cohabitate the same buildings instead of gender designated sections.[12]
As late as April 1955, Brundage, who was presiding over the Olympics for the first time, was still doubtful about Melbourne and was not satisfied by an inspection trip to the city. Construction was well under way by then, thanks to a $4.5 million federal loan to Victoria, but it was behind schedule. He still held out the possibility that Rome might have to step in.
By the beginning of 1956, though, it was obvious that Melbourne would be ready for the Olympics.[13]
Countries that boycotted the 1956 Games are shaded blue
Egypt, Iraq, Cambodia and Lebanon announced that they would not participate in the Olympics in response to theSuez Crisis when Egypt was invaded by Israel, the United Kingdom, and France.
The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Liechtenstein boycotted the event in protest of theSoviet Union's crushing of theHungarian Revolution.
Athletes from bothEast andWest Germany competed together as acombined team (a display of unity that was repeated in1960 and1964, but was then discontinued).
Although the number of countries participating (67) was almost the same as in 1952 (69), the number of athletes competing dropped sharply, from 4,925 to 3,342. (This figure does not include the 158 athletes from 29 countries who took part in the Stockholm equestrian competition.)
Once underway, the Games progressed smoothly, and came to be known as the "Friendly Games".[12]Betty Cuthbert, an 18-year-old from Sydney, won the 100 and 200 metre sprint races and ran an exceptional final leg in the 4 x 100 metre relay to overcome Great Britain's lead and claim her third gold medal, becoming known as the "Golden Girl". The veteranShirley Strickland repeated her 1952 win in the 80 metre hurdles and was also part of the winning 4 x 100 metre relay team, bringing her career Olympic medal total to seven: three golds, a silver, and three bronze medals.
Australia also triumphed in swimming. They won all of the freestyle races, men's and women's, and collected a total of eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals.Murray Rose became the first male swimmer to win two freestyle events(and a total three events) sinceJohnny Weissmuller in 1924, whileDawn Fraser won gold medals in the 100 metre freestyle and as the leadoff swimmer in the 4 x 100 metre relay team.
The men's track and field events were dominated by the United States. They not only won 15 of the 24 events, theyswept four of them and took first and second place in five others.Bobby Morrow led the way with gold medals in the 100 and 200 metre sprints and the 4 x 100 metre relay.Tom Courtney barely overtook Great Britain'sDerek Johnson in the 800 metre run, then collapsed from the exertion and needed medical attention.
Ireland'sRonnie Delany ran an outstanding 53.8 over the last 400 metres to win the 1,500 metre run(also Ireland's last gold medal in track events), in which favouriteJohn Landy of Australia finished third.
There was a major upset, marred briefly by controversy, in the 3,000 metre steeplechase. Little-knownChris Brasher of Great Britain finished well ahead of the field, but the judges disqualified him for interfering with Norway'sErnst Larsen, and they announcedSándor Rozsnyói of Hungary as the winner. Brasher's appeal was supported by Larsen, Rozsnyói, and fourth-place finisherHeinz Laufer of Germany. Subsequently, the decision was reversed and Brasher became the first Briton to win a gold medal in track and field since 1936.
Soviet runnerVladimir Kuts won two golds by winning both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre events.
Only two world records were set in track and field.Mildred McDaniel, the first American woman to win gold in the sport, set a high jump record of 1.76 metres (5.8 ft), andEgil Danielsen of Norway overcame blustery conditions with a remarkable javelin throw of 85.71 metres (281.2 ft).
Throughout the Olympics, Hungarian athletes were cheered by fans from Australia and other countries. Many of them gathered in the boxing arena when thirty-year-oldLaszlo Papp of Hungary won a record third gold medal by beatingJosé Torres for the light-middleweight championship.
A few days later, the crowd was with the Hungarian water polo team in its hotly contested and emotionally chargedmatch against the Soviet Union which took place against the background of theSoviet invasion of Hungary. The game became rough and, when a Hungarian was forced to leave the pool with a bleeding wound above his eye, a riot almost broke out. The police restored order and the game was called early, with Hungary leading4–0, and the Hungarians went on to win the gold medal.
Despite the international tensions of 1956—or perhaps because of them—a young Melburnian,John Ian Wing, came up with a new idea for the closing ceremony. Instead of marching as separate teams, behind their national flags, the athletes mingled together as they paraded into and around the arena for a final appearance before the spectators. It was the start of an Olympic tradition that has been followed ever since.[16]
The first runner was Con Verevis, a local man of Greek parentage. The flame was relayed down the east coast of Australia usingdie cast aluminium torches weighing about 3 pounds (1.8 kg).
The flame arrived in Melbourne on 22 November 1956, the day of the opening ceremony and The flame was lit at the Olympic stadium byRon Clarke, who accidentally burned his arm in the process.
While the Olympic flame was being carried to Sydney, an Australianveterinary student namedBarry Larkin carried a fake Olympic Flame and fooled the mayor of Sydney.[17]
The Olympics were first televised during the1936 games to a domestic audience in Berlin. The1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo were broadcast internationally with the organising committee giving the television rights gratis.[20] While there was much interest in the games overseas, no international television or newsreel rights were awarded, as the Melbourne organising committee requested licensing payments for the broadcasting rights.[20][21] However, domestic rights to the games were hastily agreed by the then three Melbourne stations,GTV9,HSV7 andABV2, only a week before the opening ceremony.[21][22] The three Sydney stations,TCN9,ATN7 andABN2, syndicated the Melbourne coverage.Television in Australia was new having its beginnings in September 1956, so for many Australians, their first glimpse of television was Olympic broadcasts.[23] Around five thousand television sets were in Australia by the time of the Games, so the domestic audience largely watched the games at community halls and atAmpol petrol stations.[22]
The 1956 Summer Olympics featured 17 different sports encompassing 23 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 151 events (145 events in Melbourne and 6 equestrian events in Stockholm).[24] In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
* Host nation (Australia).John Ian Wing of Australia was also presented with a bronze medal, not included in the above table, for suggesting the closing ceremony have athletes as one nation.[26]
^Wildman, Kim; Hogue, Derry (2015).First Among Equals: Australian Prime Ministers from Barton to Turnbull. Wollombi, NSW: Exisle Publishing. p. 87.ISBN978-1-77559-266-2.
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