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1956 Summer Olympics medal table

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1956 Summer Olympics medals
Headshot of a woman
Ágnes Keleti of Hungary was the most successful competitor at the games, winning four gold medals and two silver medals in women's gymnastics.
Location
Highlights
Most gold medals Soviet Union (37)
Most total medals Soviet Union (98)
Medalling NOCs38
← 1952 · Olympics medal tables · 1960 →

The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad,[1] and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held from 22 November to 8 December in Melbourne, Australia, with the equestrian events being held prior from 10 to 17 June 1956 in Stockholm, Sweden,[2] due to Australian quarantine regulations that required a six-month pre-shipment quarantine on horses.[3] Medals awarded at these cities bore different designs.[4] 3,314 athletes[a] representing 72 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated, which was a record for the most NOCs at a single Olympics at the time.[5] These included first-time entrants Cambodia,[6] Ethiopia,[7] Fiji,[8] Kenya,[9] Liberia,[10] Malaya,[11] North Borneo,[12] and Uganda.[13] The games featured 151 events[b] in 17 sports across 23 disciplines.[14][15][16]

The 1956 Summer Games were the first to be held in the Southern Hemisphere and Oceania, also being the first games to hold events in two different countries, continents, and seasons.[17] Multiple boycotts were enacted by nine teams against the games, though five of them competed in the equestrian events.[c] Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon enacted a boycott against the games in response to the Suez Crisis.[19] Cambodia, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland boycotted the games in response to the Hungarian Uprising, where the Soviet Union invaded the country.[20][21] China continued their boycott of the games, which began in 1952 and lasted until 1980, over the participation of Taiwan.[22][23]

Athletes representing 38 NOCs received at least one medal, and 25 NOCs won at least one gold medal. The Soviet Union won the most gold medals and the most overall medals, with 37 and 98 respectively.[24] Iran[25] and Bulgaria won their first Olympic gold medals.[26] Bahamas,[27] Iceland,[28] and Pakistan won their first Olympic medals.[29]

Gymnast Ágnes Keleti of Hungary was the most successful competitor of the games, winning four gold medals in two silver medals for a total of six medals. Gymnast Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union tied with Keleti for the most gold and overall medals for a competitor at the games, winning six medals with four gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal.[30]

Medal table

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A shirtless man with a medal draped around his neck
Wrestler Emam-Ali Habibi, the first-ever Olympic gold medalist for Iran.
A man smiling, holding an opened box with an Olympic gold medal
Triple jumper Adhemar da Silva of Brazil holding the gold medal he won at these games.

The medal table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is consistent with IOC conventional sorting in its published medal tables. The table uses the Olympic medal table sorting method. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals.[31][32] Two bronze medals were awarded in each boxing event to the losing semi-finalists, as opposed to them fighting in a third place tie breaker.[33]

In the gymnastics events, there were eight ties for medals. Two gold medals and no silver medal were awarded in the men's vault and women's floor exercise due to a first-place tie in both events. No bronze medals were awarded in the men's floor exercise and women's balance beam due to a second-place tie in both events, with the former being a three-way tie and all athletes that placed second awarded a silver medal. Two bronze medals were awarded in the men's parallel bars, men's rings, women's team portable apparatus, and women's vault due to a third-place tie in these events.[34] In athletics, two silver medals and no bronze medal were awarded in women's high jump due to a second-place tie. Two bronze medals were awarded in the men's 400 metres due to a third-place tie.[35]

  *   Host nation (Australia)

1956 Summer Olympics medal table[24][d]
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Soviet Union37293298
2 United States32251774
3 Australia*1381435
4 Hungary910726
5 Italy88925
6 Sweden85619
7 United Team of Germany[e]613726
8 Great Britain671124
9 Romania53513
10 Japan410519
11 France44614
12 Turkey3227
13 Finland311115
14 Iran2215
15 Canada2136
16 New Zealand2002
17 Poland1449
18 Czechoslovakia1416
19 Bulgaria1315
20 Denmark1214
21 Ireland1135
22 Norway1023
23 Mexico1012
24 Brazil1001
 India1001
26 Yugoslavia0303
27 Chile0224
28 Belgium0202
29 Argentina0112
 South Korea0112
31 Iceland0101
 Pakistan0101
33 South Africa0044
34 Austria0022
35 Bahamas0011
 Greece0011
 Switzerland0011
 Uruguay0011
Totals (38 entries)153153163469

Notes

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  1. ^ 3,155 athletes in Melbourne, 159 athletes in Stockholm
  2. ^ 145 events in Melbourne, 6 events in Stockholm
  3. ^ Cambodia, Egypt, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland[18]
  4. ^ An additional bronze medal not included in the table was presented to John Ian Wing, an Australian resident, for advocating that the closing ceremony have athletes walk freely rather than marching under their own flag.[36]
  5. ^ A unified team comprising East Germany and West Germany competed from the 1956 Winter Olympics to the 1964 Winter Olympics. This decision was made because of the splitting of Germany after World War II and a condition that the National Olympic Committee of the GDR (East Germany) would be recognized if both nations agreed to compete under the same team.[37][38]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Organizing Committee of the XVI Olympiad 1958, p. 4.
  2. ^ Swedish Equestrian Federation 1959, p. 259.
  3. ^ "Equestrian at the Olympics: 1948-1956". International Federation for Equestrian Sports. 24 February 2020. Archived from the original on 16 September 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  4. ^ "Melbourne 1956 Olympic Medals - Design, History & Photos". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 11 September 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  5. ^ "72 Nations Now On Olympic List". The Des Moines Register. Associated Press. 27 April 1956. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  6. ^ "NOC Cambodia calls for support back home". Olympic Council of Asia. 26 July 2021. Archived from the original on 1 January 2025. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  7. ^ "Ethiopia - Profile". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 6 October 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  8. ^ Mather, Victor (11 August 2016). "Fiji Wins Its First Medal: a Gold in Rugby". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  9. ^ "Africa's fastest man, Omanyala carries Kenya's hopes for first Olympic gold in 100 meters". VOA. Associated Press. 1 August 2024. Archived from the original on 15 August 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  10. ^ Holmes, Tracey (30 July 2021). "Liberia's athletes came to perform at the Tokyo Olympics, beginning with designer outfits". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 22 July 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  11. ^ "Malaya Overview". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 2 December 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  12. ^ "North Borneo in Olympic Games". Staten Island Advance. 10 April 1956. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  13. ^ Mugagga, Robert (2 September 2016). "Untold story of Uganda's first Olympic gold medal". Daily Monitor. Archived from the original on 3 March 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  14. ^ "Factsheet The Games of the Olympiad" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. 20 June 2024. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  15. ^ Organizing Committee of the XVI Olympiad 1958, pp. 77–78.
  16. ^ "1956: Melbourne, Australia". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 15 June 2012. Archived from the original on 1 January 2025. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  17. ^ "Melbourne 1956 Summer Olympics - Athletes Medals & Results". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 26 September 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  18. ^ Swedish Equestrian Federation 1959, p. 23.
  19. ^ Kaufman, Burton I.; Kaufman, Diane (6 October 2009). The A to Z of the Eisenhower Era. Scarecrow Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-0810870635.
  20. ^ Büchel, Donat (31 December 2011). "Kalter Krieg". Historisches Lexikon (in German). Archived from the original on 3 December 2024. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  21. ^ Nair, Rohith; Radnenge, Christian (23 March 2020). "Past boycotts and cancellations". Reuters. Archived from the original on 30 December 2024. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  22. ^ Hamilton, Tom (10 December 2021). "What, exactly, is a 'diplomatic boycott' of the Beijing Olympics?". ESPN. Archived from the original on 2 July 2024. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  23. ^ "Olympic bans and boycotts go back a century". Associated Press. 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  24. ^ a b "Melbourne 1956 Olympic Medal Table - Gold, Silver & Bronze". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 11 September 2024. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  25. ^ "Iran's first Olympics gold medal winner Habibi turns 93". Tehran Times. 28 May 2024. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  26. ^ [hhttps://web.archive.org/web/20240726190202/https://www.espn.com/olympics/news/story?id=4324041 "Former wrestler Stanchev dies"]. ESPN. Associated Press. 13 July 2009. Archived from the original on 26 July 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  27. ^ "Bahamas Overview". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 22 December 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  28. ^ Crugnale, James (15 August 2008). "Great Moments In Icelandic History: Iceland gets its first Olympic Medal". The Reykjavík Grapevine. Archived from the original on 15 June 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  29. ^ "1956 Olympic Silver Medalist and 1958 Asian Gold Medalist Qazi Musarrat Passes Away". Asian Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on 18 July 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  30. ^ "Melbourne 1956 Athletes - Biographies, Medals & More". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 11 September 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  31. ^ Townsend, Mark (7 August 2021). "US finds its own way to top the medal table at Tokyo Olympics". The Observer. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  32. ^ Flanagan, Aaron (18 August 2016). "How does the Olympic medal table work?". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 10 July 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  33. ^ Ansari, Aarish (1 August 2021). "Explained: Two bronze medals are awarded in the Olympics boxing competition". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  34. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics at the 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 19 December 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  35. ^ "Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 5 May 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  36. ^ Chappell, Bill (8 August 2021). "Why the Olympic Athletes Don't March Behind Their Own Flag at the Closing Ceremony". NPR. Archived from the original on 3 December 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  37. ^ "Germany Overview". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 29 April 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  38. ^ Hughes, R. Gerald; Owens, Rachel (November 2009). "'The Continuation of Politics by Other Means': Britain, the Two Germanys and the Olympic Games, 1949–1972". Contemporary European History. 18 (4): 443. doi:10.1017/S0960777309990099. JSTOR 40542796. Retrieved 22 July 2024.

Bibliography

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