# Soviet Union at the 1956 Summer Olympics

The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. 272 competitors, 233 men and 39 women, took part in 135 events in 17 sports. the Netherlands, Spain, the Netherlands Antilles, Egypt, Lebanon, Cambodia, Iraq and Switzerland protested against this by boycotting the games. As a partial support to the Dutch-led boycott, Soviet athletes under the Olympic flag instead of the national flag.

## Medalists

The USSR finished first in the final medal rankings, with 37 gold and 98 total medals.

### Gold

* Valentin Muratov — Artistic gymnastics, men's floor exercise
* Larisa Latynina — Artistic gymnastics, women's floor exercise
* Viktor Chukarin — Artistic gymnastics, men's individual all-round
* Larisa Latynina — Artistic gymnastics, women's individual all-round
* Victor Chukarin — Artistic gymnastics, men's parallel bars
* Boris Shakhlin — Artistic gymnastics, men's pommel horse
* Albert Azaryan — Artistic gymnastics, men's rings
* Victor Chukarin, Valentin Muratov, Boris Shakhlin, Albert Azaryan, Yuri Titov, Pavel Stolbov — Artistic gymnastics, men's team competition
* Tamara Manina, Larisa Latynina, Sofia Muratova, Lidiya Kalinina-Ivanova, Polina Astakhova, Lyudmila Egorova — Artistic gymnastics, women's team competition
* Valentin Muratov — Artistic gymnastics, men's vault
* Larisa Latynina — Artistic gymnastics, women's vault
* Vladimir Kuts — Athletics, men's 10000 m
* Leonid Spirin — Athletics, men's 20 km walk
* Vladimir Kuts — Athletics, men's 5000 m
* Inese Jaunzeme — Athletics, women's javelin throw
* Tamara Tyshkevich — Athletics, women's shot put
* Vladimir Safronov — Boxing, men's featherweight
* Vladimir Yengibaryan — Boxing, men's light-welterweight
* Gennadi Shatkov — Boxing, men's 71–75 kg
* Pavel Kharin, Gratsian Botev — Canoeing, men's C-2 10000 m
* Elizaveta Dementyeva — Canoeing, women's K-1 500 m
* Lev Yashin, Nikolai Tishchenko, Mikhail Okonkov, Aleksei Paramonov, Anatoli Bashashkin, Igor Netto, Boris Tatushin, Anatoli Isayev, Eduard Streltsov, Valentin Ivanov, Vladimir Ryzhkin, Boris Kuznetsov, Iosif Betsa, Sergei Salnikov, Boris Razinsky, Anatoli Maslenkin, Anatoli Ilyin and Nikita Simonyan — Football (soccer), men's team competition
* Igor Novikov, Ivan Deryugin, Aleksandr Tarasov — Modern pentathlon, men's team competition
* Aleksandr Berkutov, Yuriy Tyukalov — Rowing, men's double sculls
* Vyacheslav Ivanov — Rowing, men's single sculls
* Vitali Romanenko — Shooting, men's 100 m running deer, single/double shots
* Vasily Borisov — Shooting, men's 300 m free rifle 3 positions
* Anatoli Bogdanov — Shooting, men's 50 m rifle 3 positions
* Igor Rybak — Weightlifting, men's lightweight
* Fedor Bogdanovsky — Weightlifting, men's middleweight
* Arkady Vorobyov — Weightlifting, men's middle-heavyweight
* Mirian Tsalkalamanidze — Wrestling, men's freestyle flyweight
* Anatoli Parfenov — Wrestling, men's Greco-Roman super-heavyweight
* Nikolai Soloviev — Wrestling, men's Greco-Roman flyweight
* Konstantin Vyrupaev — Wrestling, men's Greco-Roman bantamweight
* Givi Kartoziya — Wrestling, men's Greco-Roman middleweight
* Valentin Nikolayev — Wrestling, men's Greco-Roman light-heavyweight

### Silver

* Tamara Manina — Artistic gymnastics, women's balance beam
* Victor Chukarin — Artistic gymnastics, men's floor exercise
* Yuri Titov — Artistic gymnastics, men's horizontal bar
* Valentin Muratov — Artistic gymnastics, men's rings
* Larisa Latynina — Artistic gymnastics, women's uneven bars
* Tamara Manina — Artistic gymnastics, women's vault
* Antanas Mikenas — Athletics, men's 20 km walk
* Leonid Bartenev, Yuriy Konovalov, Vladimir Sukharev, Boris Tokarev — Athletics, men's 4 × 100 m relay
* Yevgeniy Maskinskov — Athletics, men's 50 km walk
* Irina Beglyakova — Athletics, women's discus throw
* Mikhail Krivonosov — Athletics, men's hammer throw
* Mariya Pisareva — Athletics, women's high jump
* Galina Zybina — Athletics, women's shot put
* Valdis Muizhniek, Maigonis Valdmanis, Vladimir Torban, Stasys Stonkus, Kazys Petkevičius, Arkadi Bochkarev, Jānis Krūmiņš, Mikhail Semyonov, Algirdas Lauritenas, Yuri Ozerov, Viktor Zubkov, Mikhail Studenetsky — Basketball, men's team competition
* Lev Mukhin — Boxing, men's heavyweight
* Pavel Kharin, Gratsian Botev — Canoeing, men's C-2 1000 m
* Igor Pissarev — Canoeing, men's K-1 1000 m
* Mikhail Kaaleste, Anatoli Demitkov — Canoeing, men's K-2 1000 m
* Igor Buldakov, Viktor Ivanov — Rowing, men's coxless pair
* Yevgeni Cherkasov — Shooting, men's 25 m rapid fire pistol
* Allan Erdman — Shooting, men's 300 m free rifle 3 positions
* Makhmud Umarov — Shooting, men's 50 m pistol
* Vasily Borisov — Shooting, men's 50 m rifle prone
* Vladimir Stogov — Weightlifting, men's bantamweight
* Yevgeni Minaev — Weightlifting, men's featherweight
* Ravil Khabutdinov — Weightlifting, men's lightweight
* Vasili Stepanov — Weightlifting, men's light-heavyweight
* Boris Kulayev — Wrestling, men's freestyle light-heavyweight
* Vladimir Maneev — Wrestling, men's Greco-Roman welterweight

### Bronze

* Yuri Titov — Artistic gymnastics, men's individual all-round
* Sofia Muratova — Artistic gymnastics, women's individual all-round
* Victor Chukarin — Artistic gymnastics, men's pommel horse
* Tamara Manina, Larisa Latynina, Sofia Muratova, Lidiya Kalinina-Ivanova, Polina Astakhova, Lyudmila Egorova — Artistic gymnastics, women's team, portable apparatus
* Sofia Muratova — Artistic gymnastics, women's uneven bars
* Yuri Titov — Artistic gymnastics, men's vault
* Bruno Junk — Athletics, men's 20 km walk
* Ardalion Ignatyev — Athletics, men's 400 m
* Vasili Kuznetsov — Athletics, men's decathlon
* Nina Romashkova — Athletics, women's discus throw
* Anatoli Samotsvetov — Athletics, men's hammer throw
* Igor Kashkarov — Athletics, men's high jump
* Viktor Tsybulenko — Athletics, men's javelin throw
* Nadezhda Konyaeva — Athletics, women's javelin throw
* Nadezhda Khnykina-Dvalishvili — Athletics, women's long jump
* Vitold Kreer — Athletics, men's triple jump
* Anatoli Lagetko — Boxing, men's lightweight
* Romualdas Murauskas — Boxing, men's light-heavyweight
* Gennady Bukharin — Canoeing, men's C-1 10000 m
* Gennady Bukharin — Canoeing, men's C-1 1000 m
* Lev Kuznetsov — Fencing, men's sabre individual
* Yakov Rylsky, David Tyshler, Lev Kuznetsov, Yevgeni Cherepovsky, Leonid Bogdanov — Fencing, men's sabre team
* Igor Emchuk, Heorhiy Zhylin, Vladimir Petrov — Rowing, men's pair-oared shell with coxswain
* Vladimir Sevryugin — Shooting, men's 100 m running deer, single/double shots
* Kharis Yunichev — Swimming, men's 200 m breaststroke
* Vitali Sorokin, Vladimir Struzhanov, Gennadi Nikolaev, Boris Nikitin — Swimming, men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay
* Boris Goikhman, Valentin Prokopov, Yuri Shlyapin, Vyacheslav Kurennoi, Pyotr Breus, Pyotr Mshvenieradze, Boris Markarov, Mikhail Ryzhak, Viktor Ageev and Nodar Gvakhariya — Water polo, men's team competition
* Mikhail Shakhov — Wrestling, men's freestyle bantamweight
* Alimbeg Bestaev — Wrestling, men's freestyle lightweight
* Vakhtang Balavadze — Wrestling, men's freestyle welterweight
* Georgi Skhirtladze — Wrestling, men's freestyle middleweight
* Roman Dzeneladze — Wrestling, men's Greco-Roman featherweight

## Athletics

Men's 110 m hurdles
* Boris Stolyarov
   * Heat — 14.4s
   * Semifinals — 14.5s
   * Final — 14.6s (→ 6th place)
* Anatoly Mikhailov
   * Heat — 14.5s (→ did not advance)
Men's marathon
* Ivan Filine — 2:30:37 (→ 7th place)
* Boris Grichaev — did not finish (→ no ranking)
* Albert Ivanov — did not finish (→ no ranking)

## Cycling
### Sprint

* Boris Romanov — 7th place

### Time trial

* Boris Savostin — 1:12.3 (→ 5th place)

### Tandem

* Rostislav Vargashkin Vladimir Leonov — 9th place

### Team pursuit

* Eduard Gusev Rodislav Chizhikov Viktor Ilyin Volodymyr Mitin — 8th place

### Team road race

* Anatoly Cherepovich Mykola Kolumbet Viktor Kapitonov — 63 points (→ 6th place)

### Individual road race

* Anatoly Cherepovich — 5:23:50 (→ 15th place)
* Mykola Kolumbet — 5:23:50 (→ 16th place)
* Viktor Kapitonov — 5:30:45 (→ 32nd place)
* Viktor Vershinin — 5:34:21 (→ 35th place)

## Diving

Men's 10 m platform
* Roman Brener
   * Preliminary Round — 76.56
   * Final — 142.95 (→ 5th place)
* Mikhail Chachba
   * Preliminary Round — 73.02
   * Final — 134.52 (→ 8th place)
* Gennady Galkin
   * Preliminary Round — 68.92 (→ did not advance, 13th place)
Women's 3 m platform
* Zoya Blyuvas
   * Preliminary Round — 62.12
   * Final — 98.15 (→ 11th place)
Women's 10 m platform
* Tatyana Karakashyants-Vereina
   * Preliminary Round — 52.19
   * Final — 76.95 (→ 9th place)
* Lyubov Shigalova
   * Preliminary Round — 49.22
   * Final — 76.40 (→ 9th place)
* Raisa Gorokhovskaya
   * Preliminary Round — 52.64
   * Final — 73.84 (→ 9th place)

## Fencing

20 fencers, 17 men and 3 women, represented the Soviet Union in 1956.

### Men's foil

* Mark Midler
* Yury Rudov
* Iuri Osip'ovi

### Men's team foil

* Yury Rudov, Iuri Osip'ovi, Mark Midler, Aleksandr Ovsyankin, Viktor Zhdanovich, Yury Ivanov

### Men's épée

* Arnold Chernushevich
* Revaz Tsirek'idze
* Juozas Ūdras

### Men's team épée

* Arnold Chernushevich, Valentin Chernikov, Lev Saychuk, Revaz Tsirek'idze, Juozas Ūdras, Valentin Vdovichenko

### Men's sabre

* Lev Kuznetsov
* Yevgeny Cherepovsky
* Yakov Rylsky

### Men's team sabre

* Lev Kuznetsov, Yakov Rylsky, Yevgeny Cherepovsky, David Tyshler, Leonid Bogdanov

### Women's foil

* Emma Yefimova
* Valentina Rastvorova
* Nadezhda Shitikova

## Modern pentathlon

Three male pentathletes represented the Soviet Union in 1956. The Soviet pentathletes won gold in the team event.

### Individual

* Igor Novikov
* Aleksandr Tarasov
* Ivan Deriuhin

### Team

* Igor Novikov
* Aleksandr Tarasov
* Ivan Deriuhin

## Rowing

The Soviet Union had 25 male rowers participate in seven rowing events in 1956.

### Men's single sculls – 1st place ( gold medal)

* Vyacheslav Ivanov (Вячеслав Иванов)

### Men's double sculls – 1st place ( gold medal)

* Aleksandr Berkutov (Александр Беркутов)
* Yuriy Tyukalov (Юрий Тюкалов)

### Men's coxless pair – 2nd place ( silver medal)

* Igor Buldakov (Игорь Булдаков)
* Viktor Ivanov (Виктор Иванов)

### Men's coxed pair – 3rd place ( bronze medal)

* Ihor Yemchuk (Ihor Yemchuk, Игорь Емчук)
* Heorhiy Zhylin (Georgy Zhilin, Георгий Жилин)
* Vladimir Petrov (Владимир Петров)

### Men's coxless four

* Leonid Zakharov (Леонид Захаров)
* Aleksandr Sheff (Александр Шефф)
* Nikolay Karasyov (Николай Карасёв)
* Igor Ivanov (Игорь Иванов)

### Men's coxed four

* Andrey Arkhipov (Андрей Архипов)
* Yury Popov (Юрий Попов)
* Valentin Zanin (Валентин Занин)
* Yaroslav Cherstvy (Ярослав Черствый)
* Anatoly Fetisov (Анатолий Фетисов)

### Men's eight

* Ernest Verbin (Эрнест Вербин)
* Boris Fyodorov (Борис Фёдоров)
* Slava Amiragov (Слава Амирагов)
* Leonid Gissen (Леонид Гиссен)
* Yevgeny Samsonov (Евгений Самсонов)
* Anatoly Antonov (Анатолий Антонов)
* Georgy Gushchenko (Георгий Гущенко)
* Vladimir Kryukov (Владимир Крюков)
* Vladimir Petrov (Владимир Петров)

## Shooting

Eleven shooters represented the Soviet Union in 1956.

### 25 m pistol

* Yevgeny Cherkasov
* Vasily Sorokin

### 50 m pistol

* Makhmud Umarov
* Anton Yasynskiy

### 300 m rifle, three positions

* Vasily Borisov
* Allan Erdman

### 50 m rifle, three positions

* Anatoly Bogdanov
* Vasily Borisov

### 50 m rifle, prone

* Vasily Borisov
* Anatoly Bogdanov

### 100 m running deer

* Vitali Romanenko
* Vladimir Sevryugin

### Trap

* Nikolay Mogilevsky
* Yury Nikandrov

## Medals by republic

In the following table for team events number of team representatives, who received medals are counted, not "one medal for all the team", as usual. Because there were people from different republics in one team.
| Rank | Republic | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Russian SFSR | 47 | 33 | 36 | 116 |
| 2 | Ukrainian SSR | 14 | 4 | 11 | 29 |
| 3 | Armenian SSR | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | Georgian SSR | 2 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 5 | Latvian SSR | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | Lithuanian SSR | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Azerbaijan SSR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Byelorussian SSR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Estonian SSR | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (9 entries) | Totals (9 entries) | 68 | 46 | 55 | 169 |