# Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics

At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, 33 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 9 for women. There were a total number of 720 participating athletes from 61 countries.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Bobby Morrow United States | 10.5 | Thane Baker United States | 10.5 | Hector Hogan Australia | 10.6 |
| 200 metres details | Bobby Morrow United States | 20.6 (OR) | Andy Stanfield United States | 20.7 | Thane Baker United States | 20.9 |
| 400 metres details | Charles Jenkins United States | 46.7 | Karl-Friedrich Haas United Team of Germany | 46.8 | Voitto Hellsten Finland | 47.0 |
| 400 metres details | Charles Jenkins United States | 46.7 | Karl-Friedrich Haas United Team of Germany | 46.8 | Ardalion Ignatyev Soviet Union | 47.0 |
| 800 metres details | Tom Courtney United States | 1:47.7 (OR) | Derek Johnson Great Britain | 1:47.8 | Audun Boysen Norway | 1:48.1 |
| 1500 metres details | Ron Delany Ireland | 3:41.2 (OR) | Klaus Richtzenhain United Team of Germany | 3:42.0 | John Landy Australia | 3:42.0 |
| 5000 metres details | Vladimir Kuts Soviet Union | 13:39.6 (OR) | Gordon Pirie Great Britain | 13:50.6 | Derek Ibbotson Great Britain | 13:54.4 |
| 10,000 metres details | Vladimir Kuts Soviet Union | 28:45.6 (OR) | József Kovács Hungary | 28:52.4 | Al Lawrence Australia | 28:53.6 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Lee Calhoun United States | 13.5 (OR) | Jack Davis United States | 13.5 (OR) | Joel Shankle United States | 14.1 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Glenn Davis United States | 50.1 (=OR) | Eddie Southern United States | 50.8 | Josh Culbreath United States | 51.6 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Chris Brasher Great Britain | 8:41.2 (OR) | Sándor Rozsnyói Hungary | 8:43.6 | Ernst Larsen Norway | 8:44.0 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Ira Murchison Leamon King Thane Baker Bobby Morrow | 39.5 (WR) | Soviet Union (URS) Leonid Bartenyev Boris Tokarev Yuriy Konovalov Vladimir Sukharev | 39.8 | United Team of Germany (EUA) Lothar Knörzer Leonhard Pohl Heinz Fütterer Manfred Germar | 40.3 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | United States (USA) Lou Jones Jesse Mashburn Charles Jenkins Tom Courtney | 3:04.8 | Australia (AUS) Leon Gregory David Lean Graham Gipson Kevan Gosper | 3:06.2 | Great Britain (GBR) John Salisbury Michael Wheeler Peter Higgins Derek Johnson | 3:07.2 |
| Marathon details | Alain Mimoun France | 2:25:00 | Franjo Mihalić Yugoslavia | 2:26:32 | Veikko Karvonen Finland | 2:27:47 |
| 20 kilometres walk details | Leonid Spirin Soviet Union | 1:31:27.4 (OR) | Antanas Mikėnas Soviet Union | 1:32:03.0 | Bruno Junk Soviet Union | 1:32:12.0 |
| 50 kilometres walk details | Norman Read New Zealand | 4:30:42.8 | Yevgeny Maskinskov Soviet Union | 4:32:57.0 | John Ljunggren Sweden | 4:35:02.0 |
| High jump details | Charles Dumas United States | 2.12 m (OR) | Chilla Porter Australia | 2.10 m | Igor Kashkarov Soviet Union | 2.08 m |
| Pole vault details | Bob Richards United States | 4.56 m (OR) | Bob Gutowski United States | 4.53 m | Georgios Roubanis Greece | 4.50 m |
| Long jump details | Greg Bell United States | 7.83 m (OR) | John Bennett United States | 7.68 m | Jorma Valkama Finland | 7.48 m |
| Triple jump details | Adhemar da Silva Brazil | 16.35 m (OR) | Vilhjálmur Einarsson Iceland | 16.26 m | Vitold Kreyer Soviet Union | 16.02 m |
| Shot put details | Parry O'Brien United States | 18.57 m (OR) | Bill Nieder United States | 18.18 m | Jiří Skobla Czechoslovakia | 17.65 m |
| Discus throw details | Al Oerter United States | 56.36 m (OR) | Fortune Gordien United States | 54.81 m | Des Koch United States | 54.40 m |
| Hammer throw details | Hal Connolly United States | 63.19 m (OR) | Mikhail Krivonosov Soviet Union | 63.03 m | Anatoliy Samotsvetov Soviet Union | 62.56 m |
| Javelin throw details | Egil Danielsen Norway | 85.71 m (WR) | Janusz Sidło Poland | 79.98 m | Viktor Tsybulenko Soviet Union | 79.50 m |
| Decathlon details | Milt Campbell United States | 7937 (OR) | Rafer Johnson United States | 7587 | Vasili Kuznetsov Soviet Union | 7465 |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Betty Cuthbert Australia | 11.5 | Christa Stubnick United Team of Germany | 11.7 | Marlene Mathews Australia | 11.7 |
| 200 metres details | Betty Cuthbert Australia | 23.4 (=OR) | Christa Stubnick United Team of Germany | 23.7 | Marlene Mathews Australia | 23.8 |
| 80 metres hurdles details | Shirley Strickland de la Hunty Australia | 10.7 (OR) | Gisela Köhler United Team of Germany | 10.9 | Norma Thrower Australia | 11.0 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Australia (AUS) Shirley Strickland de la Hunty Norma Croker Fleur Mellor Betty Cuthbert | 44.5 (WR) | Great Britain (GBR) Anne Pashley Jean Scrivens June Paul Heather Armitage | 44.7 | United States (USA) Mae Faggs Margaret Matthews Wilma Rudolph Isabelle Daniels | 44.9 |
| High jump details | Mildred McDaniel United States | 1.76 m (WR) | Thelma Hopkins Great Britain Mariya Pisareva Soviet Union | 1.67 m | none awarded | |
| Long jump details | Elżbieta Krzesińska Poland | 6.35 m (=WR) | Willye White United States | 6.09 m | Nadezhda Dvalishvili Soviet Union | 6.07 m |
| Shot put details | Tamara Tyshkevich Soviet Union | 16.59 m (OR) | Galina Zybina Soviet Union | 16.53 m | Marianne Werner United Team of Germany | 15.61 m |
| Discus throw details | Olga Fikotová Czechoslovakia | 53.69 m (OR) | Irina Beglyakova Soviet Union | 52.54 m | Nina Ponomaryova Soviet Union | 52.02 m |
| Javelin throw details | Inese Jaunzeme Soviet Union | 53.86 m (OR) | Marlene Ahrens Chile | 50.38 m | Nadezhda Konyayeva Soviet Union | 50.28 m |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States | 16 | 10 | 5 | 31 |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 5 | 7 | 10 | 22 |
| 3 | Australia | 4 | 2 | 6 | 12 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 5 | Poland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Norway | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 7 | Czechoslovakia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Brazil | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | France | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Ireland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | United Team of Germany | 0 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| 13 | Hungary | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | Chile | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Iceland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Yugoslavia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Finland | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 18 | Greece | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | Sweden | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (19 entries) | Totals (19 entries) | 33 | 34 | 33 | 100 |

## Participating nations

* Argentina (2)
* Australia (79)
* Austria (3)
* Bahamas (1)
* Belgium (6)
* Brazil (6)
* Bulgaria (1)
* Burma (1)
* Canada (18)
* Ceylon (1)
* Chile (6)
* Republic of China (4)
* Colombia (4)
* Cuba (2)
* Czechoslovakia (16)
* Denmark (2)
* Ethiopia (13)
* Fiji (1)
* Finland (19)
* France (29)
* United Team of Germany (45)
* Great Britain (56)
* Greece (6)
* Guyana (2)
* Hungary (19)
* Iceland (2)
* India (8)
* Indonesia (3)
* Iran (2)
* Iraq (1)
* Ireland (3)
* Israel (1)
* Italy (21)
* Jamaica (5)
* Japan (20)
* Kenya (9)
* South Korea (8)
* Liberia (5)
* Luxembourg (3)
* Malaya (7)
* Mexico (1)
* New Zealand (9)
* Nigeria (10)
* North Borneo (2)
* Norway (5)
* Pakistan (18)
* Philippines (4)
* Poland (25)
* Puerto Rico (8)
* Romania (5)
* Singapore (5)
* South Africa (9)
* Soviet Union (77)
* Sweden (18)
* Thailand (9)
* Trinidad and Tobago (3)
* Uganda (3)
* United States (83)
* Uruguay (1)
* Venezuela (5)
* Yugoslavia (7)