Olympics Wiki
Register
Advertisement

The XVI Summer Olympics took place in Melbourne, Australia. This was the first time Australia hosted the Olympics, and would not host another one until the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, officially opened the XVI Games to which 72 nations competed in 145 events (17 sports) The Games took place in November because of summer being different in the southern hemisphere. Although there was concern about hosting it in the southern hemisphere because northern hemisphere athletes would be used to resting during the winter.

Bidding[]

Voting results for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games
City Country R1 R2 R3 R4
Melbourne Australia 14 18 19 21
Buenos Aires Argentina 9 12 13 20
Los Angeles United States 5 4 5
Detroit United States 2 4 4
Mexico City Mexico 9 3
Chicago United States 1
Minneapolis United States 1
Philadelphia United States 1

Construction problems[]

Melbourne nearly lost the Olympics to Rome before the Games, when IOC president Avery Brundage was not impressed with an inspection in April of 1955. Melbourne was way behind on construction because of financial issues and political debates, but at this point, they had managed to get a A$4.5 million loan from the State of Victoria. By 1956 Melbourne was clearly ready for the Olympics and the Games started as planned.

Historic Events[]

  • For the first time since World War II, East and West Germany enter the Games as the United Team of Germany
  • Because of Australian horse quarantine laws, the equestrian events took place in Stockholm in June the same year, since foreign horses are not allowed in Australia. This was the second time events took place in two different nations.
  • This was the first time any Olympic Games were held in the southern hemisphere.
  • The Indian national field hockey team won its sixth consecutive gold. The streak ended in 1960, when they only won a silver medal. This is the longest streak of one nation consecutively winning gold at the Olympics in field hockey.

Boycotts[]

Medal table[]

Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Soviet Union 37 29 32 98
2 United States 32 25 17 74
3 Australia 13 8 14 35
4 Hungary 9 10 7 26
5 Italy 8 8 9 25
6 Sweden 8 5 6 19
7 Germany 6 13 7 26
8 Great Britain 6 7 11 24
9 Romania 5 3 5 13
10 Japan 4 10 5 19
11 France 4 4 6 14
12 Turkey 3 2 2 7
13 Finland 3 1 11 15
14 Iran 2 2 1 5
15 Canada 2 1 3 6
16 New Zealand 2 0 0 2
17 Poland 1 4 4 9
18 Czechoslovakia 1 4 1 6
19 Bulgaria 1 3 1 5
20 Denmark 1 2 1 4
21 Ireland 1 1 3 5
22 Norway 1 0 2 3
23 Mexico 1 0 1 2
24 Brazil 1 0 0 1
24 India 1 0 0 1
26 Yugoslavia 0 3 0 3
27 Chile 0 2 2 4
28 Belgium 0 2 0 2
29 Argentina 0 1 1 2
29 South Korea 0 1 1 2
31 Iceland 0 1 0 1
31 Pakistan 0 1 0 1
33 South Africa 0 0 4 4
34 Austria 0 0 2 2
35 Bahamas 0 0 1 1
35 Greece 0 0 1 1
35 Switzerland 0 0 1 1
35 Uruguay 0 0 1 1

Image Gallery[]

See Also[]

  • Logos - A collection of logos featuring this event.
  • Mascots - The official mascots of this Olympics'.
  • Torch - Information about this Olympics' torch.
Preceded by
Cortina 1956
Olympics
1956
Succeeded by
Squaw Valley 1960
Preceded by
Helsinki 1952
Summer Olympics
1956
Succeeded by
Rome 1960
Olympic Games
Summer Olympic Games
Athens 1896Paris 1900St. Louis 1904Athens 1906 (Intercalated Games)London 1908Stockholm 1912Berlin 1916Antwerp 1920Paris 1924Amsterdam 1928Los Angeles 1932Berlin 1936London 1948Helsinki 1952Melbourne 1956Rome 1960Tokyo 1964Mexico City 1968Munich 1972Montreal 1976Moscow 1980Los Angeles 1984Seoul 1988Barcelona 1992Atlanta 1996Sydney 2000Athens 2004Beijing 2008London 2012Rio de Janeiro 2016Tokyo 2020Paris 2024Los Angeles 2028Brisbane 2032
Winter Olympic Games
Chamonix 1924St. Moritz 1928Lake Placid 1932Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936St. Moritz 1948Oslo 1952Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956Squaw Valley 1960Innsbruck 1964Grenoble 1968Sapporo 1972Innsbruck 1976Lake Placid 1980Sarajevo 1984Calgary 1988Albertville 1992Lillehammer 1994Nagano 1998Salt Lake City 2002Torino 2006Vancouver 2010Sochi 2014Pyeongchang 2018Beijing 2022Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo 2026
Advertisement