United States at the 1956 Summer Olympics

United States at the
1956 Summer Olympics
United States at the; 1956 Summer Olympics
	Flag of the United States
IOC code	USA
NOC	United States Olympic Committee
in Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors	297 (251 men and 46 women) in 18 sports
Flag bearer	Norman Armitage
Medals; Ranked 2nd	Gold 32 Silver 25 Bronze 17 Total 74
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
	1896; 1900; 1904; 1908; 1912; 1920; 1924; 1928; 1932; 1936; 1948; 1952; 1956; 1960; 1964; 1968; 1972; 1976; 1980; 1984; 1988; 1992; 1996; 2000; 2004; 2008; 2012; 2016; 2020;
Other related appearances
	1906 Intercalated Games

The United States competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. 297 competitors, 251 men and 46 women, took part in 139 events in 18 sports.^[1]

Medalists[]

Gold[]

Bobby Morrow — Athletics, Men's 100 metres
Bobby Morrow — Athletics, Men's 200 metres
Charles Jenkins — Athletics, Men's 400 metres
Tom Courtney — Athletics, Men's 800 metres
Lee Calhoun — Athletics, Men's 110m Hurdles
Glenn Davis — Athletics, Men's 400m Hurdles
Thane Baker, Leamon King, Bobby Morrow, and Ira Murchison — Athletics, Men's 4 × 100 m Relay
Tom Courtney, Charles Jenkins, Lou Jones, and Jesse Mashburn — Athletics, Men's 4 × 400 m Relay
Charles Dumas — Athletics, Men's High Jump
Bob Richards — Athletics, Men's Pole Vault
Greg Bell — Athletics, Men's Long Jump
Parry O'Brien — Athletics, Men's Shot Put
Harold Connolly — Athletics, Men's Hammer Throw
Milt Campbell — Athletics, Men's Decathlon
Millie McDaniel — Athletics, Women's High Jump
Al Oerter — Athletics, Men's Discus Throw
Dick Boushka, Carl Cain, Chuck Darling, William Evans, Gib Ford, Burdette Haldorson, Bill Hougland, Bob Jeangerard, K C Jones, Bill Russell, Ron Tomsic, and Jim Walsh — Basketball, Men's Team Competition
Jim Boyd — Boxing, Men's Light Heavyweight
Pete Rademacher — Boxing, Men's Heavyweight
Bob Clotworthy — Diving, Men's Springboard
Pat McCormick — Diving, Women's Springboard
Pat McCormick — Diving, Women's Platform
Jim Fifer and Duvall Hecht — Rowing, Men's Coxless Pairs
Arthur Ayrault, Conn Findlay, and Kurt Seiffert — Rowing, Men's Coxed Pairs
William Becklean, Donald Beer, Thomas Charlton, John Cooke, Caldwell Esselstyn, Charles Grimes, Robert Morey, Rusty Wailes, and David Wight — Rowing, Men's Eights
William Yorzyk — Swimming, Men's 200m Butterfly
Shelley Mann — Swimming, Women's 100m Butterfly
Charles Vinci — Weightlifting, Men's Bantamweight
Isaac Berger — Weightlifting, Men's Featherweight
Tommy Kono — Weightlifting, Men's Light Heavyweight
Paul Edward Anderson — Weightlifting, Men's Heavyweight
Lawrence Low and Bert Williams — Sailing, Men's Star

Silver[]

Thane Baker — Athletics, Men's 100 metres
Andy Stanfield — Athletics, Men's 200 metres
Jack Davis — Athletics, Men's 110m Hurdles
Eddie Southern — Athletics, Men's 400m Hurdles
Bob Gutowski — Athletics, Men's Pole Vault
John Bennett — Athletics, Men's Long Jump
Bill Nieder — Athletics, Men's Shot Put
Fortune Gordien — Athletics, Men's Discus Throw
Rafer Johnson — Athletics, Men's Decathlon
Willye White — Athletics, Women's Long Jump
José Torres — Boxing, Men's Light Middleweight
Don Harper — Diving, Men's Springboard
Gary Tobian — Diving, Men's Platform
Jeanne Stunyo — Diving, Women's Springboard
Juno Irwin — Diving, Women's Platform
Bill André, Jack Daniels, and George Lambert — Modern Pentathlon, Men's Team Competition
Pat Costello and Jim Gardiner — Rowing, Men's Double Sculls
James McIntosh, Art McKinlay, John McKinlay, and John Welchli — Rowing, Men's Coxless Fours
George Breen, Richard Hanley, Ford Konno, and Bill Woolsey — Swimming, Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay
Carin Cone — Swimming, Women's 100m Backstroke
Nancy Ramey — Swimming, Women's 100m Butterfly
Shelley Mann, Joan Rosazza, Sylvia Ruuska, and Nancy Simons — Swimming, Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay
Peter George — Weightlifting, Men's Middleweight
David Sheppard — Weightlifting, Men's Middle Heavyweight
Daniel Hodge — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle Middleweight

Bronze[]

Thane Baker — Athletics, Men's 200 metres
Joel Shankle — Athletics, Men's 110m Hurdles
Josh Culbreath — Athletics, Men's 400m Hurdles
Des Koch — Athletics, Men's Discus Throw
Isabelle Daniels, Mae Faggs, Margaret Matthews, and Wilma Rudolph — Athletics, Women's 4 × 100 m Relay
Dick Connor — Diving, Men's Platform
Paula Jean Myers-Pope — Diving, Women's Platform
John Kelly — Rowing, Men's Single Sculls
Offutt Pinion — Shooting, Men's Free Pistol
George Breen — Swimming, Men's 400m Freestyle
George Breen — Swimming, Men's 1500m Freestyle
Frank McKinney — Swimming, Men's 100m Backstroke
Sylvia Ruuska — Swimming, Women's 400m Freestyle
Mary Sears — Swimming, Women's 100m Butterfly
James George — Weightlifting, Men's Light Heavyweight
Peter Blair — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle Light Heavyweight
John Marvin — Sailing, Men's Finn

Athletics[]

Men's Marathon

Nick Costes — 2:42:20 (→ 20th place)
John J. Kelley — 2:43:40 (→ 21st place)
Dean Thackwray — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Basketball[]

Boxing[]

Canoeing[]

Cycling[]

Sprint

Jack Disney — 5th place

Time trial

Allen Bell — 1:12.8 (→ 10th place)

Tandem

Donald Ferguson
James Rossi — 8th place

Team pursuit

Allen Bell
Art Longsjo
David Rhoads
Richard Cortright — 15th place

Individual road race

Joseph Becker — 5:38:16 (→ 43rd place)
David Rhoads — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Erhard Neumann — did not finish (→ no ranking)
George Van Meter — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Diving[]

Men's 10m Platform

Gary Tobian

Preliminary Round — 76.77
Final — 152.41 (→ Silver Medal)

Richard Connor

Preliminary Round — 80.24
Final — 149.79 (→ Bronze Medal)

William Farrell

Preliminary Round — 75.07
Final — 139.12 (→ 6th place)

Women's 10m Platform

Pat McCormick

Preliminary Round — 51.28
Final — 84.85 (→ Gold Medal)

Juno Stover-Irwin

Preliminary Round — 50.81
Final — 81.64 (→ Silver Medal)

Paula Jean Myers-Pope

Preliminary Round — 52.96
Final — 81.58 (→ Bronze Medal)

Fencing[]

18 fencers represented the United States in 1956.

Men's foil

Albie Axelrod
Hal Goldsmith
Byron Krieger

Men's team foil

Albie Axelrod, Daniel Bukantz, Hal Goldsmith, Byron Krieger, Nate Lubell, Sewall Shurtz

Men's épée

Men's team épée

Sewall Shurtz, Richard Pew, Ralph Goldstein, Abram Cohen, Kinmont Hoitsma

Men's sabre

Allan Kwartler
George Worth
Tibor Nyilas

Men's team sabre

Tibor Nyilas, George Worth, Abram Cohen, Rex Dyer, Allan Kwartler, Norman Cohn-Armitage

Women's foil

Jan York-Romary
Maxine Mitchell
Judy Goodrich

Football (soccer)[]

Preliminary Round

Lost to Yugoslavia (1-9) → did not advance

Team Roster

John Carden^{[citation needed]}
Ronald Coder^{[citation needed]}
Bill Conterio^[2]
Rolf Decker^{[citation needed]}
Jim Dorrian^[2]
Svend Engedal^[2]
Harry Keough^[2]
Bill Looby^[2]
Alfonso Marina^{[citation needed]}
Ruben Mendoza^[2]
Lloyd Monsen^[2]
Ed Murphy^[2]
Dick Packer
Zenon Snylyk^[2]
Herman Wecke^[2]
Siegbert Wirth^{[citation needed]}
Al Zerhusen^[2]

Head Coach: Jimmy Mills^{[citation needed]}

Gymnastics[]

Hockey[]

Team Roster

Kurt Ucko

Modern pentathlon[]

Three pentathletes represented the United States in 1956, winning silver in the team event.

Individual

George Lambert
Bill Andre
Jack Daniels

Team

George Lambert
Bill Andre
Jack Daniels

Rowing[]

The United States had 26 rowers participate in all seven rowing events in 1956.^[3]

Men's single sculls

John B. Kelly

Men's double sculls

Men's coxless pair

Men's coxed pair

Arthur Ayrault
Conn Findlay
Kurt Seiffert (cox)

Men's coxless four

Men's coxed four

James Wynne
Douglas Turner
James McMullen
Ronald Cardwell
Edward Masterson (cox)

Men's eight

Sailing[]

Shooting[]

Eight shooters represented the United States in 1956. Offutt Pinion won the bronze medal in the 50 m pistol event.

25 m pistol

50 m pistol

300 m rifle, three positions

50 m rifle, three positions

Art Jackson
Verle Wright, Jr.

50 m rifle, prone

Art Jackson
Verle Wright, Jr.

Swimming[]

Water polo[]

Weightlifting[]

Wrestling[]

References[]

^ "United States at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "United States Football at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "US Rowing at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2018.

[sports-reference-1] "United States at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2010-10-21.

[SR_1956_USA_football_roster-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "United States Football at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2016.

[3] Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "US Rowing at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

show v t Nations at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden
Africa	(Egypt)* Ethiopia Kenya Liberia Nigeria South Africa Uganda
America	Argentina Bahamas Bermuda Brazil British Guiana Canada Chile Colombia Cuba Jamaica Mexico Peru Puerto Rico Trinidad United States Uruguay Venezuela
Asia	Afghanistan Burma (Cambodia)* Ceylon Republic of China Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Israel Japan South Korea Malaya North Borneo Pakistan Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam
Europe	Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Denmark Finland France Germany Great Britain Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Luxembourg (Netherlands)* Norway Poland Portugal Romania Soviet Union (Spain)* Sweden (Switzerland)* Turkey Yugoslavia
Oceania	Australia Fiji New Zealand
Nations in bullet brackets indicating competed at the Equestrian events (Stockholm only)