Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m	men		women
400 m	men		women
1500 m	men
Backstroke
100 m	men		women
Breaststroke
200 m	men		women
Butterfly
100 m			women
200 m	men
Freestyle relay
4×100 m			women
4×200 m	men

At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, 13 swimming events were contested, seven for men and six for women. There was a total of 235 participants from 33 countries competing.^[1] For the first time, the butterfly stroke was contested as a separate event. Australia dominated the medal standings with a total of 8 out of a possible 13 gold medals, eventually finishing with 14 medals overal.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Australia (AUS)	8	4	2	14
2	United States (USA)	2	4	5	11
3	Japan (JPN)	1	4	0	5
4	Great Britain (GBR)	1	0	1	2
	United Team of Germany (EUA)	1	0	1	2
6	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	1	2
7	Soviet Union (URS)	0	0	2	2
8	South Africa (RSA)	0	0	1	1

Medal summary

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Jon Henricks  Australia	55.4 (WR)	John Devitt  Australia	55.8	Gary Chapman  Australia	56.7
400 m freestyle	Murray Rose  Australia	4:27.3 (WR)	Tsuyoshi Yamanaka  Japan	4:30.4	George Breen  United States	4:32.5
1500 m freestyle	Murray Rose  Australia	17:58.9	Tsuyoshi Yamanaka  Japan	18:00.3	George Breen  United States	18:08.2
100 m backstroke	David Theile  Australia	1:02.2 (WR)	John Monckton  Australia	1:03.2	Frank McKinney  United States	1:04.5
200 m breaststroke	Masaru Furukawa  Japan	2:34.7	Masahiro Yoshimura  Japan	2:36.7	Kharis Yunichev  Soviet Union	2:36.8
200 m butterfly	William Yorzyk  United States	2:19.3	Takashi Ishimoto  Japan	2:23.8	György Tumpek  Hungary	2:23.9
4 × 200 metre freestyle relay	Australia (AUS) Kevin O'Halloran John Devitt Murray Rose Jon Henricks	8:23.6 (WR)	United States (USA) Dick Hanley George Breen Bill Woolsey Ford Konno	8:31.5	Soviet Union (URS) Vitaly Sorokin Vladimir Struzhanov Gennady Nikolayev Boris Nikitin	8:34.7

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Dawn Fraser  Australia	1:02.0 (WR)	Lorraine Crapp  Australia	1:02.3	Faith Leech  Australia	1:05.1
400 m freestyle	Lorraine Crapp  Australia	4:54.6 (OR)	Dawn Fraser  Australia	5:02.5	Sylvia Ruuska  United States	5:07.1
100 m backstroke	Judy Grinham  Great Britain	1:12.9 (WR)	Carin Cone  United States	1:12.9 (=WR)	Margaret Edwards  Great Britain	1:13.1
200 m breaststroke	Ursula Happe  United Team of Germany	2:53.1 (OR)	Éva Székely  Hungary	2:54.8	Eva-Maria Elsen  United Team of Germany	2:55.1
100 m butterfly	Shelley Mann  United States	1:11.0 (OR)	Nancy Ramey  United States	1:11.9	Mary Sears  United States	1:14.4
4 × 100 metre freestyle relay	Australia (AUS) Dawn Fraser Faith Leech Sandra Morgan Lorraine Crapp	4:17.1 (WR)	United States (USA) Sylvia Ruuska Shelley Mann Nancy Simons Joan Rosazza	4:19.2	South Africa (RSA) Natalie Myburgh Susan Roberts Moira Abernethy Jeanette Myburgh	4:25.7

Participating nations

235 swimmers from 33 nations competed.^[1]

References

Swimming at the Summer Olympics
	1896 1900 1904 1906 (Intercalated) 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
List of medalists men women List of Olympic records List of Olympic venues