Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

Men's 100 metres at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Venue	Melbourne Cricket Ground Melbourne, Australia
Dates	23 November 1956 (heats, quarterfinals) 24 November 1956 (semifinals, final)
Competitors	65 from 31 nations
Winning time	10.5 seconds
Medalists
Bobby Morrow   United States Thane Baker   United States Hec Hogan   Australia
←  1952 1960  →

Video on YouTube Official Video @24:28

The men's 100 metres event at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 23 and 24 November. ^[1] Sixty-five athletes from 31 nations competed; each nation was limited to three athletes. The final was won by American Bobby Morrow, marking the fifth consecutive victory by a different American. Hec Hogan of Australia won that country's first medal in the event since 1900. ^[2] The competition took place in strong winds, with the final run into a 2.5 m/s (5.6 mph) headwind.

Background

This was the thirteenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. None of the finalists from 1952 returned. Notable entrants were Americans Bobby Morrow (NCAA champion, U.S. Olympic trial champion, and heavy favorite) and Ira Murchison (world record co-holder); Dave Sime was injured and did not make the American team. ^[3]

The Bahamas, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Liberia, Malay, Singapore, and Ethiopia were represented in the event for the first time. In addition, German athletes competed as the "United Team" for the first time, though pre-World War II Germany had competed many times and West Germany had competed as "Germany" in 1952. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first thirteen Olympic men's 100 metres events.^{[ citation needed ]}

Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920 to 1952: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats, of 4–6 athletes each, with the top 2 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 24 quarterfinalists were placed into 4 heats of 6 athletes. The top 3 in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, once again with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final. ^[3]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	10.1	Willie Williams	Berlin, Germany	3 August 1956
	10.1	Ira Murchison	Berlin, Germany	4 August 1956
	10.1	Leamon King	Ontario, United States	20 October 1956
	10.1	Leamon King	Santa Ana, United States	27 October 1956
Olympic record	10.3	Eddie Tolan	Los Angeles, USA	1 August 1932
	10.3	Ralph Metcalfe	Los Angeles, USA	1 August 1932
	10.3	Jesse Owens	Berlin, Germany	2 August 1936
	10.3	Harrison Dillard	London, United Kingdom	31 July 1948

Despite headwinds, Ira Murchison and Bobby Morrow each equalled the Olympic record of 10.3 seconds (hand-timed) in the quarterfinals. Morrow did it again in the semifinals.

Results

Heats

The fastest two runners in each of the twelve heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Ira Murchison	United States	10.67	Q
2	Jan Jarzembowski	Poland	10.95	Q
3	Hilmar Þorbjörnsson	Iceland	11.12
4	Mario Colarossi	Italy	11.14
5	René Ahumada	Mexico	11.26
6	Raja bin Ngah Ali	Malaya	11.41

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Mike Agostini	Trinidad and Tobago	10.98	Q
2	Luigi Gnocchi	Italy	11.01	Q
3	Titus Erinle	Nigeria	11.09
4	Jorge de Barros	Brazil	11.15
5	Vanchak Voradilok	Thailand	11.78
6	Negussie Roba	Ethiopia	12.07

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Maurice Rae	New Zealand	10.84	Q
2	Abdul Khaliq	Pakistan	10.97	Q
3	Manfred Steinbach	United Team of Germany	10.99
4	Rafael Romero	Venezuela	11.14
5	Evaristo Iglesias	Cuba	11.50

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Ben Nduga	Uganda	10.88	Q
2	Ken Box	Great Britain	10.96	Q
3	Kyohei Ushio	Japan	11.09
4	Kesavan Soon	Singapore	11.35
5	Jack Parrington	Canada	11.62

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Marian Foik	Poland	10.88	Q
2	Boris Tokarev	Soviet Union	11.09	Q
3	Franco Galbiati	Italy	11.13
4	Tom Robinson	Bahamas	11.30
5	Jalal Gozal	Indonesia	11.45
6	James Roberts	Liberia	11.45

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Manfred Germar	United Team of Germany	10.91	Q
2	Ray Land	Australia	11.05	Q
3	Keith Gardner	Jamaica	11.22
4	Alain David	France	11.24
5	Emmanuel Putu	Liberia	11.44
6	Beyene Legesse	Ethiopia	11.94

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Leonid Bartenyev	Soviet Union	10.93	Q
2	Béla Goldoványi	Hungary	11.02	Q
3	Clive Bonas	Venezuela	11.17
4	Gavin Carragher	Australia	11.36
5	Thomas Obi	Nigeria	11.47
6	Bjørn Nilsen	Norway	11.58

Heat 8

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Hector Hogan	Australia	10.72	Q
2	René Bonino	France	10.96	Q
3	Géza Varasdi	Hungary	11.00
4	Akira Kiyofuji	Japan	11.00

Heat 9

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Thane Baker	United States	10.93	Q
2	Edmund Turton	Trinidad and Tobago	11.38	Q
3	Sinnayah Karuppiah Jarabalan	Malaya	11.56
4	Tan Eng Yoon	Singapore	11.63

Heat 10

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Stan Levenson	Canada	10.94	Q
2	Heinz Fütterer	United Team of Germany	11.10	Q
3	João Pires Sobrinho	Brazil	11.14
4	Joe Goddard	Trinidad and Tobago	11.19
5	Oliver Hunter	Guyana	11.22
6	Ghulam Raziq	Pakistan	11.26

Heat 11

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Edward Ajado	Nigeria	11.01	Q
2	Roy Sandstrom	Great Britain	11.05	Q
3	Dick Harding	Canada	11.20
4	Muhammad Sharif Butt	Pakistan	11.26
5	Abebe Hailou	Ethiopia	11.54
6	Sneh Wongchaoom	Thailand	11.95

Heat 12

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bobby Morrow	United States	10.90	Q
2	Yuriy Konovalov	Soviet Union	11.04	Q
3	David Segal	Great Britain	11.19
4	Paiboon Vacharapan	Thailand	11.27
5	Lee Kah Fook	Malaya	11.84

Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bobby Morrow	United States	10.55	Q, =OR (10.3 hand)
2	Mike Agostini	Trinidad and Tobago	10.75	Q
3	Maurice Rae	New Zealand	10.78	Q
4	Béla Goldoványi	Hungary	10.95
5	Heinz Fütterer	United Team of Germany	10.99
6	Ray Land	Australia	11.15

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Ira Murchison	United States	10.55	Q, =OR (10.3 hand)
2	Abdul Khaliq	Pakistan	10.78	Q
3	Yuriy Konovalov	Soviet Union	10.93	Q
4	Luigi Gnocchi	Italy	10.96
5	Edmund Turton	Trinidad and Tobago	11.37
6	Ben Nduga	Uganda	12.95

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Hec Hogan	Australia	10.78	Q
2	Boris Tokarev	Soviet Union	10.87	Q
3	Stan Levenson	Canada	10.93	Q
4	Jan Jarzembowski	Poland	10.98
5	Edward Ajado	Nigeria	11.02
6	Ken Box	Great Britain	11.45

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Thane Baker	United States	10.62	Q
2	Manfred Germar	Germany	10.80	Q
3	Marian Foik	Poland	10.83	Q
4	Leonid Bartenev	Soviet Union	10.84
5	René Bonino	France	10.96
6	Roy Sandstrom	Great Britain	11.03

Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Ira Murchison	United States	10.79	Q
2	Mike Agostini	Trinidad and Tobago	10.79	Q
3	Manfred Germar	United Team of Germany	10.85	Q
4	Abdul Khaliq	Pakistan	10.93
5	Stan Levenson	Canada	10.94
6	Yuriy Konovalov	Soviet Union	11.11

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bobby Morrow	United States	10.52	Q, =OR (10.3 hand)
2	Thane Baker	United States	10.61	Q
3	Hec Hogan	Australia	10.62	Q
4	Maurice Rae	New Zealand	10.68
5	Marian Foik	Poland	10.84
6	Boris Tokarev	Soviet Union	10.91

Final

Wind -2.5 m/s

In lane 4, Bobby Morrow was out fast, sandwiched by his teammates Thane Baker in lane 6 and Ira Murchison in lane 1. Morrow just ran away from the field. Baker edged ahead of Murchison to get silver, and running before an Australian crowd, Hec Hogan came from behind to nip Murchison at the line. While Morrow was almost two metres ahead of Baker at the finish, the hand timing of the day gave them the same time of 10.5; the electronic timing system showed the margin to be a more accurate 0.15 of a second.

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (automatic)
	Bobby Morrow	United States	10.5	10.62
	Thane Baker	United States	10.5	10.77
	Hec Hogan	Australia	10.6	10.77
4	Ira Murchison	United States	10.6	10.79
5	Manfred Germar	United Team of Germany	10.7	10.86
6	Mike Agostini	Trinidad and Tobago	10.7	10.88

References

1. "Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's 100 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
2. Stanley Rowley's bronze medal in 1900 is retroactive; at the time, bronze medals were not awarded for third place. Thus, the 1956 Official Report states that Hogan's third-place finish "was the first time an Australian had won a sprint medal." Official Report, p. 269.
3. "100 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 21 July 2020.