The 1956 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which were held in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 1956.
Olympic Stadium is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words Olympic Stadium as part of their names, such as stadiums in Amsterdam, Berlin, Helsinki and Paris. Olympic Stadium may also be named a multi-purpose stadium which hosts Olympic sports.
This is the full table of the medal table of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden. These rankings sort by the number of gold medals earned by a country. The number of silvers is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically. This follows the system used by the IOC, IAAF and BBC.
Stockholm Olympic Stadium, most often called Stockholms stadion or simply Stadion, is a stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. Designed by architect Torben Grut, it was opened in 1912, its original use was as a venue for the 1912 Olympic Games. At the 1912 Games, it hosted the athletics, some of the equestrian, some of the football, gymnastics, the running part of the modern pentathlon, tug of war, and wrestling events. It has a capacity of 13,145–14,500 depending on usage and a capacity of nearly 33,000 for concerts.
The equestrian events at the 1956 Summer Olympics were held in Stockholm due to the Australian quarantine regulations and included dressage, eventing, and show jumping. All three disciplines had both individual and team competitions. The competitions were held from 11 to 17 June 1956 at Stockholm Olympic Stadium. There were 158 entries from 29 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, USA and Venezuela. This would be the first appearance for Australia, Cambodia and Venezuela in equestrian events.
Denmark competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden. 31 competitors, 27 men and 4 women, took part in 25 events in 10 sports.
Argentina competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden. 28 competitors, 27 men and 1 woman, took part in 27 events in 8 sports.
Sweden first participated at the Olympic Games at the inaugural 1896 Games, and has sent athletes to compete in every Games since then with one exception, the sparsely attended 1904 Summer Olympics. Sweden has earned medals at all Olympic games except for two, the 1896 Games and the 1904 Games. The only other nation having earned medals at every Olympic game since 1908 is Sweden's neighboring country Finland.
Cambodia competed in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 1956 Summer Olympics. Because Cambodia decided to join the boycott over the Suez Crisis, the nation did not send any athletes to Melbourne, Australia where all but equestrian events were held in late November, and early December. To accommodate Australia's strict animal quarantine regulations, Dressage, Eventing, and Show Jumping were held in June at Stockholm Olympic Stadium. Two Cambodian riders, Isoup Ganthy, and Saing Pen, competed in the equestrian events.
Egypt boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, because of the British and French involvement in the Suez Crisis. The equestrian events for the 1956 Games, however, were held in Stockholm, Sweden, five months earlier, due to Australian quarantine regulations, and three Egyptian riders competed in the show jumping events. None of the athletes won individual medals and they failed to place in the team competition due to one rider's failure to finish the individual tournament.
Sweden competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations. Instead, those events were held five months earlier in Stockholm, Sweden.
Germany was represented at the 1956 Summer Olympics by a United Team of Germany of athletes from the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and, for the first time at Summer Games, also from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) which had not joined in 1952. Also, the Saarland athletes who had to enter as a separate team in 1952 could now join in even though the accession of their state was not yet in effect. Thus, this was the only Olympic team ever to comprise athletes from three German states.
Norway competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden. 22 competitors, 19 men and 3 women, took part in 18 events in 6 sports.
Switzerland boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary. However, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden earlier in the year because of the Australian quarantine laws. The Swiss team competed in Stockholm, winning a bronze medal.
Spain boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary. However, the equestrian events for the 1956 Games were held in Stockholm, Sweden five months earlier, and six Spanish riders competed.
Egypt first participated at the Olympic Games in 1912, and has sent athletes to compete in most editions of the Summer Olympic since then. Along with Iraq and Lebanon, Egypt boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in protest of the tripartite Israeli, British, and French invasion of Egypt in the Suez War. However, the equestrian events for the 1956 Games were held in Stockholm, Sweden five months earlier, and three Egyptian riders competed there. Egypt withdrew from the 1976 Summer Olympics after three days of competition to join the broad African boycott in response to the participation of New Zealand, who still had sporting links with apartheid South Africa. Egypt also participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. Egypt's lone participation at the Winter Olympic Games was a single alpine skier in 1984.
Cambodia has competed in nine Summer Olympic Games. They have never won an Olympic Medal. They have never appeared in the Winter Olympic Games.
Gehnäll Persson was a Swedish Army fanjunkare and equestrian.
For the 1956 Summer Olympics, events were staged in a total of thirteen sports venues in Melbourne, Victoria, one in Ballarat, Victoria, and three sports venues in Stockholm, Sweden. The equestrian events took place in Stockholm in June 1956, due to Australia's strict quarantine laws on equestrianism, and the other Olympic events took place in Melbourne later in the year, between late November and early December.
