Poland at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Poland at the
1956 Summer Olympics
Poland at the; 1956 Summer Olympics
IOC code	POL
NOC	Polish Olympic Committee
Website	www.pkol.pl (in Polish)
in Melbourne, Australia/Stockholm, Sweden; 22 November 1956 – 8 December 1956
Competitors	64 in 9 sports
Flag bearer	Tadeusz Rut
Medals ; Ranked 17th	Gold1Silver4Bronze4Total9
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
	1924 ; 1928 ; 1932 ; 1936 ; 1948 ; 1952 ; 1956 ; 1960 ; 1964 ; 1968 ; 1972 ; 1976 ; 1980 ; 1984; 1988 ; 1992 ; 1996 ; 2000 ; 2004 ; 2008 ; 2012 ; 2016 ; 2020 ; 2024 ;
Other related appearances
	Russian Empire (1900, 1912); Austria (1908–1912)

Last updated November 24, 2025

Poland competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. 64 competitors, 49 men and 15 women, took part in 48 events in 9 sports.^[1]

Medals

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
Gold	Elżbieta Krzesińska-Duńska	Athletics	Women's long jump
Silver	Janusz Sidło	Athletics	Men's javelin throw
Silver	Adam Smelczyński	Shooting	Men's trap
Silver	Jerzy Pawłowski	Fencing	Men's sabre
Silver	Andrzej Piątkowski Zygmunt Pawlas Wojciech Zabłocki Jerzy Pawłowski Ryszard Zub Marian Kuszewski	Fencing	Men's team sabre
Bronze	Henryk Niedźwiedzki	Boxing	Men's featherweight
Bronze	Zbigniew Pietrzykowski	Boxing	Men's middleweight
Bronze	Dorota Horzonek-Jokiel Natalia Kot Danuta Nowak-Stachow Helena Rakoczy Lidia Szczerbińska Barbara Wilk-Ślizowska	Gymnastics	Women's team portable apparatus
Bronze	Marian Zieliński	Weightlifting	Men's 60 kg

Athletics

Men
Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Jerzy Chromik	5000 metres	14:51.4	19	—				did not advance
Marian Foik	100 m	10.88	1 Q	10.83	3 Q	10.84	5	did not advance
Jan Jarzembowski	100 m	10.95	2 Q	10.98	4	did not advance
Jan Jarzembowski	200 m	21.91	4	did not advance
Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak	3000 m steeplechase	8:48.0	10 Q	—				DNF
Edward Szmidt	200 m	22.03	2 Q	21.73	6	did not advance
Kazimierz Zimny	5000 metres	DNF		—				did not advance
Zenon Baranowski Marian Foik Janusz Jarzembowski Edward Szmidt	4×100 m relay	40.97	1 Q	—		41.12	2 Q	40.75	6

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Henryk Grabowski	Long jump	7.52	1 Q	7.15	10
Zbigniew Janiszewski	Pole vault	4.15	2 Q	4.15	12
Jan Kopyto	Javelin throw	68.19	13 Q	74.28	5
Kazimierz Kropidłowski	Long jump	7.22	12 Q	7.30	6
Ryszard Malcherczyk	Triple jump	14.84	21 Q	15.54	10
Alfons Niklas	Hammer throw	58.46	4 Q	57.70	10
Tadeusz Rut	Discus throw	46.62	17	did not advance
Tadeusz Rut	Hammer throw	58.07	5 Q	53.43	14
Janusz Sidło	Javelin throw	72.00	6 Q	79.98
Zenon Ważny	Pole vault	4.15	8 Q	4.25	6

Women
Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Maria Kusion-Bibro	100 m	12.2	4	did not advance
Barbara Janiszewska	100 m	12.2	4	did not advance
Barbara Janiszewska	200 m	24.8	2 Q	—		25.2	6	did not advance
Genowefa Minicka	200 m	25.0	4	did not advance
Halina Richter-Górecka	100 m	12.2	5	did not advance
Maria Kusion-Bibro Barbara Janiszewska Genowefa Minicka Halina Richter-Górecka	4×100 m relay	46.58	4	did not advance

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Urszula Figwer	Javelin throw	47.76	2 Q	48.16	6
Elżbieta Krzesińska-Duńska	Long jump	6.13	1 Q	6.35
Maria Kusion-Bibro	Long jump	5.80	6 Q	5.79	9
Genowefa Minicka	Long jump	5.72	12 Q	5.64	12
Anna Wojtaszek	Javelin throw	44.08	12 Q	46.92	9

Boxing

Men

Athlete	Event	1 Round	2 Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Henryk Kukier	Flyweight	BYE	Warner Batchelor (AUS) L P	did not advance
Zenon Stefaniuk	Bantamweight	BYE	Claudio Barrientos (CHI) L P	did not advance
Henryk Niedźwiedzki	Featherweight	BYE	Leonard Leisching (RSA) W P	Tristan Falfán (ARG) W KO	Vladimir Safronov (URS) L P	—
Zygmunt Milewski	Lightweight	BYE	Pentti Niinivuori (FIN) W P	Harry Kurschat (FRG) L KO	did not advance
Leszek Drogosz	Light Welterweight	BYE	Vladimir Yengibaryan (URS) L P	did not advance
Tadeusz Walasek	Welterweight	Fred Tiedt (IRL) L P	did not advance
Zbigniew Pietrzykowski	Light Middleweight	Richard Karpov (URS) W P	—	Boris Nikolov (BUL) W P	László Papp (HUN) L P	—
Zbigniew Piórkowski	Middleweight	Ramón Tapia (CHI) L KO	did not advance
Andrzej Wojciechowski	Light Heavyweight	Lennart Risberg (SWE) W KO	—	Carlos Lucas (CHI) L P	did not advance

Canoeing

Sprint

Men

Athlete	Event	Heats		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Stefan Kapłaniak	K-1 1000 m	4:35.4	1 Q	4:19.8	4
Ryszard Skwarski Jerzy Górski	K-2 1000 m	4:12.6	4	Did not advance
Stefan Kapłaniak Jerzy Górski	K-2 10000 m	—		47:21.5	10

Women

Athlete	Event	Heats		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Daniela Walkowiak	K-1 500 m	2:25.8	3 Q	2:24.1	6

Fencing

Six fencers, all men, represented Poland in 1956.

Men

Ranks given are within the pool.

Fencer	Event	Elimination round		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final
Fencer	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Jerzy Pawłowski	Men's sabre	BYE		Darè (ITA) Worth (USA) Kuznetsov (URS) Cooperman (GBR) Gamot (FRA) Fadgyas (AUS)	1 Q	Kárpáti (HUN) Lefèvre (FRA) Narduzzi (ITA) Cherepovsky (URS) Stratmann (GER) Kwartler (USA) Darè (ITA)	2 Q	Kárpáti (HUN) Kuznetsov (URS) Lefèvre (FRA) Gerevich (HUN) Zabłocki (POL) Kovács (HUN) Narduzzi (ITA)
Wojciech Zabłocki		BYE		Kárpáti (HUN) Roulot (FRA) Stratmann (GER) Nyilas (USA) Hoskyns (GBR) McKenzie (AUS)	3 Q	Kovács (HUN) Gerevich (HUN) Kuznetsov (URS) Ferrari (ITA) Roulot (FRA) Worth (USA) Van Der Auwera (BEL)	4 Q	Kárpáti (HUN) Pawłowski (POL) Kuznetsov (URS) Lefèvre (FRA) Gerevich (HUN) Kovács (HUN) Narduzzi (ITA)	6
Marian Kuszewski		BYE		Gerevich (HUN) Narduzzi (ITA) Cherepovsky (URS) Van Der Auwera (BEL) Porebski (GBR) Echeverry (COL)	6	Did not advance			19
Jerzy Pawłowski Wojciech Zabłocki Marian Kuszewski Ryszard Zub Andrzej Piątkowski Zygmunt Pawlas	Team sabre	Great Britain (GBR) W 12-4	1 Q	—		United States (USA) W 10-6	2 Q	Soviet Union (URS) W 9-7 France (FRA) W 10-6 Hungary (HUN) L 4-9

Gymnastics

Artistic

Women

Athlete	Event	Final Standings						Apparatus Final
		Apparatus				Total	Rank	Apparatus				Total	Rank
		F	V	UB	BB	Total	Rank	F	V	UB	BB	Total	Rank
Dorota Horzonek-Jokiel	All-around	17.366	18.233	18.200	17.866	71.666	27	—
Natalia Kot	All-around	18.366	18.500	18.600	18.166	73.633	9	—
Danuta Nowak-Stachow	All-around	17.833	17.866	18.533	17.566	71.800	25	—
Helena Rakoczy	All-around	18.366	18.500	18.700	18.133	73.700	8	—		18.700	—	18.700	5
Lidia Szczerbińska	All-around	17.733	17.733	17.200	17.633	70.300	47	—
Barbara Wilk-Ślizowska	All-around	17.733	17.566	17.900	17.333	70.533	45	—
Dorota Horzonek-Jokiel Natalia Kot Danuta Nowak-Stachow Helena Rakoczy Lidia Szczerbińska Barbara Wilk-Ślizowska	Team all-around	90.264	90.863	91.928	89.430	436.485	4	—

Athlete	Event	Final
		Portable	Total	Rank
		Apparatus	Total	Rank
Dorota Horzonek-Jokiel Natalia Kot Danuta Nowak-Stachow Helena Rakoczy Lidia Szczerbińska Barbara Wilk-Ślizowska	Team Portable apparatus	Hoop	74.00

Rowing

Poland had eight male rowers participate in three out of seven rowing events in 1956.^[2]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heats		Repechage		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Teodor Kocerka	Single sculls	7:28.1	2 Q	BYE		9:05.7	2 Q	8:12.9	4
Zbigniew Schwarzer Henryk Jagodziński Bertold Mainka	Coxed pair	7:43.7	2 Q	BYE		9:22.8	1 Q	8:31.5	4
Kazimierz Błasiński Szczepan Grajczyk Zbigniew Paradowski Marian Nietupski	Coxless four	6:46.3	2 R	8:29.3	1 Q	8:32.0	4	Did not advance

Shooting

Two shooters represented Poland in 1956, with Adam Smelczyński winning a silver medal in the trap event.

Men

Athlete	Event	Final
Athlete	Event	Score	Rank
Adam Smelczyński	Trap	190
Zygmunt Kiszkurno	Trap	170	15

Swimming

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Elżbieta Gellner	100 metre backstroke	1:16.2	5	Did not advance

Weightlifting

Men

Athlete	Event	Military Press		Snatch		Clean & Jerk		Total	Rank
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Total	Rank
Marian Zieliński	60 kg	105	3	102.5	3	127.5	4	335
Jan Czepułkowski	67.5 kg	120	2	105	7	135	10	360	6
Krzysztof Beck	75 kg	122.5	3	112.5	6	145	6	380	6
Jan Bochenek	75 kg	120	5	112.5	6	150	3	382.5	4
Czesław Białas	90 kg	130	5	NVL		DNS		DNF

References

↑ "Poland at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Poland 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.

External links

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[sports-reference-1] "Poland at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2010-10-19.

[2] Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Poland 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]

v t e 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)