On 22 November 1956, 103 000 fans packed the Melbourne Cricket Ground, as 19-year-old runner Ron Clarke lit the Olympic Cauldron to start the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games.
More than 3300 athletes from around the world competed in Melbourne, which were the first Games in the Southern Hemisphere and remain the most southerly city to host an Olympics.
The Australian Olympic Team was both the largest and most successful ever to that point, with the 323 strong Team winning 13 gold, eight silver and 14 bronze medals to finish third on the medal tally – more than doubling any previous Olympic medal tally.
The Games gave the world iconic sporting memories over 16 days of competition.
Clarke and the Cauldron
After the parade of nations, Ron Clarke entered the MCG, running a lap with a lit torch in front of an MCG capacity crowd of 103 000 cheering fans. While he went on to become one of Australia’s best ever middle distance runners, the then- relatively unknown Clarke lit the cauldron, sputtering with magnesium, to officially launch the Games.
The fastest mile runner in the world at the time, john Landy, recited the Athletes’ Oath, and Australia was led in by rower Mervyn Wood as flagbearer.
Unstoppable swimmers
The Australian swimmers had an incredible meet, winning every single men’s and women’s freestyle event on the way to eight gold, four silver and two bronze. Murray Rose won three gold, with Dawn Fraser, Loraine Crapp and Jon Henricks claiming two gold each.
Amazing Athletics
Headlined by Betty Cuthbert, Australia’s track and field athletes thrilled massive crowds at the MCG. Cuthbert won three gold medals, taking the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay triple, while Shirley Strickland won the 80m hurdles.
Olympic History in a Home-made Canoe
Dennis Green and Wally Mason made history as the first non-Europeans to win an Olympic medal in Canoe Sprint, claiming bronze in the K2 10 000m. What’s even more remarkable is the pair did it in a home-made canoe, with Green and Mason building the canoe to race specifications in their living room. Champion surf lifesavers and surf boat paddlers, the pair won Olympic bronze in their first official sprint canoe race.
The Friendly Games… For Most
While they were dubbed the Friendly Games due to the atmosphere of friendship and community displayed throughout the Games, they are also remembered for a ferocious water polo matchup that was anything but.
With Hungary in revolt against Soviet occupation and military escalation just a month prior to the Games, the men’s Water Polo match between USSR and Hungary was dubbed the ‘blood in the water’ game. With Hungary leading 4-0, a flurry of fights that threatened to spill into the stands caused the game to be cancelled, with Hungary declared the victors.
United Germany
The Opening Ceremony also saw East and West Germany march and compete together as a combined Team.
A Melbourne Games… Except Equestrian
Strict quarantine regulations meant the Equestrian program was unable to be held in Melbourne. With Australian bio-security laws requiring a 6-month pre shipment quarantine for any international horses entering Australia, the Equestrian programme was held in Stockholm, Sweden, from 11-17 June.
A four-strong Australian Team ironically competed at their ‘home’ Olympics, on the other side of the world. The team of Albert Jacobs, Brian Crago, Ernest Barker and Wyatt Thompson finished fourth, and did return to Melbourne in November to march with the full Australian team (without their horses).
Just in Time for TV
Australian television started broadcasting in September 1956, just months before the Games. All three Australian broadcasters shared the rights, bringing the Games to Australians around the country.
A Closing Ceremony That Started a Tradition
Melbourne saw the first time all competing athletes marched together in the Closing Ceremony. The brainchild of school student John Ian Wing – his letter to the Organising Committee just days before the Closing Ceremony to allow all athletes to march together created history, with the end of Games celebration still celebrated this way 65 years later.
Olympic History Living On
Memories from Melbourne 1956 remains ingrained in the MCG, with the Australian Sports Museum, built in the Olympic Stand of the MCG, housing memorabilia including the Olympic cauldron.
