Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

The men's marathon at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held on Saturday December 1, 1956. There were 46 participants from 23 nations, with 13 runners not completing the race.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 1 minute 32 seconds by Alain Mimoun of France, the nation's first Olympic marathon victory since 1928 and third overall. Yugoslavia took its first Olympic marathon medal with Franjo Mihalić's silver. Finland returned to the podium in the event for the first time since 1932 (the end of a four-Games medal streak for the nation) as Veikko Karvonen took bronze.

Men's marathon 45km
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Alain Mimoun, winner
VenueMelbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
DatesDecember 1
Competitors46 from 23 nations
Winning time2:25:00
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Alain Mimoun
 France
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Franjo Mihalić
 Yugoslavia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Veikko Karvonen
 Finland
← 1952
1960 →

Background

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This was the 13th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1952 marathon included defending champion Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia and fifth-place finisher Veikko Karvonen of Finland. Zátopek's primary challenger was Alain Mimoun of France, who had won three silver medals in the 5000 metres and 10000 metres track events in 1948 and 1952—all behind Zátopek. Mimoun was making his marathon debut. Zátopek, on the other hand, was still recovering from hernia surgery.[2]

Burma, Ethiopia, Iran, Kenya, and New Zealand each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons; Germany appeared for the first time as the "United Team of Germany". The United States made its 13th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format and course

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Map of marathon course

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards) was run over an out-and-back course, starting and finishing at the Olympic Stadium.[2]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1956 Summer Olympics.

World record   Jim Peters (GBR) 2:17:39.4 London, United Kingdom 26 June 1954
Olympic record   Emil Zátopek (TCH) 2:23:03.2 Helsinki, Finland 27 July 1952

No new world or Olympic bests were set during the competition.

Schedule

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All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 1 December 1956 15:15 Final

Results

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Rank Athlete Nation Time
  Alain Mimoun   France 2:25:00
  Franjo Mihalić   Yugoslavia 2:26:32
  Veikko Karvonen   Finland 2:27:47
4 Lee Chang-Hoon   South Korea 2:28:45
5 Yoshiaki Kawashima   Japan 2:29:19
6 Emil Zátopek   Czechoslovakia 2:29:34
7 Ivan Filin   Soviet Union 2:30:37
8 Evert Nyberg   Sweden 2:31:12
9 Thomas Nilsson   Sweden 2:33:33
10 Eino Oksanen   Finland 2:36:10
11 Arnold Vaide   Sweden 2:36:21
12 Choi Chunk-Sik   South Korea 2:36:53
13 Paavo Kotila   Finland 2:38:59
14 Mercer Davies   South Africa 2:39:48
15 Harry Hicks   Great Britain 2:39:55
16 Hideo Hamamura   Japan 2:40:53
17 Albert Richards   New Zealand 2:41:34
18 John Russell   Australia 2:41:44
19 Lothar Beckert   United Team of Germany 2:42:10
20 Nick Costes   United States 2:42:20
21 John J. Kelley   United States 2:43:40
22 Muhamad Havlidar Aslam   Pakistan 2:44:33
23 Adolf Gruber   Austria 2:46:20
24 Aurèle Vandendriessche   Belgium 2:47:18
25 Keith Ollerenshaw   Australia 2:48:12
26 Myitung Naw   Burma 2:49:32
27 Pavel Kantorek   Czechoslovakia 2:52:05
28 Kurt Hartung   United Team of Germany 2:52:14
29 Bashay Feleke   Ethiopia 2:53:37
30 Abdul Rashid   Pakistan 2:57:47
31 Kanuti Sum   Kenya 2:58:42
32 Gebre Birkay   Ethiopia 2:58:49
33 Kurao Hiroshima   Japan 3:04:17
Giuseppe Lavelli   Italy DNF
Jan Barnard   South Africa DNF
Ron Clark   Great Britain DNF
Eduardo Fontecilla   Chile DNF
Ali Baghbanbashi   Iran DNF
Boris Grishayev   Soviet Union DNF
Les Perry   Australia DNF
Juan Silva   Chile DNF
Albert Ivanov   Soviet Union DNF
Klaus Porbadnik   United Team of Germany DNF
Fred Norris   Great Britain DNF
Im Hwa-dong   South Korea DNF
Dean Thackwray   United States DNF
Demissie Gamatcho   Ethiopia DNS
Rudy Méndez   Puerto Rico DNS

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Marathon". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
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