Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics

At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, swimmers from many countries came together to race in 13 events. Seven events were for men, and six were for women. Athletes from 33 countries joined the competition.

A special part of these games was the first time the butterfly stroke was raced alone, which made the events even more exciting.

Australia did very well, winning more gold medals than any other country. They won 8 gold medals out of 13 and got a total of 14 medals. This showed how strong and skilled the Australian swimmers were. The swimming races were a wonderful show of talent and good sportsmanship, and they made the 1956 Games remembered for many years.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Australia	8	4	2	14
2	United States	2	4	5	11
3	Japan	1	4	0	5
4	Great Britain	1	0	1	2
	United Team of Germany	1	0	1	2
6	Hungary	0	1	1	2
7	Soviet Union	0	0	2	2
8	South Africa	0	0	1	1
Totals (8 entries)		13	13	13	39

Medalists

Men's events

Women's events

The 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne had fun swimming races. There were 13 swimming events, seven for boys and six for girls. Swimmers from 33 countries joined in, making it a worldwide event. An exciting new part was the butterfly stroke, which was a separate race for the first time.

Participating nations

There were 235 swimmers from 33 different countries who took part in the swimming events at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

•  Australia (26)
•  Belgium (6)
•  Brazil (4)
•  Canada (8)
•  Colombia (3)
•  Cuba (2)
•  Czechoslovakia (2)
•  Denmark (2)
•  Finland (1)
•  France (16)
•  United Team of Germany (18)
•  Great Britain (18)
•  Hong Kong (2)
•  Hungary (16)
•  India (2)
•  Indonesia (3)
•  Israel (1)
•  Italy (7)
•  Japan (19)
•  Kenya (1)
•  Luxembourg (1)
•  Malaya (2)
•  Mexico (4)
•  New Zealand (5)
•  Pakistan (3)
•  Philippines (8)
•  Poland (1)
•  Romania (2)
•  South Africa (8)
•  Sweden (5)
•  Soviet Union (10)
•  United States (28)
•  Yugoslavia (1)