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Melbourne 1956 - Summer Olympics of the XVI Olympiad

The Melbourne 1956 Games was the first time Australia hosted the Olympics.

Track Events

The four track events were held in December at the The Melbourne Olympic Velodrome (or Olympic Park Velodrome).  One main grandstand on one side with seating on the other gave the venue an estimated capacity of between over 10,000. The venue was demolished in 1972.

On the track, Victorians Ian Browne and Anthony Marchant won the 2000m tandem and Richard Ploog won bronze in the sprint.

Track Medal Summary

1000m time trial

Italy Leandro Faggin

Czechoslovakia Ladislav Foucek

South Africa Alfred Swift

Italy (ITA)

Czechoslovakia (TCH)

South Africa (RSA)

 

Sprint

France Michel Rousseau

Italy Guglielmo Pesenti

Australia Richard Ploog

 

France (FRA)

Italy (ITA)

Australia (AUS)

 

Tandem

Australia Australia (AUS)

Czechoslovakia (TCH)

Italy Italy (ITA)

Joey Browne

Ladislav Foucek

Giuseppe Ogna

Tony Marchant

Václav Machek

Cesare Pinarello

 

Team pursuit

Italy Italy (ITA)

France France (FRA)

Great Britain Great Britain (GBR)

Valentino Gasparella

Michel Vermeulin

Thomas Simpson

Antonio Domenicali

René Bianchi

Donald Burgess

Leandro Faggin

Jean Graczyk

Michael Gambrill

Franco Gandini

Jean-Claude Lecante

John Geddes

Road Events

The 187km road race was held on Friday December 7 at Broadmeadows and consisted of eleven laps of 17km course over an undulating road. The weather for the race was warm in the afternoon and was a telling factor with many withdrawals. 

There were two classes —individual and team: in the individual class 88 participants represented 28 nations and 20 nations competed in the team section. 

Ercole Baldini of Italy, already with a world title in the individual pursuit and a world record in the one-hour time trial in 1956, capped his superb season with gold in the Melbourne road race. France and Great Britain, who claimed that Baldini was shaded from the hot Australian sun by an Olympic film crew riding alongside him, challenged the Italian's Olympic victory, but it stood. (From NBC Olympics).

Road Medal Summary

Road race

Italy Ercole Baldini

France Arnaud Geyre

Great Britain Alan Jackson

Italy (ITA)

France (FRA)

Great Britain (GBR)

 

Team time trial

France France (FRA)

Great Britain Great Britain (GBR)

United Team of Germany (EUA)

Arnaud Geyre

Arthur Brittain

Reinhold Pommer

Maurice Moucheraud

William Holmes

Gustav-Adolf Schur

Michel Vermeulin

Alan Jackson

Horst Tüller

 

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