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Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

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Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Jon Henricks
VenueMelbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre
Dates29–30 November
Competitors34 from 19 nations
Winning time55.4 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jon Henricks
 Australia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) John Devitt
 Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Gary Chapman
 Australia
← 1952
1960 →

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1956 Olympic Games took place between 29 and 30 November.[1] There were 34 competitors from 19 nations.[2] Nations had been limited to three swimmers each since the 1924 Games. The event was won by Jon Henricks of Australia, the nation's first medal in the event. Australia would win a second 0.4 seconds later (John Devitt's silver) and a third 0.9 seconds after that (Gary Chapman's bronze), sweeping the podium—the first sweep in the men's 100 metre freestyle since the United States did it in 1920 and 1924, and the first sweep of any event by Australian competitors.[2] This year, the Americans finished fourth through sixth. It was the first time since 1924 that Japan had competed (that is, excluding 1948) but not medaled.

Background

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This was the 12th appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.[2]

Two of the eight finalists from the 1952 Games returned: silver medalist Hiroshi Suzuki of Japan and seventh-place finisher Aldo Eminente of France. The favorite in 1956 was Jon Henricks of Australia, a converted distance swimmer who had begun racing sprints in 1953.[2]

Colombia and Indonesia each made their debut in the event; East and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany for the first time. The United States made its 12th appearance, having competed at each edition of the event to date.

Competition format

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The competition used a three-round (heats, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952 (though with only 2 semifinals instead of 3). A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 5 heats of 6 or 7 swimmers each. The top 16 swimmers advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals of 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1956 Summer Olympics.

World record  Dick Cleveland (USA) 54.8 New Haven, United States 1 April 1954
Olympic record  Clarke Scholes (USA) 57.1 Helsinki, Finland 27 July 1952

Reid Patterson broke the Olympic record in the fourth heat with a time of 56.8 seconds; in the same heat, Atsushi Tani tied the old record. In the first semifinal, Jon Henricks broke Patterson's new record with a 55.7 second time. Dick Hanley came in under the old record time; in the second semifinal, Patterson matched the pre-1956 record, Gary Chapman, beat the pre-1956 record, and John Devitt beat Patterson's mark from the heats. Henrick's final time of 55.4 was another new Olympic record as well as the world competitive (non-time trial) record.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Thursday, 29 November 1956 14:00
20:35
Heats
Semifinals
Friday, 30 November 1956 19:55 Final

Results

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Heats

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Five heats were held; the fastest sixteen swimmers advanced to the semifinal round.

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 4 Reid Patterson  United States 56.8 Q, OR
2 4 Atsushi Tani  Japan 57.1 Q
3 3 John Devitt  Australia 57.2 Q
4 1 Jon Henricks  Australia 57.3 Q
5 2 Manabu Koga  Japan 57.7 Q
6 5 Gary Chapman  Australia 57.8 Q
1 Dick Hanley  United States 57.8 Q
8 2 Aldo Eminente  France 58.0 Q
9 5 Bill Woolsey  United States 58.2 Q
10 3 Paolo Pucci  Italy 58.3 Q
5 Ronald Roberts  Great Britain 58.3 Q
12 3 Hiroshi Suzuki  Japan 58.4 Q
3 Paul Voell  United Team of Germany 58.4 Q
14 5 Gyula Dobay  Hungary 58.5 Q
4 Carlo Pedersoli  Italy 58.5 Q
16 2 Vitaly Sorokin  Soviet Union 58.6 Q
17 5 George Park  Canada 58.8
18 1 Billy Steuart  South Africa 59.2
19 3 Kenneth Williams  Great Britain 59.4
20 3 Dennis Ford  South Africa 59.5
21 1 Lev Balandin  Soviet Union 59.6
22 2 Cheung Kin Man  Hong Kong 59.8
1 Karri Käyhkö  Finland 59.8
1 Hans Köhler  United Team of Germany 59.8
25 4 Haroldo Lara  Brazil 59.9
26 2 Horst Bleeker  United Team of Germany 1:00.1
4 Habib Nasution  Indonesia 1:00.1
28 5 Dakula Arabani  Philippines 1:00.2
4 Alex Jany  France 1:00.2
2 Sergio Martínez  Colombia 1:00.2
31 2 Peter Duncan  South Africa 1:00.4
32 1 André Laurent  Belgium 1:00.7
5 Wan Shiu Ming  Hong Kong 1:00.7
34 3 Sri Chand Bajaj  India 1:01.6

Semifinals

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Two heats were held; the swimmers with the fastest eight times advanced to the final.

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 1 Jon Henricks  Australia 55.7 Q, OR
2 2 John Devitt  Australia 56.4 Q
3 2 Gary Chapman  Australia 56.9 Q
1 Dick Hanley  United States 56.9 Q
5 2 Reid Patterson  United States 57.1 Q
6 1 Atsushi Tani  Japan 57.4 Q
7 1 Aldo Eminente  France 58.0 Q
2 Bill Woolsey  United States 58.0 Q
9 1 Hiroshi Suzuki  Japan 58.0
10 2 Gyula Dobay  Hungary 58.1
2 Manabu Koga  Japan 58.1
12 1 Vitaly Sorokin  Soviet Union 58.2
13 2 Paul Voell  United Team of Germany 58.6
14 1 Paolo Pucci  Italy 58.8
15 2 Ronald Roberts  Great Britain 58.9
16 1 Carlo Pedersoli  Italy 59.0

Final

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jon Henricks  Australia 55.4 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) John Devitt  Australia 55.8
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Gary Chapman  Australia 56.7
4 Reid Patterson  United States 57.2
5 Dick Hanley  United States 57.6
6 Bill Woolsey  United States 57.6
7 Atsushi Tani  Japan 58.0
8 Aldo Eminente  France 58.1

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  • Official Report, pp. 593–94.