United States at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Flag of the United States
IOC code	USA
NOC	United States Olympic Committee
in Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors	297 (251 men and 46 women) in 18 sports
Flag bearer	Norman Armitage
Medals Ranked 2nd	Gold 32 Silver 25 Bronze 17 Total 74
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games

The United States competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. 297 competitors, 251 men and 46 women, took part in 139 events in 18 sports.^[1]

Medalists

Gold

• Bobby Morrow — Athletics, Men's 100 metres
• Bobby Morrow — Athletics, Men's 200 metres
• Charles Jenkins — Athletics, Men's 400 metres
• Tom Courtney — Athletics, Men's 800 metres
• Lee Calhoun — Athletics, Men's 110m Hurdles
• Glenn Davis — Athletics, Men's 400m Hurdles
• Thane Baker, Leamon King, Bobby Morrow, and Ira Murchison — Athletics, Men's 4 × 100 m Relay
• Tom Courtney, Charles Jenkins, Lou Jones, and Jesse Mashburn — Athletics, Men's 4 × 400 m Relay
• Charles Dumas — Athletics, Men's High Jump
• Bob Richards — Athletics, Men's Pole Vault
• Greg Bell — Athletics, Men's Long Jump
• Parry O'Brien — Athletics, Men's Shot Put
• Harold Connolly — Athletics, Men's Hammer Throw
• Milt Campbell — Athletics, Men's Decathlon
• Millie McDaniel — Athletics, Women's High Jump
• Al Oerter — Athletics, Men's Discus Throw
• Dick Boushka, Carl Cain, Chuck Darling, William Evans, Gib Ford, Burdette Haldorson, Bill Hougland, Bob Jeangerard, K C Jones, Bill Russell, Ron Tomsic, and Jim Walsh — Basketball, Men's
• Jim Boyd — Boxing, Men's Light Heavyweight
• Pete Rademacher — Boxing, Men's Heavyweight
• Bob Clotworthy — Diving, Men's Springboard
• Pat McCormick — Diving, Women's Springboard
• Pat McCormick — Diving, Women's Platform
• Jim Fifer and Duvall Hecht — Rowing, Men's Coxless Pairs
• Dan Ayrault, Conn Findlay, and Kurt Seiffert — Rowing, Men's Coxed Pairs
• William Becklean, Donald Beer, Thomas Charlton, John Cooke, Caldwell Esselstyn, Charles Grimes, Robert Morey, Rusty Wailes, and David Wight — Rowing, Men's Eights
• William Yorzyk — Swimming, Men's 200m Butterfly
• Shelley Mann — Swimming, Women's 100m Butterfly
• Charles Vinci — Weightlifting, Men's Bantamweight
• Isaac Berger — Weightlifting, Men's Featherweight
• Tommy Kono — Weightlifting, Men's Light Heavyweight
• Paul Edward Anderson — Weightlifting, Men's Heavyweight
• Lawrence Low and Bert Williams — Sailing, Men's Star

Silver

• Thane Baker — Athletics, Men's 100 metres
• Andy Stanfield — Athletics, Men's 200 metres
• Jack Davis — Athletics, Men's 110m Hurdles
• Eddie Southern — Athletics, Men's 400m Hurdles
• Bob Gutowski — Athletics, Men's Pole Vault
• John Bennett — Athletics, Men's Long Jump
• Bill Nieder — Athletics, Men's Shot Put
• Fortune Gordien — Athletics, Men's Discus Throw
• Rafer Johnson — Athletics, Men's Decathlon
• Willye White — Athletics, Women's Long Jump
• José Torres — Boxing, Men's Light Middleweight
• Don Harper — Diving, Men's Springboard
• Gary Tobian — Diving, Men's Platform
• Jeanne Stunyo — Diving, Women's Springboard
• Juno Irwin — Diving, Women's Platform
• Bill André, Jack Daniels, and George Lambert — Modern Pentathlon, Men's Team Competition
• Pat Costello and Jim Gardiner — Rowing, Men's Double Sculls
• James McIntosh, Art McKinlay, John McKinlay, and John Welchli — Rowing, Men's Coxless Fours
• George Breen, Richard Hanley, Ford Konno, and Bill Woolsey — Swimming, Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay
• Carin Cone — Swimming, Women's 100m Backstroke
• Nancy Ramey — Swimming, Women's 100m Butterfly
• Shelley Mann, Joan Rosazza, Sylvia Ruuska, and Nancy Simons — Swimming, Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay
• Peter George — Weightlifting, Men's Middleweight
• David Sheppard — Weightlifting, Men's Middle Heavyweight
• Daniel Hodge — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle Middleweight

Bronze

• Thane Baker — Athletics, Men's 200 metres
• Joel Shankle — Athletics, Men's 110m Hurdles
• Josh Culbreath — Athletics, Men's 400m Hurdles
• Des Koch — Athletics, Men's Discus Throw
• Isabelle Daniels, Mae Faggs, Margaret Matthews, and Wilma Rudolph — Athletics, Women's 4 × 100 m Relay
• Dick Connor — Diving, Men's Platform
• Paula Jean Myers-Pope — Diving, Women's Platform
• John Kelly — Rowing, Men's Single Sculls
• Offutt Pinion — Shooting, Men's Free Pistol
• George Breen — Swimming, Men's 400m Freestyle
• George Breen — Swimming, Men's 1500m Freestyle
• Frank McKinney — Swimming, Men's 100m Backstroke
• Sylvia Ruuska — Swimming, Women's 400m Freestyle
• Mary Sears — Swimming, Women's 100m Butterfly
• James George — Weightlifting, Men's Light Heavyweight
• Peter Blair — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle Light Heavyweight
• John Marvin — Sailing, Men's Finn

Athletics

Men's Marathon

• Nick Costes — 2:42:20 (→ 20th place)
• John J. Kelley — 2:43:40 (→ 21st place)
• Dean Thackwray — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Basketball

Boxing

Canoeing

Cycling

Sprint

• Jack Disney — 5th place

Time trial

• Allen Bell — 1:12.8 (→ 10th place)

Tandem

• Donald Ferguson
  James Rossi — 8th place

Team pursuit

• Allen Bell
  Art Longsjo
  David Rhoads
  Richard Cortright — 15th place

Individual road race

• Joseph Becker — 5:38:16 (→ 43rd place)
• David Rhoads — did not finish (→ no ranking)
• Erhard Neumann — did not finish (→ no ranking)
• George Van Meter — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Diving

Men's 10m Platform

• Gary Tobian

• Preliminary Round — 76.77
• Final — 152.41 (→ Silver Medal)

• Richard Connor

• Preliminary Round — 80.24
• Final — 149.79 (→ Bronze Medal)

• William Farrell

• Preliminary Round — 75.07
• Final — 139.12 (→ 6th place)

Women's 10m Platform

• Pat McCormick

• Preliminary Round — 51.28
• Final — 84.85 (→ Gold Medal)

• Juno Stover-Irwin

• Preliminary Round — 50.81
• Final — 81.64 (→ Silver Medal)

• Paula Jean Myers-Pope

• Preliminary Round — 52.96
• Final — 81.58 (→ Bronze Medal)

Fencing

18 fencers represented the United States in 1956.

Men's foil

• Albie Axelrod
• Hal Goldsmith
• Byron Krieger

Men's team foil

• Albie Axelrod, Daniel Bukantz, Hal Goldsmith, Byron Krieger, Nate Lubell, Sewall Shurtz

Men's épée

• Richard Pew
• Sewall Shurtz
• Kinmont Hoitsma

Men's team épée

• Sewall Shurtz, Richard Pew, Ralph Goldstein, Abram Cohen, Kinmont Hoitsma

Men's sabre

• Allan Kwartler
• George Worth
• Tibor Nyilas

Men's team sabre

• Tibor Nyilas, George Worth, Abram Cohen, Rex Dyer, Allan Kwartler, Norman Cohn-Armitage

Women's foil

• Jan York-Romary
• Maxine Mitchell
• Judy Goodrich

Football (soccer)

• Preliminary round

• Lost to Yugoslavia (1-9) → did not advance

• Team roster

• John Carden ^{[citation needed]}
• Ronald Coder ^{[citation needed]}
• Bill Conterio^[2]
• Rolf Decker ^{[citation needed]}
• Jim Dorrian^[2]
• Svend Engedal^[2]
• Harry Keough^[2]
• Bill Looby^[2]
• Alfonso Marina ^{[citation needed]}
• Ruben Mendoza^[2]
• Lloyd Monsen^[2]
• Ed Murphy^[2]
• Dick Packer
• Zenon Snylyk^[2]
• Herman Wecke^[2]
• Siegbert Wirth ^{[citation needed]}
• Al Zerhusen^[2]

Head coach: Jimmy Mills ^{[citation needed]}

Gymnastics

Hockey

• Team roster

• Kurt Ucko

Modern pentathlon

Three pentathletes represented the United States in 1956, winning silver in the team event.

Individual

• George Lambert
• Bill Andre
• Jack Daniels

Team

• George Lambert
• Bill Andre
• Jack Daniels

Rowing

The United States had 26 rowers participate in all seven rowing events in 1956.^[3]

Men's single sculls

• John B. Kelly

Men's double sculls

• Pat Costello
• Jim Gardiner

Men's coxless pair

• James Fifer
• Duvall Hecht

Men's coxed pair

• Dan Ayrault
• Conn Findlay
• Kurt Seiffert (cox)

Men's coxless four

• John Welchli
• John McKinlay
• Art McKinlay
• James McIntosh

Men's coxed four

• James Wynne
• Douglas Turner
• James McMullen
• Ronald Cardwell
• Edward Masterson (cox)

Men's eight

• Thomas Charlton
• David Wight
• John Cooke
• Donald Beer
• Caldwell Esselstyn
• Charles Grimes
• Rusty Wailes
• Robert Morey
• William Becklean (cox)

Sailing

Shooting

Eight shooters represented the United States in 1956. Offutt Pinion won the bronze medal in the 50 m pistol event.

25 m pistol

• John Beaumont
• John Forman

50 m pistol

• Offutt Pinion
• Joe Benner

300 m rifle, three positions

• James Smith
• Herbert Voelcker

50 m rifle, three positions

• Art Jackson
• Verle Wright, Jr.

50 m rifle, prone

• Art Jackson
• Verle Wright, Jr.

Swimming

Water polo

Weightlifting

Wrestling