New Zealand at the 1956 Summer Olympics
IOC code	NZL
NOC	New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association
Website	www.olympic.org.nz
in Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors	53 in 9 sports
Flag bearer	Ritchie Johnston
Officials	12
Medals Ranked 16th	Gold 2 Silver 0 Bronze 0 Total 2
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
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
Australasia (1908–1912)

New Zealand at the 1956 Summer Olympics was represented by a team of 53 competitors and 12 officials. Selection of the team for the Games in Melbourne, Australia, was the responsibility of the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association. New Zealand's flagbearer at the opening ceremony was Ritchie Johnston. The New Zealand team finished 16th on the medal table, winning a total of two medals, both of which were gold.

Medal tables

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Norman Read	Athletics	Men's 50 km walk	24 November
Gold	Jack Cropp Peter Mander	Sailing	12 m² Sharpie	29 November

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
Athletics	1	0	0	1
Sailing	1	0	0	1
Total	2	0	0	2

Medals by gender
Gender				Total
Male	2	0	0	2
Female	0	0	0	0
Total	2	0	0	2

Athletics

Track and road

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank[i]	Result	Rank[ii]	Result	Rank[iii]	Result	Rank
Murray Halberg	Men's 1500 m	3:57.2	4 Q	—				3:45.2	11
Maurice Rae	Men's 100 m	10.7	1 Q	10.6	3 Q	10.5	4	did not advance
	Men's 200 m	21.4	2 Q	22.0	2 Q	21.5	6	did not advance
Norman Read	Men's 50 km walk	—						4:30:42.8
Albert Richards	Men's marathon	—						2:41:34	17
Neville Scott	Men's 1500 m	3:48.0	1 Q	—				3:42.8	7
Margaret Stuart	Women's 80 m hurdles	11.3	3 Q	—		11.3	6	did not advance
	Women's 100 m	12.3	3	—		did not advance

Field

Boxing

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final	Rank
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Paddy Donovan	Men's lightweight	Ishimaru (JPN) L PTS	did not advance				=17
Graham Finlay	Men's welterweight	—	Hogarth (AUS) L PTS	did not advance			=9

Cycling

Track

Men's 1000 m time trial

Men's sprint

Athlete	Round 1	Round 1 repechage		Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
	Opposition Result	Heat	Final	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Warren Johnston	Fouček (TCH)  Nyman (FIN) 2 R	Masanés (CHI)  Harrison (GBR) W 12.0	Godefroid (BEL) W 12.4	Romanov (URS) W, W	Rousseau (FRA) L, L	Ploog (AUS) L, L	4

Men's tandem

Athlete	Round 1	Round 1 repechage	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM	Rank
	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Ritchie Johnston Warren Johnston	United States  Soviet Union W 11.3	—	Czechoslovakia L	did not advance		=5

Men's team pursuit

Athlete	Round 1	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM	Rank
	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Warwick Dalton Donald Eagle Bruce Kent Neil Ritchie	Uruguay W 4:55.6	France L 4:56.4	did not advance		=5

Alan Larkins was a reserve for the team pursuit but did not compete.

Field hockey

Men's tournament

The men's field hockey team from New Zealand made its Olympic debut in Melbourne. Before 1956, the only international hockey team apart from Australia that New Zealand had played against was India.

Team roster

Group C

24 November 1956 (1956-11-24) 14:30 Germany  5–4 (3–3)  New Zealand

27 November 1956 (1956-11-27) 14:30 Pakistan  5–1 (2–0)  New Zealand

29 November 1956 (1956-11-29) 16:00 New Zealand  3–0 (1–0)  Belgium

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Qualification
Pakistan	3	2	1	0	7	1	5	Advance to semi-finals
Germany	3	1	2	0	5	4	4	Advance to semi-finals
New Zealand	3	1	0	2	8	10	2	5th–8th classification round
Belgium	3	0	1	2	0	5	1	5th–8th classification round

5th–8th Classification round

3 December 1956 (1956-12-03) New Zealand  13–0  Singapore

4 December 1956 (1956-12-04) Australia  1–0  New Zealand

6 December 1956 (1956-12-06) New Zealand  3–2  Belgium

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Overall rank
Australia	3	2	1	0	8	2	5	5
New Zealand	3	2	0	1	16	3	4	6
Belgium	3	1	1	1	9	5	3	7
Singapore	3	0	0	3	0	23	0	8

Rowing

In 1956, New Zealand entered boats in three of the seven events.^[1] The competition was for men only; women would first row at the 1976 Summer Olympics.^[2] Don Rowlands travelled to the Summer Olympics as a reserve but did not compete.^{[citation needed]}

Sailing

Athlete	Event	Race							Net points	Final rank
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Jack Cropp Peter Mander (helm)	12 m² Sharpie	914	1215	516	613	1215	1215	914	6086
Albert Cuthbertson Robert Stewart (helm) William Swinnerton	Dragon	351	0 DSQ	129	828	305	0 DSQ	402	2015	12

Swimming

Weightlifting

Wrestling

Athlete	Event	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
John da Silva	Men's freestyle heavyweight	Vykhristyuk (URS) L 0–3	Noori (IRI) L 0–3	Eliminated

Officials

Chef de mission – Lloyd Woods^[3][4]