Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, represented by the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...

(BOA), competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. British athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games. 189 competitors, 163 men and 26 women, took part in 108 events in 17 sports. The Melbourne Games saw an improvement on Great Britain and Northern Ireland's performance at the two preceding Games. British athletes won six gold medals (up from just one in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

). Overall, they won twenty-four medals, finishing eighth.

Medallists

Gold

Chris Brasher Christopher William Brasher CBE (21 August 1928 – 28 February 2003) was a British track and field athlete, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon. Early life and education Born in Georgetown, British Guiana, Brasher went t ...

— Athletics, Men's 3.000m Steeplechase *

Terence Spinks Terence "Terry" George Spinks MBE (28 February 1938 – 26 April 2012) was a boxer from Great Britain, who won the gold medal in the flyweight division (– 51 kg) at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. In the fi ...

— Boxing, Men's Flyweight * Richard McTaggart — Boxing, Men's Lightweight * Bertie Hill, Arthur Rook, and Francis Weldon — Equestrian, Three-Day Event Team * Gillian Sheen — Fencing, Women's Foil Individual * Judy Grinham — Swimming, Women's 100m Backstroke

Silver

* Derek Johnson — Athletics, Men's 800m * Gordon Pirie — Athletics, Men's 5.000m * Jean Scrivens,

Heather Armitage Heather Joy Armitage (later ''Young'', then ''McClelland;'' born 17 March 1933) is a British retired sprinter and British record holder for the 100 yards. Sporting career Armitage won her first major title representing Yorkshire in the all En ...

June Foulds June Florence Paul (née Foulds; 13 June 1934 – 6 November 2020) was a British track and field sprint runner. Personal life Born June Florence Foulds in Shepherd's Bush in 1934, she was brought up by her grandparents. She married British ...

, and Anne Pashley — Athletics, Women's 4 × 100 m Relay * Thelma Hopkins — Athletics, Women's High Jump * Thomas Nicholls — Boxing, Men's Featherweight * Arthur Brittain,

William Holmes William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, and

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country"), as well as penning many ...

— Cycling, Men's Team Road Race * Robert Perry, David Bowker,

John Dillon John Dillon (4 September 1851 – 4 August 1927) was an Irish politician from Dublin, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 35 years and was the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. By political disposition Dillon was an a ...

, and Neil Kennedy-Cochran — Sailing, Men's 5½ Meter Classo

Bronze

* Derek Ibbotson — Athletics, Men's 5.000m * Michael Wheeler, Peter Higgins, Derek Johnson, and John Salisbury — Athletics, Men's 4 × 400 m Relay *

Nicholas Gargano Nicolo Gargano (1 November 1934 – 28 March 2016) was an English boxer, who won the bronze medal in the welterweight division (– 67 kg) at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. He fought as Nicky Gargano. Amateur c ...

— Boxing, Men's Welterweight * John McCormack — Boxing, Men's Light Middleweight *

Tom Simpson Thomas Simpson (30 November 1937 – 13 July 1967) was one of Britain's most successful professional cyclists. He was born in Haswell, County Durham, and later moved to Harworth, Nottinghamshire. Simpson began road cycling as a teenager ...

, Donald Burgess, Michael Gambrill, and John Geddes — Cycling, Men's 4.000m Team Pursuit *

— Cycling, Men's Individual Road Race * Francis Weldon — Equestrian, Three-Day Event Individual * Peter Robeson,

Pat Smythe Patricia Rosemary "Pat" Smythe, OBE (22 November 1928 – 27 February 1996) was a British show jumper. She competed at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics, winning a team bronze medal in 1956. She served as president of the British Show Jumpin ...

, and Wilf White — Equestrian, Jumping Team * Margaret Edwards — Swimming, Women's 100m Backstroke * Terence Smith and Jasper Blackall — Sailing, Men's Sharpie 12m² * Graham Mann, Ronald Backus, and Jonathan Janson — Sailing, Men's Dragon

Athletics

Men's 110m Hurdles * Peter Hildreth :* Heat — 14.5s (→ did not advance) * Jack Parker :* Heat — 14.8s (→ did not advance) Men's 1500m * Brian Hewson :* Final— 3:42.6 (→ 5th place) *Ian Boyd :* Final— 3:43.0 (→ 8th place) *Ken Wood :* Final— 3:44.76 (→ 9th place) Men's Marathon * Harry Hicks — 2:39:55 (→ 15th place) *

Fred Norris Eric Fred Norris (born Fred Leo Nukis; July 9, 1955) is an American radio personality and the longest-tenured staff member of ''The Howard Stern Show'', aside from Stern himself. He first met Howard Stern while working at WCCC-FM, a radio stat ...

— did not finish (→ no ranking) * Ron Clark — did not finish (→ no ranking) Women's Discus Throw * Suzanne Allday :* Qualifying Round — 41.45 m (→ did not advance, 14th place)

Boxing

Men's Light Flyweight (– 48 kg) * Owen Reilly Men's Flyweight (– 51 kg) *

Men's Bantamweight (– 54 kg) * Thomas Nicholls Men's Featherweight (– 57 kg) * Richard McTaggart Men's Light Welterweight (– 63.5 kg) *

Men's Light Middleweight (– 67 kg) * John McCormack Men's Middleweight (– 75 kg) * Ron Redrup

Canoeing

Cycling

; Sprint *

Keith Harrison John Keith Harrison (June 18, 1945 – April 10, 2019) was a Canadian novelist. He published five novels. Early life and education Harrison was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His education included an English degree from the Univ ...

— 15th place ;

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

Alan Danson Alan Danson (27 January 1928 – 16 August 1988) was a British cyclist. He competed in the time trial event at the 1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international ...

— 1:12.3 (→ 5th place) ;

Tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

Eric Thompson Eric Norman Thompson (9 November 1929 – 30 November 1982) was an English actor, scriptwriter and stage director. He is best remembered for creating and performing the English narration for ''The Magic Roundabout'', which he adapted from ...

Peter Brotherton — 4th place ;

Team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

* Donald Burgess
John Geddes
Michael Gambrill

— 4:42.2 (→ Bronze Medal) ; Team road race *

Arthur Brittain

— 23 points (→ Silver Medal) ; Individual road race *

— 5:23:16 (→ Bronze Medal) * Arthur Brittain — 5:23:40 (→ 6th place) *

— 5:23:40 (→ 14th place) *

Harold Reynolds Harold Craig Reynolds (born November 26, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player and current television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a second baseman from to , most prominently as a member of the Se ...

— 5:24:44 (→ 19th place)

Diving

Men's 10m Platform * Peter Tarsey :* Preliminary Round — 68.34 (→ did not advance, 14th place) * Roy Walsh :* Preliminary Round — 62.56 (→ did not advance, 20th place) * Ray Cann :* Preliminary Round — 60.08 (→ did not advance, 21st place) Women's 10m Platform * Ann Long :* Preliminary Round — 49.15 :* Final — 76.15 (→ 7th place) * Charmain Welsh :* Preliminary Round — 46.55 :* Final — 69.05 (→ 12th place)

Fencing

Nine fencers, seven men and two women, represented Great Britain in 1956. ; Men's foil *

Allan Jay Allan Louis Neville Jay MBE (born 30 June 1931) is a British former five-time-Olympian foil and épée fencer, and world champion. Early life Jay was born in London, England, and is Jewish. His father died fighting in World War II in 1943. He ...

* Raymond Paul *

René Paul Ronald René Charles Paul (20 January 1921 – 16 June 2008) was a British fencer. Fencing career He competed at four Olympic Games and won ten Commonwealth Games medals. He represented England and won two gold medals in the foil individu ...

; Men's team foil *

, Bill Hoskyns, Raymond Paul,

Ralph Cooperman Arnold Ralph Cooperman (16 November 1927 – 22 March 2009) was a British three-time Olympic foil and sabre fencer. Personal life Cooperman was born in Stoke Newington, England, and was Jewish. Fencing career He won the British junior ...

; Men's épée * Bill Hoskyns *

* Michael Howard ; Men's team épée *

, Raymond Paul, Michael Howard, Bill Hoskyns,

; Men's sabre * Olgierd Porebski *

* Bill Hoskyns ; Men's team sabre * Olgierd Porebski, Bill Hoskyns,

, Raymond Paul ; Women's foil * Gillian Sheen * Mary Glen-Haig

Football

Gymnastics

The British Gymnastics team competed in 15 events, and was made up of 14 gymnasts, (6 men and 8 women), including

Frank Turner Francis Edward Turner (born 28 December 1981), is an English punk and folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based sol ...

, competing in his third Summer Olympics.

Hockey

Modern pentathlon

Three male pentathletes represented Great Britain in 1956. ;Individual * Donald Cobley * Thomas Hudson * George Norman ;Team * Donald Cobley * Thomas Hudson * George Norman

Rowing

Great Britain had 12 male rowers participate in three out of seven

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

events in 1956. ; Men's single sculls - unplaced * Tony Fox ; Men's double sculls - unplaced * Sidney Rand * Bill Rand ; Men's eight * Richard Wheadon * Michael Delahooke * Ian Welsh * Kenneth Masser * Simon Tozer * Alan Watson * John A. Russell *

Christopher Davidge Christopher Guy Vere Davidge, of Little Houghton House, OBE DL (5 November 1929 – 22 December 2014) was a British rower who competed in the Summer Olympics three times in 1952, 1956 and 1960 and won the Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta ...

* John Hinde (cox)

Sailing

Shooting

Six shooters represented Great Britain in 1956. ;

25 m pistol 25 meter pistol, formerly and unofficially still often known as sport pistol, is one of the ISSF shooting events. It was devised as a women's event in the 1960s, based upon the rules of 25 meter center-fire pistol but shot with a .22-caliber sp ...

* Henry Steele * Frederick Cooper ;

50 m pistol The 50 meter pistol, formerly and unofficially still often called Free Pistol, is one of the ISSF shooting events. It provides the purest precision shooting among the pistol events, and is one of the oldest shooting disciplines, dating back to t ...

* Frederick Cooper * Henry Steele ; 300 m rifle, three positions * Steffen Cranmer ; 50 m rifle, three positions * Steffen Cranmer * Frederick Hopkinson ; 50 m rifle, prone * Steffen Cranmer * Frederick Hopkinson ;

Trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

* Joe Wheater * Ernest Fear

Swimming

Water polo

Weightlifting

Wrestling

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Britain At The 1956 Summer Olympics Nations at the 1956 Summer Olympics

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

Summer Olympics