1956 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 100m backstroke (men)

sport	swim
competition	100 meters back
gender	Men
place	Swimming and Diving Stadium , Melbourne
Attendees	25 athletes from 14 nations
Competition phase	December 4-6, 1956
Medals	David Theile ( AUS ) John Monckton (AUS) Frank McKinney ( USA )

The men's back 100 meter competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in the Australian metropolis of Melbourne was held from December 4th to 6th in the Swimming and Diving Stadium .

Participating Nations

A total of 25 swimmers from 14 nations took part in the competition.

Australia (3)  Brazil (1)  Federal Republic of Germany (2)  France (3)  Hong Kong (1)

Japan (3)  Malaya (1)  New Zealand (1)  Pakistan (1)  Philippines (1)

Czechoslovakia (1)  Hungary (1)  United States (3)  United Kingdom (3)

Existing records

World record	Gilbert Bozon ( France )	1: 01.2 min	Troyes , France	February 27, 1955
Olympic record	Yoshi Oyakawa ( United States )	1: 05.4 min	Helsinki , Finland	August 1, 1952

Prelims

There were four preliminary runs. The 16 fastest swimmers of all heats qualified for the two semi-finals.

Forward 1

The Frenchman Robert Christophe improved the Olympic record by 1.2 s to 1: 04.2 min.

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	Robert Christophe	France	1: 04.2 min
2	John Hayres	Australia	1: 04.4 min
3	László Magyar	Hungary	1: 06.1 min
4th	Albert Wiggins	United States	1: 06.2 min
5	Haydn Rigby	United Kingdom	1: 06.9 min
6th	Ahmed Nazir	Pakistan	1: 10.7 min

Forward 2

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	Graham Sykes	United Kingdom	1: 06.2 min
2	Kazuo Tomita	Japan	1: 06.4 min
3	Gilbert Bozon	France	1: 06.4 min
4th	Ekkehard Miersch	BR Germany	1: 07.5 min
5	Lincoln Hurring	New Zealand	1: 07.5 min
6th	Pedro Cayco	Philippines	1: 11.6 min

Forward 3

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	David Theile	Australia	1: 04.3 min
2	Yoshinobu Oyakawa	United States	1: 05.2 min
3	Keiji bunny	Japan	1: 06.3 min
4th	John Brockway	United Kingdom	1: 07.7 min
5	João Gonçalves Filho	Brazil	1: 07.9 min
6th	Cheung Kin Man	Hong Kong	1: 14.0 min

Forward 4

The Australian John Monckton improved the Olympic record set by the French Robert Christophe in the first heat by 0.8 seconds to 1: 03.4 minutes.

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	John Monckton	Australia	1: 03.4 min
2	Frank McKinney	United States	1: 06.0 min
3	Dieter Pfeifer	BR Germany	1: 06.7 min
4th	Ladislav Bačík	Czechoslovakia	1: 06.9 min
5	Gérard Coignot	France	1: 07.5 min
6th	Hideo Ninomiya	Japan	1: 09.2 min
7th	Lim Heng Chek	Malaya	1: 12.4 min

Semifinals

There were two semi-finals. The eight fastest swimmers qualified for the final.

Semi-final 1

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	John Monckton	Australia	1: 04.1 min
2	David Theile	Australia	1: 04.8 min
3	Yoshinobu Oyakawa	United States	1: 05.0 min
4th	Graham Sykes	United Kingdom	1: 06.5 min
5	Kazuo Tomita	Japan	1: 06.5 min
6th	Dieter Pfeifer	BR Germany	1: 07.6 min
7th	László Magyar	Hungary	1: 07.6 min
8th	Ladislav Bačík	Czechoslovakia	1: 07.9 min

Semi-final 2

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	Robert Christophe	France	1: 04.6 min
2	John Hayres	Australia	1: 05.0 min
3	Frank McKinney	United States	1: 05.3 min
4th	Albert Wiggins	United States	1: 06.4 min
5	Gilbert Bozon	France	1: 06.5 min
6th	Keiji bunny	Japan	1: 06.5 min
7th	Ekkehard Miersch	BR Germany	1: 06.6 min
8th	Haydn Rigby	United Kingdom	1: 07.6 min

final

The Australian David Theile improved the Olympic record set by his compatriot John Monckton in the fourth heat by 1.2 seconds with a winning time of 1: 02.2 min .

rank	Surname	nation	time
	David Theile	Australia	1: 02.2 min
	John Monckton	Australia	1: 03.2 min
	Frank McKinney	United States	1: 04.5 min
4th	Robert Christophe	France	1: 04.9 min
5	John Hayres	Australia	1: 05.0 min
6th	Graham Sykes	United Kingdom	1: 05.6 min
7th	Albert Wiggins	United States	1: 05.8 min
8th	Yoshinobu Oyakawa	United States	1: 06.9 min

Web links

• 1956 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 100 m back in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )