1956 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 4 × 200 m freestyle (men)

sport	swim
competition	4 x 200 meter freestyle relay
gender	Men
place	Swimming and Diving Stadium , Melbourne
Attendees	11 teams from 11 nations
Competition phase	December 1st and 3rd, 1956
Medals	Australia United States Soviet Union

Season Competition over 4 times 200 meters freestyle men at the 1956 Summer Olympics in the Australian city of Melbourne was on 1 and 3 December at the Swimming and Diving Stadium discharged.

Participating Nations

A total of 11 teams with 50 swimmers took part in the competition.

Australia (7)  Germany (4)  France (4)  Italy (4)

Japan (5)  Philippines (4)  Soviet Union (4)  South African Union (4)

Hungary (4)  United States (6)  United Kingdom (4)

Existing records

World record	Soviet Union Boris Nikitin , Vladimir Struschanow , Gennady Nikolayev and Vitaly Sorokin	8: 24.5 min	Moscow , Soviet Union	4th November 1956
Olympic record	United States Wayne Moore , William Woolsey , Ford Konno and James McLane	8: 31.1 min	Helsinki , Finland	July 29, 1952

See also : List of swimming world records over 4 × 200 meters freestyle

Prelims

There were two preliminary runs on December 1st. The eight fastest teams from both heats qualified for the final two days later.

Forward 1

rank	nation	Names	time
1	Japan	Hiroshi Suzuki (2: 11.8 min) Atsushi Tani (2: 08.8 min) Koji Nonoshita (2: 10.3 min) Tsuyoshi Yamanaka (2: 07.0 min)	8: 37.9 min
2	United States	Dick Hanley (2: 08.7 min) Tim Jecko (2: 09.1 min) Sonny Tanabe (2: 12.2 min) Ford Konno (2: 08.3 min)	8: 38.3 min
3	Germany	Hans Köhler (2: 11.7 min) Hans-Joachim Reich (2: 12.0 min) Hans Zierold (2: 07.8 min) Horst Bleeker (2: 11.0 min)	8: 42.5 min
4th	South African Union	Billy Steuart (2: 09.6 min) Tony Briscoe (2: 08.7 min) Dennis Ford (2: 12.5 min) Peter Duncan (2: 12.2 min)	8: 43.0 min
5	Italy	Fritz Dennerlein (2: 09.7 min) Paolo Galletti (2: 13.0 min) Guido Elmi (2: 12.7 min) Angelo Romani (2: 07.7 min)	8; 43.1 min

Forward 2

rank	nation	Names	time
1	United Kingdom	Kenneth Williams (2: 11.7 min) Ronald Roberts (2: 13.1 min) Neil McKechnie (2: 06.6 min) John Caldwell Wardrop (2: 07.7 min)	8: 39.1 min
2	Soviet Union	Vitaly Sorokin (2: 11.6 min) Vladimir Struzhanov (2: 08.8 min) Gennady Nikolayev (2: 10.4 min) Boris Nikitin (2: 08.7 min)	8: 39.5 min
3	Australia	John Devitt (2: 07.5 min) Gary Chapman (2: 08.4 min) Graham Hamilton (2: 15.4 min) Murray Garretty (2: 08.9 min)	8: 40.2 min
4th	France	Aldo Emorien (2: 11.6 min) Jacques Collignon (2: 13.4 min) Alexandre Jany (2: 13.4 min) Jean Boiteux (2: 18.1 min)	8: 56.5 min
5	Hungary	Gyula Dobay (2: 12.8 min) György Csordás (2: 16.5 min) Sándor Záborszky (2: 14.7 min) Jenő Áts (2: 13.2 min)	8: 57.2 min
6th	Philippines	Dakula Arabani (2: 15.9 min) Agapito Lozada (2: 16.9 min) Bana Sailani (2: 15.5 min) Ulfiano Babol (2: 17.4 min)	9: 05.7 min

final

The final took place on December 3rd. The Australian season won in a new world record time of 8: 23.6 minutes; it improved the previous best time by 0.9 s and that of the Olympic record by 7.5 s.

rank	nation	Names	time
	Australia	Kevin O'Halloran (2: 06.8 min) John Devitt (2: 06.4 min) Murray Rose (2: 06.0 min) Jon Henricks (2: 04.4 min)	8: 23.6 min world record
	United States	Dick Hanley (2: 08.0 min) George Breen (2: 07.7 min) William Tripp Woolsey (2: 07.0 min) Ford Konno (2: 08.8 min)	8: 31.5 min
	Soviet Union	Vitaly Sorokin (2: 07.5 min) Vladimir Struzhanov (2: 11.5 min) Gennady Nikolayev (2: 09.0 min) Boris Nikitin (2: 06.7 min)	8: 34.7 min
4th	Japan	Manabu Koga (2: 10.0 min) Atsushi Tani (2: 08.5 min) Koji Nonoshita (2: 10.5 min) Tsuyoshi Yamanaka (2: 07.6 min)	8: 36.6 min
5	Germany	Hans Köhler (2: 10.3 min) Hans-Joachim Reich (2: 12.1 min) Hans Zierold (2: 08.4 min) Horst Bleeker (2: 12.6 min)	8: 43.4 min
6th	United Kingdom	Kenneth Williams (2: 11.4 min) Ronald Roberts (2: 13.8 min) Neil McKechnie (2: 11.6 min) John Caldwell Wardrop (2: 08.4 min)	8: 45.2 min
7th	Italy	Fritz Dennerlein (2: 09.8 min) Paolo Galletti (2: 13.4 min) Guido Elmi (2: 13.5 min) Angelo Romani (2: 09.5 min)	8: 46.2 min
8th	South African Union	Billy Steuart (2: 11.2 min) Tony Briscoe (2: 11.8 min) Dennis Ford (2: 13.6 min) Peter Duncan (2: 12.9 min)	8: 49.5 min

Web links

• 1956 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 4 × 200 m freestyle in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )