1956 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Discus Throw (Women)

sport	athletics
discipline	Discus throw
gender	Women
Attendees	22 athletes from 12 countries
Competition location	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Competition phase	November 23, 1956
Medalists Olga Fikotová ( TCH )   Irina Beglyakova ( URS )   Nina Ponomarjowa ( URS )

The women's discus throw at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics was played on November 23, 1956 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground . 22 athletes took part.

The Czechoslovakian Olga Fikotová became Olympic champion . She won ahead of Irina Begljakowa and Nina Ponomarjowa , both from the Soviet Union.

While Swiss and Austrian athletes did not take part, three German discus throwers took part. Marianne Werner reached the final and was tenth. Anne-Chatrine Lafrenz and Almut Brömmel failed because of the qualification range. Lafrenz reached fifteenth place, Brömmel came 22nd and last.

Existing records

World record	57.04 m	Nina Dumbadze ( Soviet Union )	Tbilisi , Soviet Union (now Georgia )	October 18, 1952
Olympic record	51.42 m	Nina Ponomarjowa ( Soviet Union )	Helsinki Final , Finland	July 20, 1952

Conducting the competition

The athletes entered a qualifying round on November 23. The required qualification distance was 42.00 meters. All qualified throwers contested the final, which took place on the same day. The results achieved in the qualifying round were not included in the further course of the competition. In the final, each athlete was initially entitled to three attempts. The best six finalists could then make another three attempts.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue. The best results in the qualification and in the final are printed in bold.

Time schedule

November 23, 10:00 a.m .: Qualification

November 23, 4.10 p.m .: Final Note: All times are local time in Melbourne (UTC + 10)

qualification

Date: November 23, 1956, 10:00 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	result	annotation
1	Olga Fikotová	Czechoslovakia	28.60 m	50.77 m	-	50.77 m
2	Nina Ponomaryova	Soviet Union	48.34 m	-	-	48.34 m
3	Irina Beglyakova	Soviet Union	40.77 m	47.65 m	-	47.65 m
4th	Štěpánka Mertová	Czechoslovakia	40.51 m	46.26 m	-	46.26 m
5	Jiřina Vobořilová	Czechoslovakia	44.62 m	-	-	44.62 m
6th	Earlene Brown	United States	43.90 m	-	-	43.90 m
	Albina Jelkina	Soviet Union
8th	Lia Manoliu	Romania	43.87 m	-	-	43.87 m
9	Isabel Avellan	Argentina	40.91 m	43.66 m	-	43.66 m
10	Marianne Werner	Germany	40.78 m	43.41 m	-	43.66 m
11	Paola Paternoster	Italy	42.88 m	-	-	42.88 m
12	Nada Kotlušek	Yugoslavia	40.73 m	42.45 m	-	42.45 m
13	Lois Jackman	Australia	39.25 m	41.68 m	42.21 m	42.21 m
14th	Suzanne Allday	Great Britain	39.39 m	38.89 m	41.45 m	41.45 m
15th	Anne-Chatrine Lafrenz	Germany	33.72 m	41.18 m	41.16 m	41.18 m
16	Toyoko Yoshino	Japan	40.77 m	36.47 m	40.91 m	40.91 m
17th	Shirley Cotton	Australia	37.74 m	40.76 m	39.36 m	40.76 m
18th	Pamela Kurrell	United States	38.01 m	40.49 m	39.92 m
19th	Jacqueline MacDonald	Canada	33.77 m	33.93 m	40.41 m	40.41 m
20th	Marjorie Larney	United States	39.91 m	38.04 m	x	39.91 m
21st	Val Lawrence	Australia	33.84 m	38.76 m	36.61 m	36.61 m
22nd	Almut Brömmel	Germany	x	x	35.47 m	35.47 m

final

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Olga Fikotová	Czechoslovakia	46.56 m	50.09 m	52.04 m	52.28 m	53.69 m OR	49.98 m	53.69 m	OR
2	Irina Beglyakova	Soviet Union	51.74 m OR	51.01 m	52.54 m OR	50.32 m	48.22 m	48.31 m	52.54 m
3	Nina Ponomaryova	Soviet Union	51.03 m	51.61 m	50.17 m	47.22 m	52.02 m	51.10 m	52.02 m
4th	Earlene Brown	United States	51.35 m	42.55 m	x	x	40.45 m	44.79 m	51.35 m
5	Albina Jelkina	Soviet Union	47.87 m	x	48.20 m	45.18 m	45.45 m	47.92 m	48.20 m
6th	Isabel Avellan	Argentina	46.73 m	44.84 m	42.69 m	46.31 m	43.88 m	44.35 m	46.73 m
7th	Jiřina Vobořilová	Czechoslovakia	45.57 m	x	45.84 m	not in the final of the six best throwers			45.84 m
8th	Štěpánka Mertová	Czechoslovakia	41.96 m	45.78 m	43.41 m				45.78 m
9	Lia Manoliu	Romania	43.90 m	43.76 m	42.72 m				43.90 m
10	Marianne Werner	Germany	43.34 m	41.89 m	x				43.34 m
11	Paola Paternoster	Italy	42.83 m	40.89 m	x				42.83 m
12	Nada Kotlušek	Yugoslavia	41.79 m	39.89 m	42.16 m				42.16 m
13	Lois Jackman	Australia	40.84 m	40.28 m	40.64 m				40.84 m

Date: November 23, 1956, 4:10 p.m.

The favorite was the 1952 Olympic champion and 1954 European champion , Nina Ponomarjowa. In 1952 in Helsinki she was started unmarried under her name Nina Romaschkowa. Her compatriot Irina Begljakowa, vice European champion in 1954, was given good chances of medals. Beglyakova then took the lead with a new Olympic record in the first attempt, which she improved again with her third throw. The Czechoslovakian Olga Fikotová, the best in the qualification, now came within half a meter. Behind her, again less than half a meter behind, was Ponomaryova in third place. There was then a change in leadership in the fifth round. Fikotová improved Begljakowa's Olympic record by over a meter and thus secured victory. The two Soviet throwers received the silver and bronze medals.

Olga Fikotová was the first Czechoslovak Olympic champion in the women's discus throw .

It was only in June 1955 that she began to practice discus throwing as a competitive sport. She was a member of the Czechoslovak national basketball team, but switched from then on to athletics. She later married the American hammer thrower Hal Connolly , who also became Olympic champion in Melbourne .

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 160f

Web links

• SportsReference Discus Throw , accessed October 11, 2017
• Official report p. 358f, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 11, 2017
• Melbourne 1956 Official Olympic Film - Part 4 | Olympic History , range 0:00 min - 1:15 min, published on July 15, 2015 on youtube.com, accessed on October 11, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 647 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ^{a b} Official report p. 284, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 11, 2017
3. ↑ Official report p. 359, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 11, 2017
4. ↑ ^{a b} Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 160