1956 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Decathlon (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Decathlon
gender	Men
Attendees	15 athletes from 8 countries
Competition location	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Competition phase	29./30. November 1956
Medalist Milt Campbell ( USA )   Rafer Johnson ( USA )   Vasily Kuznetsov ( URS )

The men's decathlon at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne was played on December 29 and 30, 1956. 15 athletes took part, twelve of whom were able to finish the competition.

The American Milt Campbell , who won ahead of his compatriot Rafer Johnson , became the Olympic champion . The bronze medal went to Vasily Kuznetsov from the Soviet Union.

German starters were Martin Lauer and Walter Meier . Lauer came in fifth in the final, while Meier was one place behind. Swiss and Austrians did not take part.

Existing records

World record	7985 points (7608)	Rafer Johnson ( USA )	Kingsburg , United States	June 11, 1955
Olympic record	7887 points (7589)	Bob Mathias ( USA )	Helsinki , Finland	25./26. July 1952

Note: The scores are based on the 1952 decathlon table used at that time. The points achieved according to the table valid today are given in brackets.

Conducting the competition

The decathlon was carried out according to the same rules as today. The ten disciplines took place over two days. As in the previous games, the scoring was based on the 1952 points table.

Competition schedule

On November 29, the following were completed:
10.00 a.m .: 100 m
11.00 a.m .: long jump
2.15 p.m .: shot put
4.00 p.m .: high jump
5.30 p.m .: 400 m

On November 30, the following were completed:
9 a.m .: 110 m hurdles
10 a.m .: Discus throw
1.15 p.m .: Pole vault
4.1.15 p.m .: Javelin
6.30 p.m .: 1500 m

Attendees

15 athletes from eight countries took part in the Olympic competition:

Surname	nation
Ian Bruce	Australia
Milt Campbell	United States
John Cann	Australia
Nadjmeddin Farabi	Iran
Walter Herssens	Belgium
Rafer Johnson	United States
Vasily Kuznetsov	Soviet Union
Yuri Kutenko	Soviet Union
Torbjörn Lassenius	Finland
Martin Lauer	Germany
Pat Leane	Australia
Walter Meier	Germany
Uno Palu	Soviet Union
Bob Richards	United States
Yang Chuan-Kwang	Taiwan

Disciplines

100 meter run

Six runs were carried out.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Campbell 10.8 s 990 02 Cann 10.9 s 948 Johnson 04th Lurking 11.1 s 870 05 Kuznetsov 11.2 s 834 Yang 07th Meier 11.3 s 800 08th Leane 11.4 s 768 09 Palu 11.5 s 737 10 Kutenko 11.6 s 707 11 Bruce 11.7 s 678 Richards 13 Herssens 11.8 s 650 Lassenius 15th Farabi 12.1 s 572

Long jump

The best long jumper in the field: US athlete Rafer Johnson - here as the flag bearer at the opening of the Rome Games in 1960

Classification space Surname Expanse Points 01 Johnson 7.34 m 902 02 Campbell 7.33 m 898 03 Kuznetsov 7.04 m 798 04th Yang 6.90 m 755 05 Lurking 6.83 m 734 06th Meier 6.80 m 725 07th Leane 6.79 m 722 08th Palu 6.65 m 681 09 Kutenko 6.64 m 678 10 Bruce 6.62 m 672 Lassenius 12 Cann 6.57 m 707 13 Herssens 6.56 m 656 14th Richards 6.39 m 610 15th Farabi 6.25 m 575

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Campbell 1888 02 Johnson 1850 03 Kuznetsov 1632 04th Cann 1607 05 Lurking 1604 06th Yang 1589 07th Meier 1525 08th Leane 1523 09 Iriarte 1490 10 Palu 1418 11 Bruce 1350 12 Lassenius 1322 13 Herssens 1306 14th Richards 1288 15th Farabi 1147

Shot put

Classification space Surname Expanse Points 01 Campbell 14.76 m 850 02 Kuznetsov 14.49 m 820 03 Johnson 14.48 m 819 04th Kutenko 14.46 m 817 05 Lassenius 13.45 m 715 06th Palu 13.39 m 709 07th Leane 13.26 m 696 08th Meier 12.99 m 671 09 Lurking 12.86 m 659 10 Richards 12.52 m 628 11 Bruce 12.30 m 609 12 Cann 12.18 m 598 13 Yang 11.56 m 544 14th Farabi 11.31 m 524 15th Herssens 11.12 m 509

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Campbell 2738 02 Johnson 2669 03 Kuznetsov 2452 04th Lurking 2263 05 Cann 2205 06th Kutenko 2202 07th Meier 2196 08th Leane 2186 09 Yang 2133 10 Palu 2127 11 Lassenius 2037 12 Bruce 1959 13 Richards 1916 14th Herssens 1815 15th Farabi 1671

high jump

Yang Chuan-kwang from Taiwan was the best high jumper.

Classification space Surname height Points 01 Yang 1.95 m 976 02 Campbell 1.89 m 886 Palu 04th Leane 1.86 m 845 Meier 06th Bruce 1.83 m 806 Johnson Lurking 09 Herssens 1.80 m 770 10 Kuznetsov 1.75 m 711 Richards 12 Cann 1.70 m 656 Farabi Lassenius 15th Kutenko without height 0

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Campbell 3624 02 Johnson 3475 03 Kuznetsov 3163 04th Yang 3109 05 Lurking 3069 06th Meier 3041 07th Leane 3031 08th Palu 3013 09 Cann 2861 10 Bruce 2765 11 Lassenius 2693 12 Richards 2627 13 Herssens 2585 14th Farabi 2327 15th Kutenko 2202

400 meter run

Four runs were carried out.

The Belgian Walter Herssens no longer competed in this fifth discipline.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Lurking 48.2 s 995 02 Campbell 48.8 s 940 03 Cann 49.3 s 900 Johnson Meier 06th Kuznetsov 50.2 s 828 07th Kutenko 50.5 s 807 08th Lassenius 50.8 s 786 Palu 10 Leane 51.0 s 772 11 Bruce 51.3 s 751 Yang 13 Farabi 52.3 s 684 Richards

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Campbell 4564 02 Johnson 4375 03 Lurking 4064 04th Kuznetsov 3991 05 Meier 3941 06th Yang 3890 07th Leane 3803 08th Palu 3799 09 Cann 3761 10 Bruce 3516 11 Lassenius 3479 12 Richards 3311 13 Farabi 3011 14th Kutenko 3009

110 meter hurdles

The discipline was carried out in five runs.

Milton Campbell ran the fastest time ever in an Olympic decathlon over 110 meter hurdles with 14.0 seconds .

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Campbell 14.0 s 1124 02 Lurking 14.7 s 894 03 Kuznetsov 14.9 s 840 04th Yang 15.0 s 813 05 Johnson 15.1 s 788 06th Palu 15.4 s 716 07th Cann 15.6 s 673 08th Kutenko 15.8 s 632 09 Bruce 15.9 s 612 Lassenius 11 Meier 16.1 s 575 12 Leane 16.4 s 523 13 Richards 16.8 s 458 14th Farabi 17.4 s 372

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Campbell 5688 02 Johnson 5163 03 Lurking 4958 04th Kuznetsov 4831 05 Yang 4673 06th Meier 4516 07th Palu 4515 08th Cann 4434 09 Leane 4326 10 Bruce 4128 11 Lassenius 4091 12 Richards 3769 13 Kutenko 3641 14th Farabi 3383

Discus throw

Classification space Surname Expanse Points 01 Kutenko 47.57 m 861 02 Campbell 44.98 m 775 03 Kuznetsov 44.33 m 754 04th Johnson 42.17 m 688 05 Lassenius 41.36 m 664 06th Palu 40.38 m 637 07th Lurking 39.38 m 609 08th Leane 38.86 m 595 09 Cann 38.76 m 592 10 Richards 37.77 m 566 11 Meier 37.59 m 562 12 Bruce 36.62 m 536 13 Yang 33.92 m 469 14th Farabi 28.73 m 347

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Campbell 6463 02 Johnson 5851 03 Kuznetsov 5585 04th Lurking 5567 05 Palu 5152 06th Yang 5142 07th Meier 5078 08th Cann 5026 09 Leane 4921 10 Lassenius 4755 11 Bruce 4664 12 Kutenko 4502 13 Richards 4335 14th Farabi 3730

Pole vault

With 4.45 m, Bob Richards (USA), winner of the individual discipline, achieved the highest height ever jumped in an Olympic decathlon in the pole vault .

Classification space Surname height Points 01 Richards 4.45 m 1023 02 Kutenko 4.10 m 795 03 Kuznetsov 3.95 m 720 04th Johnson 3.90 m 695 05 Lassenius 3.80 m 645 06th Meier 3.70 m 596 07th Palu 3.60 m 556 08th Leane 3.50 m 516 09 Bruce 3.40 m 476 Campbell 11 Farabi 3.30 m 438 Yang 13 Lurking 3.10 m 364 14th Cann 2.70 m 226

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Campbell 6939 02 Johnson 6546 03 Kuznetsov 6305 04th Lurking 5931 05 Palu 5708 06th Meier 5674 07th Yang 5580 08th Leane 5437 09 Lassenius 5400 10 Richards 5358 11 Kutenko 5297 12 Cann 5252 13 Bruce 5140 14th Farabi 4168

Javelin throw

With 65.13 m Vasily Kuznetsov (USSR) achieved the largest javelin throw ever in an Olympic decathlon .

Classification space Surname Expanse Points 01 Kuznetsov 65.13 m 854 02 Palu 61.59 m 768 03 Johnson 60.27 m 738 04th Lassenius 59.33 m 717 05 Leane 58.83 m 706 06th Cann 57.89 m 620 07th Yang 57.88 m 685 08th Campbell 57.08 m 668 09 Bruce 51.38 m 554 10 Lurking 50.66 m 540 11 Meier 47.97 m 492 12 Richards 44.09 m 423 13 Farabi 41.23 m 375 14th Kutenko without space 0

Intermediate result space Surname Points 01 Campbell 7607 02 Johnson 7284 03 Kuznetsov 7159 04th Palu 6476 05 Lurking 6471 06th Yang 6265 07th Meier 6166 08th Leane 6143 09 Lassenius 6117 10 Cann 5938 11 Richards 5781 12 Bruce 5694 13 Kutenko 5297 14th Farabi 4543

1500 meter run

Olympic best performance in the decathlon over 1500 meters : Walter Meier (GER)

There were three runs.
Bob Richards (USA) and Jurij Kutenko (USSR) did not participate in this last discipline.

Walter Meier (GER) achieved the fastest time ever run in an Olympic decathlon with 4: 20.6 minutes.

Classification space Surname time Points 01 Meier 4: 20.6 min 607 02 Farabi 4: 24.8 min 560 03 Palu 4: 35.6 min 454 04th Lassenius 4: 36.2 min 448 05 Lurking 4: 43.8 min 382 06th Cann 4: 49.2 min 340 07th Bruce 4: 50.4 min 331 08th Campbell 4: 50.6 min 330 09 Kuznetsov 4: 53.8 min 306 10 Johnson 4: 54.2 min 284 11 Leane 4: 56.8 min 284 12 Yang 5: 00.8 min 256

Bottom line

space	Surname	nation	Points - official rating	Points - 1985 rating
1	Milt Campbell	United States	7937 OR	7565
2	Rafer Johnson	United States	7587	7422
3	Vasily Kuznetsov	Soviet Union	7465	7330
4th	Uno Palu	Soviet Union	6930	7028
5	Martin Lauer	Germany	6853	6910
6th	Walter Meier	Germany	6773	6910
7th	Torbjörn Lassenius	Finland	6565	6782
8th	Yang Chuan-Kwang	Taiwan	6521	6695
9	Pat Leane	Australia	6427	6692
10	John Cann	Australia	6278	6493
11	Ian Bruce	Australia	6025	6478
12	Nadjmeddin Farabi	Iran	5103	5711

Date: 25./26. November 1956

After Bob Mathias , winner of 1948 and 1952 , had ended his active career, the US athletes Milt Campbell and Rafer Johnson were among the most promising gold candidates. Campbell had won the silver medal in 1952 and had become US champions in 1953. Johnson, who started the decathlon in 1954, was the world record holder , winning the Pan American Games in 1955 and the US Olympic eliminations in 1956.

Campbell took the lead in this competition from the first exercise and eventually became Olympic champion with a 350 point lead. With his performance he also set a new Olympic record . Johnson, injured in the knee, won the silver medal. Bronze went to Vasily Kuznetsov, the 1954 European champion from the Soviet Union.

While Vasily Kuznetsov won the first Soviet medal in the decathlon, Milton Campbell made his gold medal for the fifth consecutive US success.

Rafer Johnson's silver medal also meant the fourth US double victory in the ninth Olympic decathlon.

For a better classification of the performance, in addition to the official points according to the rating table from 1952, the number of points converted according to the current rating system from 1985 is also given. According to this table, which is valid today, there would have been two fifth places. Otherwise the order would be unchanged. But these comparisons are only indicative, because the different standards of the time must apply as a basis. This is most noticeable in the pole vault , where people jumped with completely different poles than they do today.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 150f

Web links

• SportsReference Decathlon , accessed October 6, 2017
• Official report pp. 342-345, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 6, 2017
• milt campbell video , posted May 20, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed October 6, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 559 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Official report p. 266, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 6, 2017
3. ↑ SportsReference decathlon (110 m hurdles)
4. ↑ SportsReference decathlon (pole vault)
5. ↑ SportsReference decathlon (javelin throw)
6. ↑ SportsReference (1500 m)
7. ^ Official report p. 342, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 6, 2017
8. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 150