1956 Summer Olympics / Cycling - Sprint Track (Men)

sport	Cycling
discipline	Sprint (track cycling)
gender	Men
Attendees	19 athletes from 19 countries
Competition location	Olympic Park Velodrome
Competition phase	December 3-6, 1956
Medalist  Michel Rousseau ( FRA )  Guglielmo Pesenti ( ITA )  Dick Ploog ( AUS )
← 1952 1960 →

Cycling competitions at the 1956 Olympic Games
Road cycling
Road racing	Men
Team ranking	Men
Track cycling
sprint	Men
tandem	Men
Team pursuit	Men
Time trial	Men

In the 1956 Olympic Games in the Australian city of Melbourne was from 3 to 6 December sprint in cycling held for men.

19 athletes from 19 nations determined the Olympic champion in the Melbourne Olympic Park Velodrome : The Frenchman Michel Rousseau won ahead of the Italian Guglielmo Pesenti and the Australian Dick Ploog .

Time schedule

date	run	Hints
3 Dec	Prelims	The winners (Q) of the six preliminary runs qualified directly for the quarter-finals. The eight fastest second and third place finishers (H) qualified for the first round of the hope runs.
3 Dec	Hope runs, lap I.	The winners (Q) of the four hope runs qualified for the second round of the hope runs.
3 Dec	Hope runs, round II	The winners (Q) of the two hope runs qualified for the quarter-finals.
Dec 4	Quarter finals	The winners (Q) of the four quarter-finals qualified for the semi-finals.
Dec 4	Semifinals	The winners (Q) of the two semi-finals qualified for the final. The losers qualified for the race for 3rd and 4th place.
6 Dec	final

Prelims

The winners (Q) of the six preliminary runs qualified directly for the quarter-finals, the eight fastest second and third placed (H) qualified for the first round of the hope runs.

Run 1

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Dick Ploog	Australia	11.4 s	Q
2	Evrard Godefroid	Belgium		H
3	León Mejía	Colombia		H
4th	Lê Văn Phươc	South Vietnam

Run 2

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Michel Rousseau	France	11.6 s	Q
2	Hylton Mitchell	Trinidad and Tobago		H
3	Shazada Muhammad Shah-Rukh	Pakistan		H

Run 3

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Jack Disney	United States	13.0 s	Q
2	Keith Harrison	United Kingdom
3	Günther Ziegler	Germany

Run 4

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Guglielmo Pesenti	Italy	11.8 s	Q
2	Hernán Masanés	Chile		H
3	Fred Markus	Canada

Run 5

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Ladislav Fouček	Czechoslovakia	12.4 s	Q
2	Warren Johnston	New Zealand		H
3	Paul Nyman	Finland

Run 6

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Boris Romanov	Soviet Union	12.4 s	Q
2	Thomas Shardelow	South African Union		H
3	Anésio Argenton	Brazil		H

Hope runs, lap I.

The winners (Q) of the four first round hopefuls qualified for the second round of the hopefuls.

Run 1

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Evrard Godefroid	Belgium		Q
2	Shazada Muhammad Shah-Rukh	Pakistan

Run 2

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Thomas Shardelow	South African Union	12.8 s	Q
2	León Mejía	Colombia

Run 3

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Anésio Argenton	Brazil		Q
2	Hylton Mitchell	Trinidad and Tobago

Run 4

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Warren Johnston	New Zealand	12.4 s	Q
2	Hernán Masanés	Chile

Hope runs, round II

The winners (Q) of the two hope runs qualified for the quarter-finals.

Run 1

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Warren Johnston	New Zealand	12.0 s	Q
2	Evrard Godefroid	Belgium

Run 2

rank	Surname	nation	time	Note
1	Thomas Shardelow	South African Union	12.6 s	Q
2	Anésio Argenton	Brazil

Quarter finals

The winners (Q) of the four quarter-finals qualified for the semi-finals. The winner was whoever won two out of three races first.

Run 1

rank	Surname	nation	1st race	2nd race	3rd race	Note
1	Michel Rousseau	France	12.6 s	11.4 s		Q
2	Thomas Shardelow	South African Union

Run 2

rank	Surname	nation	1st race	2nd race	3rd race	Note
1	Dick Ploog	Australia	12.4 s	11.6 s		Q
2	Jack Disney	United States

Run 3

rank	Surname	nation	1st race	2nd race	3rd race	Note
1	Guglielmo Pesenti	Italy	11.8 s	12.8 s		Q
2	Ladislav Fouček	Czechoslovakia

Run 4

rank	Surname	nation	1st race	2nd race	3rd race	Note
1	Warren Johnston	New Zealand	11.4 s		12.0 s	Q
2	Boris Romanov	Soviet Union		12.0

Semifinals

The winners (Q) of the two semi-finals qualified for the final, the losers qualified for the race for 3rd place. The winner was whoever had won two out of three races first.

Run 1

rank	Surname	nation	1st race	2nd race	3rd race	Note
1	Michel Rousseau	France	11.4 s	12.2 s		Q
2	Warren Johnston	New Zealand

Run 2

rank	Surname	nation	1st race	2nd race	3rd race	Note
1	Guglielmo Pesenti	Italy	11.4 s		11.2 s	Q
2	Dick Ploog	Australia		12.2 s

Final round

The winner was whoever won two out of three races first.

Race for 3rd place

rank	Surname	nation	1st race	2nd race	3rd race
	Dick Ploog	Australia	11.6 s	11.4 s	-
4th	Warren Johnston	New Zealand			-

final

rank	Surname	nation	1st race	2nd race	3rd race
	Michel Rousseau	France	11.4 s	11.4 s	-
	Guglielmo Pesenti	Italy			-

Web links

• Results at www.olympic.org ( English )