1956 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 100m Freestyle (Men)

sport	swim
discipline	100 meters freestyle
gender	Men
Attendees	34 athletes from 19 nations
Competition location	Olympic Swimming Stadium
Competition phase	November 29-30, 1956
Winning time	55.4 s
Medalist Jon Henricks ( AUS ) John Devitt ( AUS ) Gary Chapman ( AUS )

Swimming competitions at the 1956 Olympic Games
100 m freestyle	Women	Men
400 m freestyle	Women	Men
1500 m freestyle		Men
200 m chest	Women	Men
100 m back	Women	Men
100 m butterfly	Women
200 m butterfly		Men
4 × 100 m freestyle	Women
4 × 200 m freestyle		Men

The competition over 100m freestyle men at the 1956 Olympic Games in the Australian city of Melbourne on 29 and 30 November in the Stadium Swimming and Diving discharged.

Participating Nations

A total of 34 swimmers from 19 nations took part in the competition.

Australia (3)  Belgium (1)  Brazil (1)  Germany (3)  Finland (1)

France (2)  Hong Kong (2)  India (1)  Indonesia (1)  Italy (2)

Japan (3)  Canada (1)  Colombia (1)  Philippines (1)  Soviet Union (2)

South African Union (3)  Hungary (1)  United States (3)  Great Britain (2)

Existing records

World record	Dick Cleveland ( United States )	54.8 s	Rome , Italy	April 1, 1954 *
Olympic record	Walter Ris ( United States )	57.3 s	London , UK	July 31, 1948 *

* before rule change

Prelims

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

Forward 1

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	Jon Henricks	Australia	57.3 s
2	Dick Hanley	United States	57.8 s
3	Billy Steuart	South African Union	59.2 s
4th	Lev Balandin	Soviet Union	59.6 s
5	Hans Koehler	Germany	59.8 s
5	Karri Käyhkö	Finland	59.8 s
7th	André Laurent	Belgium	1: 00.7 min

Forward 2

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	Manabu Koga	Japan	57.7 s
2	Aldo Eminent	France	58.0 s
3	Vitaly Sorokin	Soviet Union	58.6 s
4th	Cheung Kin Man	Hong Kong	59.8 s
5	Horst Bleeker	Germany	1: 00.1 min
6th	Sergio Martínez	Colombia	1: 00.2 min
7th	Peter Duncan	South African Union	1: 00.4 min

Forward 3

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	John Devitt	Australia	57.2 s
2	Paolo Pucci	Italy	58.3 s
3	Hiroshi Suzuki	Japan	58.4 s
3	Paul Voell	Germany	58.4 s
5	Kenneth Williams	Great Britain	59.4 s
6th	Dennis Ford	South African Union	59.5 s
7th	Sri Chand Bajaj	India	1: 01.6 min

Forward 4

Reid Patterson set a new Olympic record with 56.8 s .

Third place went to the then 26-year-old Italian Carlo Pedersoli , who a few years later started an extremely successful career as a film actor and became known to a wide audience under his stage name Bud Spencer .

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	Reid Patterson	United States	56.8 s
2	Atsushi Tani	Japan	57.1 s
3	Carlo Pedersoli	Italy	58.5 s
4th	Haroldo Lara	Brazil	59.9 s
5	Habib Nasution	Indonesia	1: 00.1 min
6th	Alex Jany	France	1: 00.2 min

Forward 5

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	Gary Chapman	Australia	57.8 s
2	Bill Woolsey	United States	58.2 s
3	Ronald Roberts	Great Britain	58.3 s
4th	Gyula Dobay	Hungary	58.5 s
5	George Park	Canada	58.8 s
6th	Dakula Arabani	Philippines	1: 00.2 min
7th	Wan Shiu Ming	Hong Kong	1: 00.7 min

Semifinals

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

John Devitt improved the Olympic record set by Reid Patterson in the fourth run in the second semi-final by two tenths of a second to 56.4 s.

Semi-final 1

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	Jon Henricks	Australia	55.7 s
2	Dick Hanley	United States	56.9 s
3	Atsushi Tani	Japan	57.4 s
4th	Aldo Eminent	France	58.0 s
5	Hiroshi Suzuki	Japan	58.0 s
6th	Vitaly Sorokin	Soviet Union	58.2 s
7th	Paolo Pucci	Italy	58.8 s
8th	Carlo Pedersoli	Italy	59.0 s

Semi-final 2

rank	Surname	nation	time
1	John Devitt	Australia	56.4 s
2	Gary Chapman	Australia	56.9 s
3	Reid Patterson	United States	57.1 s
4th	Bill Woolsey	United States	58.0 s
5	Gyula Dobay	Hungary	58.1 s
6th	Manabu Koga	Japan	58.1 s
7th	Paul Voell	Germany	58.6 s
8th	Ronald Roberts	Great Britain	58.9 s

final

Jon Henricks set a new Olympic record and a new world record with a winning time of 55.4 seconds .

rank	Surname	nation	time
	Jon Henricks	Australia	55.4 s ( WR )
	John Devitt	Australia	55.8 s
	Gary Chapman	Australia	56.7 s
4th	Reid Patterson	United States	57.2 s
5	Dick Hanley	United States	57.6 s
6th	Bill Woolsey	United States	57.6 s
7th	Atsushi Tani	Japan	58.0 s
8th	Aldo Eminent	France	58.1 s

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Volker Kluge : Olympic Summer Games. Die Chronik II. London 1948 - Tokyo 1964. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-328-00740-7 , p. 462 ff .: Due to the time advantages when turning, the majority of the previous records came from competitions in a 25-meter Pool. On the one under 1956 Olympics conducted FINA -Congress was finally determined that records from May 1, 1957 found only on the long course (50 meters or 55 yards) official recognition. Previously dated (long-course) top marks - primarily achieved in Melbourne's Olympic basin - were subsequently recognized as the first official 50-m-course world record if they were no longer undercut on the short course by the specified date.