1956 Summer Olympics / Participant (Ireland)

IRL

1	1	3

Ireland took part in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, and the Equestrian Games in the Swedish capital Stockholm with a delegation of 18 athletes, 17 men and one woman, in 17 competitions in five sports.

It was Ireland's fifth participation in the Summer Olympics .

The youngest athlete was boxer Johnny Caldwell at 18 years and 201 days , the oldest athlete was Harry Freeman-Jackson (45 years and 171 days).

Flag bearer

Boxer Tony Byrne carried the flag of Ireland during the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium .

Medalist

With a recovered gold, one silver and three bronze medals, the Irish team was ranked 21 in the medal count .

gold

Surname	sport	competition
Ron Delany	athletics	1,500 meter run

silver

Surname	sport	competition
Frederick Tiedt	Boxing	Welterweight

bronze

Surname	sport	competition
Tony Byrne	Boxing	lightweight
Johnny Caldwell	Boxing	Flyweight
Freddie Gilroy	Boxing	Bantamweight

Participants by sport

Boxing

Men's

• Tony Byrne
  • lightweight

  Third place

  Round one: BYE

  Round two: Victory against Josef Chovanec from Czechoslovakia by disqualifying the opponent in the third round

  Quarter-finals: prevailed on points against Louis Molina of the United States of America

  Semi-finals: defeat against Harry Kurschat from Germany on points

• Johnny Caldwell
  • Flyweight

  Third place

  Round one: BYE

  Round two: KO against Yaishwe Best from Burma in the third round

  Quarterfinals: prevailed on points against Warner Batchelor from Australia

  Semi-finals: loss to Mircea Dobrescu from Romania on points

• Freddie Gilroy
  • Bantamweight

  Third place

  Round one: BYE

  Round two: Victory against Boris Stepanov from the Soviet Union by knockout in the third round

  Quarter-finals: won against Mario Sitri from Italy on points

  Semi-finals: defeat against Wolfgang Behrendt from Germany on points

• Henry Perry
  • Light welterweight

  Ninth place

  Round one: BYE

  Round two: loss to Claude Saluden from France on points

• Patrick Sharkey
  • Heavyweight

  Ninth place

  Round one: loss to Törner Åhsman from Sweden by knockout in the third round

• Martin Smyth
  • Featherweight

  Rank 17

  Round one: defeat against Pentti Hämäläinen from Finland by technical knockout in the second round

• Frederick Tiedt
  • Welterweight

  Rank two

  Round one: points victory against Tadeusz Walasek from Poland

  Quarterfinals: Beating Pearce Lane of the United States on points

  Semi-finals: won against Kevin John Hogarth from Australia on points

  Final: defeat against Nicolae Linca from Romania after the judge's decision (2: 3)

athletics

Ladies

• Maeve Kyle
  • 100 meter run

  Round one: eliminated in run four (sixth place), 12.3 seconds (hand-stopped), 12.48 seconds (automatically stopped)

  • 200 meter run

  Round one: eliminated in run one (fifth place), 26.4 seconds (hand-stopped), 26.57 seconds (automatically stopped)

Men's

• Ron Delany
  • 1,500 meter run

  Round one: qualified for the final in run two (third place), 3: 47.4 minutes (hand-stopped), 3: 47.48 minutes (automatically stopped)

  Final: 3: 41.2 minutes (hand-stopped), 3: 41.49 minutes (automatically stopped) - Olympic record, first place

• Eamonn Kinsella
  • 110 meter hurdles

  Round one: eliminated in run one (fourth place), 14.6 seconds (hand-stopped), 14.66 seconds (automatically stopped)

horse riding

Men's show jumping

• Results

  Final: 131.25 penalty points, seventh place

  Round one: 66.00 penalty points, fifth place

  Round two: 65.25 penalty points, seventh place

• team

  Kevin Barry

  Patrick Kiernan

  William Ringrose

Eventing riding

• Results

  Final: competition not finished (DNF)

  Dressage: 477.20 penalty points, rank 16

  Cross-country ride: competition not finished (DNF)

• team

  Harry Freeman-Jackson

  Ian Hume-Dudgeon

  Bill Mullins

singles

• Kevin Barry
  • Show jumping

  Final: 35.00 penalty points, 18th place

  Round one: 23.00 penalty points, rank 26

  Round two: 12.00 penalty points, 16th place

• Harry Freeman-Jackson
  • versatility

  Final: 170.81 penalty points, 17th place

  Dressage: 153.20 penalty points, rank 45

  Cross-country ride: 7.61 penalty points, 13th place

  Show jumping: 10.00 penalty points, second place

• Ian Hume-Dudgeon
  • versatility

  Final: competition not finished (DNF)

  Dressage: 158.00 penalty points, rank 48

  Cross-country ride: competition not finished (DNF)

• Patrick Kiernan
  • Show jumping

  Final: 52.25 penalty points, rank 27

  Round one: 19.00 penalty points, 19th place

  Round two: 33.25 penalty points, rank 37

• Bill Mullins
  • versatility

  Final: 145.48 penalty points, tenth place

  Dressage: 166.00 penalty points, rank 51

  Cross-country ride: 31.02 penalty points, seventh place

  Show jumping: 10.50 penalty points, 19th place

• William Ringrose
  • Show jumping

  Final: 44.00 penalty points, 23rd place

  Round one: 24.00 penalty points, rank 28

  Round two: 20.00 penalty points, 21st place

Wrestling

Men's
freestyle

• Gerry Martina
  • Light heavyweight

  Fourth place, eliminated after round four with six minus points

  Round one: victory against Spyros Defteraios from Greece , zero minus points

  Round two: BYE

  Round three: shoulder defeat against Kevin Coote from Australia , three minus points

  Round four: shoulder defeat against Boris Hadschumarowitsch Kulajew from the Soviet Union , six minus points

sailing

Men's

• John Somers Payne
  • Finn dinghy

  Final: 1,830 points, 16th place

  Race one: 448 points, 3:33:25 hours, ninth place

  Race two: race not finished (DNF)

  Race three: 448 points, 3:50:15 hours, ninth place

  Race four: 323 points, 3:20:23 hours, twelfth place

  Race five: 288 points, 3:35:55 ​​hours, 13th place

  Race six: 323 points, 3:30:14 hours, twelfth place

  Race seven: race not finished (DNF)

Web links

• Irish Olympic Team from 1956 in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original ).
• Irish Olympic Team of the 1956 Equestrian Games in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original ).