| Event: | Men's decathlon |
| Games: | 1956 Summer |
| Venue: | Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| Date: | November 29–30 |
| Competitors: | 15 |
| Nations: | 8 |
| Gold: | Milt Campbell |
| Goldnoc: | USA |
| Silver: | Rafer Johnson |
| Silvernoc: | USA |
| Bronze: | Vasili Kuznetsov |
| Bronzenoc: | URS |
| Win Label: | Winning points |
| Win Value: | 7937 |
| Prev: | 1952 |
| Next: | 1960 |
The Men's decathlon competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 29–30.[1]
The decathlon consists of ten track and field events, with a points system that awards higher scores for better results in each of the ten components. The athletes all compete in one competition with no elimination rounds.
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | 7985 | Kingsburg, United States | June 11, 1955 | ||
| Olympic record | 7887 | Helsinki, Finland | July 26, 1952 |
All times are local
| Date | Time | Round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, November 29, 1956 | 10:00 11:00 14:15 16:00 18:30 | 100 metres Long Jump Shot Put High Jump 400 metres | |||
| style=background:lemonchiffon | Friday, November 30, 1956 | style=background:lemonchiffon | 09:00 10:00 13:15 16:15 18:30 | style=background:lemonchiffon | 110 metres hurdles Discus Throw Pole Vault Javelin Throw 1500 metres |