| Noc: | AUS |
| Nocname: | Australian Olympic Committee |
| Games: | Winter Olympics |
| Year: | 1956 |
| Location: | Cortina d'Ampezzo |
| Competitors: | 8 |
| Sports: | 3 |
| Gold: | 0 |
| Silver: | 0 |
| Bronze: | 0 |
| Appearances: | auto |
| See also: | 1906 Intercalated Games (1908–1912) |
Australia sent a delegation to compete at the 1956 Winter Olympics from the 26 January to 5 February 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. This was the nation's third appearance at the Winter Olympic Games with their last appearance being in 1952.
Australia delegation consisted of eight competitors in three sports. Australia competed in alpine skiing, figure skating and speed skating. Australia best result from the 1960 Games was a seventh-place finish from Colin Hickey in the men's 500 metres and men's 1500 metres speed skating. This performance also was Australia's best result until the 1976 Winter Olympics, where Colin Coates came sixth in men's 10000 metres speed skating.
The Australian Olympic Committee was formed on 1 January 1895 with the nation making their debut at the first Olympics in Athens with Teddy Flack being the first representative of the nation.[1] [2] This was the nation's third appearance at an Winter Olympics. It was also the 15th overall Olympics that Australia had sent a delegation in.[3] The 1956 Winter Olympics was held at Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy and took place from the 26 January to 6 February: a total of 821 athletes competed from 32 nations.[4] The Australian delegation consist of eight athletes, five in the alpine skiing, two in the figure skating and one in the speedskating.[5]
See main article: Alpine skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics. [6]
| Athlete | Event | Run 1 | Run 2 | Final/Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Diff | Rank | ||
| Bill Day | Downhill | 4:02.0 | +1:09.8 | 35 | ||||
| Giant slalom | 3:56.9 | +56.8 | 61 | |||||
| Slalom | Did not finish | |||||||
| Tony Aslangul | Giant slalom | 4:09.0 | +1:08.9 | 69 | ||||
| Slalom | Did not finish | |||||||
| Frank Prihoda | Giant slalom | 4:31.2 | +1:39.0 | 80 | ||||
| Slalom | 2:54.3 | 60 | 2:43.2 | 51 | 5:37.5 | +2:22.8 | 54 | |
| James Walker | Giant slalom | 5:21.0 | +2:20.9 | 84 | ||||
| Athlete | Event | Race 1 | Race 2 | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | |||
| Christine Davy | Downhill | 2:01.6 | 39 | |||||
| Christine Davy | Giant slalom | 2:17.3 | 37 | |||||
| Christine Davy | Slalom | 1:26.1 | 32 | 1:21.5 | 29 | 2:47.6 | 33 | |
See main article: Figure skating at the 1956 Winter Olympics.
| Athlete(s) | Event | Points | Rank | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allan Ganter | Men's | 13 | 13 | 114 | 1191.72 | 13 |
| Charles Keeble | 16 | 14 | 137 | 1115.39 | 16 |
See main article: Speed skating at the 1956 Winter Olympics.
| Athlete | Event | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | ||
| Colin Hickey | 500 m | 41.9 | 7 |
| 1500 m | 2:11.8 | 7 | |
| 5000 m | 8:10.0 | 14 | |
| 10000 m | 17:45.6 | 27 | |