New Zealand at the 1956 Summer Olympics explained

Noc:	NZL
Nocname:	New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association
Games:	Summer Olympics
Year:	1956
Location:	Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors:	53
Sports:	9
Flagbearer:	Ritchie Johnston
Rank:	16
Gold:	2
Silver:	0
Bronze:	0
Officials:	12
Appearances:	auto
App Begin Year:	1920
See also:	(1908 · 1912)

New Zealand at the 1956 Summer Olympics was represented by a team of 53 competitors and 12 officials. Selection of the team for the Games in Melbourne, Australia, was the responsibility of the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association. New Zealand's flagbearer at the opening ceremony was Ritchie Johnston. The New Zealand team finished 16th on the medal table, winning a total of two medals, both of which were gold.

Medal tables

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
				24 November
				29 November

Medals by sport
Sport	bgcolor=#f7f6a8		bgcolor=#dce5e5		bgcolor=#ffdab9	Total
	1	0	0	1
	1	0	0	1
Total	2	0	0	2

Medals by gender
Gender	bgcolor=#f7f6a8		bgcolor=#dce5e5		bgcolor=#ffdab9	Total
Male	2	0	0	2
Female	0	0	0	0
Total	2	0	0	2

Athletics

See main article: Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Track and road

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
align=left	Murray Halberg	align=left	Men's 1500 m	3:57.2	4 Q	3:45.2	11
align=left rowspan=2	Maurice Rae	align=left	Men's 100 m	10.7	1 Q	10.6	3 Q	10.5	4	did not advance
align=left	Men's 200 m	21.4	2 Q	22.0	2 Q	21.5	6	did not advance
align=left	Norman Read	align=left	Men's 50 km walk	4:30:42.8
align=left	Albert Richards	align=left	Men's marathon	2:41:34	17
align=left	Neville Scott	align=left	Men's 1500 m	3:48.0	1 Q	3:42.8	7
align=left rowspan=2	Margaret Stuart	align=left	Women's 80 m hurdles	11.3	3 Q	11.3	6	did not advance
align=left	Women's 100 m	12.3	3	did not advance

Field

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Mary Donaghy	Women's high jump	1.58	=7 Q	1.67	7
Valerie Sloper	Women's shot put	13.03	14 Q	15.34	5
Beverly Weigel	Women's long jump	5.79	7 Q	5.85	7

Boxing

See main article: Boxing at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final	Rank
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Paddy Donovan	Men's lightweight	L	did not advance				=17
Graham Finlay	Men's welterweight		L	did not advance			=9

Cycling

See main article: Cycling at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Track

Men's 1000 m time trial

Men's sprint

Men's tandem

Men's team pursuit

Alan Larkins was a reserve for the team pursuit but did not compete.

Field hockey

See main article: Field hockey at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Men's tournament

The men's field hockey team from New Zealand made its Olympic debut in Melbourne. Before 1956, the only international hockey team apart from Australia that New Zealand had played against was India.

Team roster

John Abrams
Ivan Armstrong
Keith Cumberpatch
Archie Currie
David Goldsmith
Noel Hobson
Reginald Johansson

Brian Johnston
Murray Loudon
Guy McGregor
Bill Schaefer
Bruce Turner
Jack Tynan

Group C

Team	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Qualification
align=left	3	2	1	0	7	1	5	Advance to semi-finals
align=left	3	1	2	0	5	4	4	Advance to semi-finals
align=left	3	1	0	2	8	10	2	5th–8th classification round
align=left	3	0	1	2	0	5	1	5th–8th classification round

5th–8th Classification round

Team	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Overall rank
align=left	3	2	1	0	8	2	5	5
align=left	3	2	0	1	16	3	4	6
align=left	3	1	1	1	9	5	3	7
align=left	3	0	0	3	0	23	0	8

Rowing

See main article: Rowing at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

In 1956, New Zealand entered boats in three of the seven events.^[1] The competition was for men only; women would first row at the 1976 Summer Olympics.^[2] Don Rowlands travelled to the Summer Olympics as a reserve but did not compete.

Sailing

See main article: Sailing at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Athlete	Event	Race							Net points	Final rank
Athlete	Event	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Net points	Final rank
Jack Cropp Peter Mander (helm)	12 m² Sharpie	914	1215	~~516~~	613	1215	1215	914	6086
Albert Cuthbertson Robert Stewart (helm) William Swinnerton	Dragon	351	0	129	828	305	0	402	2015	12

Swimming

See main article: Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
align=left	Philippa Gould	align=left	Women's 100 m backstroke	1:17.5	=18	did not advance
align=left rowspan=2	Winifred Griffin	align=left	Women's 100 m freestyle	1:10.4	32	did not advance
align=left	Women's 400 m freestyle	5:31.0	18	did not advance
align=left	Lincoln Hurring	align=left	Men's 100 m backstroke	1:07.5	17	did not advance
align=left rowspan=2	Marrion Roe	align=left	Women's 100 m freestyle	1:05.9	8 Q	1:05.3	4 Q	1:05.6	7
align=left	Women's 400 m freestyle	5:18.5	13	did not advance
align=left	Jean Stewart	align=left	Women's 100 m backstroke	1:15.5	10	did not advance

Weightlifting

See main article: Weightlifting at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Wrestling

See main article: Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Officials

Chef de mission – Lloyd Woods^[3] ^[4]

External links

Notes and References

Web site: New Zealand Rowing at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417182128/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/NZL/summer/1956/ROW/ . dead . 17 April 2020 . . 12 September 2016.
Web site: Rowing at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417052326/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1976/ROW/ . dead . 17 April 2020 . . 12 September 2016.
News: Olympic Games team . 19 April 1956 . . 93 . 27947 . 4 . 6 September 2022.
News: Athletics: 1956 Olympic films in Christchurch . 2 April 1960 . . 99 . 29170 . 17 . 6 September 2022.