Weightlifting at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 56 kg explained

Event:	Men's 56 kg
Games:	1956 Summer
Venue:	Royal Exhibition Building
Date:	23 November 1956
Competitors:	16
Nations:	13
Win Label:	Winning total
Win Value:	342.5 kg WR
Gold:	Charles Vinci
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Vladimir Stogov
Silvernoc:	URS
Bronze:	Mahmoud Namjoo
Bronzenoc:	IRI
Prev:	1952
Next:	1960

The men's 56 kg weightlifting competitions at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne took place on 23 November at the Royal Exhibition Building.^[1] It was the third appearance of the bantamweight class.^[2]

Each weightlifter had three attempts at each of the three lifts. The best score for each lift was summed to give a total. The weightlifter could increase the weight between attempts (minimum of 5 kg between first and second attempts, 2.5 kg between second and third attempts) but could not decrease weight. If two or more weightlifters finished with the same total, the competitors' body weights were used as the tie-breaker (lighter athlete wins).^[1]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Press		107.5 kg		1956
	Snatch		102.5 kg	Munich, West Germany	12 October 1955
	Clean & Jerk		133 kg		1956
	Total		335 kg	Munich, West Germany	12 October 1955
Olympic record	Press		105 kg	London, United Kingdom	9 August 1948
	Snatch		97.5 kg	Helsinki, Finland	25 July 1952
	Clean & Jerk		127.5 kg	Helsinki, Finland	25 July 1952
	Total		315 kg	Helsinki, Finland	25 July 1952

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Body weight	Press (kg)				Snatch (kg)				Clean & Jerk (kg)				Total
				1	2	3	Result	1	2	3	Result	1	2	3	Result
			56.00	100	105	105	105 =	100	105	107.5	105	127.5	132.5	135	132.5	342.5
			56.00	100	105	107.5	105 =	97.5	102.5	105	105	127.5	132.5	132.5	127.5	337.5
			56.00	95	100	105	100	95	100	102.5	102.5	125	130	130	130	332.5
4			55.70	82.5	87.5	90	90	90	95	95	95	130	135	140	135	320
5			55.70	85	90	90	85	95	100	100	95	120	125	127.5	127.5	307.5
6			55.60	82.5	82.5	87.5	87.5	90	95	97.5	97.5	115	120	125	120	305
7			56.00	85	92.5	97.5	97.5	85	90	92.5	90	110	117.5	122.5	117.5	305
8			55.80	85	90	92.5	90	87.5	92.5	92.5	87.5	115	120	125	125	302.5
9			55.10	85	85	90	85	77.5	82.5	85	85	105	112.5	117.5	117.5	287.5
10			55.70	82.5	87.5	92.5	87.5	80	85	87.5	85	112.5	117.5	117.5	112.5	285
11			56.00	85	85	85	85	80	85	85	80	110	110	115	110	275
12			55.00	72.5	80	82.5	80	75	80	85	80	107.5	112.5	112.5	112.5	272.5
13			55.50	72.5	77.5	77.5	72.5	85	90	90	85	105	110	115	115	272.5
13			55.50	75	80	82.5	80	82.5	87.5	87.5	82.5	110	115	115	110	272.5
15			55.70	75	80	82.5	80	72.5	72.5	75	–	90	95	97.5	97.5	177.5
16			55.70	95	95	95	–	Retired								–

As weigh-in time approached, Vinci was one and a half pounds overweight. After an hour of running and sweating he was still seven ounces over the limit with 15 minutes to go. Fortunately, a severe last-minute haircut did the trick, and Vinci went on to win the gold medal.^[3]

New records

Press	105 kg		=
Snatch	105 kg
Clean & Jerk	135 kg
Total	342.5 kg

Notes and References

1. Official Report, p. 634.
2. Web site: Weightlifting at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Bantamweight . https://web.archive.org/web/20200418132144/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/WLT/mens-bantamweight.html . dead . 18 April 2020 . Sports Reference . 26 December 2019.
3. Book: Wallechinsky . David . The Complete Book of the Olympics . 1984 . Penguin Books . England . 0140066322 . 628.