Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's decathlon

The Men's decathlon competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 29–30.

Men's decathlon at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Venue	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Date	November 29–30
Competitors	15 from 8 nations
Winning points	7937
Medalists
Milt Campbell  United States Rafer Johnson  United States Vasili Kuznetsov  Soviet Union

Pathe Highlights

Competition format

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.

Records

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

World record	Rafer Johnson (USA)	7985	Kingsburg, United States	June 11, 1955
Olympic record	Bob Mathias (USA)	7887	Helsinki, Finland	July 26, 1952

Schedule

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
Friday, November 30, 1956	09:00 10:00 13:15 16:15 18:30	110 metres hurdles Discus Throw Pole Vault Javelin Throw 1500 metres

Overall results

Key

  The highest mark recorded in each event is highlighted in yellow

Rank	Athlete	Overall points	100 m	LJ	SP	HJ	400 m	110 m H	DT	PV	JT	1500 m
	Milt Campbell (USA)	7937	990 10.8 s	898 7.33 m	850 14.76 m	886 1.89 m	940 48.8 s	1124 14.0 s	775 44.98 m	476 3.40 m	668 57.08 m	330 4:50.6 min
	Rafer Johnson (USA)	7587	948 10.9 s	902 7.34 m	819 14.48 m	806 1.83 m	900 49.3 s	788 15.1 s	688 42.17 m	695 3.90 m	738 60.27 m	303 4:54.2 min
	Vasili Kuznetsov (URS)	7465	834 11.2 s	798 7.04 m	820 14.49 m	711 1.75 m	828 50.2 s	840 14.9 s	754 44.33 m	720 3.95 m	854 65.13 m	306 4:53.8 min
4	Uno Palu (URS)	6930	737 11.5 s	681 6.65 m	709 13.39 m	886 1.89 m	786 50.8 s	716 15.4 s	637 40.38 m	556 3.60 m	768 61.59 m	454 4:35.6 min
5	Martin Lauer (EUA)	6853	870 11.1 s	734 6.83 m	659 12.86 m	806 1.83 m	995 48.2 s	894 14.7 s	609 39.38 m	364 3.10 m	540 50.66 m	382 4:43.8 min
6	Walter Meier (EUA)	6773	800 11.3 s	725 6.80 m	671 12.99 m	845 1.86 m	900 49.3 s	575 16.1 s	562 37.59 m	596 3.70 m	492 47.97 m	607 4:20.6 min
7	Torbjörn Lassenius (FIN)	6565	650 11.8 s	672 6.62 m	715 13.45 m	656 1.70 m	786 50.8 s	612 15.9 s	664 41.36 m	645 3.80 m	717 59.33 m	448 4:36.2 min
8	Yang Chuan-kwang (ROC)	6521	834 11.2 s	755 6.90 m	544 11.56 m	976 1.95 m	751 51.3 s	813 15.0 s	469 33.92 m	438 3.30 m	685 57.88 m	256 5:00.8 min
9	Pat Leane (AUS)	6427	768 11.4 s	722 6.79 m	696 13.26 m	845 1.86 m	772 51.0 s	523 16.4 s	595 38.86 m	516 3.50 m	706 58.83 m	284 4:56.8 min
10	John Cann (AUS)	6278	948 10.9 s	659 6.57 m	598 12.18 m	656 1.70 m	900 49.3 s	673 15.6 s	592 38.76 m	226 2.70 m	686 57.89 m	340 4:49.2 min
11	Ian Bruce (AUS)	6025	678 11.7 s	672 6.62 m	609 12.30 m	806 1.83 m	751 51.3 s	612 15.9 s	536 36.62 m	476 3.40 m	554 51.38 m	331 4:50.4 min
12	Najmeddin Farabi (IRN)	5103	572 12.1 s	575 6.25 m	524 11.31 m	656 1.70 m	684 52.3 s	372 17.4 s	347 28.73 m	438 3.30 m	375 41.23 m	560 4:24.8 min
—	Bob Richards (USA)	DNF	678 11.7 s	610 6.39 m	628 12.52 m	711 1.75 m	684 52.3 s	458 16.8 s	566 37.77 m	1023 4.45 m	423 44.09 m	DNS
—	Yuriy Kutenko (URS)	DNF	707 11.6 s	678 6.64 m	817 14.46 m	NM	807 50.5 s	632 15.8 s	861 47.57 m	795 4.10 m	DNS	DNS
—	Walter Herssens (BEL)	DNF	650 11.8 s	656 6.56 m	509 11.12 m	770 1.80 m	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS

External links

• Official Olympic Report Archived 2012-02-07 at the Wayback Machine, la84.org.