New Zealand at the 1956 Summer Olympics

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.

New Zealand at the
1956 Summer Olympics
IOC codeNZL
NOCNew Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association
Websitewww.olympic.org.nz
in Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors53 in 9 sports
Flag bearerRitchie Johnston
Officials12
Medals
Ranked 16th
Gold
2
Silver
0
Bronze
0
Total
2
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
 Australasia (1908–1912)

Medal tables

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Medal Name Sport Event Date
  Gold Norman Read Athletics Men's 50 km walk 24 November
  Gold Jack Cropp
Peter Mander
Sailing 12 m² Sharpie 29 November
Medals by sport
Sport       Total
Athletics 1 0 0 1
Sailing 1 0 0 1
Total 2 0 0 2
Medals by gender
Gender       Total
Male 2 0 0 2
Female 0 0 0 0
Total 2 0 0 2

Athletics

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Track and road

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Athlete Event Heat Quarterfinal Semifinal Final
Result Rank[i] Result Rank[ii] Result Rank[iii] Result Rank
Murray Halberg Men's 1500 m 3:57.2 4 Q 3:45.2 11
Maurice Rae Men's 100 m 10.7 1 Q 10.6 3 Q 10.5 4 did not advance
Men's 200 m 21.4 2 Q 22.0 2 Q 21.5 6 did not advance
Norman Read Men's 50 km walk 4:30:42.8  
Albert Richards Men's marathon 2:41:34 17
Neville Scott Men's 1500 m 3:48.0 1 Q 3:42.8 7
Margaret Stuart Women's 80 m hurdles 11.3 3 Q 11.3 6 did not advance
Women's 100 m 12.3 3 did not advance
  1. ^ Ranks given are within the heat
  2. ^ Ranks given are within the quarterfinal
  3. ^ Ranks given are within the semifinal

Field

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Athlete Event Qualification Final
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

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

Cycling

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Track

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Men's 1000 m time trial
Athlete Time Rank
Warwick Dalton 1:12.6 8
Men's sprint
Athlete Round 1 Round 1 repechage Quarterfinals Semifinals Final / BM
Opposition
Result
Heat Final Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Warren Johnston   Fouček (TCH)
  Nyman (FIN)
2 R
  Masanés (CHI)
  Harrison (GBR)
W 12.0
  Godefroid (BEL)
W 12.4
  Romanov (URS)
W, W
  Rousseau (FRA)
L, L
  Ploog (AUS)
L, L
4
Men's tandem
Athlete Round 1 Round 1 repechage Quarterfinals Semifinals Final / BM Rank
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Ritchie Johnston
Warren Johnston
  United States
  Soviet Union
W 11.3
  Czechoslovakia
L
did not advance =5
Men's team pursuit
Athlete Round 1 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final / BM Rank
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Warwick Dalton
Donald Eagle
Bruce Kent
Neil Ritchie
  Uruguay
W 4:55.6
  France
L 4:56.4
did not advance =5

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

Field hockey

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Men's tournament

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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
24 November 1956 (1956-11-24)
14:30
Germany   5–4 (3–3)   New Zealand
27 November 1956 (1956-11-27)
14:30
Pakistan   5–1 (2–0)   New Zealand
29 November 1956 (1956-11-29)
16:00
New Zealand   3–0 (1–0)   Belgium
Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts Qualification
  Pakistan 3 2 1 0 7 1 5 Advance to semi-finals
  Germany 3 1 2 0 5 4 4 Advance to semi-finals
  New Zealand 3 1 0 2 8 10 2 5th–8th classification round
  Belgium 3 0 1 2 0 5 1 5th–8th classification round
5th–8th Classification round
3 December 1956 (1956-12-03)
New Zealand   13–0   Singapore
4 December 1956 (1956-12-04)
Australia   1–0   New Zealand
6 December 1956 (1956-12-06)
New Zealand   3–2   Belgium
Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts Overall rank
  Australia 3 2 1 0 8 2 5 5
  New Zealand 3 2 0 1 16 3 4 6
  Belgium 3 1 1 1 9 5 3 7
  Singapore 3 0 0 3 0 23 0 8

Rowing

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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.[citation needed]

Athlete Event Heats Repechage Semi-finals Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
James Hill Single sculls 7:30.1 3 R 8:29.9 1 SA/B 9:12.5 3 Did not advance
Reg Douglas
Bob Parker
Coxless pair 7:32.6 1 QS Bye 8:44.7 3 Did not advance
Peter Lucas
Ray Laurent
Donald Gemmell
Allan Tong
Colin Johnstone
Coxed four 7:16.2 3 R 7:16.6 1 QS 8:30.7 4 Did not advance

Sailing

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Athlete Event Race Net points Final rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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
DSQ
129 828 305 0
DSQ
402 2015 12

Swimming

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

Weightlifting

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Athlete Event Press Snatch Clean & Jerk Total Rank
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
Hugh Jones Men's heavyweight 125 8 122.5 =7 150.0 8 397.5 8

Wrestling

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Athlete Event Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Final
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
John da Silva Men's freestyle heavyweight   Vykhristyuk (URS)
L 0–3
  Noori (IRI)
L 0–3
Eliminated

Officials

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Chef de mission – Lloyd Woods[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ "New Zealand Rowing at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  2. ^ "Rowing at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  3. ^ "Olympic Games team". The Press. Vol. 93, no. 27947. 19 April 1956. p. 4. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Athletics: 1956 Olympic films in Christchurch". The Press. Vol. 99, no. 29170. 2 April 1960. p. 17. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
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