AOC Media Centre - 1956 Melbourne

From Athens With Pride pagesBetty Cuthbert flying at the Melbourne 1956 Games is a feature of Chapter 15 of the book From Athens With Pride, written by Harry Gordon and launched in Sydney on 9 May 2014.

Henricks wins 100m goldJon Henricks after winning gold in the men's 100m freestyle at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games

4x100m GoldMelbourne 1956: The British team runner hands over the batton to her team mate during the women's 4x100m. Australia go on to claim the gold medal and Great Britain takes silver.

Sweden's Melbourne Olympics1956: A runner carries the Olympic torch into the arena at the Equestrian Olympics, Stockholm. Due to prohibitive quarantine restrictions in Australia the equestrian events of the Melbourne Olympics where held in Sweden.

Athletics Golden GirlMelbourne 1956: In front of a home crowd, Australia's Shirley Strickland is on her way to winning the women's 80m hurdles in a new Olympic record time of 10.8 seconds. Shirley Strickland passed away February 17, 2004 in Perth aged 78.

Walking GoldMelbourne 1956: Norman Read of New Zealand leads the field during the 50km walk final where he finished with a 400 yard lead, taking the gold medal.

National FlagsMelbourne 1956: Australian athlete John Landy stands at the podium and takes the Olympic oath while athletes from competing nations hold their national flags during the Opening Ceremony. Landy held the world record for running the mile.

Melbourne's Olympic TorchMelbourne 1956: Australian athlete Ron Clarke, holder of the junior mile record, carries the Olympic torch into the stadium during the Opening Ceremony.

Olympic OathMelbourne 1956: Australian athlete John Landy stands at the podium and takes the Olympic oath while athletes from competing nations hold their country's flags during Opening Ceremony. Crowds sit in the bleachers of the stadium. Landy held the world record for running the mile.

Clarke Lights UpMelbourne 1956: Ron Clarke of Australia lights the Olympic Torch at the Opening Ceremony of the 17th Olympic Games.

Olympian in TrainingMelbourne 1956: Nigerian athlete Karimu Babalola Olowu trains at the Olympic Park for the long jump.

Autograph from RoseMelbourne 1956: Australian swimmer Murray Rose, winner of the 400m crawl, signs autographs for young fans. Rose won two other gold medals at Melbourne, for the 1500m and the 4x200m freestyle relay.

Golden WatersMelbourne 1956: In the pool, the three medal winners of the men's 400m freestyle race (from left), George Breen (USA) bronze, Murray Rose (AUS) gold, and Tsuyoshi Yamanaka (JPN) silver.

Front RunnerMelbourne 1956: Vladimir Kuts of the Soviet Union won both the 10,000m and 5,000m. Here Kuts, running the 10,000m, shows his grinding front running style with Gordon Pirie of Britain matching his strides, until the final five laps. Kuts broke the world record for 5,000m four times and the longer distance once.

Historic FeatMelbourne 1956: Ronnie Delany of Ireland wins the men's 1,500m, creating one of its biggest surprises and winning only the second Irish gold medal on the track in the history of the Games. The manner of his winning was equally astonishing, for with 300 metres remaining he was trapped on the inside edge of the track back in 10th place. A gap opened and the Irishman flew through, picking off the men in front amidst tumultuous reaction. Delany was a clear winner in an Olympic record from Klaus Richtzenhain of Germany and John Landy of Australia.

Triple ThreatMelbourne 1956: Australia's swimming champion Dawn Fraser won two gold medals and one bronze medal in front of her home crowd in Melbourne. Gold for the 100m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay and bronze in the 400m freestyle.

Courtney's GoldMelbourne 1956: America's Tom Courtney wins the 800m final. British athlete Derek Johnson (No. 53) finishes second and Auden Boysen of Norway (No. 148) takes third place.

Steeplechase FinalMelbourne 1956: Gold medal winner Chris Brasher (1928-2003) of Great Britain (#226) in action during the steeplechase final winning in a time of 8:41.2, an Olympic record at the time.

Three Boxing GoldsMelbourne 1956: Laszlo Papp of Hungary shares the distinction in Olympic records with Teofilo Stevenson of Cuba of winning three boxing gold medals. He was the middleweight champion in 1948 and the light middle winner in the 1952 and 1956, boxing with southpaw stance. While the Hungarian authorities did not permit professional boxing, Papp was allowed to follow a professional career for three years during which time he became a European champion.

200m GloryMelbourne 1956: Australia's Betty Cuthbert wins the women's 200m beating Christa Stubnik of Germany (silver) and Marlene Mathews of Australia (bronze).

Home Crowd GloryMelbourne 1956: Australia's Betty Cuthbert (No.468) wins the women's 100m final.

Crossing the LineMelbourne 1956: Betty Cuthbert of Australia (No.468) crosses the line first to win the women's 100m final.

Melbourne From AboveMelbourne 1956: Aerial view of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria. Along the banks of the Yarra River to the left is the Flinders Street Railway Station, the hub of Melbourne's railroad system and to the top right is the Mebourne Cricket Ground, the main stadium for the 1956 Olympic Games.

100m DashMelbourne 1956: Bob Morrow (left) of the United States crosses the finish line to win the final of the men's 100m event, American W Baker comes in second place and Australia's Hector Hogan finishes third place.