Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres
The women's 100 metres competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held at the Olympic Stadium on November 29–30.[1]
| Women's 100 metres at the Games of the XVI Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Melbourne Cricket Ground | ||||||||||||
| Date | November 24th (heats & semifinals) November 26th (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 37 from 18 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 11.5 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | |
| 800 m | men | |
| 1500 m | men | |
| 5000 m | men | |
| 10,000 m | men | |
| 80 m hurdles | women | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | |
| 3000 m steeplechase | men | |
| 4×100 m relay | men | women |
| 4×400 m relay | men | |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | |
| 20 km walk | men | |
| 50 km walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| Long jump | men | women |
| Triple jump | men | |
| High jump | men | women |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Shot put | men | women |
| Discus throw | men | women |
| Javelin throw | men | women |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Combined events | ||
| Decathlon | men | |
In the final, Betty Cuthbert clearly beat her teammate Marlene Mathews-Willard out of the blocks, with Heather Armitage and Isabelle Daniels out quickly in close contention. Christa Stubnick had a burst of acceleration to quickly draw even with Daniels as Armitage was unable to hold her speed. Cuthbert expanded upon her slight advantage to pull away to a clear win. Stubnick was able to separate slightly from Daniels with Mathews-Willard steadily gaining from the back. Mathews-Willard caught Daniels and almost nipped Stubnick, clearly the fastest moving athlete at the finish.
Competition format
The women's 100m competition started with six heats, where the fastest two from each heat qualified to one of the two semifinals groups. The three fastest runners from each semifinals group advanced to the final.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | .svg.png){kind=small} |
11.3 | Warsaw, Poland | August 4, 1955 |
| Olympic record |  |
11.5 | Berlin, Germany | August 4, 1936 |
Results
Heats
Heat 1
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giuseppina Leone |  |
11.8 Q |
| 2 | Vira Kalashnykova-Krepkina | .svg.png){kind=small} |
11.9 Q |
| 3 | Mae Faggs | .svg.png){kind=small} |
12.2 |
| 4 | Micheline Fluchot |  |
12.4 |
| 5 | Janet Jesudason | .svg.png){kind=small} |
13.2 |
| 6 | Mary Rao |  |
DNF |
Heat 2
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marlene Mathews-Willard |  |
11.5 Q OR |
| 2 | Galina Rezchikova | |
11.8 Q |
| 3 | Lucinda Williams | |
12.0 |
| 4 | Maria Kusion-Bibro | .svg.png){kind=small} |
12.2 |
| 5 | Maureen Rever | .svg.png){kind=small} |
12.2 |
| 6 | Franca Peggion | |
12.4 |
| 7 | Mary Klass | |
12.6 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Betty Cuthbert | |
11.4 Q OR |
| 2 | Isabelle Daniels | |
11.6 Q |
| 3 | Anne Pashley |  |
11.7 |
| 4 | Barbara Janiszewska | |
12.2 |
| 5 | Maria Musso | |
12.2 |
| 6 | Diane Matheson | |
12.4 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heather Armitage | |
11.5 Q |
| 2 | Gisela Birkemeyer |  |
11.7 Q |
| 3 | Shirley Strickland | |
11.7 |
| 4 | Eleanor Haslam | |
11.8 |
| 5 | Halina Górecka | |
12.2 |
| 6 | Maeve Kyle |  |
12.3 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Galina Popova | |
11.6 Q |
| 2 | Catherine Capdevielle | |
11.7 Q |
| 3 | Inge Fuhrmann | |
12.2 |
| 4 | Annie Choong |  |
12.5 |
Heat 6
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christa Stubnick | |
11.7 Q |
| 2 | June Foulds | |
11.9 Q |
| 3 | Margaret Stuart |  |
12.3 |
| 4 | Elaine Winter | .svg.png){kind=small} |
12.5 |
| 5 | Claudette Masdammer | .svg.png){kind=small} |
12.7 |
Semifinals
Group 1
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christa Stubnick | |
11.9 Q |
| 2 | Betty Cuthbert | |
12.0 Q |
| 3 | Giuseppina Leone | |
12.1 Q |
| 4 | June Foulds | |
12.1 |
| 5 | Galina Popova | |
12.2 |
| 6 | Catherine Capdevielle | |
12.4 |
Group 2
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marlene Mathews-Willard | |
11.6 Q |
| 2 | Heather Armitage | |
11.6 Q |
| 3 | Isabelle Daniels | |
11.7 Q |
| 4 | Gisela Birkemeyer | |
11.9 |
| 5 | Vira Kalashnykova-Krepkina | |
11.9 |
| 6 | Galina Reshchikova | |
12.1 |
Final
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Betty Cuthbert | |
11.5 |
 | Christa Stubnick | |
11.7 |
 | Marlene Mathews-Willard | |
11.7 |
| 4 | Isabelle Daniels | |
11.8 |
| 5 | Giuseppina Leone | |
11.9 |
| 6 | Heather Armitage | |
12.0 |
References
- "Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Women's 100 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2017.