Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1956 Olympic Games took place between November 29 and 30.[1]

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
VenueMelbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre
Date29–30 November
Competitors34 from 19 nations
Medalists
Jon Henricks  Australia
John Devitt  Australia
Gary Chapman  Australia
Swimming at the
1956 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mwomen
200 mmen
Freestyle relay
4×100 mwomen
4×200 mmen

Competition format

The competition used a three-round (heats, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952 (though with only 2 semifinals instead of 3). A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 5 heats of 6 or 7 swimmers each. The top 16 swimmers advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals of 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Results

Heats

Five heats were held, the fastest sixteen swimmers advanced to the Semifinal Round. The swimmers that advanced are highlighted.

RankHeatSwimmerNationTimeNotes
14Reid Patterson United States56.8Q, OR
24Atsushi Tani Japan57.1Q
33John Devitt Australia57.2Q
41Jon Henricks Australia57.3Q
52Manabu Koga Japan57.7Q
65Gary Chapman Australia57.8Q
1Dick Hanley United States57.8Q
82Aldo Eminente France58.0Q
95Bill Woolsey United States58.2Q
103Paolo Pucci Italy58.3Q
5Ronald Roberts Great Britain58.3Q
123Hiroshi Suzuki Japan58.4Q
3Paul Voell United Team of Germany58.4Q
145Gyula Dobay Hungary58.5Q
4Carlo Pedersoli Italy58.5Q
162Vitaly Sorokin Soviet Union58.6Q
175George Park Canada58.8
181Billy Steuart South Africa59.2
193Kenneth Williams Great Britain59.4
203Dennis Ford South Africa59.5
211Lev Balandin Soviet Union59.6
222Cheung Kin Man Hong Kong59.8
1Karri Käyhkö Finland59.8
1Hans Köhler United Team of Germany59.8
254Haroldo Lara Brazil59.9
262Horst Bleeker United Team of Germany1:00.1
4Habib Nasution Indonesia1:00.1
285Dakula Arabani Philippines1:00.2
4Alex Jany France1:00.2
2Sergio Martínez Colombia1:00.2
312Peter Duncan South Africa1:00.4
321André Laurent Belgium1:00.7
5Wan Shiu Ming Hong Kong1:00.7
343Sri Chand Bajaj India1:01.6

Semifinals

Two heats were held; the swimmers with the fastest eight times advanced to the Final Round. The swimmers that advanced are highlighted.

RankHeatSwimmerNationTimeNotes
11Jon Henricks Australia55.7Q, OR
22John Devitt Australia56.4Q
32Gary Chapman Australia56.9Q
1Dick Hanley United States56.9Q
52Reid Patterson United States57.1Q
61Atsushi Tani Japan57.4Q
71Aldo Eminente France58.0Q
2Bill Woolsey United States58.0Q
91Hiroshi Suzuki Japan58.0
102Gyula Dobay Hungary58.1
2Manabu Koga Japan58.1
121Vitaly Sorokin Soviet Union58.2
132Paul Voell United Team of Germany58.6
141Paolo Pucci Italy58.8
152Ronald Roberts Great Britain58.9
161Carlo Pedersoli Italy59.0

Final
RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Jon Henricks Australia55.4WR
John Devitt Australia55.8
Gary Chapman Australia56.7
4Reid Patterson United States57.2
5Dick Hanley United States57.6
6Bill Woolsey United States57.6
7Atsushi Tani Japan58.0
8Aldo Eminente France58.1

References
  1. "Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  • Official Report, pp. 593–94.
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