Poland at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Poland competed at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Franciszek Gąsienica Groń won Poland's first ever medal at the Winter Olympic Games.

Poland at the 1956 Winter Olympics
IOC code	POL
NOC	Polish Olympic Committee
Website	www.pkol.pl (in Polish)
in Cortina d'Ampezzo
Competitors	51 (44 men, 7 women) in 6 sports
Flag bearer	Tadeusz Kwapień
Medals Ranked 12th	Gold 0 Silver 0 Bronze 1 Total 1
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)
1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 2030

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Bronze	Franciszek Gąsienica Groń	Nordic combined	Men's individual	January 31

Alpine skiing

Main article: Alpine skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Men

Athlete	Event	Race 1		Race 2		Total
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Jan Zarycki	Downhill					DSQ	–
Andrzej Gąsienica Roj						3:09.3	15
Andrzej Gąsienica Roj	Giant Slalom					3:48.6	54
Józef Marusarz						3:29.3	35
Włodzimierz Czarniak						3:24.2	28
Jan Zarycki						3:22.3	23
Jan Zarycki	Slalom	DSQ	–	–	–	DSQ	–
Andrzej Gąsienica Roj		1:50.6	37	2:05.2	18	3:55.8	23
Jan Gąsienica Ciaptak		1:33.8	17	2:06.2	20	3:40.0	16

Women

Athlete	Event	Race 1		Race 2		Total
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Maria Gąsienica Daniel-Szatkowska	Downhill					DNF	–
Maria Kowalska						1:51.9	19
Barbara Grocholska						1:51.7	17
Maria Gąsienica Daniel-Szatkowska	Giant Slalom					2:10.9	35
Barbara Grocholska						2:05.5	30
Maria Kowalska						2:02.8	20
Maria Gąsienica Daniel-Szatkowska	Slalom	DSQ	–	–	–	DSQ	–
Maria Kowalska		58.7	8	1:23.0	30	2:21.7	22

Bobsleigh

Main article: Bobsleigh at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Sled	Athletes	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Run 3		Run 4		Total
			Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
POL-1	Aleksy Konieczny Zbigniew Skowroński	Two-man	1:27.21	16	1:27.23	21	1:27.87	20	1:28.54	18	5:50.85	19
POL-2	Stefan Ciapała Aleksander Habala	Two-man	1:27.70	21	1:26.49	15	1:26.24	13	1:25.92	10	5:46.35	16

Sled	Athletes	Event	Run 1		Run 2		Run 3		Run 4		Total
			Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
POL-1	Stefan Ciapała Jerzy Olesiak Józef Szymański Aleksander Habala	Four-man	1:19.95	12	1:20.25	14	1:21.10	14	1:22.19	19	5:23.49	15
POL-2	Aleksy Konieczny Zygmunt Konieczny Włodzimierz Źróbik Zbigniew Skowroński (both participated... Jan Dąbrowski ...in two runs)	Four-man	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	5:28.40	21

Cross-country skiing

Main article: Cross-country skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Men

Event	Athlete	Race
		Time	Rank
15 km	Józef Gąsienica Sobczak	56:39	44
	Józef Rubiś	54:47	34
	Andrzej Mateja	53:42	23
	Tadeusz Kwapień	52:45	16
30 km	Stanisław Bukowski	1'56:26	29
	Józef Rubiś	1'53:57	23
	Tadeusz Kwapień	1'49:09	12
50 km	Stanisław Bukowski	3'10:49	13

Men's 4 × 10 km relay

Athletes	Race
	Time	Rank
Józef Rubiś Józef Gąsienica Sobczak Tadeusz Kwapień Andrzej Mateja	2'25:55	9

Women

Event	Athlete	Race
		Time	Rank
10 km	Helena Gąsienica Daniel	43:09	24
	Zofia Krzeptowska	41:37	18
	Józefa Czerniawska-Pęksa	41:28	17
	Maria Gąsienica Bukowa-Kowalska	41:09	16

Women's 3 x 5 km relay

Athletes	Race
	Time	Rank
Maria Gąsienica Bukowa-Kowalska Józefa Czerniawska-Pęksa Zofia Krzeptowska	1'13:20	5

Ice hockey

Main article: Ice hockey at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Group B

Top two teams advanced to Medal Round.

Rank	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	Czechoslovakia	2	2	0	0	12	6	4
2	United States	2	1	1	0	7	4	2
3	Poland	2	0	2	0	3	12	0

• USA 4-0 Poland
• Czechoslovakia 8-3 Poland

Games for 7th-10th places

Rank	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
7	Italy	3	3	0	0	21	7	6
8	Poland	3	2	1	0	12	10	4
9	Switzerland	3	1	2	0	12	18	2
10	Austria	3	0	3	0	9	19	0

• Poland 6-2 Switzerland
• Poland 4-3 Austria
• Italy 5-2 Poland

Contestants Władysław Pabisz Edward Kocząb Janusz Zawadzki Kazimierz Chodakowski Stanisław Olczyk Mieczysław Chmura Henryk Bromowicz Józef Kurek Zdzisław Nowak Szymon Janiczko Adolf Wróbel Kazimierz Bryniarski Marian Herda Hilary Skarżyński Bronisław Gosztyła Rudolf Czech Alfred Wróbel

Nordic combined

Main article: Nordic combined at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Events:

• normal hill ski jumping (Three jumps, best two counted and shown here.)
• 15 km cross-country skiing

Athlete	Event	Ski Jumping				Cross-country			Total
		Distance 1	Distance 2	Points	Rank	Time	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Józef Daniel Krzeptowski	Individual	62.0	60.5	173.5	33	1'00:48	222.600	18	396.100	29
Jan Raszka		65.0	64.5	182.5	29	1'05:15	205.400	32	387.900	32
Franciszek Gąsienica Groń		72.5	71.5	203.0	10	57:55	233.800	7	436.800
Aleksander Kowalski		74.0	75.0	210.5	5	1'03:37	211.700	29	422.200	15

Ski jumping

Main article: Ski jumping at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Athlete	Event	Jump 1			Jump 2			Total
		Distance	Points	Rank	Distance	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Józef Huczek	Normal hill	70.5	95.5	28	67.0	89.5	36	185.0	30
Władysław Tajner		74.0	98.0	26	76.5	103.0	12	201.0	16
Roman Gąsienica Sieczka		77.5	101.5	21	71.5	88.0	40	189.5	25
Andrzej Gąsienica Daniel		78.0	102.0	18	74.5	96.5	22	198.5	20

References

• Official Olympic Reports
• International Olympic Committee results database
• Olympic Winter Games 1956, full results by sports-reference.com