1956 Summer Olympics

Games of the XVI Olympiad
Host city	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Stockholm, Sweden (equestrian events)
Nations	72
Athletes	3,314 (2,938 men, 376 women)
Events	151 in 17 sports (23 disciplines)
Opening	22 November
Closing	8 December
Opened by	The Duke of Edinburgh
Cauldron	Ron Clarke
Stadium	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Summer
Winter

The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were held at Melbourne in Victoria, Australia.^[2]

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Melbourne was chosen as the host city over instead of Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montreal and six American cities on 28 April 1949 at the 43rd IOC session.

The equestrian events were not held in Australia because of quarantine regulations. These events were held five months earlier in Stockholm, Sweden, making it the second time that events of the same Olympics were held in different countries.^[3]

A total of 67 nations sent athletes to compete at the Melbourne games.^[4]

Five nations competed in the horse riding events in Stockholm; however, athletes from these nations did not take part in the Games in Melbourne. The five were Cambodia, Egypt, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.^[5]

List of IOC country codes

The Duke of Edinburgh did not regain the title "Prince" until the following year. See List of titles and honours of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

[1]
"Factsheet – Opening Ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad" (PDF) (Press release). International Olympic Committee. 13 September 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
[2]
Sports Reference.com (SR/Olympics), "1956 Melbourne Summer Games" Archived 2020-04-17 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-7-23.
[3]
In the Antwerp, Belgium Olympics of 1920 one sailing event had been held in Dutch waters.
[4]
Taking part in the games for the first time were Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia, Malaya, North Borneo and Uganda.
[5]
Egypt did not compete in Melbourne because of the Suez Crisis. The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland did not participate because they wanted to protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary.

Media related to 1956 Summer Olympics at Wikimedia Commons

IOC page on the 1956 Summer Olympics

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[2] The Duke of Edinburgh did not regain the title "Prince" until the following year. See List of titles and honours of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

[Opening_and_Cauldron-1] [1]
"Factsheet – Opening Ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad" (PDF) (Press release). International Olympic Committee. 13 September 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2018.

[3] [2]
Sports Reference.com (SR/Olympics), "1956 Melbourne Summer Games" Archived 2020-04-17 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-7-23.

[4] [3]
In the Antwerp, Belgium Olympics of 1920 one sailing event had been held in Dutch waters.

[5] [4]
Taking part in the games for the first time were Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia, Malaya, North Borneo and Uganda.

[6] [5]
Egypt did not compete in Melbourne because of the Suez Crisis. The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland did not participate because they wanted to protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary.

[2]

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[3]

[4]

[5]

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1956 Summer Olympics

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Participating nations

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