Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's triple jump

The men's triple jump was an event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The event was also known at the time as the hop, step and jump.[1] Thirty-two athletes from 20 nations competed.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Adhemar da Silva of Brazil, successfully defending his 1952 title. He was the second man to do so, after Myer Prinstein in 1900 and 1904. Vilhjálmur Einarsson won Iceland's first Olympic medal in any event with the silver in this competition. Vitold Kreyer put the Soviet Union on the men's triple jump podium for the second Games in a row with his bronze.

Men's triple jump
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Adhemar da Silva
VenueOlympic Park Stadium
Date27 November
Competitors32 from 20 nations
Winning distance16.35 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Adhemar da Silva
 Brazil
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Vilhjálmur Einarsson
 Iceland
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Vitold Kreyer
 Soviet Union
← 1952
1960 →
Video on YouTube Official Video @25:54

Summary

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The qualification round mark was set at 14.80 metres. Eleven athletes didn't surpass that distance in the morning session.

During the afternoon final, Bill Sharpe took the early lead with an American record 15.88m. In the second round, the surprise of the Olympics Vilhjálmur Einarsson jumped a wind aided 16.26m to take the lead. Defending champion and world record holder Adhemar da Silva jumped 16.04m. In the third round, Vitold Kreyer moved into bronze medal position with a 16.02m, while Sharpe injured himself on his attempt and was unable to continue the battle. In the fourth round, da Silva popped an Olympic record 16.35 m (53 ft 7+12 in) to take the lead. da Silva backed up his jump by equalling Einarsson's best jump in the fifth round and adding a 16.21m in the final round. da Silva became Brazil's first back to back winner, while Einarsson won Iceland's first medal.[3]

Background

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This was the 13th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning finalists from the 1952 Games were gold medalist Adhemar da Silva of Brazil and silver medalist Leonid Shcherbakov of the Soviet Union. Bronze medalist Asnoldo Devonish of Venezuela was entered but did not compete. In 1953, Shcherbakov had broken da Silva's world record, set at the 1952 Olympics; in 1955, da Silva took the world record back.[2]

Nigeria, North Borneo, Pakistan, Singapore, and Uganda each made their first appearance in the event. The United States competed for the 13th time, having competed at each of the Games so far.

Competition format

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The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936. In the qualifying round, each jumper received three attempts to reach the qualifying distance of 14.80 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. In the final round, each athlete had three jumps; the top six received an additional three jumps, with the best of the six to count.[2][4]

Records

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These are the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1956 Summer Olympics.

World record   Adhemar da Silva (BRA) 16.56 Mexico City, Mexico 16 March 1955
Olympic record   Adhemar da Silva (BRA) 16.22 Helsinki, Finland 23 July 1952

Vilhjálmur Einarsson jumped what would have been an Olympic record of 16.26 metres in the competition, but this was (a) wind-assisted and (b) improved upon by Adhemar da Silva, who won with a record mark of 16.35 metres.

Schedule

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All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Tuesday, 27 November 1956 10:00
14:30
Qualifying
Final

Results

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Qualifying

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Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 Teruji Kogake   Japan 15.63 15.63 Q
2 Leonid Shcherbakov   Soviet Union 15.59 15.59 Q
3 Koji Sakurai   Japan 15.49 15.49 Q
4 Kari Rahkamo   Finland 15.43 15.43 Q
5 Vitold Kreyer   Soviet Union 15.38 15.38 Q
6 Hiroshi Shibata   Japan 15.27 15.27 Q
7 George Shaw   United States 14.79 15.23 15.23 Q
8 Tapio Lehto   Finland 14.67 13.34 15.21 15.21 Q
9 Vilhjálmur Einarsson   Iceland 15.16 15.16 Q
Bill Sharpe   United States 15.16 15.16 Q
11 Adhemar da Silva   Brazil 15.15 15.15 Q
12 Éric Battista   France 14.99 14.99 Q
13 Martin Řehák   Czechoslovakia 14.97 14.97 Q
14 Lawrence Ogwang   Uganda 14.76 14.31 14.95 14.95 Q
15 Mohinder Singh   India 14.66 14.93 14.93 Q
16 Ira Davis   United States 14.93 14.93 Q
Peter Esiri   Nigeria 14.93 14.93 Q
18 Hannu Rantala   Finland 14.45 14.92 14.92 Q
19 Ken Wilmshurst   Great Britain 14.89 14.89 Q
20 Choi Yong-Kee   South Korea 14.86 14.86 Q
21 Ryszard Malcherczyk   Poland 14.84 14.84 Q
22 Paul Bamela Engo   Nigeria 14.81 14.81 Q
23 Brian Oliver   Australia 14.37 14.08 14.74 14.74
24 Gabuh Piging   North Borneo 14.47 14.55 X 14.55
25 Ronald Gray   Australia 14.37 14.46 14.31 14.46
26 Wu Chun-tsai   Republic of China X 14.36 X 14.36
27 Maurice Rich   Australia 14.26 13.76 13.91 14.26
28 Sium Bin Diau   North Borneo 14.09 13.99 13.56 14.09
29 Walter Herssens   Belgium 14.05 13.99 14.05
30 Muhammad Rashid   Pakistan X X 13.90 13.90
31 Muhammad Ramzan Ali   Pakistan 13.00 13.53 13.35 13.53
Eng-Yoon Tian   Singapore X X X No mark
Yevgeny Chen   Soviet Union DNS
Asnoldo Devonish   Venezuela DNS
A. Abdul Razzak   Iraq DNS

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes
  Adhemar da Silva   Brazil 15.69 16.04 15.90 16.35 OR 16.26 16.21 16.35 OR
  Vilhjálmur Einarsson   Iceland X 16.26 15.81 X 15.61 16.26
  Vitold Kreyer   Soviet Union 15.83 X 16.02 15.51 X X 16.02
4 Bill Sharpe   United States 15.88 X 14.15 15.88
5 Martin Řehák   Czechoslovakia 15.58 X 15.85 X 15.10 15.63 15.85
6 Leonid Shcherbakov   Soviet Union 15.75 X 15.58 X 15.80 15.12 15.80
7 Koji Sakurai   Japan 15.73 15.59 15.29 Did not advance 15.73
8 Teruji Kogake   Japan 15.64 14.71 15.01 Did not advance 15.64
9 Ken Wilmshurst   Great Britain 15.42 15.54 15.09 Did not advance 15.54
10 Ryszard Malcherczyk   Poland 15.54 15.26 15.41 Did not advance 15.54
11 Ira Davis   United States 14.16 X 15.40 Did not advance 15.40
12 George Shaw   United States 15.33 X X Did not advance 15.33
13 Hiroshi Shibata   Japan 15.25 14.85 X Did not advance 15.25
14 Kari Rahkamo   Finland 15.21 X X Did not advance 15.21
15 Mohinder Singh   India 15.20 X X Did not advance 15.20
16 Éric Battista   France 15.15 15.03 X Did not advance 15.15
17 Paul Bamela Engo   Nigeria 14.98 15.03 14.87 Did not advance 15.03
18 Tapio Lehto   Finland 14.63 14.91 X Did not advance 14.91
19 Hannu Rantala   Finland 14.65 14.87 14.87 Did not advance 14.87
20 Lawrence Ogwang   Uganda 14.19 14.72 14.15 Did not advance 14.72
21 Choi Yong-Kee   South Korea 14.65 X X Did not advance 14.65
Peter Esiri   Nigeria X X X Did not advance No mark

References

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  1. ^ Abrahams, Harold (1956). The Olympic Games Book. p. 108.
  2. ^ a b c "Triple Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Triple Jump". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  4. ^ Official Report, p. 332.
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