The Soviet Union (USSR) competed in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
The Soviet Olympians participated in six out of 8 sports disciplines except for bobsleigh and ice figure skating. The Soviet Union Olympic team consisted of 53 athletes and represented 11 cities from 4 union republics. The team was awarded 16 medals (7 gold, 3 silver, and 6 bronze) and placed first among all participating nations in the medal table. The closest runner-up, Austria, was awarded 11 medals.
Pavel Kolchin became the first Soviet athlete to be awarded a medal at the Winter Olympics. The first Soviet gold medal was awarded to Lyubov Kozyreva, and later the same day, another gold was awarded to Yevgeny Grishin.
Medalists MedalNameSportEvent , Pavel Kolchin Vladimir Kuzin, Fyodor Terentyev Cross-country Men's relay 4 x 10 km Cross-country Women's 10 km , Vsevolod BobrovAlexei Guryshev, Nikolay KhlystovYuri Krylov, Alfred KuchevskyValentin Kuzin, Grigory MkrtychanViktor Nikiforov, Yuri PantyukhovNikolai Puchkov, Viktor Shuvalov Genrikh Sidorenkov, Nikolai Sologubov Ivan Tregubov, Dmitry Ukolov Aleksandr Uvarov Ice hockey Men's team Speed skating Men's 500 m Speed skating Men's 1500 m Speed skating Men's 1500 m Speed skating Men's 5000 m Cross-country Women's 10 km , Lyubov KozyrevaRadya Yeroshina Cross-country Women's relay 3 x 5 km Speed skating Men's 500 m Alpine skiing Women's slalom Cross-country Men's 15 km Cross-country Men's 30 km Cross-country Men's 50 km Speed skating Men's 5000 m Speed skating Men's 10000 m
Alpine skiing
Men AthleteEventFinalRun 1Run 2TotalRankGennady ChertishchevGiant slalom3:48.955DownhillDSQDNFAleksandr FilatovGiant slalom3:27.833Slalom1:33.52:36.04:09.530Downhill3:16.616Vyacheslav MelnikovSlalomTNKDSQdid not finishYury SharkovGiant slalom3:41.846SlalomDSQdid not finishSergey ShustovDownhillDSQDNFViktor TalyanovGiant slalom3:45.252Slalom1:49.22:06.93:56.1 24Downhill3:26.521
Women AthleteEventFinalRun 1Run 2TotalRankAleksandra ArtyomenkoGiant slalom4:04.544SlalomDSQdid not finishDownhill1:51.114Yevgeniya SidorovaGiant slalom2:31.340Slalom56.959.81:56.7Downhill1:59.837
Cross-country skiing
Men AthleteEventFinalTotalRankNikolay Anikin15 km50:587Viktor Baranov50 km3:03:557Minnevali Galiyev15 km52:4918Pavel Kolchin15 km50:1730 km1:45:4550 km2:58:006Vladimir Kuzin15 km51:361030 km1:46:095Anatoly Shelyukhin30 km1:45:46450 km2:56:405Fyodor Terentyev30 km1:46:43650 km2:53:32Fyodor TerentyevPavel KolchinNikolay AnikinVladimir KuzinRelay 4 x 10 km2:15:30 Women AthleteEventFinalTotalRankAnna Kaaleste10 km40:29 9Alevtina Kolchina10 km38:46 4Lyubov Kozyreva10 km38:11Radya Yeroshina10 km38:16Lyubov KozyrevaAlevtina KolchinaRadya YeroshinaRelay 3 x 5 km1:09:28
Ice hockey
Men Head coach: Arkady Chernyshev Pos.No.PlayerTeamGKNikolai PuchkovGKGrigory MkrtychanD Nikolai SologubovDDmitry UkolovDIvan TregubovDGenrikh SidorenkovDAlfred KuchevskyFYevgeny BabichFViktor ShuvalovFVsevolod BobrovFYuri KrylovFAleksandr UvarovFValentin KuzinFYuri PantyukhovFAlexei GuryshevFNikolay KhlystovFViktor Nikiforov Preliminary round TeamGPWLTGFGAPTS 2 2 0 0 15 4 4 2 1 1 0 7 10 2 2 0 2 0 8 16 0
Final round TeamGPWLTGFGAPTS 5 5 0 0 25 5 10 5 4 1 0 26 12 8 5 3 2 0 23 11 6 5 1 3 1 10 17 3 5 1 4 0 20 30 2 5 0 4 1 6 35 1
Nordic combined
AthleteEventSki jumpingCross-countryTotalPointsRankTimePointsRankPointsRankLeonid FyodorovIndividual 15 km201.01259:17228.50012429.50010Nikolay GusakovIndividual 15 km200.01458:17232.3008432.3007Uno KajakIndividual 15 km186.5271:00:48222.60018409.10026Yury MoshkinIndividual 15 km217.511:04:18209.10031426.60013
Ski jumping
AthleteEventFirst roundFinalPointsRankPointsTotalRankYury MoshkinNormal hill91.53592.5184.034Nikolay ShamovNormal hill103.01498.0201.016Koba ZakadzeNormal hill107.0878.0185.030
Speed skating
Men AthleteEventTimeRankOleg Goncharenko5000 m7:57.510000 m16:42.3Rafayel Grach500 m40.8 Yevgeny Grishin500 m40.2 WR 1500 m2:08.6 WR Robert Merkulov1500 m2:10.35Yuri Mikhaylov500 mdid not finish1500 m2:08.6 WR Dmitry Sakunenko5000 m 8:10.516Yuri Sergeev500 m41.14Boris Shilkov1500 m2:11.985000 m7:48.7 OR Vladimir Shilykovsky10000 m17:17.616Boris Tsybin10000 m17:03.49Boris Yakimov5000 m8:12.61910000 m16:59.77
Medals by republic In the following table for team events number of team representatives, who received medals are counted, not "one medal for all the team", as usual. Because there were people from different republics in one team.
References
Official Olympic Reports International Olympic Committee results database