The men's 100 metres event at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 23 and 24 November. Sixty-five athletes from 31 nations competed; each nation was limited to three athletes. The final was won by American Bobby Morrow, marking the fifth consecutive victory by a different American. Hec Hogan of Australia won that country's first medal in the event since 1900.Stanley Rowley's bronze medal in 1900 is retroactive; at the time, bronze medals were not awarded for third place. Thus, the 1956 Official Report states that Hogan's third-place finish "was the first time an Australian had won a sprint medal." Official Report, p. 269. The competition took place in strong winds, with the final run into a headwind.

Background

This was the thirteenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. None of the finalists from 1952 returned. Notable entrants were Americans Bobby Morrow (NCAA champion, U.S. Olympic trial champion, and heavy favorite) and Ira Murchison (world record co-holder); Dave Sime was injured and did not make the American team.

The Bahamas, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Liberia, Malay, Singapore, and Ethiopia were represented in the event for the first time. In addition, German athletes competed as the "United Team" for the first time, though pre-World War II Germany had competed many times and West Germany had competed as "Germany" in 1952. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first thirteen Olympic men's 100 metres events.

Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920 to 1952: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats, of 4–6 athletes each, with the top 2 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 24 quarterfinalists were placed into 4 heats of 6 athletes. The top 3 in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, once again with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record 10.1 Willie Williams Berlin, Germany 3 August 1956 10.1 Ira Murchison Berlin, Germany 4 August 1956 10.1 Leamon King Ontario, United States 20 October 1956 10.1 Leamon King Santa Ana, United States 27 October 1956 Olympic record 10.3 Eddie Tolan Los Angeles, USA 1 August 1932 10.3 Ralph Metcalfe Los Angeles, USA 1 August 1932 10.3 Jesse Owens Berlin, Germany 2 August 1936 10.3 Harrison Dillard London, United Kingdom 31 July 1948

Despite headwinds, Ira Murchison and Bobby Morrow each equalled the Olympic record of 10.3 seconds (hand-timed) in the quarterfinals. Morrow did it again in the semifinals.

Results

Heats

The fastest two runners in each of the twelve heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1 Wind: 0.0 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ira Murchison 10.67 2 Jan Jarzembowski 10.95 3 Hilmar Þorbjörnsson 11.12 4 Mario Colarossi 11.14 5 René Ahumada 11.26 6 Raja bin Ngah Ali 11.41 — René Farine

Heat 2 Wind: -1.2 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Mike Agostini 10.98 2 Luigi Gnocchi 11.01 3 Titus Erinle 11.09 4 Jorge de Barros 11.15 5 Vanchak Voradilok 11.78 6 Negussie Roba 12.07

Heat 3 Wind: -2.8 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Maurice Rae 10.84 2 Abdul Khaliq 10.97 3 Manfred Steinbach 10.99 4 Rafael Romero 11.14 5 Evaristo Iglesias 11.50 — Walter Tschudi

Heat 4 Wind: 0.0 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ben Nduga 10.88 2 Ken Box 10.96 3 Kyohei Ushio 11.09 4 Kesavan Soon 11.35 5 Jack Parrington 11.62 — Norberto Cruz

Heat 5 Wind: 0.1 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Marian Foik 10.88 2 Boris Tokarev 11.09 3 Franco Galbiati 11.13 4 Tom Robinson 11.30 5 Jalal Gozal 11.45 6 James Roberts 11.45

Heat 6 Wind: -0.5 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Manfred Germar 10.91 2 Ray Land 11.05 3 Keith Gardner 11.22 4 Alain David 11.24 5 Emmanuel Putu 11.44 6 Beyene Legesse 11.94

Heat 7 Wind: -0.6 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Leonid Bartenyev 10.93 2 Béla Goldoványi 11.02 3 Clive Bonas 11.17 4 Gavin Carragher 11.36 5 Thomas Obi 11.47 6 Bjørn Nilsen 11.58

Heat 8 Wind: 0.0 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Hector Hogan 10.72 2 René Bonino 10.96 3 Géza Varasdi 11.00 4 Akira Kiyofuji 11.00 — Edward Szmidt — Alfonso Bruno

Heat 9 Wind: -0.9 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Thane Baker 10.93 2 Edmund Turton 11.38 3 Sinnayah Karuppiah Jarabalan 11.56 4 Tan Eng Yoon 11.63 — László Kiss — Ghanim Mahmoud

Heat 10 Wind: -1.2 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Stan Levenson 10.94 2 Heinz Fütterer 11.10 3 João Pires Sobrinho 11.14 4 Joe Goddard 11.19 5 Oliver Hunter 11.22 6 Ghulam Raziq 11.26

Heat 11 Wind: -0.7 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Edward Ajado 11.01 2 Roy Sandstrom 11.05 3 Dick Harding 11.20 4 Muhammad Sharif Butt 11.26 5 Abebe Hailou 11.54 6 Sneh Wongchaoom 11.95

Heat 12 Wind: 0.0 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Bobby Morrow 10.90 2 Yuriy Konovalov 11.04 3 David Segal 11.19 4 Paiboon Vacharapan 11.27 5 Lee Kah Fook 11.84 — Fritz Vogelsang

Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1 Wind: -1.4 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Bobby Morrow 10.55 , (10.3 hand) 2 Mike Agostini 10.75 3 Maurice Rae 10.78 4 Béla Goldoványi 10.95 5 Heinz Fütterer 10.99 6 Ray Land 11.15

Quarterfinal 2 Wind: 0.0 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ira Murchison 10.55 , (10.3 hand) 2 Abdul Khaliq 10.78 3 Yuriy Konovalov 10.93 4 Luigi Gnocchi 10.96 5 Edmund Turton 11.37 6 Ben Nduga 12.95

Quarterfinal 3 Wind: -1.0 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Hec Hogan 10.78 2 Boris Tokarev 10.87 3 Stan Levenson 10.93 4 Jan Jarzembowski 10.98 5 Edward Ajado 11.02 6 Ken Box 11.45

Quarterfinal 4 Wind: -2.2 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Thane Baker 10.62 2 Manfred Germar 10.80 3 Marian Foik 10.83 4 Leonid Bartenev 10.84 5 René Bonino 10.96 6 Roy Sandstrom 11.03

Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1 Wind: -2.3 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ira Murchison 10.79 2 Mike Agostini 10.79 3 Manfred Germar 10.85 4 Abdul Khaliq 10.93 5 Stan Levenson 10.94 6 Yuriy Konovalov 11.11

Semifinal 2 Wind: -1.1 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Bobby Morrow 10.52 , (10.3 hand) 2 Thane Baker 10.61 3 Hec Hogan 10.62 4 Maurice Rae 10.68 5 Marian Foik 10.84 6 Boris Tokarev 10.91

Final In lane 4, Bobby Morrow was out fast, sandwiched by his teammates Thane Baker in lane 6 and Ira Murchison in lane 1. Morrow just ran away from the field. Baker edged ahead of Murchison to get silver, and running before an Australian crowd, Hec Hogan came from behind to nip Murchison at the line. While Morrow was almost two metres ahead of Baker at the finish, the hand timing of the day gave them the same time of 10.5; the electronic timing system showed the margin to be a more accurate 0.15 of a second.

Wind: -2.5 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Bobby Morrow 10.5 10.62 Thane Baker 10.5 10.77 Hec Hogan 10.6 10.77 4 Ira Murchison 10.6 10.79 5 Manfred Germar 10.7 10.86 6 Mike Agostini 10.7 10.88

References