The men's 400 metres hurdles competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia took place on November 23–24 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. There were 28 competitors from 18 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Glenn Davis of the United States, the nation's fourth consecutive and ninth overall victory in the men's 400 metres hurdles. Eddie Southern (silver) and Josh Culbreath (bronze) completed the American sweep, the third time (after 1904 and 1920) that the United States had swept the medals in the event.
Background
This was the 11th time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.
Two of the six finalists from the 1952 Games returned: silver medalist Yuriy Lituyev and fourth-place finisher Anatoliy Yulin, both of the Soviet Union. Earlier in the year, at the U.S. trials, American Glenn Davis had demolished Lituyev's three year old world record, knocking almost a full second off the mark and taking the time under 50 seconds for the first time ever. Eddie Southern was also under 50 seconds in that race. The two young Americans joined Josh Culbreath, the 1953 to 1955 AAU and 1955 Pan American champion, on a strong United States team. Lituyev, as in 1952, was the strongest challenger to the Americans.
Romania made its debut in the event. The United States made its 11th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every edition of the event to that point.
Summary
During the final, the six lanes were fairly even, with Lituyev pushing the backstretch to gain a slight advantage going in to the final turn. That was swallowed up during the turn as Davis surged, leading Eddie Southern and Gert Potgieter off the turn. Davis expanded his lead over Southern from 2 meters to 5 meters down the home stretch for the win. Over the final barrier, Potgieter caught his trail leg on the hurdle which knocked him off balance. He was able to take two more strides then did a face plant in the middle of the track. On the inside, Josh Culbreath was able to cruise by for bronze, completing the American sweep.
Competition format
The competition returned to the three-round format used since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): heats, semifinals, and a final. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.
There were 6 heats with between 3 and 6 athletes each. The top 2 men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. The 12 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 6 athletes each, with the top 3 in each semifinal advancing to the 6-man final.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Eddie Southern set a new Olympic record with 50.1 seconds in the first semifinal. Glenn Davis matched that time in the final.
Schedule
All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)
Date Time Round Friday, 23 November 1956 14:3017:40 HeatsSemifinals Saturday, 24 November 1956 17:10 Final
Results
Heats
Heat 1
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Glenn Davis 51.3 51.33 2 David Lean 51.4 51.55 3 Keiji Ogushi 53.2 53.22 4 Ovidio de Jesús 54.0 54.08 5 Pablo Somblingo 54.5 54.66
Heat 2
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Eddie Southern 51.3 51.41 2 Harry Kane 51.8 51.85 3 Geoff Goodacre 52.5 52.85 4 Kalim Khawaja Ghani 55.1 55.36 5 Jagdev Singh 55.2 55.36
Heat 3
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Josh Culbreath 50.9 51.06 2 Guy Cury 51.6 51.76 3 Jaime Aparicio 52.0 52.14 4 Tom Farrell 52.7 52.88 5 Muhammad Yaqub 53.1 53.18 6 Tsai Cheng-Fu 54.6 54.84
Heat 4
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Ross Parker 53.5 53.51 2 Ioannis Kambadelis 53.7 53.66 3 Amadeo Francis 54.3 54.38 — Igor Ilyin — — Helmut Janz — — Christian Wägli —
Heat 5
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Yuriy Lituyev 51.6 51.69 2 Gert Potgieter 52.0 52.05 3 Ossi Mildh 52.1 52.19 4 Alexandre Yankoff 53.1 53.30 5 Marcel Lambrechts 54.0 54.24
Heat 6
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Anatoliy Yulin 52.1 52.22 2 Ilie Savel 52.2 52.31 3 Bob Shaw 52.5 52.62 4 Ulisses dos Santos 53.8 53.99 — Josef Kost —
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Eddie Southern 50.1 50.26 , 2 Glenn Davis 50.7 50.78 3 Gert Potgieter 51.3 51.30 4 Guy Cury 51.5 51.66 5 Anatoliy Yulin 51.7 51.79 6 Ross Parker 52.6 52.72
Semifinal 2
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Josh Culbreath 50.9 50.97 2 David Lean 51.4 51.45 3 Yuriy Lituyev 51.8 51.78 4 Ilie Savel 52.0 52.06 5 Harry Kane 52.7 52.95 6 Ioannis Kambadelis 53.8 53.93
Final
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes Glenn Davis 50.1 50.29 Eddie Southern 50.8 50.94 Josh Culbreath 51.6 51.74 4 Yuriy Lituyev 51.7 51.91 5 David Lean 51.8 51.93 6 Gert Potgieter 56.0 –
Results summary
Rank Athlete Nation Heats Semifinals Final Notes Glenn Davis 51.3 50.7 50.1 Eddie Southern 51.3 50.1 50.8 Josh Culbreath 50.9 50.9 51.6 4 Yuriy Lituyev 51.6 51.8 51.7 5 David Lean 51.4 51.4 51.8 6 Gert Potgieter 52.0 51.3 56.0 7 Guy Cury 51.6 51.5 Did not advance 8 Anatoliy Yulin 52.1 51.7 9 Ilie Savel 52.2 52.0 10 Ross Parker 53.5 52.6 11 Harry Kane 51.8 52.7 12 Ioannis Kambadelis 53.7 53.8 13 Jaime Aparicio 52.0 Did not advance 14 Ossi Mildh 52.1 15 Geoff Goodacre 52.5 Bob Shaw 52.5 17 Tom Farrell 52.7 18 Alexandre Yankoff 53.1 Muhammad Yaqub 53.1 20 Keiji Ogushi 53.2 21 Ulisses dos Santos 53.8 22 Ovidio de Jesús 54.0 Marcel Lambrechts 54.0 24 Amadeo Francis 54.3 25 Pablo Somblingo 54.5 26 Tsai Cheng-Fu 54.6 27 Kalim Khawaja Ghani 55.1 28 Jagdev Singh 55.2
References