Australia sent a delegation to compete at the 1956 Winter Olympics from the 26 January to 5 February 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. This was the nation's third appearance at the Winter Olympic Games with their last appearance being in 1952.
Australia delegation consisted of eight competitors in three sports. Australia competed in alpine skiing, figure skating and speed skating. Australia best result from the 1960 Games was a seventh-place finish from Colin Hickey in the men's 500 metres and men's 1500 metres speed skating. This performance also was Australia's best result until the 1976 Winter Olympics, where Colin Coates came sixth in men's 10000 metres speed skating.
Background The Australian Olympic Committee was formed on 1 January 1895 with the nation making their debut at the first Olympics in Athens with Teddy Flack being the first representative of the nation. This was the nation's third appearance at a Winter Olympics. It was also the 15th overall Olympics that Australia had sent a delegation in. The 1956 Winter Olympics was held at Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy and took place from the 26 January to 6 February: a total of 821 athletes competed from 32 nations. The Australian delegation consist of eight athletes, five in the alpine skiing, two in the figure skating and one in the speedskating.
Alpine skiing
Men AthleteEventRun 1Run 2Final/TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeDiffRankBill DayDownhillcolspan=4 4:02.0 +1:09.835Giant slalomcolspan=4 3:56.9 +56.861SlalomDid not finishTony AslangulGiant slalomcolspan=4 4:09.0 +1:08.969SlalomDid not finishFrank PrihodaGiant slalomcolspan=4 4:31.2 +1:39.080Slalom2:54.3602:43.2515:37.5 +2:22.854James WalkerGiant slalomcolspan=4 5:21.0 +2:20.984
Women
AthleteEventRace 1Race 2TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankChristine DavyDownhill2:01.639Christine DavyGiant slalom2:17.337Christine DavySlalom1:26.1321:21.5292:47.633
Figure skating
Athlete(s) Event Points RankAllan GanterMen's13131141191.7213Charles Keeble16141371115.3916
Speed skating
AthleteEventFinalTimeRankColin Hickey500 m41.971500 m2:11.875000 m8:10.01410000 m17:45.627
See also Australia at the Winter Olympics
References
External links Australia NOC Olympic Winter Institute of Australia "Australians at the Olympics: A definitive history" by Gary Lester (suspected errata listed in Errata/0949853054) "2002 Australian Winter Olympic Team Guide" PDF file "The Compendium: Official Australian Olympic Statistics 1896-2002" Australian Olympic Committee (Inconsistencies in sources mentioned in Wikibooks:Errata/0702234257) "Winter Olympic Representatives 1924 - 2002" Ice Skating Australia