Bantamweight (≤56 kilograms), Men

Since the 1952 Olympics, the World Championships had been won by three different men, with the 1955 title going to Soviet Vladimir Stogov, followed by the American Chuck Vinci, and they entered Melbourne as the favorites in this class. Stogov was the world record holder with a total of 335.0 kg. The competition was extremely close as both Stogov and Vinci lifted 105.0 kg in both the press and snatch, entering the clean & jerk tied at 210.0 kg. Vinci took the gold medal when he outlifted Stogov in the clean & jerk, 132.5 to 127.5 kg, giving Vinci a world record total of 342.5 kg. Stogov also bettered the previous world record. Vinci came very close to not even starting as he had difficulty making weight, and only did so at the last minute, aided by a haircut just before the weigh-in. The bronze medal went to Iran’s Mahmoud Namdjou, the silver medalist from Helsinki, who had also been third behind Stogov and Vinci at the 1955 Worlds.