| | Event type

400 metres Freestyle, Men

Date	1 – 4 December 1956
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympic Park Swimming and Diving Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants	32 from 19 countries

In October 17-year-old Australian Murray Rose set the fastest time ever recorded for the distance in a 50 metre pool. This served as a prelude to a hugely successful Olympic Games for the teenager. Rose’s first victory of the three he obtained in Melbourne came in this event. Starting conservatively, Rose pulled away from the other swimmers over the second half of the race to win ahead of Tsuyoshi Yamanaka and George Breen. The three men would repeat their finishing positions in the 1500 m later in the Games. The winning time was narrowly outside Ford Konno‘s world record but when FINA changed their rules in 1957 to disallow times set in 25 m pools it became recognised as the world record. Rose went on to successfully defend his title four years later in Rome.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Murray Rose	AUS	4:31.7 (1 h5)	4:27.3 (1)	Gold
2	Tsuyoshi Yamanaka	JPN	4:31.8 (2 h5)	4:30.4 (2)	Silver
3	George Breen	USA	4:35.7 (1 h3)	4:32.5 (3)	Bronze
4	Kevin O'Halloran	AUS	4:36.9 (1 h1)	4:32.9 (4)
5	Hans Zierold	GER	4:35.7 (3 h5)	4:34.6 (5)
6	Gary Winram	AUS	4:34.5 (1 h4)	4:34.9 (6)
7	Koji Nonoshita	JPN	4:37.4 (2 h1)	4:38.2 (7)
8	Angelo Romani	ITA	4:37.6 (3 h1)	4:41.7 (8)
9	Jean Boiteux	FRA	4:37.9 (2 h4)	–
10	Bill Woolsey	USA	4:38.2 (4 h1)	–
11	Jack Wardrop	GBR	4:39.8 (1 h2)	–
12	Bill Slater	CAN	4:40.4 (3 h4)	–
13	Tony Briscoe	RSA	4:41.4 (2 h2)	–
14	George Onekea	USA	4:41.6 (3 h2)	–
15	Neil McKechnie	GBR	4:42.6 (4 h4)	–
16	Boris Nik'it'ini	URS	4:42.8 (5 h4)	–
17	Billy Steuart	RSA	4:43.0 (6 h4)	–
18	Hans Köhler	GER	4:43.5 (4 h2)	–
19	Habib Nasution	INA	4:44.0 (5 h2)	–
20	Per-Olof Östrand	SWE	4:45.9 (6 h2)	–
21	Peter Duncan	RSA	4:46.7 (2 h3)	–
22	Jenő Áts	HUN	4:47.6 (4 h5)	–
23	Sylvio dos Santos	BRA	4:48.8 (5 h1)	–
24	Bana Sailani	PHI	4:49.0 (7 h4)	–
25	Jacques Collignon	FRA	4:49.3 (5 h5)	–
26	Karri Käyhkö	FIN	4:49.6 (3 h3)	–
27	Yoshiro Noda	JPN	4:49.9 (4 h3)	–
28	Gilberto Martínez	COL	4:51.4 (7 h2)	–
29	Guy Montserret	FRA	4:52.6 (5 h3)	–
30	Ulpiano Babol	PHI	4:53.4 (6 h1)	–
31	Raúl Martín	CUB	4:58.2 (8 h2)	–
32	Wan Shiu Ming	HKG	5:02.6 (7 h1)	–
DNS	Haroldo Lara	BRA	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	Sándor Záborszky	HUN	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	George Park	CAN	– (DNS h5)	–
DNS	György Csordás	HUN	– (DNS h5)	–
DNS	Shrichand Bajaj	IND	– (DNS h5)	–

Round One (1 December 1956 — 21:15)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	3	Kevin O'Halloran	AUS	– (–) –	4:36.9	Q
2	7	Koji Nonoshita	JPN	– (–) –	4:37.4	Q
3	6	Angelo Romani	ITA	– (–) –	4:37.6	Q
4	4	Bill Woolsey	USA	– (–) –	4:38.2
5	5	Sylvio dos Santos	BRA	– (–) –	4:48.8
6	8	Ulpiano Babol	PHI	– (–) –	4:53.4
7	1	Wan Shiu Ming	HKG	– (–) –	5:02.6

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	6	Jack Wardrop	GBR	– (–) –	4:39.8
2	1	Tony Briscoe	RSA	– (–) –	4:41.4
3	3	George Onekea	USA	– (–) –	4:41.6
4	5	Hans Köhler	GER	– (–) –	4:43.5
5	2	Habib Nasution	INA	– (–) –	4:44.0
6	4	Per-Olof Östrand	SWE	– (–) –	4:45.9
7	8	Gilberto Martínez	COL	– (–) –	4:51.4
8	7	Raúl Martín	CUB	– (–) –	4:58.2

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	George Breen	USA	– (–) –	4:35.7	Q
2	4	Peter Duncan	RSA	– (–) –	4:46.7
3	2	Karri Käyhkö	FIN	– (–) –	4:49.6
4	6	Yoshiro Noda	JPN	– (–) –	4:49.9
5	7	Guy Montserret	FRA	– (–) –	4:52.6
DNS	1	Haroldo Lara	BRA	– (–) –	–
DNS	3	Sándor Záborszky	HUN	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Gary Winram	AUS	– (–) –	4:34.5	Q
2	3	Jean Boiteux	FRA	– (–) –	4:37.9
3	2	Bill Slater	CAN	– (–) –	4:40.4
4	7	Neil McKechnie	GBR	– (–) –	4:42.6
5	6	Boris Nik'it'ini	URS	– (–) –	4:42.8
6	4	Billy Steuart	RSA	– (–) –	4:43.0
7	1	Bana Sailani	PHI	– (–) –	4:49.0

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Murray Rose	AUS	– (–) –	4:31.7	Q
2	3	Tsuyoshi Yamanaka	JPN	– (–) –	4:31.8	Q
3	4	Hans Zierold	GER	– (–) –	4:35.7	Q
4	6	Jenő Áts	HUN	– (–) –	4:47.6
5	1	Jacques Collignon	FRA	– (–) –	4:49.3
DNS	7	George Park	CAN	– (–) –	–
DNS	8	György Csordás	HUN	– (–) –	–
DNS	2	Shrichand Bajaj	IND	– (–) –	–

Final (4 December 1956 — 19:30)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	4	Murray Rose	AUS	1:03.1 (3) 1:08.5 (1)	2:11.6 (=1) 1:08.9 (1)	3:20.5 (1) 1:06.8 (1)	4:27.3	WR
2	5	Tsuyoshi Yamanaka	JPN	1:02.6 (=1) 1:09.0 (3)	2:11.6 (=1) 1:09.7 (2)	3:21.3 (2) 1:09.1 (4)	4:30.4
3	6	George Breen	USA	1:02.6 (=1) 1:09.4 (=4)	2:12.0 (3) 1:10.4 (4)	3:22.4 (3) 1:10.1 (6)	4:32.5
4	7	Kevin O'Halloran	AUS	1:05.4 (8) 1:08.8 (2)	2:14.2 (4) 1:09.9 (3)	3:24.1 (4) 1:08.8 (3)	4:32.9
5	2	Hans Zierold	GER	1:03.5 (4) 1:10.9 (7)	2:14.4 (5) 1:11.9 (6)	3:26.3 (6) 1:08.3 (2)	4:34.6
6	3	Gary Winram	AUS	1:05.3 (7) 1:09.4 (=4)	2:14.7 (6) 1:10.7 (5)	3:25.4 (5) 1:09.5 (5)	4:34.9
7	1	Koji Nonoshita	JPN	1:04.4 (5) 1:10.8 (6)	2:15.2 (7) 1:12.3 (7)	3:27.5 (7) 1:10.7 (7)	4:38.2
8	8	Angelo Romani	ITA	1:04.6 (6) 1:11.0 (8)	2:15.6 (8) 1:13.8 (8)	3:29.4 (8) 1:12.3 (8)	4:41.7