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1,500 metres Freestyle, Men

Date5 – 7 December 1956
StatusOlympic
LocationOlympic Park Swimming and Diving Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants20 from 11 countries

The world record fell twice in 1956 before the Olympic Games began. Firstly George Breen broke the record at the US Olympic trials, then Murray Rose furthered lowered it at the Australian trials a few months later. Rose and Tsuyoshi Yamanaka posted the 2nd and 3rd fastest times in history in the first qualifying heat only to see Breen respond by taking 6.6 seconds off the world record in heat 3.

Not unexpectedly the final quickly turned into a three-way battle between Rose, Breen and Yamanaka. At halfway the three men were still together until Rose began to pull away from the other two and into a lead of more than five metres. Breen, unable to match his heroics from the heats, slipped further back but Yamanaka made a final effort over the last two lengths of the pool to pull back on the leader. As the increasingly anxious home crowd roared their support for the Australian, Rose mustered a sprint that kept him clear of the Japanese swimmer. Breen was 16 seconds slower than in his heat but was still able to win the bronze medal.

Rose returned to collect silver in this event at the Rome Games but, despite being in world record breaking form in 1964, he was not selected for Tokyo when acting commitments meant that he was not able to return to Australia for the trials.

PosNumberCompetitorNOCR1Final
1Murray RoseAUS18:04.1 (1 h1)17:58.9 (1)Gold
248Tsuyoshi YamanakaJPN18:04.3 (2 h1)18:00.3 (2)Silver
353George BreenUSA17:52.9 (1 h3)18:08.2 (3)Bronze
455Murray GarrettyAUS18:27.4 (1 h4)18:26.5 (4)
538Bill SlaterCAN18:51.6 (3 h1)18:38.1 (5)
641Jean BoiteuxFRA18:46.6 (2 h4)18:38.3 (6)
759Yukiyoshi AokiJPN18:36.0 (2 h2)18:38.3 (7)
833Gary WinramAUS18:35.7 (1 h2)19:06.2 (8)
958Seizaburo YagiJPN18:57.3 (3 h4)
1067Sándor ZáborszkyHUN19:01.2 (2 h3)
1160Dave RadcliffUSA19:09.6 (4 h4)
1246Jacques CollignonFRA19:10.8 (3 h3)
1354George OnekeaUSA19:13.8 (3 h2)
1436Bana SailaniPHI19:16.8 (4 h3)
1542Guy MontserretFRA19:17.4 (4 h1)
16Gennady AndrosovURS19:22.6 (5 h3)
1757Hans-Joachim ReichGER19:28.6 (6 h3)
1866György CsordásHUN19:44.2 (5 h1)
19Peter DuncanRSA19:58.5 (4 h2)
2040Raúl MartínCUB19:59.9 (5 h2)
DNS37Ulpiano BabolPHI– (DNS h1)
DNS26Billy SteuartRSA– (DNS h1)
DNS39Sylvio dos SantosBRA– (DNS h2)
DNS132Gilberto MartínezCOL– (DNS h2)
DNS52Tony BriscoeRSA– (DNS h3)
DNS69Árpád DomjánHUN– (DNS h4)
DNS49Muhammad RamzanPAK– (DNS h4)
DNS51Per-Olof ÖstrandSWE– (DNS h4)

Round One

Date5 December 1956 — 14:00
FormatFastest eight advanced to the final.
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1George BreenUSA17:52.9QWR
2Murray RoseAUS18:04.1QOR
3Tsuyoshi YamanakaJPN18:04.3Q
4Murray GarrettyAUS18:27.4Q
5Gary WinramAUS18:35.7Q
6Yukiyoshi AokiJPN18:36.0Q
7Jean BoiteuxFRA18:46.6Q
8Bill SlaterCAN18:51.6Q
9Seizaburo YagiJPN18:57.3
10Sándor ZáborszkyHUN19:01.2
11Dave RadcliffUSA19:09.6
12Jacques CollignonFRA19:10.8
13George OnekeaUSA19:13.8
14Bana SailaniPHI19:16.8
15Guy MontserretFRA19:17.4
16Gennady AndrosovURS19:22.6
17Hans-Joachim ReichGER19:28.6
18György CsordásHUN19:44.21
19Peter DuncanRSA19:58.5
20Raúl MartínCUB19:59.92
DNSUlpiano BabolPHI
DNSBilly SteuartRSA
DNSSylvio dos SantosBRA
DNSGilberto MartínezCOL
DNSTony BriscoeRSA
DNSÁrpád DomjánHUN
DNSMuhammad RamzanPAK
DNSPer-Olof ÖstrandSWE

Heat #1

Time14:00
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1Murray RoseAUS18:04.1QOR
2Tsuyoshi YamanakaJPN18:04.3Q
3Bill SlaterCAN18:51.6Q
4Guy MontserretFRA19:17.4
5György CsordásHUN19:44.23
DNSUlpiano BabolPHI
DNSBilly SteuartRSA

Heat #2

Time14:40
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1Gary WinramAUS18:35.7Q
2Yukiyoshi AokiJPN18:36.0Q
3George OnekeaUSA19:13.8
4Peter DuncanRSA19:58.5
5Raúl MartínCUB19:59.94
DNSSylvio dos SantosBRA
DNSGilberto MartínezCOL

Heat #3

Time19:30
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1George BreenUSA17:52.9QWR
2Sándor ZáborszkyHUN19:01.2
3Jacques CollignonFRA19:10.8
4Bana SailaniPHI19:16.8
5Gennady AndrosovURS19:22.6
6Hans-Joachim ReichGER19:28.6
DNSTony BriscoeRSA

Heat #4

Time20:10
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1Murray GarrettyAUS18:27.4Q
2Jean BoiteuxFRA18:46.6Q
3Seizaburo YagiJPN18:57.3
4Dave RadcliffUSA19:09.6
DNSÁrpád DomjánHUN
DNSMuhammad RamzanPAK
DNSPer-Olof ÖstrandSWE

Final Round

Date7 December 1956 — 19:55
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1Murray RoseAUS17:58.9
2Tsuyoshi YamanakaJPN18:00.3
3George BreenUSA18:08.2
4Murray GarrettyAUS18:26.5
5Bill SlaterCAN18:38.1
6Jean BoiteuxFRA18:38.3
7Yukiyoshi AokiJPN18:38.3
8Gary WinramAUS19:06.2