| | Event type

800 metres, Men

Date	23 – 26 November 1956
Status	Olympic
Location	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants	38 from 24 countries

At an international meet is Oslo in August 1955, Roger Moens (BEL) won, defeating Norway’s Audun Boysen, in a time of 1:45.7, with Boysen posting 1:45.9, both runners surpassing the world record of Rudolf Harbig, set in 1939. The other great race that year came at the Pan-American Games when Arnie Sowell (USA) defeated his countryman, Lon Spurrier. Sowell was AAU Champion in 1955-56, but American Tom Courtney was probably a slight favorite in Melbourne, having won the US Olympic Trials. Moens could not compete, having injured his knee a few months before the Olympics. In the Olympic final, Courtney led at the start but Sowell soon took over. He led thru 600 metres, the first lap done in 52.8. At 600, four were in contention for medals – Courtney, Sowell, Boysen and Britain’s Derek Johnson. At the top of the stretch, Johnson and Courtney took a slight lead and battled together to the line, with Courtney winning in the lean.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	153	Tom Courtney	USA	1:52.7 (1 h2)	1:53.6 (1 h1)	1:47.7 (1)	Gold	OR
2	137	Derek Johnson	GBR	1:50.8 (1 h5)	1:50.2 (3 h2)	1:47.8 (2)	Silver
3	148	Audun Boysen	NOR	1:52.0 (1 h1)	1:50.0 (2 h2)	1:48.1 (3)	Bronze
4	154	Arnie Sowell	USA	1:51.3 (2 h3)	1:50.0 (1 h2)	1:48.3 (4)
5	136	Michael Farrell	GBR	1:52.8 (2 h2)	1:53.7 (3 h1)	1:49.2 (5)
6	155	Lon Spurrier	USA	1:51.5 (2 h4)	1:53.6 (2 h1)	1:49.3 (6)
7	126	Émile Leva	BEL	1:52.0 (3 h3)	1:50.4 (4 h2)	1:51.8 (7)
8	124	Bill Butchart	AUS	1:51.6 (3 h4)	1:53.8 (4 h1)	1:52.0 (8)
5 h1 r2/3	688	Lajos Szentgáli	HUN	1:51.8 (3 h5)	1:53.9 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	138	Mike Rawson	GBR	1:52.1 (2 h1)	1:50.4 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	143	Yoshitaka Muroya	JPN	1:52.3 (3 h1)	1:54.5 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	132	René Djian	FRA	1:51.1 (2 h5)	1:50.7 (6 h2)	–
7 h2 r2/3	123	Jim Bailey	AUS	1:51.1 (1 h3)	1:51.4 (7 h2)	–
8 h2 r2/3	140	Evangelos Depastas	GRE	1:53.1 (3 h2)	1:52.0 (8 h2)	–
1 h4 r1/3	130	Gunnar Nielsen	DEN	1:51.2 (1 h4)	– (DNS h1)	–
4 h1 r1/3	106	Gérard Rasquin	LUX	1:52.7 (4 h1)	–	–
4 h2 r1/3	125	Don MacMillan	AUS	1:53.4 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h3 r1/3	141	Sohan Singh	IND	1:52.4 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	142	Gianfranco Baraldi	ITA	1:51.9 (4 h4)	–	–
4 h5 r1/3	129	Ramón Sandoval	CHI	1:51.9 (4 h5)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	139	Dimitrios Konstantinidis	GRE	1:52.7 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	144	Shigeharu Suzuki	JPN	1:54.1 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	128	Eduardo Fontecilla	CHI	1:52.8 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	111	Abdullah Khan	PAK	1:52.6 (5 h4)	–	–
5 h5 r1/3	134	Klaus Richtzenhain	GER	1:53.3 (5 h5)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	150	Frank Rivera	PUR	1:56.4 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	135	Paul Schmidt	GER	1:55.6 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	133	Günter Dohrow	GER	1:53.7 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	146	Sim Sang-Ok	KOR	1:55.5 (6 h4)	–	–
6 h5 r1/3	149	Mahmoud Jan	PAK	1:59.5 (6 h5)	–	–
7 h1 r1/3	304	Mamo Wolde	ETH	1:58.0 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r1/3	108	M. Hari Chandra	MAL	– (7 h2)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	143	Kiptalam Keter	KEN	– (7 h3)	–	–
7 h4 r1/3	668	George Johnson	LBR	– (7 h4)	–	–
8 h2 r1/3	127	Doug Clement	CAN	– (8 h2)	–	–
8 h3 r1/3	303	Ajanew Bayene	ETH	– (8 h3)	–	–
9 h2 r1/3	152	Phol Jaiswang	THA	– (9 h2)	–	–
9 h3 r1/3	109	Kenneth Perera	MAL	– (9 h3)	–	–
DNS	669	Joseph Narmah	LBR	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	90	Murray Cockburn	CAN	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	131	Olavi Salsola	FIN	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	689	István Rózsavölgyi	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	102	Ronnie Delany	IRL	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	103	George Kerr	JAM	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	147	Josy Barthel	LUX	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	151	Dan Waern	SWE	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	626	Stanislav Jungwirth	TCH	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One (23 November 1956 — 16:15)

Top three in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	2	Audun Boysen	NOR	1:52.0	1:52.08	Q
2	5	Mike Rawson	GBR	1:52.1	1:52.20	Q
3	7	Yoshitaka Muroya	JPN	1:52.3	1:52.42	Q
4	9	Gérard Rasquin	LUX	1:52.7	1:52.88
5	6	Dimitrios Konstantinidis	GRE	1:52.7	1:53.03
6	1	Frank Rivera	PUR	1:56.4	1:56.58
7	4	Mamo Wolde	ETH	1:58.0	–
DNS	10	Murray Cockburn	CAN	–	–
DNS	8	Olavi Salsola	FIN	–	–
DNS	3	Dan Waern	SWE	–	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	10	Tom Courtney	USA	1:52.7	1:52.83	Q
2	3	Michael Farrell	GBR	1:52.8	1:52.86	Q
3	9	Evangelos Depastas	GRE	1:53.1	1:53.23	Q
4	4	Don MacMillan	AUS	1:53.4	1:53.50
5	6	Shigeharu Suzuki	JPN	1:54.1	1:54.29
6	5	Paul Schmidt	GER	1:55.6	1:55.71
7	7	M. Hari Chandra	MAL	–	1:56.27
8	1	Doug Clement	CAN	–	1:56.92
9	2	Phol Jaiswang	THA	–	–
DNS	8	István Rózsavölgyi	HUN	–	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	3	Jim Bailey	AUS	1:51.1	1:51.13	Q
2	7	Arnie Sowell	USA	1:51.3	1:51.27	Q
3	1	Émile Leva	BEL	1:52.0	1:52.03	Q
4	9	Sohan Singh	IND	1:52.4	1:52.57
5	4	Eduardo Fontecilla	CHI	1:52.8	1:52.94
6	8	Günter Dohrow	GER	1:53.7	1:53.90
7	5	Kiptalam Keter	KEN	–	1:56.13
8	6	Ajanew Bayene	ETH	–	–
9	2	Kenneth Perera	MAL	–	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	6	Gunnar Nielsen	DEN	1:51.2	1:51.27	Q
2	9	Lon Spurrier	USA	1:51.5	1:51.52	Q
3	5	Bill Butchart	AUS	1:51.6	1:51.67	Q
4	2	Gianfranco Baraldi	ITA	1:51.9	1:51.90
5	3	Abdullah Khan	PAK	1:52.6	1:52.71
6	8	Sim Sang-Ok	KOR	1:55.5	1:55.56
7	7	George Johnson	LBR	–	–
DNS	4	Ronnie Delany	IRL	–	–
DNS	1	Stanislav Jungwirth	TCH	–	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	1	Derek Johnson	GBR	1:50.8	1:50.93	Q
2	7	René Djian	FRA	1:51.1	1:51.15	Q
3	5	Lajos Szentgáli	HUN	1:51.8	1:51.89	Q
4	9	Ramón Sandoval	CHI	1:51.9	1:52.12
5	4	Klaus Richtzenhain	GER	1:53.3	1:53.47
6	3	Mahmoud Jan	PAK	1:59.5	–
DNS	8	Joseph Narmah	LBR	–	–
DNS	6	George Kerr	JAM	–	–
DNS	2	Josy Barthel	LUX	–	–

Semi-Finals (24 November 1956 — 16:00)

Top four in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	1	Tom Courtney	USA	1:53.6	1:53.62	Q
2	2	Lon Spurrier	USA	1:53.6	1:53.71	Q
3	3	Michael Farrell	GBR	1:53.7	1:53.78	Q
4	6	Bill Butchart	AUS	1:53.8	1:53.81	Q
5	7	Lajos Szentgáli	HUN	1:53.9	1:53.94
6	5	Yoshitaka Muroya	JPN	1:54.5	1:54.68
DNS	4	Gunnar Nielsen	DEN	–	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	1	Arnie Sowell	USA	1:50.0	1:50.08	Q
2	7	Audun Boysen	NOR	1:50.0	1:50.20	Q
3	8	Derek Johnson	GBR	1:50.2	1:50.23	Q
4	5	Émile Leva	BEL	1:50.4	1:50.44	Q
5	3	Mike Rawson	GBR	1:50.4	1:50.45
6	2	René Djian	FRA	1:50.7	1:50.47
7	4	Jim Bailey	AUS	1:51.4	1:51.40
8	6	Evangelos Depastas	GRE	1:52.0	1:52.19

Final (26 November 1956 — 15:30)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	2	Tom Courtney	USA	1:47.7	1:47.75	OR
2	6	Derek Johnson	GBR	1:47.8	1:47.88
3	4	Audun Boysen	NOR	1:48.1	1:48.25
4	3	Arnie Sowell	USA	1:48.3	1:48.41
5	5	Michael Farrell	GBR	1:49.2	1:49.29
6	8	Lon Spurrier	USA	1:49.3	1:49.38
7	1	Émile Leva	BEL	1:51.8	1:51.75
8	7	Bill Butchart	AUS	1:52.0	–

Splits

200 m	25.1	Arnie Sowell
400 m	52.8	Arnie Sowell
600 m	1:20.4	–