Shot Put, Men
| Date | 28 November 1956 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Participants | 14 from 10 countries |
By 1956 defending champion Parry O’Brien had established himself as the greatest putter in the world. Between Olympics he had broken the world record 15 times, though not all were ratified. In May 1964 he had become the first putter over 60 feet when he threw 18.42 (60-5¼) in a UCLA-USC dual meet. He did it with a revolutionary new technique in which he began with his back to the front of the cirlc and did a 180° turn before releasing the shot. His 1956 gold medal was quite easy, as he had the five longest puts of the competition. American Bill Nieder won the silver medal over Czechoslovakia’s Jiří Škobla. Škobla’s father, Jaroslav, had also won an Olympic medal – a gold in 1932 heavyweight weightlifting.
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | Qualifying | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 452 | Parry O'Brien |  USA | 16.63 (3) | 18.57 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | 451 | Bill Nieder | USA | 16.76 (2) | 18.18 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | 445 | Jiří Skobla |  TCH | 17.15 (1) | 17.65 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 450 | Ken Bantum | USA | 15.76 (8) | 17.48 (4) | |||
| 5 | 456 | Boris Belyayev |  URS | 15.03 (14) | 16.96 (5) | |||
| 6 | 435 | Erik Uddebom |  SWE | 16.35 (5) | 16.65 (6) | |||
| 7 | 447 | Karl-Heinz Wegmann |  GER | 15.73 (9) | 16.63 (7) | |||
| 8 | 448 | Georgios Tsakanikas |  GRE | 15.99 (7) | 16.56 (8) | |||
| 9 | 443 | Barry Donath |  AUS | 16.57 (4) | 16.52 (9) | |||
| 10 | 449 | Silvano Meconi |  ITA | 16.19 (6) | 16.28 (10) | |||
| 11 | 444 | Peter Hanlin | AUS | 15.62 (11) | 16.08 (11) | |||
| 12 | 428 | Barclay Palmer |  GBR | 15.19 (13) | 15.81 (12) | |||
| 13 | 453 | Vladimir Loshchilov | URS | 15.63 (10) | 15.62 (13) | |||
| 14 | 446 | Raymond Thomas |  FRA | 15.42 (12) | 15.31 (14) | |||
| 454 | Vartan Ovsepian | URS | – ( | – | ||||
| 424 | Todor Artarski |  BUL | – ( | – | ||||
| 429 | Gerry Carr | GBR | – ( | – | ||||
| 430 | Mark Pharaoh | GBR | – ( | – |
Qualifying Round (28 November 1956 — 10:00)
All those reaching 15.00 metres advanced to the final.
| Pos | Ord | Athlete | NOC | Distance | R1 | R2 | R3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | Jiří Skobla | TCH | 17.15 | 17.15 | - | - | |||
| 2 | 15 | Bill Nieder | USA | 16.76 | 16.76 | - | - | |||
| 3 | 3 | Parry O'Brien | USA | 16.63 | 16.63 | - | - | |||
| 4 | 2 | Barry Donath | AUS | 16.57 | 16.57 | - | - | |||
| 5 | 9 | Erik Uddebom | SWE | 16.35 | 16.35 | - | - | |||
| 6 | 5 | Silvano Meconi | ITA | 16.19 | 16.19 | - | - | |||
| 7 | 17 | Georgios Tsakanikas | GRE | 15.99 | 14.93 | 15.99 | - | |||
| 8 | 11 | Ken Bantum | USA | 15.76 | 15.76 | - | - | |||
| 9 | 6 | Karl-Heinz Wegmann | GER | 15.73 | 15.73 | - | - | |||
| 10 | 10 | Vladimir Loshchilov | URS | 15.63 | 15.63 | - | - | |||
| 11 | 7 | Peter Hanlin | AUS | 15.62 | 15.62 | - | - | |||
| 12 | 13 | Raymond Thomas | FRA | 15.42 | 15.42 | - | - | |||
| 13 | 1 | Barclay Palmer | GBR | 15.19 | 15.19 | - | - | |||
| 14 | 8 | Boris Belyayev | URS | 15.03 | 15.03 | - | - | |||
| 16 | Vartan Ovsepian | URS | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 4 | Todor Artarski | BUL | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 12 | Gerry Carr | GBR | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 18 | Mark Pharaoh | GBR | – | – | – | – |
Final Round (28 November 1956 — 14:30)
| Pos | Ord | Athlete | NOC | Distance | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Parry O'Brien | USA | 18.57 | 17.92 | 18.47 | 18.37 | 18.45 | 18.57 | 18.23 | |||
| 2 | 13 | Bill Nieder | USA | 18.18 | × | 17.61 | 17.81 | 16.82 | 18.18 | × | |||
| 3 | 12 | Jiří Skobla | TCH | 17.65 | 17.39 | 16.70 | 17.34 | 17.51 | 17.05 | 17.65 | |||
| 4 | 10 | Ken Bantum | USA | 17.48 | 16.99 | × | 16.27 | 17.48 | × | × | |||
| 5 | 7 | Boris Belyayev | URS | 16.96 | 16.96 | 16.05 | 16.58 | 15.96 | 16.11 | 16.24 | |||
| 6 | 8 | Erik Uddebom | SWE | 16.65 | 16.54 | × | 16.65 | 15.74 | 16.06 | 16.31 | |||
| 7 | 5 | Karl-Heinz Wegmann | GER | 16.63 | 16.43 | 16.63 | 16.37 | – | – | – | |||
| 8 | 14 | Georgios Tsakanikas | GRE | 16.56 | × | 16.56 | 15.52 | – | – | – | |||
| 9 | 2 | Barry Donath | AUS | 16.52 | × | 16.52 | 16.01 | – | – | – | |||
| 10 | 4 | Silvano Meconi | ITA | 16.28 | × | 16.28 | 15.83 | – | – | – | |||
| 11 | 6 | Peter Hanlin | AUS | 16.08 | 15.76 | 16.08 | 15.50 | – | – | – | |||
| 12 | 1 | Barclay Palmer | GBR | 15.81 | 15.81 | 15.17 | 15.65 | – | – | – | |||
| 13 | 9 | Vladimir Loshchilov | URS | 15.62 | 15.62 | 15.33 | 15.39 | – | – | – | |||
| 14 | 11 | Raymond Thomas | FRA | 15.31 | 15.11 | 15.28 | 15.31 | – | – | – |