| | Event type

Balance Beam, Women

Date	3 – 7 December 1956 — 08:00-14:00
Status	Olympic
Location	West Melbourne Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants	64 from 15 countries
Format	Placement determined by best scores on apparatus in individual all-around event.

Hungary’s Ágnes Keleti won gold on the balance beam, one of her three apparatus gold medals in Melbourne, missing out only on the vault. She had also competed at the 1952 Olympics, but her Olympic career ended when she defected to Australia after the Melbourne Games, eventually settling in Israel. The silver medal was shared by Soviet Tamara Manina and Czechoslovak Eva Bosáková-Věchtová, who would win the gold medal on beam at Rome in 1960.

The 1956 women’s balance beam has some historical importance. During her Olympic career, Larysa Latynina won 18 Olympic medals, an absolute Olympic record that lasted until 2012 when Michael Phelps increased his total to 22 in London. Latynina competed in 19 Olympic events at three Olympics (1956-64), winning a medal in all but one of them – the 1956 balance beam in which she finished in a tie for fourth.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Points	Compulsory Exercise Points	Optional Exercise Points
1	Ágnes Keleti	HUN	18.800	9.433	9.366	Gold	1
=2	Eva Bosáková-Věchtová	TCH	18.633	9.300	9.333	Silver	2
=2	Tamara Manina	URS	18.633	9.233	9.400	Silver	3
=4	Larisa Latynina	URS	18.533	9.300	9.233		4
=4	Anna Marejková	TCH	18.533	9.300	9.233		5
6	Elena Leuştean	ROU	18.500	9.300	9.200		6
=7	Margit Korondi	HUN	18.466	9.266	9.200		7
=7	Olga Tass-Lemhényi	HUN	18.466	9.233	9.233		8
=7	Lyudmila Yegorova	URS	18.466	9.100	9.366		9
10	Sofya Muratova	URS	18.433	9.166	9.266		10
11	Sonia Inovan	ROU	18.266	9.100	9.166		11
12	Emilia Vătăşoiu	ROU	18.233	9.100	9.133		12
=13	Natalia Kot	POL	18.166	9.100	9.066		13
=13	Polina Astakhova	URS	18.166	9.066	9.100		14
=13	Kazuko Sogabe	JPN	18.166	9.066	9.100		15
=16	Andrea Bodó-Molnár	HUN	18.133	9.066	9.066		16
=16	Helena Rakoczy	POL	18.133	9.033	9.100		17
=16	Shizuko Sakashita	JPN	18.133	8.966	9.166		18
19	Erzsébet Gulyás-Köteles	HUN	18.100	9.066	9.033		19
20	Kyoko Kubota	JPN	18.066	8.966	9.100		20
=21	Keiko Tanaka	JPN	18.000	9.266	8.733		21
=21	Lidiya Kalinina	URS	18.000	8.900	9.100		22
23	Alíz Kertész	HUN	17.966	9.300	8.666		23
24	Elisa Calsi	ITA	17.933	9.000	8.933		24
25	Danièle Sicot	FRA	17.900	8.900	9.000		25
=26	Dorota Jokiel	POL	17.866	8.833	9.033		26
=26	Ivanka Dolzheva	BUL	17.866	8.800	9.066		27
28	Věra Drazdíková	TCH	17.800	8.766	9.033		28
29	Georgeta Hurmuzachi	ROU	17.766	8.933	8.833		29
=30	Lidia Szczerbińska	POL	17.633	8.866	8.766		30
=30	Elena Mărgărit	ROU	17.633	8.833	8.800		31
32	Muriel Davis	USA	17.600	8.633	8.966		32
=33	Miroslava Brdíčková	TCH	17.566	8.800	8.766		33
=33	Danuta Nowak-Stachow	POL	17.566	8.633	8.933		34
=33	Tsvetanka Stancheva	BUL	17.566	8.366	9.200		35
=36	Suzuko Seki	JPN	17.500	9.100	8.400		36
=36	Alena Reichová	TCH	17.500	8.600	8.900		37
38	Matylda Šínová	TCH	17.466	8.566	8.900		38
=39	Mitsuka Ikeda	JPN	17.433	9.033	8.400		39
=39	Rosella Cicognani	ITA	17.433	8.566	8.866		40
=41	Luciana Reali	ITA	17.400	8.700	8.700		41
=41	Ann-Sofi Colling	SWE	17.400	8.600	8.800		42
43	Barbara Ślizowska	POL	17.333	8.700	8.633		43
=44	Elena Săcălici	ROU	17.300	8.966	8.333		44
=44	Elena Lagorara	ITA	17.300	8.633	8.666		45
46	Karin Lindberg	SWE	17.233	8.266	8.966		46
=47	Miranda Cicognani	ITA	17.133	9.033	8.100		47
=47	Luciana Lagorara	ITA	17.133	8.566	8.566		48
49	Jackie Klein	USA	17.100	8.366	8.733		49
=50	Eva Rönström	SWE	16.900	8.166	8.733		50
=50	Maude Karlén	SWE	16.900	8.033	8.866		51
=52	Judy Howe	USA	16.866	8.466	8.400		52
=52	Evy Berggren	SWE	16.866	8.000	8.866		53
54	Saltirka Tarpova	BUL	16.833	8.700	8.133		54
55	Sandra Ruddick	USA	16.466	8.333	8.133		55
56	Doris Hedberg	SWE	16.400	8.466	7.933		56
57	Wendy Nicholls	AUS	16.366	8.333	8.033		57
58	Joyce Racek	USA	16.333	8.600	7.733		58
59	Annette Krier	LUX	15.966	7.433	8.533		59
60	Pat Hirst	GBR	15.900	7.733	8.166		60
61	Ernestine Russell	CAN	15.766	8.666	7.100		61
62	Ing Fraser	AUS	15.733	8.200	7.533		62
63	Doris Fuchs	USA	14.933	8.300	6.633		63
64	Barbara Cunningham	AUS	14.200	7.966	6.233		64