South Africa at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Sporting event delegation

The Union of South Africa competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. 50 competitors, 44 men and 6 women, took part in 50 events in 10 sports.^[1]

Medalists

Bronze

• Daniel Bekker — Boxing, Men's Heavyweight
• Henry Loubscher — Boxing, Men's Light Welterweight
• Alfred Swift — Cycling, Men's 1.000m Time Trial
• Moira Abernethy, Jeanette Myburgh, Natalie Myburgh and Susan Roberts — Swimming, Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

Athletics

Men's 110m Hurdles

• Danie Burger

• Heat — 14.4s
• Semifinals — 15.0s (→ did not advance)

Men's Marathon

• Mercer Davis — 2:39:48 (→ 14th place)
• Jan Barnard — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Men's Discus Throw

• Fanie du Plessis

• Qualifying Heat — 50.69
• Final — 48.49 (→ 13th place)

Boxing

Cycling

Sprint

• Thomas Shardelow — 8th place

Time trial

• Alfred Swift — 1:11.6 (→ Bronze Medal)

Tandem

• Raymond Robinson
  Thomas Shardelow — 7th place

Team pursuit

• Alfred Swift
  Anne Jan Hettema
  Charles Jonker
  Robert Fowler — 4:39.4 (→ 4th place)

Individual road race

• Alfred Swift — did not finish (→ no ranking)
• Robert Fowler — did not finish (→ no ranking)
• Anne Jan Hettema — did not finish (→ no ranking)
• Charles Jonker — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Gymnastics

Modern pentathlon

Three male pentathletes represented South Africa in 1956.

Individual

• Okkie van Greunen
• Harry Schmidt
• Marthinus du Plessis

Team

• Okkie van Greunen
• Harry Schmidt
• Marthinus du Plessis

Sailing

Shooting

Two shooters represented South Africa in 1956.

50 m rifle, three positions

• Robin Lavine

50 m rifle, prone

• Johannes Human
• Robin Lavine

Swimming

Weightlifting

Wrestling

References

1. "South Africa at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2010.

External links

• Official Olympic Reports
• International Olympic Committee results database