V November 1956, the attention of the entire sports world was riveted to distant Australia, to Melbourne. The opening ceremony of the XVI Olympic Games took place here on November 22. And seven years before this event, at a meeting of the IOC Executive Committee, a stubborn struggle unfolded during the elections of the Olympic capital in 1956.
Ten cities claimed this right, and, besides Melbourne, all other cities of the American continent: the capital of Argentina - Buenos Aires and Mexico - Mexico City, the Canadian city of Montreal and six applicants from the United States of America: Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Chicago. The controversy was fierce, and yet Melbourne won.
N the struggle did not end there. At a meeting of the IOC in Vienna in 1951, the impression of an exploding bomb was made by the announcement that it was impossible to host equestrian competitions in Melbourne under the program of the Olympic Games. The fact is that Australia still has an old law, according to which animals from abroad can be imported only after a six-month quarantine, and even then only from two or three countries. This is due to the fact that in Australia, a country with a highly developed animal husbandry, there has not yet been a single epidemic among the horse population and, in order to continue to avoid epidemics, this law has not been canceled. There was a danger that Melbourne would lose the right to host the Games, but the IOC nevertheless decided not to postpone the Games, but to postpone only equestrian sports. From 11 to 17 June they took place in Stockholm.
AND The Games in Melbourne brought together 3,184 athletes from 67 countries. For the first time, athletes from Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, the United German Team, Fr. Taiwan, Uganda. Fiji, Ethiopia. Participation in the Melbourne Games for athletes in the Northern Hemisphere was associated with significant difficulties caused by the unusual timing of the Olympic events - November - December. Due to high travel costs, many countries had to cut their teams, so fewer athletes arrived in Melbourne than for the 1948 and 1952 Games.
WITH Soviet athletes won 37 gold, 29 silver and 32 bronze medals... In the unofficial team event, the USSR national team scored 622.5 points and far ahead of the representatives of the strongest sports powers, including the United States (497.5 points). Soviet athletes excelled in gymnastics, football, modern pentathlon, boxing, classic wrestling, kayaking and canoeing, and shooting. In rowing, basketball, freestyle wrestling, track and field athletics, they took second place in the team.
M the Elbourne Olympics went down in history as "Vladimir Kuts' Olympics"... The outstanding runner won two gold medals at once at the 16th Olympic Games at long distance distances - 5000 and 10000 meters, setting new Olympic records. The road to Olympus was not easy.
As a child, Vladimir did not particularly stand out among other boys in his village Aleksino, in the Sumy region. Is it just once that happiness came to him a lot: he found his first sports trophy - a piece of ski thrown by the Red Army soldiers passing through the village. It was in 1943, the village had just been liberated from the Nazi invaders. And of course, the boys did not see real skis then. “The comrades looked at the fragment with undisguised envy,” recalls Kutz. “But the fragment is not a ski yet. And in the evenings, having hastily done my homework, I began to tinker. Soon the fragment turned back into a ski. I made the second one out of a board of an old dry barrel. .. "
And Volodya began to ski. How could he then assume that skis would become a kind of springboard to the treadmill, to world records ?! “It was the skis that awakened my passion for movement. And although the snow melted with the first spring days and the skis were carefully hidden until next winter, the desire to run could not be hidden. It remained for the rest of my life.”.
But real acquaintance with sports began when Kutsa was drafted into the army. At first he was a tanker, and then a sailor. He served on ships of the Baltic Fleet. He was engaged in barbell, boxing, swimming, rowing, skiing. On skis, he even fulfilled the first category norm. And once, on a festive May day in 1948, he took part in a cross-country track and, unexpectedly for everyone, and most importantly for himself, won.
Several months passed, and Vladimir, replacing a sick comrade, went to the start of the five-kilometer distance in army competitions. And again the victory! After that, he firmly decided to train in running.
Trained first independently, by touch. Just as a talented amateur actor, not knowing Stanislavsky's system, not knowing the theory of theater, not being familiar with acting, tries to empirically discover the immutable truths of art, so Vladimir, having no idea about training loads, about running schedules, about technique and tactics, he ran and ran as he ran. And suddenly, by chance, he came across an article about the training of the country's record holder in long-distance running N. Popov.
"This article, - said Kuts, - was a real discovery for me. It turned out that there is some kind of training system, a certain order of running. I read this article to holes. The third, second, first categories at 5000 and 10000 meters and constant primacy in all garrison competitions - this is the result of two years of "study" of this article".
In August 1953, Vladimir was included in the USSR national team, and he first went to the start international competitions... The road to Olympus was not strewn with roses. Victories were replaced by defeats. Kutz set a world record, and the Englishman Christopher Chataway took it away, Kutz installed new record and another Englishman, Gordon Peary, took it back again. True, the British took records from Kuts with the help of Kuts himself. How can it be? This is how it happened, for example, in the Norwegian city of Bergen at a friendly competition in which Gordon Peary participated. He specially came there in order to meet with Kutz and finally get rid of the nickname "loser Piri", stuck to him with the light hand of journalists.
It was six months before Melbourne. Kutz already held the title of European champion, was the world record holder in 5000 meters, eight-time national champion and holder of all-Union records at both distance distance - in general, Kutz was already Kutz. And he already had one quality for which his rivals loved and respected him: he did not accompany his struggle for the championship with all sorts of tactical maneuvers and tricks, he never hid behind other runners, but boldly, decisively and courageously walked forward. But back to the case in Bergen. A word to Vladimir Kuts himself: - From the very first lap I took the lead. The pace is high. 400 meters - 60 seconds. Piri follows me. I try to break away from him. I increase the speed. But Peary stubbornly continues to cling to me. We cover the first kilometer four seconds above the world record. "Forward, only forward, do not slow down," I order myself. Apparently, Peary decided not to lag behind me a meter. I can hear close, very close behind my back, his breathing, the creak of his spikes. “We need to stun him, confuse him with a sudden spurt,” I decide, and on the second kilometer I make a dash. But Piri is holding on. He, like a shadow, follows me. We finish the second kilometer six seconds better than the record run.
Piri goes and follows me. And then at the beginning of the third kilometer I go to the second track. Let him take the trouble to run at least a little. But, being the leader, Gordon immediately slowed down. Circle after circle Piri wasted the precious seconds we had saved in the first two kilometers.
What to do? I, as if hypnotized, can not take my eyes off the opponent walking in front. Peary's speed is relentlessly extinguished. “It wasn’t worth the trouble to rush two kilometers at a stunning speed to keep the other half so trailing,” I thought. “Piri either cannot or does not want to develop high speed on his own. Why can he only support someone else’s initiative, only someone else’s pace of running?” It often happened to me at competitions that at a critical moment in the struggle my clarity of thought sharpened and a plan of action immediately emerged. It happened this time too.
"Immediately bypass," I decide, "and break away as far as I can." With an effort of will, I force myself for a moment to walk side by side with Piri. I want to see what he is capable of without a leader pulling him,. as if in tow. The eighth lap was the slowest at 69 seconds. And then I step forward abruptly. Slanting streams of rain hit my face, salty sweat pours and burns my eyes, my heart pounds desperately. The announcer announces that I ran the ninth lap in 65 seconds. The tenth circle is also completed. So, I'm going almost according to my plan. But what is it? Behind me I hear the rustle of thorns again and Piri's ragged breathing. The tension of the struggle itself somewhat muffled my vigilance. For a moment, I watched the increase in speed and lost sight of my opponent. And in the meantime, having accepted my pace, he walked behind, two steps away from me. The tenth circle - Piri follow me, the eleventh circle - Piri follow me! I make another effort to break away. In vain. Peary is still behind me. We are already six seconds above the world record.
We entered the last straight line. I was in front, and suddenly I saw Piri's face distorted by desperate tension to my right. He jerked violently from behind my back. I ran after him, but too late. The distance was too small to have time to rebuild. At the finish line, Peary was a few steps ahead of me. We both showed time above the world record. But my result was just an all-Union record, and Gordon Peary became the world record holder for the first time.
This is how Vladimir Kuts helped the Englishman break the world record for the second time. And just like in London Chathaway, in Bergen Peary, falling into the hands of his comrades who had picked him up, said: "Thank you Kutsu!"
And six months later, the rival friends met in Melbourne. In the newspapers, the names of the possible winners in the staying distances were declining in every way. There was a particular stir around the names of several athletes. The most likely favorites were the Australians Lawrence and Stevens, the British Peary and Chataway and, of course, Vladimir Kuts. True, some sports observers began to speak rather skeptically about Kutz. They called him a robot, a human machine ...
One of the Melbourne newspapers asked: "Can a robot beat intellectual athletes?" And she herself answered: "No, in a cunning struggle, such athletes as Kuts cannot win.".
Even such a qualified specialist as Roger Bannister, a famous English runner (who at one time was even the Minister of Sports of Great Britain), who came to the Olympics as a correspondent for the American magazine Sports Illustrated, said that "I found nothing in Kutz but a ruthless running machine." ...
Of course, all these statements made Vladimir upset, but, as he himself recalled, there was only one desire: to successfully perform at the Games and prove that all these "experts", to put it mildly, are mistaken.
November 23rd. Soviet athlete Vladimir Kuts wrote this date in gold in Olympic history... On this day, a 10,000 meter race took place. A real constellation of stayers came to the start: Kuts, Kovacs, Mimun, Lawrence, Piri. And everyone is hungry for victory. But only one can win. Here are the lines from the diary of Vladimir Kuts:
“... After the shot, I immediately broke out of the middle of the first row and suggested a pace that I had verified in training: the first lap - 61.4 seconds. This is a normal pace for me, but not suitable for many opponents. Piri follows Me. He is faithful to his usual tactics. He believes that he will be able to repeat Bergen in Melbourne. He wants to follow the leader to victory, and maybe to a new world record. "
“I make my first dash. It gives me a small, short-term success. The fifth lap is completed in 65.4 seconds. But now Peary’s shadow creeps onto mine, again I feel his breath on the back of my head, and the stands applauded the Englishman’s return dash. And then I slow down drastically, we complete a lap in 71.6 seconds, which is the "ragged run".
The athletes have already covered 5,000 meters. It already seems to many that Kutsu will never be able to break away from the Englishman. But Vladimir is faithful to the outlined tactics: "ragged run". He constantly exhausts his opponent with a sharp increase, then an equally sharp decrease in speed.
"There were still more than three kilometers to the finish line, when many finally decided that gold medal in the hands of an Englishman, - writes Kutz. - And at this time I was preparing for the last, decisive breakthrough, which, according to my plan, was to follow on the twentieth lap. It's time to fulfill your intention. And then at full speed I move from the first track to the second - Peary is following me. From second to third, Piri follows me. From third to fourth, Piri follows me. From fourth to first, Peary is still behind. And suddenly I slow down this unusual, zigzagging run so much that I almost completely stop and, turning back, motioned for Piri to come forward ... And finally, Piri comes out! We are now running side by side, and for the first time in all this running I see his drooping figure next to me, extreme fatigue written on his face, and I understand that the moment of decisive acceleration has come ...
Having run next to Piri a hundred meters, I again developed great speed, finally broke away from the Englishman, and he, apparently exhausted the remnants of his strength, lagged more and more. One by one, Kovacs, Lawrence, Kshishkovyak, Norris, Chernyavsky, Power bypassed him. The last drop seemed to fill the cup of Piri's fatigue. And now the twenty-fifth, the last round. It was completed by me in 66.6 seconds. I flew to the finish line, to my victory, and in these last seconds of our race, even the judges could not remain impassive. " Olympic victory, won by titanic labor, courage and extraordinary will. The tone of the press has changed dramatically. And Roger Bannister, who called Kutz "a ruthless machine", wrote in an article entitled "Kutz is a cat, Piri is a mouse": "Kutz is not a machine. His brain is as perfectly prepared, his thinking is as perfect as his body.".
And on November 28 came the second victory. Leading from the very start, leading the race at the ultimate pace, Vladimir Kuts won 5000 meters with a new Olympic record. Thus, two performances at the Melbourne Olympics brought two gold medals and two Olympic records. It was such a difficult road, strewn not so much with roses as with thorns, that the Soviet athlete Vladimir Kuts went to Olympus and, finding himself at the very top of Olympus, remained the same hardworking, the same modest person.
Unfortunately, the runner's triumph at the Melbourne Olympics was the last of his athletic career. After her, his health began to worry more and more often. The athlete was tormented by pains in the stomach and legs. He was found to have increased permeability of venous and lymphatic capillaries (this was an echo of the events of 1952, when he fell into ice water and severely froze his legs). In February 1957, Kutsu's doctors stated bluntly: "Quit running if you think to live," but he did not quit. In December of the same year, he went to the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo for the competition "Corrida San Sylvester". But the result of his performance there was deplorable: he came in eighth. However, this defeat did not make him quit the treadmill. For several months, he trained hard and in July 1958, in Tallinn, at the national championship, he again took to the treadmill. And he lost cruelly, coming to the finish line last. In 1959, Kutz officially announced that he would stop performing in the sports arena.
E Three more Soviet athletes climbed to the highest step of the podium in Melbourne, setting a new Olympic record: a woman from Riga won the women's javelin throw Inessa Jaunzeme, shot put - Leningrad Tamara Tyshkevich, a Muscovite was the first to walk 20 kilometers Leonid Spirin.
M Arathon run won, participant of three Olympiads. At the 1952 Games, Mimun fled as if in a fog. “O Saint Theresia!” He said to himself. “If you give me the strength to run, I will never go to the start again, and I will forbid my daughter, who was born yesterday, to go in for sports ... I never cheat, O Saint Theresia. ! .. "And yet he deceived Saint Theresa, that black Algerian who played for the French national team. Four years later, in Melbourne, he went to the start of the marathon and became the champion. And his daughter, Fabianna, he did not dare to forbid running. In 1972 Fabianna Mimun, the French champion in the 800-meter race, participated in the Olympic Games, and her father, fifty-year-old Alain Mimoun, worried about her and, probably, turned to his friend again: “O Saint Theresa, make sure that Fabianne ran well ... "
The first Soviet Olympic champion in boxing became Vladimir Safronov... He came to Melbourne from distant Chita as a first-class athlete, and left there as an honored master of sports.
WITH a kind of record was set by a wonderful Hungarian boxer - he won the third Olympics in a row. He became the first athlete in the history of world boxing to be awarded the highest Olympic award three times in a row.
Laszlo Papp prepared very carefully for the fight for his third medal. And when he entered the first fight at Melbourne Stadium, it was clear that he was full of strength and confidence. However, this battle lasted only a few seconds. Because of the split eyebrow, the judges did not allow the Argentinean Science to continue the meeting.
Laszlo worried about the fight with the Pole Zbigniew Petschikovsky from which he was defeated in Warsaw three months before the Olympics:
The battle has begun. Petshikovsky self-confidently moved around the ring and was clearly preparing to demonstrate to the public the downfall of the idol, the victory over the “boxing star”. Papp's movements were calm; he bided his time. At the end of the first round, when the Pole lowered his right hand for a moment, Papp's crown left hook flashed in the air, and Petszikowski fell into the ring. A gong saved him from being knocked out. In the second and third rounds, the Pole was already trying to avoid the knockout at any cost.
After defeating the careless Polish boxer, Papp was already more calmly preparing for the upcoming meeting with the American. Jose Torres- the future world champion among professionals. Twenty-year-old Torres was a very capable boxer but did not yet have international competition experience. Papp used a waiting tactic. He was in no hurry to attack the enemy so that, having found out his weaknesses, he could calmly gain points. Round three began with Papp's decisive attacks. Strong blows hit Torres' jaw with mathematical precision, and finally one of them knocked the American down.
After the fight, Torres told reporters: - It was a strong blow. I myself do not understand how I managed to get up and end the fight on my feet.
In 1957, Laszlo Papp, a three-time Olympic champion, decided to compete against the best professional athletes in his weight class. He was already in his thirty-first year then. Laszlo Papp became the first boxer from the Soviet bloc to be allowed to enter professional boxing.
In the spring of 1962 Papp took up statistics. The result is an interesting picture: he had 18 fights with professionals, won 16, 9 of them by knockout, in two meetings there was a draw. Didn't lose a single fight!
And then there was a meeting that became a major milestone in his professional career: he opposed the American Ralph Yones who was called "Tiger". Yones was two years younger, he had 87 fights, of which 14 he fought against world champions. In 1955, Ralph defeated the legendary Ray Seeger Robinson. Experts were confident that the meeting with Ralph Yones would put an end to the victorious march of Laszlo Papp. The predictions of experts, as often happens, did not come true, and the admiring spectators of the Vienna Stadthalle enthusiastically greeted the victory of the three-time Olympic champion.
This victory made it possible for Papp to challenge the European champion. At the time, this title was held by Dan Christensen, known as "Gentleman Chris". He was a great boxer who was considered much stronger than "Tiger" Yones. Out of 66 fights, he won 49, of which 16 times by knockout, and he himself never experienced a knockout. He was 14 centimeters taller than Papp, had very long arms, and had an amazing reaction. Already the first seconds of the first round showed that both athletes are in excellent shape. Papp fought confidently in his usual manner, delivering strong side punches. Christensen was boxing with swift lunges, sharp. In the first three rounds, both attacked equally. The battle proceeded smoothly. But in the fourth round, the superiority of the Hungarian boxer began to emerge. In the middle of the fifth round, one of Laszlo's famous left hooks knocked Christensen into the ring. “Gentleman Chris” only got up when the judge counted to seven.
After the seventh round, the judge in the ring invited the doctor, who, having examined the boxer, said that further continuation of the fight could seriously threaten Christensen's health ... So the thirty-six-year-old Papp won the title of European champion among professional boxers. Laszlo Papp denied the opinion of some experts that an athlete who grew up in the atmosphere of amateur boxing can in no way succeed in the professional ring.
However, in 1965, the Hungarian authorities canceled their permission to practice professional boxing for Laszlo and the chance to become the world champion was lost for him. He soon became the coach of the Hungarian national boxing team and worked there from 1971 to 1992.
V Melbourne once again demonstrated their high skill Soviet gymnasts. They won the championship among both men and women. For the second time, Viktor Chukarin became the absolute champion of the Olympics. Among women, the absolute superiority was won by a Kiev student Larisa Latynina. The envoys of the Soviet country performed well in classical wrestling, shooting sports, weightlifting, and modern pentathlon.
Have the haste of the Soviet team was reinforced by the footballers. On the closing day of the XVI Olympic Games, December 8, they won the final meeting against the Yugoslav national team and won gold medals.
But the most dramatic was not this one. last match, and the semifinal, in which the footballers of the Soviet Union and Bulgaria met. The game was sharp, sharp, replete with dangerous moments at one, then at the other gate and ended in a draw, 0: 0. According to the rules, two additional halves of 15 minutes were immediately assigned. During this extra time, our team's defender Nikolay Tishchenko unsuccessfully collided with the Bulgarian striker. Tishchenko had a broken collarbone. According to the then rules, any substitution of players was prohibited.
There are only ten people left in the Soviet team, and besides, one of the best strikers Valentin Ivanov played with injury. There was no time to think. And Tishchenko rushed back to the field. The team doctor froze the swollen shoulder with chloroethyl and tightly - so that his fingers were numb - bandaged his hand to the torso. Every movement caused pain. Tishchenko took his place on the left edge and tried to help his comrades in some way. How much endurance and courage is needed to continue the struggle in such a situation!
And the score is drawn. And yet the Soviet team managed to snatch victory in this match with the direct participation of Nikolai Tishchenko. Thrown unattended, he received the ball in the middle of the field. No, he is not taken seriously: each opponent is "guarding" the active player. Meanwhile, Tishchenko is slowly moving forward with the ball. Ten meters, twenty ... And only when Nikolay approached the white line of the penalty area, the defender rushed to meet him.
Late! I have already rushed into the opened zone Vladimir Ryzhkin... Pass him, right on the blow. Affected by a terrible excitement: Vladimir "cut" the ball, he went along the goal. But the nerves of Bulgarians are not made of iron either. The goalkeeper could not resist, rushed into the near corner. And the ball - past him, straight to the oncoming Boris Tatushin... He substituted his leg and ... a goal!
The Olympic football code, in addition to prohibiting the change of an injured player, contains another cruel clause. In case of victory, only 11 gold medals are awarded per team. Therefore, only the participants of the last, final match are awarded. So it turned out that Tishchenko played all the qualifying matches, participated in one eighth of the finals, in the quarterfinals, in the semifinals. But he was not given a medal. He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor, he was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports.
VII winter Olympic Games were held in Italian Cortina d "Ampezzo from January 26 to February 5, 1956.
City selection
The famous Italian winter resort Cortina d "Ampezzo was supposed to host the Winter Olympics back in 1944, but they were canceled due to World War II. After the war, Cortina fought for the right to host the 1952 Games, but lost to Oslo. But when choosing the capital, VII White In terms of the number of votes, it outstripped its competitors - Colorado Springs, Lake Placid and Montreal - by a huge advantage. Lake Placid - two and one, respectively).
Cortina d "Ampezzo in 1956
Preparing for the Games
The VII Winter Games were unique for their time for several reasons.
First, funding. For the first time, most of the costs of organizing and holding the Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo were borne not by the state, but by attracted sponsors.
Secondly, television. The 1956 Games were the first to be televised live. The owners of television sets in 22 countries could follow the battles of the Olympians.
Third, the infrastructure. Sent to Oslo in 1952, Italian observers concluded that Cortina's sports facilities did not meet Olympic standards. And by 1956, a modern Ice Stadium with four-tier stands for 12 thousand spectators was erected in the resort town, ski, ski and bobsleigh tracks were put in order, the new springboard in Cortina d "Ampezzo became then one of the best, and the Italian know-how - a speed skating track on a floating ice floe at an altitude of 1750 meters above sea level allowed to update more than one world record. For example, the ski slope "looked" to the south so that the sun at sunrise or sunset does not spoil the "picture".
Springboard in Cortina d "Ampezzo
Games Emblem
The emblem of the Games was stylized as a snowflake with the image of a star, in the center of which there are five Olympic rings. It vaguely resembled the emblem of the Italian National Olympic Committee. We selected it from 86 options developed by 79 artists. According to the results of the competition, the first place was shared by a Milanese Franco Rondinelli and artist Bonilauri from Genoa.
Emblem
Pennant with the symbols of the Games
Official Games Poster
The poster for the Games was selected from 86 sketches submitted by various artists. The winner is Franco Rondinelli from Milan. The circulation was 40,000 copies, translated into 4 languages.
Member countries
The 1956 Winter Olympics were attended by a record number of athletes at that time - 821 people (134 women and 687 men) from 32 countries.
The teams of Greece, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Chile, South Korea, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Iran, Iceland, Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Norway took part in the VII Winter Olympic Games , Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, USA, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Hungary, USSR and Italy.
Among the debutants were athletes from the USSR, the GDR (they played in a joint team with the FRG), Bolivia and Iran.
Sports
Compared to the Oslo Games in Olympic program there were only minor changes - the distance of the men's cross-country skiing was reduced from 18 to 15 kilometers, a 30-kilometer graze was added, as well as the women's relay race 3x5 kilometers. Demonstration views that were present at all previous Winter Games, in 1956 were absent altogether.
Main types (in brackets - the number of medals played): bobsleigh (2), alpine skiing (6), speed skating (4), Nordic combined (1), cross-country skiing (6), ski jumping (1), figure skating(3), ice hockey (1).
USSR at the 1956 Winter Games
When releasing a delegation to the Winter Olympic Games for the first time, the Soviet government naturally demanded an exclusively team victory. Chairman of the Physical Education Committee Nikolay Romanov a detailed medal plan was drawn up, the main stake in which was made on skiers-racers, skaters and hockey players. In addition, there was a ghostly hope for a medal in alpine skiing... At the same time, sports officials were aware that it would be extremely difficult to fight for high positions in ski jumping and biathlon. But skaters and bobsledders did not go to Italy at all. In the first case, because of non-competitiveness, in the second, because of the "mortal danger to the life of athletes" of the discipline itself, which was not cultivated in the Union.
The USSR team, which made its debut at the 1956 Winter Olympics, consisted of 55 athletes from 11 cities and towns of 4 union republics.
For almost a year, Soviet athletes conducted targeted preparations for the Olympics - first in various regions of their native country, then in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany.
But the reality surpassed all expectations. The Soviet Union national team made its triumphant debut at the Olympic Games. Soviet athletes won 16 medals (7 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze). As a result, both in terms of the number of gold medals and the total number of medals, the USSR national team confidently took first place in the team medal standings of the Games in Cortina d “Ampezzo.
Among Soviet athletes, they became Olympic champions:
2 times - skater Evgeny Grishin- at distances of 500 m and 1500 m (shared the second victory with Mikhailov).
Skater Boris Shilkov- at a distance of 5000 m.
Skater Yuri Mikhailov- at a distance of 1500 m (shared the victory with Grishin).
Skier Lyubov Kozyreva- in a 10 km race.
The USSR men's national ski team in the 4x10 km relay.
USSR national ice hockey team.
Medal credit
The USSR national team with 7 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze medals confidently won the unofficial team competition. The second were the Austrians (4-3-4), the third - the Finns (3-3-1). Defeated five Winter Olympics the Norwegians unexpectedly took only seventh place (2-1-1).
For the first time, representatives of the USSR, Poland and Japan became Olympic champions.
Games gold, silver and bronze medals
Torch relay
The torch relay across Italy was carried out along the following route: by plane from Rome to Venice, and then to Cortina d "Ampezzo by a ski relay.
Torch of the Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d "Ampezzo
Before leaving Rome, the Olympic flame was kept in a special bowl on a tripod, who arrived from Olympia (Greece), which was installed in the temple at the foot of the Capitoline Hill.
Olympic champion Helsinki-1952 in walking 50 km. Giuseppe Dordoni lights a torch on the steps of the Temple of Jupiter in Rome, from where it will be transported to Venice by a special aircraft of the Italian Air Force
In the presence of the guests of honor who were in the Senatorial Palace, the Olympic torch was presented to the torchbearer.
After singing the Italian national anthem, accompanied by a military escort and in the presence of spectators, the first torchbearer headed by car to Ciampino airport.
Departure of the Olympic champion Giuseppe Dordoni from Rome to Venice
On January 23 and 24, at night, the Olympic flame was stored in the city halls of Treviso and Belluno, respectively.
On the night of January 25-26, the torch was in the shelter d "Aosta of the Tofana mountain range (at an altitude of 2098 m above sea level) under the protection of mountain riflemen of the Italian army.
On the morning of January 26, 1956, the athletes continued the torch relay. Their progress from the slopes of the mountain was illuminated by multi-colored flashes of rockets, and then through the town - the capital of the Games, accompanied by joyful spectators.
The well-developed plan was carried out in full, except that the plane's landing at Venice airport was delayed due to heavy fog.
Olympic flame on gondolas in Venice
At 11:37 a.m. on January 26, 1956, the finish of the torch relay took place (Olympic Stadium, Cortina d'Ampezzo - lighting a fire in the Olympic bowl).
The last torchbearer was the Italian speed skating champion Guido Caroli, and he was also entrusted with lighting the Olympic flame in the bowl of the Central Stadium of the VII Olympic Winter Games.
The opening ceremony
The opening ceremony started as a standard with a parade of the participating countries.
For the first time, the USSR national team took part in the parade, as well as in the Olympic Games. The standard bearer of the Soviet team at the opening ceremony was a skater Oleg Goncharenko, who later became the bronze medalist twice at the 1956 Games (at distances of 5000 m and 10 000 m).
The USSR national team at the opening of the Games in Cortina d "Ampezzo. The banner is carried by Oleg Goncharenko
Then the President of Italy Giovanni Gronchi addressed the audience with a solemn speech and announced the opening of the VII Winter Olympic Games.
After that, an athlete-torch-bearer appeared at the stadium - skater Guido Karoli, carrying the Olympic flame. And then the main curiosity of the opening ceremony happened - Guido tripped over a television cable and fell! As a result, the Olympic flame went out and had to be re-lit. The second time, Karoli was able to bring the fire and lit it over the stadium.
Guido Caroli with the Olympic flame
Then came the turn of the Olympic oath. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, it was spoken by a woman - an Italian alpine skier Juliana Quenal-Minuzzo(bronze medalist of the 1952 Games in Oslo).
After that, the Olympic flag was raised over the stadium, and the ceremony ended with a parade of the participating countries' teams going under the stands.
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the VII Winter Olympic Games was preceded by demonstration performances of figure skaters who became Olympic champions and winners of the Games in doubles and singles among women and men.
The ceremony would have been opened to the sound of the trumpets of the heralds. Arrival of the IOC President Avery Brandage accompanied by an escort of young athletes.
After that, the flag-bearers of the participating countries and a group of 6 Italian athletes entered the arena, carrying the unfolded flag of the IOC, handed over to them by representatives of Norway, the host country of the previous 1952 Games.
The national anthems of Greece, the ancestor of the Olympic Games, Italy, the current host of the Games and the United States, the host country of the VIII Winter Olympic Games in 1960, were performed.
Avery Brandage solemnly announced the closure of the VII 1956 Winter Olympics and handed over the IOC flag to the Mayor of Cortina d'Ampezzo for safekeeping.
Then a salute was given in honor of the end of the Games.
1956 year. 16th Summer Olympics, Melbourne, Australia. These were the first games to be played in the southern hemisphere. On the one hand, expanding the geography of sports has always been the goal of the International Olympic Committee. On the other hand, in the southern hemisphere, as you know, summer is when, on the contrary, it is winter in Europe and North America. And the representatives of these continents are the trendsetters of sports fashion. Therefore, to the delight of all, it was impossible to resolve the dilemma.
However, in the competition for the choice of the capital of the games of 1956, Melbourne overtook another contender from the southern hemisphere of the Earth - Argentine Buenos Aires.
Having received the right to host the games, the Australians quickly quarreled among themselves. The Victoria state government refused to finance the construction of the Olympic Village, and the federal government to allocate funds for this from its budget. IOC President Avery Brandage was already preparing to announce the transfer of games from Australia, but at the last moment the owners changed their minds and managed to build all the necessary facilities on time.
The Soviet delegation traveled to the green continent by sea. From Vladivostok on a motor ship called "Burma". The journey took several weeks and was, of course, tiring, but on the other hand, our athletes got enough time to get used to the Far Eastern time zone.
In addition to these understandable, in general, problems, the games in Melbourne went down in history as the first post-war, in which politics made itself felt. It's about a boycott for political reasons. By the way, there were several of them. Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon refused to participate because of the Suez crisis, the so-called Anglo-French-Israeli aggression, undertaken after the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Cairo. The armed suppression of the Hungarian uprising in October 1956 led to the refusal to participate in the games in protest of countries from which, at first glance, this could not be expected. The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland boycotted their participation due to the aggressive policy of the USSR. And finally, the People's Republic of China postponed, it turned out that for many years, its debut in the international sports arena due to the fact that the IOC granted the right to participate in the Olympics to Taiwan or Formosa.
In general, only 67 teams took part in the games, the number of participants was one and a half thousand less than at the games in Helsinki. And equestrian competitions were held in Stockholm, simply because of the quarantine on the import of animals from other continents, which exists in Australia as a law.
In terms of results, the Soviet team took first place. By a wide margin. 98 awards, of which 37 are gold. The runner-up Americans had just 74 medals and 32 golds. In third place were the hosts of the games - the Australians - a huge success. By comparison, the United German Team managed to finish in seventh place with just six gold medals. Athletes from Hungary, because of which, as we have already said, a major conflict, did not disappoint either, they ended up in an unprecedentedly high fourth overall team place.
The audience remembered the uncompromising, practically beyond the bounds of wrestling, match between the water polo teams of Hungary and the USSR, it went down in history as the "Bloody Battle". The Hungarians won 4: 0. On the other hand, the games in Melbourne are remembered for the triumph of the Soviet runner, stayer Vladimir Kuts, who won at the most prestigious distances - 5 and 10 kilometers. And also the absolute superiority of our gymnasts, who won 11 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals. Well, and of course, the victory of the Soviet football team, the success of which gave rise to illusions and hopes of quick victories at the world championships, which, unfortunately, never took place.
Many may not believe
but on this day,
November 22
1956,
opened XVI
summer
Olympic Games.
Ten cities claimed this right, and all, except Melbourne, were from the American continent: the capital of Argentina - Buenos Aires, Mexico - Mexico City, Canadian Montreal and six applicants from the United States of America: Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco , Philadelphia and Chicago. The controversy was fierce, and yet Melbourne won.
N the struggle did not end there. At a meeting of the IOC in Vienna in 1951, the impression of an exploding bomb was made by the announcement that it was impossible to host equestrian competitions in Melbourne under the program of the Olympic Games. The fact is that Australia still has an old law, according to which animals from abroad can be imported only after a six-month quarantine, and even then only from two or three countries. This is due to the fact that in Australia, a country with a highly developed animal husbandry, there has not yet been a single epidemic among the horse population and, in order to continue to avoid epidemics, this law has not been canceled. There was a danger that Melbourne would lose the right to host the Games, but the IOC nevertheless decided not to postpone the Games, but to postpone only equestrian sports. From 11 to 17 June of the same 1956, they took place in Stockholm.
ANDGames in Melbourne brought together 3,184 athletes from 67 countries. For the first time, athletes from Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, the United German Team (OGK), Fr. Taiwan, Uganda. Fiji, Ethiopia. Participation in the Melbourne Games for athletes in the Northern Hemisphere was associated with significant difficulties due to the unusual timing of the Olympic events: November - December. Due to high travel costs, many countries had to reduce their teams, so fewer athletes arrived in Melbourne than for the 1948 London and 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
WITH Soviet athletes won 37 gold, 29 silver and 32 bronze medals at this Olympics. In the unofficial team standings the USSR national team scored 622.5 points and far ahead of the representatives of the strongest sports powers, including the United States (497.5 points). Soviet athletes excelled in gymnastics, football, modern pentathlon, boxing, classic wrestling, kayaking and canoeing, and shooting. In competitions in rowing, basketball, freestyle wrestling, light and weightlifting they took second command place.
M the Elbourne Olympics went down in history as "Vladimir Kuts' Olympics" ... Outstanding runner Vladimir Kuts won two gold medals at once at the 16th Olympic Games in distance distance - 5000 and 10000 meters, setting new Olympic records.
E three Soviet athletes climbed to the highest step of the podium in Melbourne, setting new Olympic records: a woman from Riga won the women's javelin throwInessa Jaunzeme, shot put - LeningradTamara Tyshkevich, a Muscovite was the first to walk 20 kilometersLeonid Spirin.
P the first Soviet Olympic boxing champion was
Vladimir Safronov ... He came to Melbourne from distant Chita as a first-rate, and left there as an honored master of sports.WITH a kind of record was set by a wonderful Hungarian boxer Laszlo Papp by winning the third Olympics in a row. He became the first athlete in the history of world boxing to be awarded the highest Olympic award three times in a row.
V Melbourne again demonstrated their high skill Soviet gymnasts. They won the championship among both men and women. For the second time, Viktor Chukarin became the absolute champion of the Olympics. Among women, the absolute superiority was won by a Kiev student Larisa Latynina. The envoys of our country performed well in classical wrestling, shooting sports, weightlifting, and modern pentathlon.
Have the haste of the Soviet team was reinforced by the footballers. On the closing day of the XVI Olympic Games, December 8, 1956, they won the final meeting against the Yugoslav national team and won gold medals.
But the most dramatic was not this last match, but the semifinal, in which the footballers of the Soviet Union and Bulgaria met. The game was sharp, sharp, replete with dangerous moments at one, then at the other gate and ended in a draw, 0: 0. According to the rules, two additional halves of 15 minutes were appointed. During this extra time, our team's defender Nikolay Tishchenko unsuccessfully collided with the Bulgarian striker. Tishchenko had a broken collarbone. According to the then rules, any substitution of players was prohibited.
There are only ten people left in the Soviet team, moreover, one of the best strikers Valentin Ivanov played with injury. There was no time to think. And Tishchenko rushed back to the field. The team doctor froze the swollen shoulder with chloroethyl and tightly - so that his fingers were numb - bandaged his hand to the torso. Every movement caused pain. Tishchenko took his place on the left flank and tried to help his comrades in some way. How much endurance and courage is needed to continue the struggle in such a situation!
And the score is a draw. And yet, the Soviet team managed to snatch victory in this match with the very direct participation of Nikolai Tishchenko. Thrown "unattended", he received the ball in the middle of the field. No, he is not taken seriously: each opponent is "guarding" the active player. Meanwhile, Tishchenko is slowly walking forward with the ball. Ten meters, twenty ... And only when Nikolay approached the line of the penalty area, the Bulgarian defender rushed to meet him.
Late! I have already rushed into the opened zone Vladimir Ryzhkin... Pass him, right on the blow. Affected by a terrible excitement: Vladimir "cut" the ball, he went along the goal. But the nerves of Bulgarians are not made of iron either. The goalkeeper could not resist, rushed into the near corner. And the ball - past him, straight to the oncoming Boris Tatushin... He substituted his leg and ... a goal !!!
The Olympic football code, in addition to the prohibition to change the injured player, contained another cruel clause at that time. In case of victory, the team was awarded only 11 gold medals. Therefore, only the participants of the last, final match are awarded. So it turned out that Tishchenko played all the qualifying matches, participated in one eighth of the finals, in the quarterfinals, in the semifinals. But he was not given a medal. He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor, he was awarded the title of Honored Master
sports. But he is a real Olympic Champion!1956).
Selecting the capital of the Games
| Election of the capital of the XVI Summer Olympics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town | The country | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | 4 round | |
| Melbourne | Australia Australia | 14 | 18 | 19 | 21 | |
| Buenos Aires | Argentina Argentina | 9 | 12 | 13 | 20 | |
| Los Angeles | USA USA | 5 | 4 | 5 | - | |
| Detroit | USA USA | 2 | 4 | 4 | - | |
| Mexico City | Mexico mexico | 9 | 3 | - | - | |
| Chicago | USA USA | 1 | - | - | - | |
| Minneapolis | USA USA | 1 | - | - | - | |
| Philadelphia | USA USA | 1 | - | - | - | |
| San Francisco | USA USA | - | - | - | - | |
Sports
Member countries
 |
Kenya |
Athletes from five countries participated only in equestrian sports in Stockholm and were not represented at the Games in Australia:
Equestrian competitions had to be held in Stockholm, and not in Melbourne due to the strict quarantine on the import of animals in force in Australia.
At the congress international federation in swimming (FINA), representatives of the Soviet Union were first introduced to the international technical committees: swimming - V. Kitaev, water polo - A. Yu. Kistyakovsky, and diving - S. Efimova.
Results of the Games
Ten countries with the most medals
| Place | The country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
USSR || 37 || 29 || 32 || 98 |
||||
| 2 |
USA || 32 || 25 || 17 || 74 |
||||
| 3 |
Australia || 13 || 8 || 14 || 35 |
||||
| 4 | Hungary | 9 | 10 | 7 | 26 |
| 5 |
Italy || 8 || 8 || 9 || 25 |
||||
| 6 |
Sweden || 8 || 5 || 6 || 19 |
||||
| 7 |
United German team || 6 || 13 || 7 || 26 |
||||
| 8 |
Great Britain || 6 || 7 || 11 || 24 |
||||
| 9 |
Romania || 5 || 3 || 5 || 13 |
||||
| 10 |
Japan || 4 || 10 || 5 || 19 |
Philately Games
- Series of postage stamps of the USSR, 1956
Write a review on "1956 Summer Olympics"
Literature
- Lyubomirov N.I., Pashinin V.A., Frolov V.V. Olympic Games. Melbourne. 1956 - M .: Soviet sport, 1957 .-- 571 p.
- Kuleshov A.P., Sobolev P.A. In Far Melbourne. Essays on the XVI Olympic Games. - M .: Physical culture and sport, 1958 .-- 358 p.
- Year Olympic 1956. - Moscow: Physical culture and sport, 1958. - 285 p.
see also
Notes (edit)
Excerpt from the 1956 Summer Olympics
The captured officers were separated from the soldiers and ordered to go ahead. There were about thirty officers, including Pierre, and about three hundred soldiers.The captured officers, released from other booths, were all strangers, were much better dressed than Pierre, and looked at him, in his shoes, with distrust and aloofness. Not far from Pierre was a fat major in a Kazan dressing gown, belted with a towel, and apparently enjoying the general respect of his fellow prisoners, with a plump, yellow, angry face. He held one hand with a pouch in his bosom, with the other leaning on the shank. The major, panting and panting, grumbled and was angry at everyone because it seemed to him that he was being pushed and that everyone was in a hurry when there was nowhere to hurry, everyone was surprised at something when nothing was surprising. Another, a small, thin officer, spoke to everyone, making assumptions about where they were being taken now and how far they would have time to go today. An official, in felt boots and a commissariat uniform, ran from different directions and looked out for the burnt-out Moscow, loudly reporting his observations about what had burned down and what this or that part of Moscow was visible. The third officer, of Polish origin by accent, argued with the commissariat official, proving to him that he was mistaken in defining the quarters of Moscow.
- What are you arguing about? The major said angrily. - Whether Nikola, whether Vlasa, all one; you see, everything burned out, well, the end ... What are you pushing, isn’t there a little road, ”he turned angrily to the one walking behind and didn’t push him at all.
- Ay, ay, ay, what have you done! - could be heard, however, now from one side or the other, the voices of prisoners looking around the conflagration. - And then Zamoskvorechye, and Zubovo, and in the Kremlin, look, half is not ... Yes, I told you that all of Zamoskvorechye, there it is.
- Well, you know what burned out, well, what is there to talk about! - said the major.
Passing through Khamovniki (one of the few unburned quarters of Moscow) past the church, the whole crowd of prisoners suddenly shrank to one side, and exclamations of horror and disgust were heard.
- Look you scoundrels! That is infidel! Yes, dead, dead is ... Smeared with something.
Pierre also moved to the church, which had something that caused exclamations, and dimly saw something leaning against the fence of the church. From the words of his comrades who had seen better than him, he learned that it was something like a corpse of a man, standing upright by the fence and smeared with soot on his face ...
- Marchez, sacre nom ... Filez ... trente mille diables ... [Go! go! Damn it! Devils!] - were heard the curses of the escorts, and the French soldiers, with renewed anger, dispersed the crowd of prisoners with their cleavers, looking at the dead man.
The prisoners walked along the side streets of Khamovnikov alone with their convoy and carts and wagons belonging to the convoy and driving behind; but, going out to the grocery stores, they found themselves in the middle of a huge, closely moving artillery convoy, mixed with private carts.
At the bridge itself, everyone stopped, waiting for those in front to move forward. From the bridge, endless rows of other moving carts opened up behind and in front of the prisoners. To the right, where the Kaluga road curved past Neskuchny, disappearing in the distance, endless ranks of troops and carts stretched. These were the troops of the Beauharnais corps, which left first of all; back, along the embankment and across the Stone Bridge, Ney's troops and carts stretched.
Davout's troops, to which the prisoners belonged, marched through the Crimean ford and already partly entered Kaluzhskaya Street. But the carts were so stretched out that the last carts of Beauharnais had not yet left Moscow for Kaluzhskaya Street, and the head of Ney's troops was already leaving Bolshaya Ordynka.
Having passed the Crimean ford, the prisoners moved several steps and stopped, and again moved, and from all sides the carriages and people were more and more shy. After walking for more than an hour those several hundred steps that separate the bridge from Kaluzhskaya Street, and reaching the square where Zamoskvoretsky and Kaluzhskaya streets converge, the prisoners, compressed into a heap, stopped and stood for several hours at this intersection. From all sides one could hear incessant, like the sound of the sea, the rumbling of wheels, and the stamping of feet, and incessant angry screams and curses. Pierre stood pressed against the wall of a burnt house, listening to this sound, which merged in his imagination with the sounds of a drum.
Several captured officers, in order to see better, climbed the wall of the burnt house, next to which Pierre was standing.
- To the people! Eka to the people! .. And they piled on the cannons! Look: furs ... - they said. “You see, the scoundrels, they robbed… That one in the back, on the cart… After all, this is from an icon, by God! .. These are Germans, it must be. And our man, by God! .. Ah, scoundrels! .. See, he’s loaded up, he’s going to force! Here are those on, droshky - and they captured! .. You see, sat on the chests then. Fathers! .. Fight! ..
- So it in the face then, in the face! You can't wait that way until evening. Look, look ... and this is surely Napoleon himself. See, what horses! in monograms with a crown. This is a foldable house. Dropped the bag, does not see. Again they fought ... A woman with a child, and not bad. Yes, how can they let you through ... Look, there is no end. Russian girls, by God, girls! How calmly they sat in the carriages!
Again a wave of general curiosity, as in the vicinity of the church in Khamovniki, pushed all the prisoners to the road, and Pierre, thanks to his height over the heads of others, saw what had so attracted the curiosity of the prisoners. In three carriages, mingled between the charging boxes, they rode, closely sitting on top of each other, unloaded, in bright colors, rouged, something screaming in squeaky voices of women.
From the moment Pierre realized the appearance of a mysterious force, nothing seemed strange or scary to him: not a corpse smeared with soot for fun, not these women hurrying somewhere, not the conflagration of Moscow. Everything that Pierre now saw made almost no impression on him - as if his soul, preparing for a difficult struggle, refused to accept impressions that could weaken it.
The women's train has passed. Behind him were carts again, soldiers, wagons, soldiers, decks, carriages, soldiers, boxes, soldiers, and occasionally women.
Pierre did not see people separately, but saw their movement.
All these people, horses seemed to be chased by some invisible force. All of them, during the hour during which Pierre watched them, floated out of different streets with the same desire to pass quickly; all of them in the same way, when faced with others, began to get angry, to fight; white teeth bared, eyebrows frowned, all the same curses were flung about, and on all faces there was the same youthfully determined and cruelly cold expression, which in the morning struck Pierre at the sound of the drum on the corporal's face.
Already before the evening, the convoy commander gathered his team and, with a shout and disputes, squeezed into the carts, and the prisoners, surrounded on all sides, went out onto the Kaluga road.
They walked very soon, without resting, and stopped only when the sun had already begun to set. The carts moved one on top of the other, and people began to prepare for an overnight stay. Everyone seemed angry and displeased. For a long time, curses, angry screams and fights were heard from different sides. The carriage driving behind the escorts moved over the convoy's wagon and pierced it with a drawbar. Several soldiers from different directions ran to the wagon; some beat the horses harnessed to the carriage on the heads, turning them around, others fought among themselves, and Pierre saw that one German was seriously wounded in the head with a sword.
It seemed that now, when they stopped in the middle of a field in the cold twilight of an autumn evening, all these people were experiencing the same feeling of unpleasant awakening from the haste and impetuous movement that gripped everyone when leaving. Having stopped, everyone seemed to understand that it was not yet known where they were going, and that on this movement there would be a lot of hard and difficult things.
The prisoners at this halt were treated even worse by the escorts than during the march. At this halt, for the first time, the meat food of the prisoners was given out with horse meat.
