List of 1956 Winter Olympics medal winners

The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the VII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956. A total of 821 athletes representing 32 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in these Games in 24 events across 8 disciplines.[1] The Olympic program was similar to four years prior, with two new cross-country events added to the competition. Both men and women competed at these Games, though women only contested events in alpine skiing, figure skating, and cross-country skiing. The Soviet Union attempted to secure the inclusion of a women's speed skating event, but this was rejected by the IOC at its 49th session in Athens in 1954.[2] Women would compete in speed skating four years later at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics.[3]

Toni Sailer, the Austrian gold medalist in three disciplines Alpine skiing

A total of 131 athletes won medals in Cortina d'Ampezzo.[4] In their Winter Olympic debut,[1] athletes from the Soviet Union won sixteen medals, seven of which were gold. Both medal totals were the most of any NOC at the Games. Two of these seven medals were earned in a single event, the 1500 meters speed skating competition, when two Soviet skaters tied for first place in a world record time.[5] Athletes from Austria and Sweden won the second and third most medals, with 11 and 10 respectively. Of the 32 NOCs that competed in Cortina d'Ampezzo, 13 won at least one medal. Host nation Italy won three medals, all in bobsleigh.[6]

Cross-country skier Sixten Jernberg of Sweden won four medals, and Austrian Toni Sailer won three gold medals in alpine skiing, both of which were the most of any athlete in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Tenley Albright improved on her silver medal from four years prior in Oslo to win the gold medal in ladies figure skating.[7] The Soviet Union won six medals—exactly half of the medals awarded—in speed skating, with two each being won by Yevgeny Grishin and Oleg Goncharenko. Grishin would repeat his performance with golds in the same two events four years later in Squaw Valley.[8]

Alpine skiing

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Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's downhill[9]
details
Toni Sailer
  Austria
Raymond Fellay
  Switzerland
Anderl Molterer
  Austria
Men's giant slalom[10]
details
Toni Sailer
  Austria
Anderl Molterer
  Austria
Walter Schuster
  Austria
Men's slalom[11]
details
Toni Sailer
  Austria
Chiharu Igaya
  Japan
Stig Sollander
  Sweden
Women's downhill[12]
details
Madeleine Berthod
  Switzerland
Frieda Dänzer
  Switzerland
Lucille Wheeler
  Canada
Women's giant slalom[13]
details
Ossi Reichert
  United Team of Germany
Putzi Frandl
  Austria
Thea Hochleitner
  Austria
Women's slalom[14]
details
Renée Colliard
  Switzerland
Regina Schöpf
  Austria
Yevgeniya Sidorova
  Soviet Union

Bobsleigh

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Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's two-man
details
  Italy (ITA)[15]
Italy I
Lamberto Dalla Costa
Giacomo Conti
  Italy (ITA)[15]
Italy II
Eugenio Monti
Renzo Alverà
  Switzerland (SUI)[16]
Switzerland I
Max Angst
Harry Warburton
Men's four-man
details
  Switzerland (SUI)[16]
Switzerland I
Franz Kapus
Gottfried Diener
Robert Alt
Heinrich Angst
  Italy (ITA)[15]
Italy II
Eugenio Monti
Ulrico Girardi
Renzo Alverà
Renato Mocellini
  United States (USA)[17]
USA I
Arthur Tyler
William Dodge
Charles Butler
James Lamy

Cross-country skiing

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Veikko Hakulinen won one gold and two silver medals in the 1956 Winter Olympics.
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's 15 km[18]
details
Hallgeir Brenden
  Norway
Sixten Jernberg
  Sweden
Pavel Kolchin
  Soviet Union
Men's 30 km[19]
details
Veikko Hakulinen
  Finland
Sixten Jernberg
  Sweden
Pavel Kolchin
  Soviet Union
Men's 50 km[20]
details
Sixten Jernberg
  Sweden
Veikko Hakulinen
  Finland
Fyodor Terentyev
  Soviet Union
Men's 4×10 km
details
  Soviet Union (URS)[21]
Fyodor Terentyev
Pavel Kolchin
Nikolay Anikin
Vladimir Kuzin
  Finland (FIN)[22]
August Kiuru
Jorma Kortelainen
Arvo Viitanen
Veikko Hakulinen
  Sweden (SWE)[23]
Lennart Larsson
Gunnar Samuelsson
Per-Erik Larsson
Sixten Jernberg
Women's 10 km[24]
details
Lyubov Kozyreva
  Soviet Union
Radya Yeroshina
  Soviet Union
Sonja Edström
  Sweden
Women's 3×5 km
details
  Finland (FIN)[22]
Sirkka Polkunen
Mirja Hietamies
Siiri Rantanen
  Soviet Union (URS)[21]
Lyubov Kozyreva
Alevtina Kolchina
Radya Yeroshina
  Sweden (SWE)[23]
Irma Johansson
Anna-Lisa Eriksson
Sonja Edström

Figure skating

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Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's[25]
details
Hayes Alan Jenkins
  United States
Ronnie Robertson
  United States
David Jenkins
  United States
Ladies'[26]
details
Tenley Albright
  United States
Carol Heiss
  United States
Ingrid Wendl
  Austria
Pairs
details
  Austria (AUT)[27]
Sissy Schwarz
Kurt Oppelt
  Canada (CAN)[28]
Frances Dafoe
Norris Bowden
  Hungary (HUN)[29]
Marianna Nagy
László Nagy

Ice hockey

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Wendell Anderson, silver medalist for the United States in ice hockey, would be elected Governor of Minnesota in 1971.[30]
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's team
details
  Soviet Union (URS)[31]
Yevgeny Babich
Vsevolod Bobrov
Alexei Guryshev
Nikolay Khlystov
Valentin Kuzin
Yuri Krylov
Alfred Kuchevsky
Grigory Mkrtychan
Viktor Nikiforov
Yuri Pantyukhov
Nikolaï Puchkov
Viktor Shuvalov
Genrikh Sidorenkov
Nikolai Sologubov
Ivan Tregubov
Dmitry Ukolov
Aleksandr Uvarov
  United States (USA)[32]
Wendell Anderson
Wellington Burtnett
Eugene Campbell
Gordon Christian
Bill Cleary
Richard Dougherty
Willard Ikola
John Matchefts
John Mayasich
Daniel McKinnon
Richard Meredith
Weldon Olson
John Petroske
Kenneth Purpur
Don Rigazio
Richard Rodenheiser
Ed Sampson
  Canada (CAN)[33]
Denis Brodeur
Charles Brooker
William Colvin
Alfred Horne
Art Hurst
Byrle Klinck
Paul Knox
Ken Laufman
Howard Lee
James Logan
Floyd Martin
Jack McKenzie
Donald Rope
George Scholes
Gerry Theberge
Robert White
Keith Woodall

Nordic combined

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Sverre Stenersen, the 1952 bronze medalist in Nordic combined, won gold in Cortina d'Ampezzo.[34]
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's individual[35]
details
Sverre Stenersen
  Norway
Bengt Eriksson
  Sweden
Franciszek Gąsienica Groń
  Poland

Ski jumping

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Ski jumping bronze medalist Harry Glaß of the Unified Team of Germany, pictured here in Oberhof, East Germany shortly after the 1956 Olympics
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's individual[36]
details
Antti Hyvärinen
  Finland
Aulis Kallakorpi
  Finland
Harry Glaß
  United Team of Germany

Speed skating

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Yevgeny Grishin and Yuri Mikhaylov tied for first place in the 1,500 metres speed skating with a world record.
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's 500 metres[37]
details
Yevgeny Grishin
  Soviet Union
Rafayel Grach
  Soviet Union
Alv Gjestvang
  Norway
Men's 1500 metres[5]
details
Yevgeny Grishin
  Soviet Union
None awarded[a] Toivo Salonen
  Finland
Yuri Mikhaylov
  Soviet Union
Men's 5000 metres[38]
details
Boris Shilkov
  Soviet Union
Sigvard Ericsson
  Sweden
Oleg Goncharenko
  Soviet Union
Men's 10000 metres[39]
details
Sigvard Ericsson
  Sweden
Knut Johannesen
  Norway
Oleg Goncharenko
  Soviet Union

Multiple medalists

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Sixten Jernberg (left), who represented Sweden in cross-country skiing, won four medals including a gold medal in the 50 km race.

Athletes who won multiple medals during the 1956 Winter Olympics are listed below.

Athlete Nation Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total
Sixten Jernberg   Sweden (SWE) Cross-country skiing 1 2 1 4
Toni Sailer   Austria (AUT) Alpine skiing 3 0 0 3
Veikko Hakulinen   Finland (FIN) Cross-country skiing 1 2 0 3
Pavel Kolchin   Soviet Union (URS) Cross-country skiing 1 0 2 3
Yevgeny Grishin   Soviet Union (URS) Speed skating 2 0 0 2
Lyubov Kozyreva   Soviet Union (URS) Cross-country skiing 1 1 0 2
Sigvard Ericsson   Sweden (SWE) Speed skating 1 1 0 2
Fyodor Terentyev   Soviet Union (URS) Cross-country skiing 1 0 1 2
Renzo Alverà   Italy (ITA) Bobsleigh 0 2 0 2
Eugenio Monti   Italy (ITA) Bobsleigh 0 2 0 2
Radya Yeroshina   Soviet Union (URS) Cross-country skiing 0 2 0 2
Anderl Molterer   Austria (AUT) Alpine skiing 0 1 1 2
Sonja Edström   Sweden (SWE) Cross-country skiing 0 0 2 2
Oleg Goncharenko   Soviet Union (URS) Speed skating 0 0 2 2

Note

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  • a No silver medal was awarded in this event because Grishin and Mikhaylov tied for first place with a world record time of 2:08.6.[40]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 Winter Olympics". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
  2. ^ Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberly D. (1996). Historical Dictionary of the Modern Olympic Movement. Westport, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 259. ISBN 0-313-28477-6. 1956 winter olympics.
  3. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Speed Skating at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  4. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  5. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Speed Skating at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's 1,500 metres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  6. ^ Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano: pp. 632–635, 689.
  7. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Tenley Albright Biography and Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 20 April 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  8. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Yevgeny Grishin Biography and Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  9. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Alpine Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's Downhill". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  10. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Alpine Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's Giant Slalom". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  11. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Alpine Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's Slalom". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 11 April 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  12. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Alpine Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Women's Downhill". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  13. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Alpine Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Women's Giant Slalom". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 29 January 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  14. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Alpine Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Women's Slalom". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 7 January 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  15. ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Italy Bobsleigh at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  16. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Switzerland Bobsleigh at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  17. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "United States Bobsleigh at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 September 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  18. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Cross Country Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's 15 kilometres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  19. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Cross Country Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's 30 kilometres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  20. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Cross Country Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's 50 kilometres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  21. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Soviet Union Cross Country Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  22. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Finland Cross Country Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  23. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sweden Cross Country Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  24. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Cross Country Skiing at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Women's 10 kilometres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 20 January 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  25. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Figure Skating at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's Singles". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  26. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Figure Skating at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Women's Singles". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 19 September 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  27. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Austria Figure Skating at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 21 April 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  28. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Canada Figure Skating at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 21 April 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  29. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hungary Figure Skating at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 21 April 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  30. ^ "Anderson, Wendell Richard, (1933 – )". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Archived from the original on 20 January 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  31. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Soviet Union Ice Hockey at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 20 October 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  32. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "United States Ice Hockey at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 20 October 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  33. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Canada Ice Hockey at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 20 October 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  34. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Nordic Combined at the 1952 Oslo Winter Games: Men's Individual". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 21 January 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  35. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Nordic Combined at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's Individual". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  36. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ski Jumping at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's Normal Hill, Individual". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 7 January 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  37. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Speed Skating at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's 500 metres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  38. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Speed Skating at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's 5,000 metres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  39. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Speed Skating at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games: Men's 10,000 metres". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 31 January 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  40. ^ Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, p. 650.
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