Czechoslovakia at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Czechoslovakia competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. 63 competitors, 51 men and 12 women, took part in 54 events in 10 sports.[1]

Czechoslovakia at the
1956 Summer Olympics
IOC codeTCH
NOCCzechoslovak Olympic Committee
in Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors63 (51 men and 12 women) in 10 sports
Flag bearerZdeněk Růžička
Medals
Ranked 18th
Gold
1
Silver
4
Bronze
1
Total
6
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
 Bohemia (1900–1912)
 Czech Republic (1994–)
 Slovakia (1994–)

Czech athlete Olga Fikotová won a gold medal in women's discus. She also started a famous love affair with American athlete Harold Vincent Connolly here.

The team was warned that their flight back to Czechoslovakia was in a danger of a terrorists' attack. All sportsmen had to undergo a long journey by a Soviet ship Gruzia from Melbourne to Vladivostok, Soviet Union and then by Trans-Siberian Railway to Moscow and by plane to Prague, Czechoslovakia. The whole journey took 31 days. The part of the journey from Melbourne to Moscow, Czechoslovakian sportsmen had to share a ship and train with Soviet sportsmen also returning home via this route. The coexistence was not idyllic and Czechoslovakians described it later as very humiliating. The Olympic team spent Christmas Day in the Pacific and New Year's Eve in Siberia. The team experienced high temperatures during voyage across equator and later freezing weather with -50 °C in Siberia.

It is very probable that the reason for the warning was only fictional and a long journey home was only a political decision made by Czechoslovak and Soviet communists. It was never justified.[citation needed]

Medalists

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Medal Name Sport Event
  Gold Olga Fikotová Athletics Women's discus throw
  Silver Otakar Hořínek Shooting Men's 50 m rifle 3 positions
  Silver Eva Bosáková Gymnastics Women's balance beam
  Silver Ladislav Fouček Cycling Men's 1000 m time trial
  Silver Ladislav Fouček
Václav Machek
Cycling Men's tandem
  Bronze Jiří Skobla Athletics Men's shot put

Athletics

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Men's Marathon

Boxing

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Canoeing

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Cycling

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Sprint
Time trial
Tandem
Team pursuit
Individual road race

Gymnastics

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Modern pentathlon

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One male pentathlete represented Czechoslovakia in 1956.

Individual

Rowing

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Czechoslovakia had eleven male rowers participate in two out of seven rowing events in 1956.[2]

Men's double sculls
Men's eight

Shooting

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Four shooters represented Czechoslovakia in 1956.

50 m pistol
50 m rifle, three positions
50 m rifle, prone
Trap

Swimming

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Weightlifting

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References

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  1. ^ "Czechoslovakia at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2012-07-21.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Czechoslovakia Rowing at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
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