1956 Summer Olympics facts for kids

USSR postage stamp in honor of gymnastics at the 1956 games

The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were held at Melbourne in Victoria, Australia.

Melbourne was chosen as the host city over instead of Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montreal and six American cities on 28 April 1949 at the 43rd IOC session.

The equestrian events were not held in Australia because of regulations. These events were held five months earlier in Stockholm, Sweden, making it the second time that events of the same Olympics were held in different countries.

Participating nations

A total of 67 nations sent athletes to compete at the Melbourne games.

Five nations competed in the horse riding events in Stockholm; however, athletes from these nations did not take part in the Games in Melbourne. The five were Cambodia, Egypt, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

Related pages

• List of IOC country codes

Countries at the 1956 Olympics

Olympic Games
Summer Games: 1896, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1912, (1916), 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028
Winter Games: 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
Athens 2004 — Turin 2006 — Beijing 2008 — Vancouver 2010 — London 2012 — Sochi 2014 — Rio 2016 — Pyeongchang 2018 — Tokyo 2020 Games in italics will be held in the future, and those in (brackets) were cancelled because of war. See also: Ancient Olympic Games

Youth Olympic Games
Summer Games: 2010, 2014, 2018
Winter Games: 2012, 2016, 2020
Singapore 2010 — Innsbruck 2012 — Nanjing 2014

Images for kids

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  Countries that boycotted the 1956 Games are shaded blue

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  Torch relay monument, Cairns

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  The heritage registered former Olympic Pool (now the Holden Centre), viewed from the Yarra River