Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

Men's 400 metres at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Venue	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Date	28 November 1956 & 29 November 1956
Competitors	42 from 23 nations
Medalists
Charlie Jenkins  United States Karl-Friedrich Haas  United Team of Germany Voitto Hellstén  Finland Ardalion Ignatyev  Soviet Union

These are the official results of the Men's 400 metres event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. The competition was held on 28 & 29 of November. Times are listed as both hand timing and automatic timing. Hand timing was the official time used in the 1956 Olympics.

Heats

The top three runners in each of the eight heats, advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat one

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Lou Jones	United States	48.1	48.30
2	Murray Cockburn	Canada	49.0	49.07
3	Abdullah Khan	Pakistan	49.0	49.19
4	Konstantin Grachev	Soviet Union	49.4	49.58
5	Beyene Legesse	Ethiopia	50.7	50.83
-	Kanji Akagi	Japan	DQ

Heat two

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Terry Tobacco	Canada	47.9	47.92
2	Jacques Degats	France	48.3	48.32
3	Jim Lea	United States	48.3	48.41
4	Bartonjo Rotich	Kenya	48.8	48.90
5	Jaime Aparicio	Colombia	49.0	49.14
6	Pablo Somblingo	Philippines	49.4	49.50
7	Kenneth Perera	Malaya	no time	51.96

Heat three

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Malcolm Spence	South Africa	47.7	47.77
2	Jürgen Kühl	United Team of Germany	48.7	48.74
3	Charlie Jenkins	United States	48.7	48.82
4	Abebe Hailou	Ethiopia	49.0	49.18
5	Abdul Karim Amu	Nigeria	49.4	49.57

Heat four

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Voitto Hellstén	Finland	48.4	48.52
2	Mike Wheeler	Great Britain	49.3	49.37
3	Kibet Boit	Kenya	49.3	49.48
4	Laird Sloan	Canada	50.0	50.18
5	Somsakdi Tongaram	Thailand	53.4	53.61

Heat five

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Karl-Friedrich Haas	United Team of Germany	47.2	47.29
2	Graham Gipson	Australia	47.7	47.87
3	John Salisbury	Great Britain	47.7	47.95
4	Milkha Singh	India	48.9	49.07

Heat six

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Ardalion Ignatyev	Soviet Union	48.6	48.69
2	George Kerr	Jamaica	49.7	49.74
3	Pierre Haarhoff	France	49.8	49.99
4	Kamau Wanyoke	Kenya	50.6	50.74

Heat seven

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Kevan Gosper	Australia	48.0	48.07
2	Mal Spence	Jamaica	48.2	48.31
3	Iván Rodríuez	Puerto Rico	48.8	48.86
4	Gérard Rasquin	Luxembourg	50.6	50.76
5	Abdul Rahim bin Ahmed	Malaya	50.8	50.93
6	George Johnson	Liberia	54.8	-

Heat eight

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Peter Higgins	Great Britain	47.9	47.98
2	Mel Spence	Jamaica	47.9	48.00
3	Jean-Paul Martin du Gard	France	48.3	48.39
4	John Goodman	Australia	48.5	48.73
5	Ajanew Bayene	Ethiopia	51.3	51.53
-	Horst Mann	United Team of Germany	DNF

Quarterfinals

The top three runners in each of the four heats, advanced to the semifinal round.

Heat one

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Lou Jones	United States	47.4	47.42
2	John Salisbury	Great Britain	47.4	47.60
3	Iván Rodríguez	Puerto Rico	47.5	47.64
4	Terry Tobacco	Canada	47.7	47.79
5	Jürgen Kühl	United Team of Germany	48.0	48.23
6	Abdullah Khan	Pakistan	DNS

Heat two

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Ardalion Ignatyev	Soviet Union	46.8	46.88
2	Mal Spence	Jamaica	47.4	47.42
3	Peter Higgins	Great Britain	47.4	47.43
4	Graham Gipson	Australia	47.4	47.45
5	Jacques Degats	France	48.7	48.79
6	Murray Cockburn	Canada	49.5	49.74

Heat three

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Voitto Hellstén	Finland	46.8	46.85
2	Malcolm Spence	South Africa	47.1	47.08
3	Mel Spence	Jamaica	47.3	47.38
4	Pierre Haarhoff	France	47.6	47.82
5	Jim Lea	United States	48.1	48.33
6	Kibet Boit	Kenya	49.1	49.18

Heat four

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Kevan Gosper	Australia	46.7	46.83
2	Karl-Friedrich Haas	United Team of Germany	47.3	47.37
3	Charlie Jenkins	United States	47.5	47.63
4	George Kerr	Jamaica	47.7	47.79
5	Mike Wheeler	Great Britain	47.9	48.05
6	Jean-Paul Martin du Gard	France	48.2	48.37

Semifinals

Top three in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Heat one

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Ardalion Ignatyev	Soviet Union	46.8	46.93
2	Malcolm Spence	South Africa	47.2	47.27
3	Lou Jones	United States	47.3	47.32
4	Mel Spence	Jamaica	47.5	47.58
5	Peter Higgins	Great Britain	47.7	47.65
6	Iván Rodríguez	Puerto Rico	47.7	47.86

Heat two

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Charlie Jenkins	United States	46.1	46.19
2	Voitto Hellstén	Finland	46.1	46.20
3	Karl-Friedrich Haas	United Team of Germany	46.2	46.29
4	Kevan Gosper	Australia	46.2	46.45
5	John Salisbury	Great Britain	47.3	47.47
6	Mal Spence	Jamaica	47.4	47.52

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
	Charlie Jenkins	United States	46.7	46.86
	Karl-Friedrich Haas	United Team of Germany	46.8	47.12
	Voitto Hellstén	Finland	47.0	47.15
	Ardalion Ignatyev	Soviet Union	47.0	47.15
5	Lou Jones	United States	48.1	48.35
6	Malcolm Spence	South Africa	48.3	48.40

References

• Sports-reference
• Official report