Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1956 Olympic Games took place between November 29 and 30. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Gold	Jon Henricks  Australia
Silver	John Devitt  Australia
Bronze	Gary Chapman  Australia

Results

Heats

Five heats were held, the fastest sixteen swimmers advanced to the Semifinal Round. The swimmers that advanced are highlighted.

Heat One

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Jon Henricks	Australia	57.3
2	Dick Hanley	United States	57.8
3	Billy Steuart	South Africa	59.2
4	Lev Balandin	Soviet Union	59.6
5	Hans Köhler	Germany	59.8
5	Karri Käyhkö	Finland	59.8
7	André Laurent	Belgium	1:00.7

Heat Two

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Manabu Koga	Japan	57.7
2	Aldo Eminente	France	58.0
3	Vitaly Sorokin	Soviet Union	58.6
4	Cheung Kin Man	Hong Kong	59.8
5	Horst Bleeker	Germany	1:00.1
6	Sergio Martínez	Colombia	1:00.2
7	Peter Duncan	South Africa	1:00.4

Heat Three

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	John Devitt	Australia	57.2
2	Paolo Pucci	Italy	58.3
3	Hiroshi Suzuki	Japan	58.4
3	Paul Voell	Germany	58.4
5	Kenneth Williams	Great Britain	59.4
6	Dennis Ford	South Africa	59.5
7	Sri Chand Bajaj	India	1:01.6

Heat Four

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Reid Patterson	United States	56.8
2	Atsushi Tani	Japan	57.1
3	Carlo Pedersoli	Italy	58.5
4	Haroldo Lara	Brazil	59.9
5	Habib Nasution	Indonesia	1:00.1
6	Alex Jany	France	1:00.2

Heat Five

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Gary Chapman	Australia	57.8
2	Bill Woolsey	United States	58.2
3	Ronald Roberts	Great Britain	58.3
4	Gyula Dobay	Hungary	58.5
5	George Park	Canada	58.8
6	Dakula Arabani	Philippines	1:00.2
7	Wan Shiu Ming	Hong Kong	1:00.7

Semifinals

Two heats were held; the swimmers with the fastest eight times advanced to the Final Round. The swimmers that advanced are highlighted.

Semifinal One

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Jon Henricks	Australia	55.7
2	Dick Hanley	United States	56.9
3	Atsushi Tani	Japan	57.4
4	Aldo Eminente	France	58.0
5	Hiroshi Suzuki	Japan	58.0
6	Vitaly Sorokin	Soviet Union	58.2
7	Paolo Pucci	Italy	58.8
8	Carlo Pedersoli	Italy	59.0

Semifinal Two

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	John Devitt	Australia	56.4
2	Gary Chapman	Australia	56.9
3	Reid Patterson	United States	57.1
4	Bill Woolsey	United States	58.0
5	Gyula Dobay	Hungary	58.1
6	Manabu Koga	Japan	58.1
7	Paul Voell	Germany	58.6
8	Ronald Roberts	Great Britain	58.9

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Jon Henricks	Australia	55.4	WR
	John Devitt	Australia	55.8
	Gary Chapman	Australia	56.7
4	Reid Patterson	United States	57.2
5	Dick Hanley	United States	57.6
6	Bill Woolsey	United States	57.6
7	Atsushi Tani	Japan	58.0
8	Aldo Eminente	France	58.1

Key: WR = World record