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

These are the official results of the Men's 400 metres
400 metres
The 400 metres, or 400 metre dash, is a common sprinting event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 . On a standard outdoor running track, it is exactly one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and...

event at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics
At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, 33 athletics events were contested, 24 for men and 9 for women. There were a total number of 720 participating athletes from 61 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal table:-References:**...

in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. 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	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Lou Jones	48.1	48.30
2	Murray Cockburn	49.0	49.07
3	Abdullah Khan Abdullah Khan Abdullah Khan is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. The Department of Defense estimates he was born in 1956....	49.0	49.19
4	Konstantin Grachev	49.4	49.58
5	Beyene Legesse	50.7	50.83
-	Kanji Akagi	DQ

Heat two

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Terry Tobacco	47.9	47.92
2	Jacques Degats	48.3	48.32
3	Jim Lea Jim Lea Jim Lea , is an English musician, most notable for playing bass guitar, keyboards, violin, guitar, and singing backing vocals in Slade.-Career:...	48.3	48.41
4	Bartonjo Rotich Bartonjo Rotich Bartonjo Rotich is a retired runner from Kenya who specialised in 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles.He went to Alliance High School...	48.8	48.90
5	Jaime Aparicio	49.0	49.14
6	Pablo Somblingo	49.4	49.50
7	Kenneth Perera	no time	51.96

Heat three

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Malcolm Spence	47.7	47.77
2	Jürgen Kühl	48.7	48.74
3	Charlie Jenkins Charlie Jenkins Charles Lamont Jenkins is a former American athlete, winner of two gold medals at the 1956 Summer Olympics.Born in New York, Charles Jenkins was an outstanding member of Villanova's track teams between 1955 and 1957....	48.7	48.82
4	Abebe Hailou	49.0	49.18
5	Abdul Karim Amu	49.4	49.57

Heat four

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Voitto Hellstén Voitto Hellstén Voitto Valdemar Hellsten was a Finnish athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres.He competed for Finland in three Summer Olympics, in 1952, 1956 and 1960...	48.4	48.52
2	Mike Wheeler	49.3	49.37
3	Kibet Boit	49.3	49.48
4	Laird Sloan	50.0	50.18
5	Somsakdi Tongaram	53.4	53.61

Heat five

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Karl-Friedrich Haas Karl-Friedrich Haas Karl-Friedrich Haas was a West German athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres.He competed for West Germany in the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland where he won the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metre relay with his team mates Hans Geister, Günther Steines and Heinz Ulzheimer.Four...	47.2	47.29
2	Graham Gipson Graham Gipson Graham Gipson was an Australian athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.He competed for Australia in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne in the 4 x 400 metre relay where he won the Silver medal with his team mates Leon Gregory, David Lean and Kevan Gosper...	47.7	47.87
3	John Salisbury	47.7	47.95
4	Milkha Singh Milkha Singh Milkha Singh is an Indian athlete, who represented India in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo...	48.9	49.07

Heat six

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Ardalion Ignatyev Ardalion Ignatyev Ardalion Vasilyevich Ignatyev was a Soviet athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was born in the village of Novoye Toyderyakovo, Yalchiksky District, Chuvash ASSR....	48.6	48.69
2	George Kerr George Kerr (athlete) George Ezekiel Kerr was a Jamaican athlete who competed in the 400 metres and 800 metres twice making the Olympic Games final in the latter event....	49.7	49.74
3	Pierre Haarhoff	49.8	49.99
4	Kamau Wanyoke	50.6	50.74

Heat seven

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Kevan Gosper Kevan Gosper Kevan Gosper is a former Australian athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was formerly a Vice President of the International Olympic Committee.-1956 Summer Olympics:...	48.0	48.07
2	Mal Spence	48.2	48.31
3	Iván Rodríuez	48.8	48.86
4	Gérard Rasquin	50.6	50.76
5	Abdul Rahim bin Ahmed	50.8	50.93
6	George Johnson	54.8	-

Heat eight

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Peter Higgins	47.9	47.98
2	Mel Spence	47.9	48.00
3	Jean-Paul Martin du Gard	48.3	48.39
4	John Goodman John Goodman John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...	48.5	48.73
5	Ajanew Bayene	51.3	51.53
-	Horst Mann	DNF

Quarterfinals

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

Heat one

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Lou Jones	47.4	47.42
2	John Salisbury	47.4	47.60
3	Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Torres , nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Major League Baseball catcher...	47.5	47.64
4	Terry Tobacco	47.7	47.79
5	Jürgen Kühl	48.0	48.23
6	Abdullah Khan Abdullah Khan Abdullah Khan is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. The Department of Defense estimates he was born in 1956....	DNS

Heat two

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Ardalion Ignatyev Ardalion Ignatyev Ardalion Vasilyevich Ignatyev was a Soviet athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was born in the village of Novoye Toyderyakovo, Yalchiksky District, Chuvash ASSR....	46.8	46.88
2	Mal Spence	47.4	47.42
3	Peter Higgins	47.4	47.43
4	Graham Gipson Graham Gipson Graham Gipson was an Australian athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.He competed for Australia in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne in the 4 x 400 metre relay where he won the Silver medal with his team mates Leon Gregory, David Lean and Kevan Gosper...	47.4	47.45
5	Jacques Degats	48.7	48.79
6	Murray Cockburn	49.5	49.74

Heat three

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Voitto Hellstén Voitto Hellstén Voitto Valdemar Hellsten was a Finnish athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres.He competed for Finland in three Summer Olympics, in 1952, 1956 and 1960...	46.8	46.85
2	Malcolm Spence	47.1	47.08
3	Mel Spence	47.3	47.38
4	Pierre Haarhoff	47.6	47.82
5	Jim Lea Jim Lea Jim Lea , is an English musician, most notable for playing bass guitar, keyboards, violin, guitar, and singing backing vocals in Slade.-Career:...	48.1	48.33
6	Kibet Boit	49.1	49.18

Heat four

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Kevan Gosper Kevan Gosper Kevan Gosper is a former Australian athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was formerly a Vice President of the International Olympic Committee.-1956 Summer Olympics:...	46.7	46.83
2	Karl-Friedrich Haas Karl-Friedrich Haas Karl-Friedrich Haas was a West German athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres.He competed for West Germany in the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland where he won the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metre relay with his team mates Hans Geister, Günther Steines and Heinz Ulzheimer.Four...	47.3	47.37
3	Charlie Jenkins Charlie Jenkins Charles Lamont Jenkins is a former American athlete, winner of two gold medals at the 1956 Summer Olympics.Born in New York, Charles Jenkins was an outstanding member of Villanova's track teams between 1955 and 1957....	47.5	47.63
4	George Kerr George Kerr (athlete) George Ezekiel Kerr was a Jamaican athlete who competed in the 400 metres and 800 metres twice making the Olympic Games final in the latter event....	47.7	47.79
5	Mike Wheeler	47.9	48.05
6	Jean-Paul Martin du Gard	48.2	48.37

Semifinals

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

Heat one

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Ardalion Ignatyev Ardalion Ignatyev Ardalion Vasilyevich Ignatyev was a Soviet athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was born in the village of Novoye Toyderyakovo, Yalchiksky District, Chuvash ASSR....	46.8	46.93
2	Malcolm Spence	47.2	47.27
3	Lou Jones	47.3	47.32
4	Mel Spence	47.5	47.58
5	Peter Higgins	47.7	47.65
6	Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Torres , nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Major League Baseball catcher...	47.7	47.86

Heat two

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
1	Charlie Jenkins Charlie Jenkins Charles Lamont Jenkins is a former American athlete, winner of two gold medals at the 1956 Summer Olympics.Born in New York, Charles Jenkins was an outstanding member of Villanova's track teams between 1955 and 1957....	46.1	46.19
2	Voitto Hellstén Voitto Hellstén Voitto Valdemar Hellsten was a Finnish athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres.He competed for Finland in three Summer Olympics, in 1952, 1956 and 1960...	46.1	46.20
3	Karl-Friedrich Haas Karl-Friedrich Haas Karl-Friedrich Haas was a West German athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres.He competed for West Germany in the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland where he won the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metre relay with his team mates Hans Geister, Günther Steines and Heinz Ulzheimer.Four...	46.2	46.29
4	Kevan Gosper Kevan Gosper Kevan Gosper is a former Australian athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was formerly a Vice President of the International Olympic Committee.-1956 Summer Olympics:...	46.2	46.45
5	John Salisbury	47.3	47.47
6	Mal Spence	47.4	47.52

Final

Rank	Name	Time (hand)	Time (auto)
	Charlie Jenkins Charlie Jenkins Charles Lamont Jenkins is a former American athlete, winner of two gold medals at the 1956 Summer Olympics.Born in New York, Charles Jenkins was an outstanding member of Villanova's track teams between 1955 and 1957....	46.7	46.86
	Karl-Friedrich Haas Karl-Friedrich Haas Karl-Friedrich Haas was a West German athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres.He competed for West Germany in the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland where he won the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metre relay with his team mates Hans Geister, Günther Steines and Heinz Ulzheimer.Four...	47.8	47.12
	Voitto Hellstén Voitto Hellstén Voitto Valdemar Hellsten was a Finnish athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres.He competed for Finland in three Summer Olympics, in 1952, 1956 and 1960...	47.0	47.15
	Ardalion Ignatyev Ardalion Ignatyev Ardalion Vasilyevich Ignatyev was a Soviet athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was born in the village of Novoye Toyderyakovo, Yalchiksky District, Chuvash ASSR....	47.0	47.15
5	Lou Jones	48.1	48.35
6	Malcolm Spence	48.3	48.40

Reference

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