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]
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
| 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
Men's Marathon
- Emil Zátopek — 2:29:34 (→ 6th place)
- Pavel Kantorek — 2:52:05 (→ 27th place)
Boxing
Canoeing
Cycling
- Ladislav Fouček — 6th place
- Ladislav Fouček — 1:11.4 (→
Silver Medal)
- Ladislav Fouček
Václav Machek — Silver Medal
- František Jursa — did not finish (→ no ranking)
- Jaroslav Cihlár — did not finish (→ no ranking)
- Jirí Nouza — did not finish (→ no ranking)
- Jirí Opavský — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Gymnastics
Modern pentathlon
One male pentathlete represented Czechoslovakia in 1956.
- Individual
Rowing
Czechoslovakia had eleven male rowers participate in two out of seven rowing events in 1956.[2]
- Josef Věntus
- Eduard Antoch
- Ctibor Reiskup
- Jan Švéda
- Josef Švec
- Zdeněk Žára
- Jan Jindra
- Stanislav Lusk
- Miroslav Koranda (cox)
Shooting
Four shooters represented Czechoslovakia in 1956.
Swimming
Weightlifting
References
- ^ "Czechoslovakia at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2012-07-21.
- ^ 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.