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Men's marathon 45km
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Men's marathon 45km; at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
	Alain Mimoun, winner
Venue	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Dates	December 1
Competitors	46 from 23 nations
Winning time	2:25:00
Medalists
	← 1952 1960 →

The men's marathon at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held on Saturday December 1, 1956. There were 46 participants from 23 nations, with 13 runners not completing the race.^[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 1 minute 32 seconds by Alain Mimoun of France, the nation's first Olympic marathon victory since 1928 and third overall. Yugoslavia took its first Olympic marathon medal with Franjo Mihalić's silver. Finland returned to the podium in the event for the first time since 1932 (the end of a four-Games medal streak for the nation) as Veikko Karvonen took bronze.

Background

This was the 13th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1952 marathon included defending champion Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia and fifth-place finisher Veikko Karvonen of Finland. Zátopek's primary challenger was Alain Mimoun of France, who had won three silver medals in the 5000 metres and 10000 metres track events in 1948 and 1952—all behind Zátopek. Mimoun was making his marathon debut. Zátopek, on the other hand, was still recovering from hernia surgery.^[2]

Burma, Ethiopia, Iran, Kenya, and New Zealand each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons; Germany appeared for the first time as the "United Team of Germany". The United States made its 13th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format and course

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards) was run over an out-and-back course, starting and finishing at the Olympic Stadium.^[2]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1956 Summer Olympics.

World record	Jim Peters (GBR)	2:17:39.4	London, United Kingdom	26 June 1954
Olympic record	Emil Zátopek (TCH)	2:23:03.2	Helsinki, Finland	27 July 1952

No new world or Olympic bests were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date	Time	Round
Saturday, 1 December 1956	15:15	Final

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time
	Alain Mimoun	France	2:25:00
	Franjo Mihalić	Yugoslavia	2:26:32
	Veikko Karvonen	Finland	2:27:47
4	Lee Chang-Hoon	South Korea	2:28:45
5	Yoshiaki Kawashima	Japan	2:29:19
6	Emil Zátopek	Czechoslovakia	2:29:34
7	Ivan Filin	Soviet Union	2:30:37
8	Evert Nyberg	Sweden	2:31:12
9	Thomas Nilsson	Sweden	2:33:33
10	Eino Oksanen	Finland	2:36:10
11	Arnold Vaide	Sweden	2:36:21
12	Choi Chunk-Sik	South Korea	2:36:53
13	Paavo Kotila	Finland	2:38:59
14	Mercer Davies	South Africa	2:39:48
15	Harry Hicks	Great Britain	2:39:55
16	Hideo Hamamura	Japan	2:40:53
17	Albert Richards	New Zealand	2:41:34
18	John Russell	Australia	2:41:44
19	Lothar Beckert	United Team of Germany	2:42:10
20	Nick Costes	United States	2:42:20
21	John J. Kelley	United States	2:43:40
22	Muhamad Havlidar Aslam	Pakistan	2:44:33
23	Adolf Gruber	Austria	2:46:20
24	Aurèle Vandendriessche	Belgium	2:47:18
25	Keith Ollerenshaw	Australia	2:48:12
26	Myitung Naw	Burma	2:49:32
27	Pavel Kantorek	Czechoslovakia	2:52:05
28	Kurt Hartung	United Team of Germany	2:52:14
29	Bashay Feleke	Ethiopia	2:53:37
30	Abdul Rashid	Pakistan	2:57:47
31	Kanuti Sum	Kenya	2:58:42
32	Gebre Birkay	Ethiopia	2:58:49
33	Kurao Hiroshima	Japan	3:04:17
—	Giuseppe Lavelli	Italy	DNF
	Jan Barnard	South Africa	DNF
	Ron Clark	Great Britain	DNF
	Eduardo Fontecilla	Chile	DNF
	Ali Baghbanbashi	Iran	DNF
	Boris Grishayev	Soviet Union	DNF
	Les Perry	Australia	DNF
	Juan Silva	Chile	DNF
	Albert Ivanov	Soviet Union	DNF
	Klaus Porbadnik	United Team of Germany	DNF
	Fred Norris	Great Britain	DNF
	Im Hwa-dong	South Korea	DNF
	Dean Thackwray	United States	DNF
—	Demissie Gamatcho	Ethiopia	DNS
—	Rudy Méndez	Puerto Rico	DNS