Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles
| Men's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
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| Venue | Melbourne Cricket Ground | ||||||||||||
| Date | November 23–24 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 28 from 18 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 50.1 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Glenn Davis |
 United States
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Eddie Southern |
United States
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Josh Culbreath |
United States
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The Men's 400 metres hurdles competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia took place on November 23–24 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Earlier in the year, Glenn Davis had demolished Yuriy Lituyev's three year old world record, knocking almost a full second off the mark and taking the time under 50 seconds for the first time ever.
During the final, the six lanes were fairly even, with Lituyev pushing the backstretch to gain a slight advantage going in to the final turn. That was swallowed up during the turn as Davis surged, leading Eddie Southern and Gert Potgieter off the turn. Davis expanded his lead over Southern from 2 meters to 5 meters down the home stretch for the win. Over the final barrier, Potgieter caught his trail leg on the hurdle which knocked him off balance. He was able to take two more strides then did a face plant in the middle of the track. On the inside, Josh Culbreath was able to cruise by for bronze, completing the American sweep. Four years later, Davis would lead another American sweep in the event. USA also swept this event in 1904 and 2008.
The men's 400m hurdles competition started with six heats, where the fastest two from each heat qualified to one of the two semifinals groups. The three fastest runners from each semifinals group advanced to the final.
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Heat 4
Heat 5
Heat 6
Group 1
Group 2
...
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