United Team of Germany at the 1956 Summer Olympics |
|||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"Olympic" Flag of Germany,
defaced with white Olympic rings, used 1960, 1964 (and 1968 by separated teams) |
|||||||||
IOC code | EUA | ||||||||
NOC | United Team of Germany | ||||||||
in Melbourne/ | |||||||||
Competitors | 158 in 15 sports | ||||||||
Flag bearer |
Karl-Friedrich Haas (Melbourne) Fritz Thiedemann (Stockholm) |
||||||||
Medals Ranked 7th |
|
||||||||
Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
Other related appearances | |||||||||
Germany (1896–1936, 1992–) East Germany (1968–1988) West Germany (1968–1988) |
Germany was represented at the 1956 Summer Olympics by a United Team of Germany of athletes from the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) (West Germany) and, for the first time at Summer Games, also from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (East Germany) which had not joined in 1952. Also, the Saarland athletes who had to enter as a separate team in 1952 could now join in even though the accession of their state was not yet in effect. Thus, this was the only Olympic team ever to comprise athletes from three German states.
Most of the Games were held in Melbourne, Australia, but due to Australian quarantine regulations the equestrian events were held five months earlier in , Sweden. 158 competitors, 134 men and 24 women, took part in 95 events in 15 sports.
The greatest German heroes of the Games were the miracle horse Halla, carrying injured rider Hans Günter Winkler to two Gold medals, and one more in 1960 for an all-time record.
Heinz Fütterer, who had tied the 100m world record and set some European records, had been a favorite for medals, but was injured before the games in an event held in the GDR.
Compared to 1952, where no Gold had been won, the Germans improved significantly, but still won more than twice as many Silver than Gold, being ranked joint 4th in Total medals.
Men's 110m Hurdles
Men's Marathon
One fencer represented Germany in 1956.
Two shooters represented Germany in 1956.