1956 equestrian olympic games

Dressage Individual Medallists Full results. Dressage Team Medallists Full results. Eventing Individual Medallists Full results. Trux von Kamax. Eventing Team Medallists Full results. Wild Venture. Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Games, which for equestrian sport took place in Stockholm rather than Melbourne due to quarantine restrictions in Australia. Hans Gunter Winkler with Halla, individual and team gold in Jumping.

Arrival of horses in Stockholm, still by boat. Frank Weldon on Kilbarry, team gold and individual bronze. Individual jumping silver for Raimondo d'Inzeo on Merano. Top Partner.

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Follow your favourite athletes, horses and events. Visit the fei. Please note that your votes will only be taken into consideration once you have confirmed your email address. Sign in to My FEI. Forgot password? Keep me logged in. Sweden, Great Britain, and Italy all won three medals, but Sweden uniquely won three gold medals.

The equestrian events at the Summer Olympics were held in Stockholm due to the Australian quarantine regulations and included dressage, eventing, and show jumping. All three disciplines had both individual and team competitions. The competitions were held from 11 to 17 June at Stockholm Olympic Stadium. This would be the first appearance for Australia, Cambodia and Venezuela in equestrian events. Although Melbourne was awarded the Olympic Games, Australia had a strict six-month pre-shipment quarantine on horses.

A meeting in by Australian federal authorities ruled that they would not change the quarantine laws for the Olympic horses. Therefore, the equestrian competition would not be able to be held in Australia. Therefore, the equestrian events were not only separated by city or country, but also continent, with the equestrian event being held in June summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the other sports held in November late spring in the Southern Hemisphere. A total of 66 riders from 24 countries contested the difficult Greger Lewnhaupt-designed course, which no one was able to ride clear in the first round.

He finished the first round with 4 faults, after landing heavily after an early takeoff by his mount, resulting in a pulled groin muscle. Knowing if he withdrew from the final round would result in his country's elimination, Winkler rode in the second round, and managed to complete it faultless.

Winkler would go on to be one of the most medal-winning riders in Olympic history, with 7 medals to his name. Of those 11 women, 2 won an individual medal including last year's silver medalist Lis Hartel and an additional one placed in the top There was controversy in the judging, since judges tended to have their own opinions of what was considered correct training and riding, and at the time there was no common ideal for dressage.

Following this controversy, the IOC threatened to remove dressage from the Olympics. The FEI and IOC came to a compromise, resulting in only individual competitors being allowed at the Games, with up to 2 riders per country.

Incidents at the 22nd obstacle of the endurance course marred the eventing competition. The fence was a trakehner ditch, 2. It caused 28 refusals, 12 falls, and one horse fatality, [Iller], who was put down after being injured from a fall at obstacle Dressage opened the three-day event, as always, with the lead taken by German [Otto Rothe].

The defending gold medalist, [Hans von Blixen-Finecke, Jr. However, the competition was close and if anyone of those three faltered in the jumping, the gold medal could change hands. There were 19 nations entered but only eight had three riders finish the individual event, to allow their team to complete the competition. Sweden was the defending champion, had the individual champion in [Petrus Kastenman], and the individual champion, [Hans von Blixen-Finecke, Jr.

Great Britain won the gold medal in this event for the first time, led by the individual bronze medalist [Frank Weldon]. Britain took the lead after the dressage phase, followed by Germany, and then Sweden. In the endurance phase, Britain was again the best team, with Germany second, and Canada third, as those three nations were ranked in that order going into the jumping.

Germany tied Argentina in the jumping phase but it was not enough to overcome Great Britain, who was fifth in jumping, as Germany won silver, as they had done in , with Canada taking bronze, their first ever Olympic medal in equestrianism.

Saint Cyr and Hartel repeated their finish in Stockholm, although there were some complaints on nationalism by the judges, which is not uncommon in dressage. The bronze medal went to German [Liselott Linsenhoff] as two women won medals in the event for the first time. Linsenhoff would compete at the Olympics again in and won the dressage gold medal at the Olympics.

Judging controversies affected the dressage competition as both the Swedish and German judges ranked their riders After long negotiations it was agreed that there would be no team competition in Rome in , only two individual riders per country would be allowed, and three judges had to be from non-participating countries. Saint Cyr won four gold medals in dressage in individual and team both years. He competed at the Olympics from Hartel had to be helped on and off her horse. The rules were changed in and the competition was open not only to non-commissioned soliders, but also to civilians and women.

It mattered little as Sweden won the gold medal, with the exact same team. In at Stockholm, Persson, Saint Cyr, and Boltenstern returned and defended their gold medal in team dressage. Had they not been disqualified in , this would have been the only circumstance in Olympic of the exact same team, with more than two members, winning the same event three consecutive times. Germany won the silver medal in team dressage but did not closely challenge Sweden.

Switzerland won the bronze medal. Team dressage was first placed on the Olympic Program in At Roma in the event would not be held, but it would return in and remain on the Olympic Program through , and likely far longer.

Total score for both rounds determined placement. For the first time women were allowed to compete in Olympic show jumping. The competition was held over two rounds, with the total number of faults for both rounds determining placement.

Winkler led after the first round with only 4. This was the second Olympics not to be held entirely in one country, the first being the Summer Olympics. The Games were the first to be staged in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as the first to be held outside Europe and North America.

Many members of the IOC were sceptical about Melbourne as an appropriate site. Its location in the Southern Hemisphere was a major concern, since the reversal of seasons would mean the Games were held during the northern winter. This was thought likely to inconvenience athletes from the Northern Hemisphere who were accustomed to resting during their winter. Melbourne was selected, in , to host the Olympics by a one-vote margin. The first sign of trouble was the revelation that Australian equine quarantine would prevent the country from hosting the equestrian events.

Stockholm was selected as the alternative site, so equestrian competition began on 10 June, five and a half months before the rest of the Olympic games were to open, half the world away. The problems of the Melbourne Games were compounded by bickering over financing among Australian politicians.

Faced with a housing shortage, the Premier of Victoria refused to allocate money for the Olympic Village eventually sited in Heidelberg West , and the country's Prime Minister barred the use of federal funds.

At one point, IOC President Avery Brundage suggested that Rome, which was to host the Games, was so far ahead of Melbourne in preparations that it might be ready as a replacement site in As late as April , Brundage was still doubtful about Melbourne, and was not satisfied by an inspection trip to the city. He still held out the possibility that Rome might have to step in. Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon announced that they would not participate in the Olympics in response to the Suez Crisis when Egypt was invaded by Israel, the United Kingdom, and France after Egypt nationalised the Suez canal.

Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union crushed the Hungarian Revolution, and the Soviet presence at the Games led to the withdrawal of the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Less than two weeks before the 22 November opening ceremony, the People's Republic of China chose to boycott the event because the Republic of China had been allowed to compete under the name "Formosa". Although the number of countries participating 67 was almost the same as in 69 , the number of athletes competing dropped sharply, from 4, to 3, This figure does not include the athletes from 29 countries who took part in the Stockholm equestrian competition.

Once underway, the Games unfolded smoothly, and became known as the "Friendly Games". Betty Cuthbert, an year-old from Sydney, won the and metre dashes and ran a great final leg in the 4 x metre relay to overcome Great Britain's lead and claim her third gold medal. The veteran Shirley Strickland repeated in the metre hurdles and also ran on the relay team, running her career total to seven, three golds, a silver, and three bronze medals.