Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1956 Olympic Games took place between 4 and 6 December.^[1] This swimming event used backstroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Gold	David Theile  Australia
Silver	John Monckton  Australia
Bronze	Frank McKinney  United States

Results

Heats

Four heats were held; the swimmers with the sixteen fastest times advanced to the Semifinals. The athletes that advanced are highlighted.

Heat One

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Robert Christophe	France	1:04.2
2	John Hayres	Australia	1:04.4
3	László Magyar	Hungary	1:06.1
4	Albert Wiggins	United States	1:06.2
5	Haydn Rigby	Great Britain	1:06.9
6	Ahmed Nazir	Pakistan	1:10.7

Heat Two

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Graham Sykes	Great Britain	1:06.2
2	Kazuo Tomita	Japan	1:06.4
3	Gilbert Bozon	France	1:06.4
4	Ekkehard Miersch	Germany	1:07.5
5	Lincoln Hurring	New Zealand	1:07.5
6	Pedro Cayco	Philippines	1:11.6

Heat Three

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	David Theile	Australia	1:04.3
2	Yoshi Oyakawa	United States	1:05.2
3	Keiji Hase	Japan	1:06.3
4	John Brockway	Great Britain	1:07.7
5	João Gonçalves Filho	Brazil	1:07.9
6	Cheung Kin Man	Hong Kong	1:14.0

Heat Four

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	John Monckton	Australia	1:03.4
2	Frank McKinney	United States	1:06.0
3	Dieter Pfeifer	Germany	1:06.7
4	Ladislav Bak	Czechoslovakia	1:06.9
5	Gérard Coignot	France	1:07.5
6	Hideo Ninomiya	Japan	1:09.2
7	Lim Heng Chek	Malaya	1:12.4

Semifinals

Two heats were held; the swimmers with the eight fastest times advanced to the Finals. The swimmers that advanced are highlighted.

Semifinal One

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	John Monckton	Australia	1:04.1
2	David Theile	Australia	1:04.8
3	Yoshi Oyakawa	United States	1:05.0
4	Graham Sykes	Great Britain	1:06.5
5	Kazuo Tomita	Japan	1:06.5
6	Dieter Pfeifer	Germany	1:07.6
7	László Magyar	Hungary	1:07.6
8	Ladislav Bak	Czechoslovakia	1:07.9

Semifinal Two

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Robert Christophe	France	1:04.6
2	John Hayres	Australia	1:05.0
3	Frank McKinney	United States	1:05.3
4	Albert Wiggins	United States	1:06.4
5	Gilbert Bozon	France	1:06.5
6	Keiji Hase	Japan	1:06.5
7	Ekkehard Miersch	Germany	1:06.6
8	Haydn Rigby	Great Britain	1:07.6

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	David Theile	Australia	1:02.2	WR
	John Monckton	Australia	1:03.2
	Frank McKinney	United States	1:04.5
4	Robert Christophe	France	1:04.9
5	John Hayres	Australia	1:05.0
6	Graham Sykes	Great Britain	1:05.6
7	Albert Wiggins	United States	1:05.8
8	Yoshi Oyakawa	United States	1:06.9

Key: WR = World record