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1956 Olympic Games Melbourne, Australia - Men's 400 m Hurdles

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Details: Parent Category: Olympic Games (Athletics); Category: 1956 Olympic Games Melbourne, Australia - (Athletics); Last Updated: 09 June 2016; Hits: 705

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Host City: Melbourne, Australia

Format: Top three in each heat advanced to the final.

Date Started: November 23, 1956

Format: Top two in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.

Date Finished: November 24, 1956

(Competitors: 28; Countries: 18; Finalists: 6)

Venue(s): Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Victoria

Overview by IAAF

Before 1956 Southern had two races at one-lap hurdling under his belt, two more than Davis. In the US Trials Davis ran 49.5, with Southern just behind at 49.7. The US third-string – Culbreath – was fastest in the heats with 50.9 (51.07), and six others ran under 52 seconds. Southern and Davis were drawn in the same semi-final, and Southern’s pattern was 15 strides between hurdles rather than his usual 13 (to hurdle seven). It worked well, as he looked very easy in running the third fastest time ever of 50.1 (50.26). Davis struggled, and was only fourth at the eighth hurdle. He kicked hard and finished in a good 50.7 (50.78). Culbreath was a convincing winner of the other semi-final with 50.9 (50.97). Southern led in the final, passing the fifth hurdle in 22.7 with Davis two yards behind. Davis made a big effort round the curve, and was a metre up on Southern at the eighth hurdle. He built on this lead and was more than 2m up at the last hurdle, with Potgieter 3m behind just ahead of Culbreath. The South African hit the last barrier and fell, and the USA had another clean sweep. Davis’s time was equal third-fastest ever on hand timing.

Summary by Sports-reference.com

Coming in to 1956, the top American was Josh Culbreath, AAU Champion in 1953-55 and Pan-American Champion in 1955. The world record holder at the beginning of the year was Soviet Yury Lituyev with 50.4 set in 1953. Lituyev had been second at the European Championships in 1950 and 1954 and was the top European in 1956. But two young Americans took up the intermediate hurdles in 1956. Glenn Davis was a top 200/400 runner at Ohio State and won the US Olympic Trials in a world record 49.5, narrowly defeating Eddie Southern, still only a junior, who ran 49.7. In Melbourne again established his superiority, winning the final by 7/10ths over Southern, with Culbreath completing a US medal sweep, Lituyev trailing in fourth. South Africa’s Gert Potgieter had been in the medal hunt until he fell on the last barrier, finishing last.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Glenn Davis (USA)	49.5	Los Angeles, United States	June 29, 1956
Olympic record	Charles Moore (USA)	50.8	Helsinki, Finland	July 21, 1952

			Results

*400 m Hurdles*	Men		Final	24 November

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	50,29		Glenn Davis	United States	USA	22	(=)OR	50.1 h
2	50,94		Eddie Southern	United States	USA	18		50.8 h
3	51,74		Josh Culbreath	United States	USA	24		51.6 h
4	51,91		Yury Lituyev	Soviet Union	URS	31		51.7 h
5	51,93		David Lean	Australia	AUS	21		51.8 h
6	56.0		Gert Potgieter	South Africa	RSA	19
*400 m Hurdles*	Men		Semi-Finals Heat One	23 November

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	50,26	Q	Eddie Southern	United States	USA	18	OR	50.1 h
2	50,78	Q	Glenn Davis	United States	USA	22		50.7 h
3	51,30	Q	Gert Potgieter	South Africa	RSA	19		51.3 h
4	51,66		Guy Cury	France	FRA	26		51.5 h
5	51,79		Anatoly Yulin	Soviet Union	URS	27		51.7 h
6	52,72		Ross Parker	Australia	AUS	21		52.6 h
*400 m Hurdles*	Men		Semi-Finals Heat Two	23 November

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	50,97	Q	Josh Culbreath	United States	USA	24		50.9 h
2	51,45	Q	David Lean	Australia	AUS	21		51.4 h
3	51,78	Q	Yury Lituyev	Soviet Union	URS	31		51.8 h
4	52,06		Ilie Savel	Romania	ROU	29		52.0 h
5	52,95		Harry Kane	Great Britain	GBR	23		52.7 h
6	53,93		Ioannis Kambadelis	Greece	GRE	29		53.8 h
*400 m Hurdles*	Men		Round One Heat One	23 November

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	51,33	Q	Glenn Davis	United States	USA	22		51.3 h
2	51,55	Q	David Lean	Australia	AUS	21		51.4 h
3	53,22		Keiji Ogushi	Japan	JPN	22		53.2 h
4	54,08		Ovidio de Jesús	Puerto Rico	PUR	23		54.0 h
5	54,66		Pablo Somblingo	Philippines	PHI			54.5 h
*400 m Hurdles*	Men		Round One Heat Two	23 November

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	51,41	Q	Eddie Southern	United States	USA	18		51.3 h
2	51,85	Q	Harry Kane	Great Britain	GBR	23		51.8 h
3	52,85		Geoff Goodacre	Australia	AUS	29		52.5 h
4	55,36		Kalim Khawaja Ghani	Pakistan	PAK			55.1 h
5	55,36		Jagdev Singh	India	IND			55.2 h
*400 m Hurdles*	Men		Round One Heat Three	23 November

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	51,06	Q	Josh Culbreath	United States	USA	24		50.9 h
2	51,76	Q	Guy Cury	France	FRA	26		51.6 h
3	52,14		Jaime Aparicio	Colombia	COL	27		52.0 h
4	52,88		Tom Farrell	Great Britain	GBR	24		52.7 h
5	53,18		Muhammad Yaqub	Pakistan	PAK	30		53.1 h
6	54,84		Tsai Cheng-Fu	Chinese Taipei	TPE			54.6 h
*400 m Hurdles*	Men		Round One Heat Four	23 November

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	53,51	Q	Ross Parker	Australia	AUS	21		53.5 h
2	53,66	Q	Ioannis Kambadelis	Greece	GRE	29		53.7 h
3	54,38		Amadeo Francis	Puerto Rico	PUR	25		54.3 h
*400 m Hurdles*	Men		Round One Heat Five	23 November

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	51,69	Q	Yury Lituyev	Soviet Union	URS	31		51.6 h
2	52,05	Q	Gert Potgieter	South Africa	RSA	19		52.0 h
3	52,19		Ossi Mildh	Finland	FIN	26		52.1 h
4	53,3		Alexandre Yankoff	France	FRA	25		53.1 h
5	54,24		Marcel Lambrechts	Belgium	BEL	25		54.0 h
*400 m Hurdles*	Men		Round One Heat Six	23 November

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	52,22	Q	Anatoly Yulin	Soviet Union	URS	27		52.1 h
2	52,31	Q	Ilie Savel	Romania	ROU	29		52.2 h
3	52,62		Bob Shaw	Great Britain	GBR	23		52.5 h
4	53,99		Ulisses dos Santos	Brazil	BRA	27		53.8 h