Hong Kong at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Hong Kong at the
1956 Summer Olympics
IOC codeHKG
NOCSports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong
in Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors2 in 1 sport
Officialsled by Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales[1]
Medals
Gold
0
Silver
0
Bronze
0
Total
0
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)

Hong Kong, a British colony at the time, competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia from 22 November to 8 December 1956. This was Hong Kong's second appearance in an Olympic Games. Two athletes, both men, participated in the swimming event. Hong Kong did not win a medal in Melbourne Olympics. The best result was Cheung Kin Man, who came 22nd in Men's 100 m freestyle.

Background

The National Olympic Committee (NOC) for Hong Kong was founded in 1950 as the Amateur Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong,[2] and was renamed in 1999 to the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (SF&OC).[2][3] It was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1951,[2][4][5] and subsequently, Hong Kong began to be represented separately from Great Britain. Hong Kong made its Olympics Games debut in 1952 at Helsinki.[5][6] 1956 Melbourne Olympics was Hong Kong's 2nd appearance at an Olympic Games.[6] The delegation in 1956 consists of two swimmers, Cheung Kin Man and Wan Shiu Ming.[7] The delegation was led by Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales, president of Amateur Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong at the time.[1][8][9]

Cheung Kin Man was 24 years old at the time of Melbourne Olympics.[10] He had previously represented Hong Kong at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and would represent Hong Kong again at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[10][11][12] In 1964, Tokyo Olympics torch relay, Cheung, would be the torch bearer for the last leg.[13] Wan Shiu Ming was 18 years old at the time of Melbourne Olympics.[14] This was his only appearance in Olympic Games.[14] Wan would later win the Cross Harbour Race six times,[15] winning the nickname of 'Flying Fish of Victoria Peak' (太平山飛魚).[16]

Competitors

The following is the list of the number of competitors in the Games.

Sport Men Women Total
Swimming 2 0 2
Total 2 0 2[7]

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics

On 29 November, both Cheung Kin Man and Wan Shiu Ming participated in the men's 100 m freestyle.[17] Cheung was assigned to heat two. He finished in 59.8 seconds, ranked 4th in the heat and 22nd overall, tied with Hans Köhler from Germany.[17] Wan was assigned to heat five. He finished in 1:00.7, ranked 7th and the last in the heat and 32nd overall, tied with André Laurent from Belgium.[17] Only the fastest 16 advanced to the semi-finals, and hence both Cheung and Wan were eliminated.[17][18] The gold medal was won by Jon Henricks, silver by John Devitt and bronze by Gary Chapman, all from Australia.[17][19] On 1 December, Wan participated in the men's 400 m freestyle.[20] He was assigned to heat one. He finished in 5:02.6, ranked 7th and the last in the heat and 32nd overall. Only the fastest 8 advanced to the final, so Wan was eliminated.[20] The gold medal was won by Murray Rose from Australia, silver by Tsuyoshi Yamanaka from Japan and bronze by George Breen from USA.[21] On 4 December, Cheung participated in men's 100 m backstroke.[22] He was assigned to heat six. He finished in 1:14.0, ranked 6th and the last in the heat and 25nd overall. Only the fastest 16 advanced to the semi-final, so Cheung was eliminated.[22] The gold medal was won by David Theile from Australia, silver by John Monckton and bronze by Frank McKinney from USA.[23]

Athlete Event Heat Semifinal Final Ref.
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Cheung Kin Man Men's 100 m backstroke 1:14.0 6 Did not advance 25 [22][23][24]
Men's 100 m freestyle 59.8 4 Did not advance =22 [17][24]
Wan Shiu Ming Men's 100 m freestyle 1:00.7 7 Did not advance =32 [17]
Men's 400 m freestyle 5:02.6 7 Did not advance 32 [20]

References

  1. ^ a b Pang, Chung (April 2020). 走過香港奧運路 (PDF) (in Chinese) (2nd ed.). Hong Kong: 南華體育會.
  2. ^ a b c "History". Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  3. ^ "Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China". Hong Kong 2006. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  4. ^ "Hong Kong, China". Olympics. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Hong Kong at the Olympic Games". Topend Sports. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Hong Kong". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Olympedia – Hong Kong, China at the 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  8. ^ "Olympedia – Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales". Olympedia. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  9. ^ Palmer, Dan (11 March 2020). "Hong Kong's sporting pioneer dies aged 100". insidethegames.biz.
  10. ^ a b "Olympedia – Cheung Kin Man". Olympedia. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  11. ^ "Kin-Man Cheung". Olympics. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  12. ^ 體路 (25 July 2020). "【當年奧運】68年前的赫爾辛基 香港人的第一次". 體路 Sportsroad. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  13. ^ "Olympic torch arrives in Hong Kong". Hong Kong Memory. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Olympedia – Wan Shiu Ming". Olympedia. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  15. ^ "星期日專題：渡海泳冠軍皇后碼頭溫舊夢". Oriental Daily. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  16. ^ "Wan Shiu Ming". HKOlympians. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g "Olympedia – 100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  18. ^ "香港張乾文温兆明均告落選". Kung Sheung Daily News. 30 November 1956. p. 8.
  19. ^ "Melbourne 1956 - Swimming 100 m freestyle men results". Olympics. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  20. ^ a b c "Olympedia – 400 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  21. ^ "Melbourne 1956 - Swimming 400 m freestyle men results". Olympics. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  22. ^ a b c "Olympedia – 100 metres Backstroke, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  23. ^ a b "Melbourne 1956 - Swimming 100 m backstroke men results". Olympics. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  24. ^ a b "Kin-Man CHEUNG | Results | World Aquatics Official". World Aquatics. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.