Ireland at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Ireland at the
1956 Summer Olympics
IOC codeIRL
NOCOlympic Federation of Ireland
Websiteolympics.ie
in Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors12 in 4 sports
Flag bearerTony Byrne[1]
Medals
Ranked 21st
Gold
1
Silver
1
Bronze
3
Total
5
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
 Great Britain (1896–1920)

Ireland competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden (equestrian events). As a partial support to the Dutch-led boycott, Irish athletes under the Olympic flag instead of the national flag. Until 2012, it was the nation's most successful Olympic performance, with five medals, three bronze, a silver and a gold.[2]

Medalists

Ireland finished in 21st position in the final medal rankings, with one gold medal and five medals overall. It was the first time Ireland would win medals at two different sports, and the five was a record total for an Irish team at the Olympic Games. This record stood until the 2012 London Olympics, where Ireland won six medals.

Medal Name Sport Event
 Gold Ronnie Delaney Athletics Men's 1500 m
 Silver Fred Tiedt Boxing Men's Welterweight
 Bronze John Caldwell Boxing Men's Flyweight
 Bronze Fred Gilroy Boxing Men's Bantamweight
 Bronze Anthony Byrne Boxing Men's Lightweight


Athletics

Athlete Event Heat Semifinal Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Ron Delany Men's 1500m 3:47.4 3 3:41.2
Eamonn Kinsella Men's 110m Hurdles 14.66 4 Did Not Advance
Maeve Kyle Women's 100m 12.3 6
Women's 200m 26.4 5

Boxing

Athlete Event First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
Opposition

Result

Opposition

Result

Opposition

Result

Opposition

Result

Opposition

Result

Rank
John Caldwell Flyweight Bye  Shwe (BIR)

W RSC Round 3

 Batchelor (AUS)

W Points

 Dobrescu (ROU)

L Points

Did Not Advance
Frederick Gilroy Bantamweight Bye  Stepanov (URS)

W KO

 Mario Sitri (ITA)

W Points

 Behrendt (EUA)

L Points

Did Not Advance
Martin Smyth Featherweight  Hämäläinen (FIN)

L Points

Did Not Advance
Anthony Byrne Lightweight Bye  Chovanec (TCH)

W DSQ

 Molina (USA)

W Points

 Kurschat (EUA)

W Points

Did Not Advance
Harry Perry Light Welterweight Bye  Saluden (FRA)

L Points

Did Not Advance
Fred Tiedt Welterweight  Walasek (POL)

W Points

 Lane (USA)

W Points

 Hogarth (AUS)

W Points

 Linca (ROU)

L Points

Patrick Sharkley Heavyweight  Åhsman (SWE)

W KO

Did Not Advance

Wrestling

Men's Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle

References

  1. ^ "Flagbearers for Iceland". Olympedia. OlyMADMen. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  2. ^ Peavoy, Tadhg (29 June 2012). "Ireland at the Olympics". RTÉ. Retrieved 30 August 2019.