Team, Men
| Date | 23 – 28 November 1956 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Oaklands Hunt Club, Broadmeadows, Victoria / Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Victoria / Merrett Rifle Range, Williamstown, Victoria / Olympic Park Swimming and Diving Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria | |
| Participants | 36 from 12 countries | |
| Format | Scoring by point tables. Team scores totalled from adjusted individual scores. Scores adjusted in the fencing competition. Three-man scores with all scores counting. | |
Hungary had won the 1952 Olympic team title and the 1954 and 1955 World Championships. But the inequities of modern pentathlon showed in the first phase, the steeplechase riding. Horses are assigned by random draw, and Hungary got the raw deal. They were effectively out of the medal chase after the riding section, which also saw the elimination of Sweden when Björn Thofelt did not finish the steeplechase. The United States took a huge riding lead, as George Lambert and Jack Daniels finished first and second individually. The US led after the first four phases, with the Soviet Union moving into second after the fencing, and staying there thru the fourth phase, the freestyle swimming. But in the cross-country run, the Soviets had the best performance and pulled ahead to win the gold medal. The US placed only fifth as a team in the running, but held on for the silver medal. Finland won the bronze led by Olavi Mannonen and Väinö Korhonen, who won the silver and bronze medals individually, respectively. Hungary pulled back strongly after their riding problems, eventually placing fourth.
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | TP | Raw Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soviet Union |  URS | 13,690.5 | – | Gold | ||
| Igor Novikov | 4,651.5 | 4,714.5 | |||||
| Aleksandr Tarasov | 4,577.0 | 4,479.0 | |||||
| Ivan Deryugin | 4,462.0 | 4,452.0 | |||||
| 2 | United States |  USA | 13,482.0 | – | Silver | ||
| George Lambert | 4,840.0 | 4,693.0 | |||||
| Bill Andre | 4,492.5 | 4,629.5 | |||||
| Jack Daniels | 4,149.5 | 4,078.5 | |||||
| 3 | Finland |  FIN | 13,185.5 | – | Bronze | ||
| Ole Mannonen | 4,711.5 | 4,774.5 | |||||
| Wäinö Korhonen | 4,601.0 | 4,750.0 | |||||
| Berndt Katter | 3,873.0 | 4,024.0 | |||||
| 4 | Hungary |  HUN | 12,554.5 | – | |||
| Gábor Benedek | 4,637.0 | 4,650.0 | |||||
| János Bódy | 4,238.5 | 4,375.5 | |||||
| Antal Moldrich | 3,679.0 | 3,667.0 | |||||
| 5 | Mexico |  MEX | 10,981.0 | – | |||
| José Pérez | 4,079.5 | 4,093.5 | |||||
| Antonio Almada | 3,726.0 | 3,616.0 | |||||
| David Romero | 3,175.5 | 3,227.5 | |||||
| 6 | Romania |  ROU | 10,613.0 | – | |||
| Cornel Vena | 4,024.5 | 4,073.5 | |||||
| Dumitru Țintea | 3,410.5 | 3,697.5 | |||||
| Victor Teodorescu | 3,178.0 | 3,167.0 | |||||
| 7 | Great Britain |  GBR | 9,226.0 | – | |||
| Don Cobley | 3,382.0 | 3,422.0 | |||||
| Thomas Hudson | 3,134.0 | 3,260.0 | |||||
| George Norman | 2,710.0 | 2,749.0 | |||||
| 8 | Australia |  AUS | 8,825.0 | – | |||
| Neville Sayers | 3,689.0 | 3,717.0 | |||||
| Sven Coomer | 3,063.0 | 3,103.0 | |||||
| Terry Nicoll | 2,073.0 | 2,150.0 | |||||
| Brazil |  BRA | – | – | ||||
| Sálvio Lemos | – | – | |||||
| Nilo da Silva | – | – | |||||
| Wenceslau Malta | – | – | |||||
| Chile |  CHI | – | – | ||||
| Héctor Carmona | – | – | |||||
| Gerardo Cortés Rencoret | – | – | |||||
| Nilo Floody | – | – | |||||
| South Africa |  RSA | – | – | ||||
| Marthinus du Plessis | – | – | |||||
| Harry Schmidt | – | – | |||||
| Okkie van Greunen | – | – | |||||
| Sweden |  SWE | – | – | ||||
| Lars Hall | – | – | |||||
| Bertil Haase | – | – | |||||
| Björn Thofelt | – | – |