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| Event type

Bantamweight (≤56 kilograms), Men

Date23 November 1956 — 13:00
StatusOlympic
LocationRoyal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants16 from 13 countries
FormatTotal of best lifts in military press, snatch, and clean & jerk determined placement. Ties broken by lightest bodyweight.

Since the 1952 Olympics, the World Championships had been won by three different men, with the 1955 title going to Soviet Vladimir Stogov, followed by the American Chuck Vinci, and they entered Melbourne as the favorites in this class. Stogov was the world record holder with a total of 335.0 kg. The competition was extremely close as both Stogov and Vinci lifted 105.0 kg in both the press and snatch, entering the clean & jerk tied at 210.0 kg. Vinci took the gold medal when he outlifted Stogov in the clean & jerk, 132.5 to 127.5 kg, giving Vinci a world record total of 342.5 kg. Stogov also bettered the previous world record. Vinci came very close to not even starting as he had difficulty making weight, and only did so at the last minute, aided by a haircut just before the weigh-in. The bronze medal went to Iran’s Mahmoud Namdjou, the silver medalist from Helsinki, who had also been third behind Stogov and Vinci at the 1955 Worlds.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCK
1Chuck VinciUSA342.5WRGold
2Vladimir StogovURS337.5Silver
3Mahmoud NamdjouIRI332.5Bronze
4Yu In-HoKOR320.0
5Kim Hae-NamKOR307.5
6Yoshio NanbuJPN305.0
7Reg GaffleyRSA305.0
8Yukio FuruyamaJPN302.5
9Song Re-NadoTPE287.5
10Gaston GaffneyRSA285.0
11Chu Kee MYA275.0
12Valli Asari MookanIND272.5
=13Michael SwainGUY272.5
=13Charlie HendersonAUS272.5
DNFPedro LanderoPHI
ACHabib RahmanPAK177.5