Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles
The Men's 400 metres hurdles competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia took place on November 23–24 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Earlier in the year, Glenn Davis had demolished Yuriy Lituyev's three year old world record, knocking almost a full second off the mark and taking the time under 50 seconds for the first time ever.
During the final, the six lanes were fairly even, with Lituyev pushing the backstretch to gain a slight advantage going in to the final turn. That was swallowed up during the turn as Davis surged, leading Eddie Southern and Gert Potgieter off the turn. Davis expanded his lead over Southern from 2 meters to 5 meters down the home stretch for the win. Over the final barrier, Potgieter caught his trail leg on the hurdle which knocked him off balance. He was able to take two more strides then did a face plant in the middle of the track. On the inside, Josh Culbreath was able to cruise by for bronze, completing the American sweep. Four years later, Davis would lead another American sweep in the event. USA also swept this event in 1904 and 2008.
Competition format
The men's 400m hurdles competition started with six heats, where the fastest two from each heat qualified to one of the two semifinals groups. The three fastest runners from each semifinals group advanced to the final.Records
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.| World record | 49.5 | Los Angeles, United States | June 29, 1956 | |
| Olympic record | 50.8 | Helsinki, Finland | July 21, 1952 |
Results
Heats
Heat 1| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
| 1 | Glenn Davis | 51.3 | |
| 2 | David Lean | 51.4 | |
| 3 | Keiji Ogushi | 53.2 | |
| 4 | Ovidio de Jesús | 54.0 | |
| 5 | Pablo Somblingo | 54.5 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
| 1 | Eddie Southern | 51.3 | |
| 2 | Harry Kane | 51.8 | |
| 3 | Geoff Goodacre | 52.5 | |
| 4 | Kalim Khawaja Ghani | 55.1 | |
| 5 | Jagdev Singh | 55.2 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
| 1 | Josh Culbreath | 50.9 | |
| 2 | Guy Cury | 51.6 | |
| 3 | Jaime Aparicio | 52.0 | |
| 4 | Tom Farrell | 52.7 | |
| 5 | Muhammad Yaqub | 53.1 | |
| 6 | Tsai Cheng-Fu | 54.6 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
| 1 | Ross Parker | 53.5 | |
| 2 | Ioannis Kambadelis | 53.7 | |
| 3 | Amadeo Francis | 54.3 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
| 1 | Yuriy Lituyev | 51.6 | |
| 2 | Gert Potgieter | 52.0 | |
| 3 | Ossi Mildh | 52.1 | |
| 4 | Alexandre Yankoff | 53.1 | |
| 5 | Marcel Lambrechts | 54.0 |
Heat 6
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
| 1 | Anatoliy Yulin | 52.1 | |
| 2 | Ilie Savel | 52.2 | |
| 3 | Bob Shaw | 52.5 | |
| 4 | Ulisses dos Santos | 53.8 |
Semifinals
Group 1| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
| 1 | Eddie Southern | 50.1 OR | |
| 2 | Glenn Davis | 50.7 | |
| 3 | Gert Potgieter | 51.3 | |
| 4 | Guy Cury | 51.5 | |
| 5 | Anatoliy Yulin | 51.7 | |
| 6 | Ross Parker | 52.6 |
Group 2
| Rank | Name | Country | Result |
| 1 | Josh Culbreath | 50.9 | |
| 2 | David Lean | 51.4 | |
| 3 | Yuriy Lituyev | 51.8 | |
| 4 | Ilie Savel | 52.0 | |
| 5 | Harry Kane | 52.7 | |
| 6 | Ioannis Kambadelis | 53.8 |