The Men’s decathlon competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 29–30…..and the gold medal was won by USA Milt Campbell with 7937 points….as USA Rafer Johnson captured Silver with 7587 points….as USSR Vasili Kuznetsov garnered the bronze medal with 7465 points.
The decathlon consists of ten track and field events….with a points system that awards higher scores for better results in each of the ten components…..as the athletes all compete in one competition with no elimination rounds.
Prior to the 1956 Melbourne Olympic decathlon competition….the existing World and Olympic records were as follows….USA Rafer Johnson held the World Record at 7985 points, which was set on June 11, 1955 in Kingsburg, USA…..and USA Bob Mathias had held the Olympic Record of 7887 points, which he set in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland.
We here at ImaSportsphile are delighted to have this 1956 Melbourne Olympic Band rendition of the Star Spangled Banner being played in recognition of USA Milt Campbell winning the Olympic decathlon gold medal in our wonderful US National Anthem category in our library herewith….where we feature the most diverse collection of performers and their renditions.
