Bahamas at the 1956 Summer Olympics

The Bahamas competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics that took place between 22 November to 8 December in Melbourne, Australia. It was the its second appearance at the Summer Olympics, since its debut at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. The Bahamas delegation consisted of four athletes competing in two sports, and won a lone bronze medal in Sailing, the first ever Summer Olympics medal for Bahamas.

Bahamas at the
1956 Summer Olympics
IOC codeBAH
NOCBahamas Olympic Committee
in Melbourne
Competitors4 (4 men and 0 women) in 2 sports
Medals
Ranked 35th
Gold
0
Silver
0
Bronze
1
Total
1
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)

Background

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The Bahamas Olympic Association was established on 7 May 1952 and was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the same year. British Bahamas made its first Olympic appearance at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. The 1956 Summer Olympics was its second consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.[1]

The 1956 Summer Olympics was held in Melbourne, Australia, between 22 November and 8 December 1956. However, the Equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden as Australian law did not allow the import of horses for the event.[2] Bahamas won a lone bronze medal in Sailing, its first ever medal in the Summer Olympics.[1][3]

Medalists

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Competitors

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The Bahamas delegation consisted of four athletes.[3][4]

Sport Men Women Total
Athletics 101
Sailing 303
Total404

Athletics

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Tom Robinson represented Bahamas in the men's 100 m and men's 200 m events.[3] This was the first ever Olympic participation for Bahamas in the athletics events.[5]

The athletics events were held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne.[6] In the 100 metres event, Robinson finished fourth in the fifth preliminary heat with a time of 10.9 seconds, and failed to advance to the quarterfinals.[7] In the 200 metres event held on 26 November 1956, he came fourth in his preliminary heat with a time of 21.6 seconds, and did not advance further.[8]

Track & road events
Athlete Event Heat Quarterfinal Semifinal Final
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
Tom Robinson Men's 100 m 10.9 4 Did not advance
Men's 200 m 21.6 4

Sailing

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Three athletes represented Bahamas in the Sailing events.[3] Bahamas made its debut in the Sailing events in the Olympics at the Games.[9]

The sailing events were held at the Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne.[10] In sailing events, points were awarded based on placement in each race. The best six scores out of the seven races are counted for final placement.[11]

Kenneth Albury competed in the one person dinghy (Finn) event, which made its debut in the Olympic programme in the 1952 Games. He finished 14th out of the 28 competitors with 3,209 points.[12] Durward Knowles and Sloan Farrington competed in the two person keelboat (Star) event, and won a bronze medal, with 5223 points.[13][14]

Open
Athlete Event Race Net points Final rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Kenneth Albury Finn DNF 15 10 13 7 8 11 3029 14
Durward Knowles
Sloan Farrington
Star 2 2 5 2 1 3 3 5223

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. 1 2 "Bahamas at the Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  2. "1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Bahamas at the 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  4. "Bahamas at the 1956 Summer Olympics". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  5. "Bahamas, Athletics at the Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  6. "Athletics, 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  7. "Men's 100m, 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  8. "Men's 200m, 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  9. "Bahamas, Sailing at the Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  10. "Sailing, 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  11. "Two person keelboat, 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  12. "Men's one person dinghy, 1956 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  13. "Results, sailing". Olympics.com. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  14. "Two person keelboat, 1956 Summer Olympics". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
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