1956
Olympic stamp from the 1956 Melbourne Games
The world comes to Melbourne
This first-day cover was produced in 1956 as a souvenir of the Olympic Games held in Melbourne. The stamped and franked envelope is addressed to Paul Fetter and is sealed but empty. It was posted by a family member to the donor’s mother’s father and sister as a keepsake.
The Games of the XVI Olympiad opened in Melbourne on 22 November 1956. It was the first time that the Olympic Games had crossed the equator or left the Western Hemisphere. It was called the ‘Friendly Games’ but became known for the famous ‘blood in the water’ water-polo match.
The Games took place at the height of Cold War tensions. The People’s Republic of China withdrew at the last minute because Taiwan was competing under the name Formosa, and Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon staged a boycott because Britain, France and Israel had occupied the Suez Canal. The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland all declined to come in protest at the USSR’s brutal suppression of the Hungarian Revolution.
In October 1956, a demonstration by students of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics had grown into a protest against the communist government. Russian tanks rolling into Budapest brutally and swiftly put down the incipient liberalising movement, and as many as 3000 Hungarians were killed. The Hungarian Olympic team only heard the full story when they read the Melbourne newspapers. The Hungarian flag was removed from the athletes’ area and the Free Hungary flag was flown.
Matters came to a head in the water-polo semifinal between Hungary and the USSR on 6 December. Within moments of the game starting, a Soviet player had taken a severe blow to the chin, sparking a brawl. Five players were pulled out of the pool. The auditorium was packed with Hungarian émigrés yelling for the Soviets’ blood.
In the last stages of the match the Hungarians were up by 4 to 0. With a minute to go their star player, Ervin Zádor, took a massive smack to the face from Soviet Valentin Prokopov. The blow cut his eye and blood from the wound went into the pool – in front of the television cameras. Hungarian fans rushed the pool and police had to escort the Soviets to safety before a full-scale riot ensued. Hungary finished fourth on the medal tally and then half of their Olympic team, including Zádor, defected to either the USA or Australia.
Despite all the fuss, Melbourne put on a brave face and its best foot forward. Television was significant for the first time. There was sufficient penetration overseas that Australia could show itself off to a massive global audience. Australia came third in the medal tally – our best-ever result. With 325 athletes participating, the overall Australian medal haul was 13 gold, 8 silver and 14 bronze – a total of 35.
Australia’s lasting contribution to the Olympic tradition came that year from a 17-year-old apprentice carpenter, John Ian Wing. Having watched the spectacular opening ceremony, he wrote to the International Olympic Committee to suggest abandoning national colours for the closing ceremony: ‘War, politics and nationalities will be forgotten. What more could anybody want if the world could be made one nation?’ That’s still the goal.