Soviet Union at the 1956 Winter Olympics

The Soviet Union (USSR) joined the Winter Olympic Games for the first time at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. This was an important moment as it was their first time in winter sports.

The Soviet athletes competed in six of the eight sports, but they did not enter bobsleigh or ice figure skating. The team had 53 athletes from 11 cities across 4 union republics. By the end of the games, they had won 16 medals—7 gold, 3 silver, and 6 bronze—finishing first in the medal count. Austria, the second-place team, won 11 medals.

A special moment happened when Pavel Kolchin became the first Soviet athlete to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. Later that day, Lyubov Kozyreva won the first gold medal for the Soviet Union, and soon after, Yevgeny Grishin won another gold. It was a proud time for the Soviet team and their supporters.

Medalists

The Soviet Union joined the Winter Olympic Games for the first time in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. They competed in six sports but did not take part in bobsleigh or ice figure skating. The team had 53 athletes from 11 cities across 4 union republics.

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
Gold	Nikolay Anikin, Pavel Kolchin Vladimir Kuzin, Fyodor Terentyev	Cross-country	Men's relay 4 x 10 km
Gold	Lyubov Kozyreva	Cross-country	Women's 10 km
Gold	Yevgeny Babich, Vsevolod Bobrov Alexei Guryshev, Nikolay Khlystov Yuri Krylov, Alfred Kuchevsky Valentin Kuzin, Grigory Mkrtychan Viktor Nikiforov, Yuri Pantyukhov Nikolai Puchkov, Viktor Shuvalov Genrikh Sidorenkov, Nikolai Sologubov Ivan Tregubov, Dmitry Ukolov Aleksandr Uvarov	Ice hockey	Men's team
Gold	Yevgeny Grishin	Speed skating	Men's 500 m
Gold	Yevgeny Grishin	Speed skating	Men's 1500 m
Gold	Yuri Mikhaylov	Speed skating	Men's 1500 m
Gold	Boris Shilkov	Speed skating	Men's 5000 m
Silver	Radya Yeroshina	Cross-country	Women's 10 km
Silver	Alevtina Kolchina, Lyubov Kozyreva Radya Yeroshina	Cross-country	Women's relay 3 x 5 km
Silver	Rafayel Grach	Speed skating	Men's 500 m
Bronze	Yevgeniya Sidorova	Alpine skiing	Women's slalom
Bronze	Pavel Kolchin	Cross-country	Men's 15 km
Bronze	Pavel Kolchin	Cross-country	Men's 30 km
Bronze	Fyodor Terentyev	Cross-country	Men's 50 km
Bronze	Oleg Goncharenko	Speed skating	Men's 5000 m
Bronze	Oleg Goncharenko	Speed skating	Men's 10000 m

Alpine skiing

Main article: Alpine skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Men

Women

Athlete	Event	Final
Athlete	Event	Run 1	Run 2	Total	Rank
Gennady Chertishchev	Giant slalom			3:48.9	55
Gennady Chertishchev	Downhill			DSQ	DNF
Aleksandr Filatov	Giant slalom			3:27.8	33
	Slalom	1:33.5	2:36.0	4:09.5	30
	Downhill			3:16.6	16
Vyacheslav Melnikov	Slalom	TNK	DSQ	did not finish
Yury Sharkov	Giant slalom			3:41.8	46
Yury Sharkov	Slalom	DSQ		did not finish
Sergey Shustov	Downhill			DSQ	DNF
Viktor Talyanov	Giant slalom			3:45.2	52
	Slalom	1:49.2	2:06.9	3:56.1	24
	Downhill			3:26.5	21

Athlete	Event	Final
Athlete	Event	Run 1	Total	Rank
Aleksandra Artyomenko	Giant slalom			4:04.5	44
	Slalom	DSQ	did not finish
	Downhill			1:51.1	14
Yevgeniya Sidorova	Giant slalom			2:31.3	40
	Slalom	56.9	1:56.7
	Downhill			1:59.8	37

Cross-country skiing

Main article: Cross-country skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Men

Women

Athlete	Event	Final
Athlete	Event	Total	Rank
Nikolay Anikin	15 km	50:58	7
Viktor Baranov	50 km	3:03:55	7
Minnevali Galiyev	15 km	52:49	18
Pavel Kolchin	15 km	50:17
	30 km	1:45:45
	50 km	2:58:00	6
Vladimir Kuzin	15 km	51:36	10
Vladimir Kuzin	30 km	1:46:09	5
Anatoly Shelyukhin	30 km	1:45:46	4
Anatoly Shelyukhin	50 km	2:56:40	5
Fyodor Terentyev	30 km	1:46:43	6
Fyodor Terentyev	50 km	2:53:32
Fyodor Terentyev Pavel Kolchin Nikolay Anikin Vladimir Kuzin	Relay 4 x 10 km	2:15:30

Athlete	Event	Final
Athlete	Event	Total	Rank
Anna Kaaleste	10 km	40:29	9
Alevtina Kolchina	10 km	38:46	4
Lyubov Kozyreva	10 km	38:11
Radya Yeroshina	10 km	38:16
Lyubov Kozyreva Alevtina Kolchina Radya Yeroshina	Relay 3 x 5 km	1:09:28

Ice hockey

Main article: Ice hockey at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Men

Head coach: [Arkady Chernyshev]

Preliminary round

Final round

Pos.	Player
GK	Nikolai Puchkov
GK	Grigory Mkrtychan
D	Nikolai Sologubov
D	Dmitry Ukolov
D	Ivan Tregubov
D	Genrikh Sidorenkov
D	Alfred Kuchevsky
F	Yevgeny Babich
F	Viktor Shuvalov
F	Vsevolod Bobrov
F	Yuri Krylov
F	Aleksandr Uvarov
F	Valentin Kuzin
F	Yuri Pantyukhov
F	Alexei Guryshev
F	Nikolay Khlystov
F	Viktor Nikiforov

Team	GP	W	L	GF	GA	PTS
Soviet Union	2	2	0	15	4	4
Sweden	2	1	1	7	10	2
Switzerland	2	0	2	8	16	0

Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Soviet Union	5	5	0	0	25	5	10
United States	5	4	1	0	26	12	8
Canada	5	3	2	0	23	11	6
Sweden	5	1	3	1	10	17	3
Czechoslovakia	5	1	4	0	20	30	2
Germany	5	0	4	1	6	35	1

Nordic combined

Main article: Nordic combined at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Athlete	Event	Ski jumping		Cross-country			Total
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Time	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Leonid Fyodorov	Individual 15 km	201.0	12	59:17	228.500	12	429.500	10
Nikolay Gusakov	Individual 15 km	200.0	14	58:17	232.300	8	432.300	7
Uno Kajak	Individual 15 km	186.5	27	1:00:48	222.600	18	409.100	26
Yury Moshkin	Individual 15 km	217.5	1	1:04:18	209.100	31	426.600	13

Ski jumping

Main article: Ski jumping at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Athlete	Event	First round		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Total	Rank
Yury Moshkin	Normal hill	91.5	35	92.5	184.0	34
Nikolay Shamov	Normal hill	103.0	14	98.0	201.0	16
Koba Zakadze	Normal hill	107.0	8	78.0	185.0	30

Speed skating

Main article: Speed skating at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Men

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Oleg Goncharenko	5000 m	7:57.5
Oleg Goncharenko	10000 m	16:42.3
Rafayel Grach	500 m	40.8
Yevgeny Grishin	500 m	40.2 WR
Yevgeny Grishin	1500 m	2:08.6 WR
Robert Merkulov	1500 m	2:10.3	5
Yuri Mikhaylov	500 m	did not finish
Yuri Mikhaylov	1500 m	2:08.6 WR
Dmitry Sakunenko	5000 m	8:10.5	16
Yuri Sergeev	500 m	41.1	4
Boris Shilkov	1500 m	2:11.9	8
Boris Shilkov	5000 m	7:48.7 OR
Vladimir Shilykovsky	10000 m	17:17.6	16
Boris Tsybin	10000 m	17:03.4	9
Boris Yakimov	5000 m	8:12.6	19
Boris Yakimov	10000 m	16:59.7	7

Medals by republic

In this table, for team events, we count how many team members won medals. This is because athletes from different republics were on the same team.


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russian SFSR	26	5	4	35
2	Ukrainian SSR	0	0	2	2
Totals (2 entries)		26	5	6	37