Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games:

The defending champion, Bob Richards, was back and was the favorite again. He had been AAU Champion every year since 1948, save for 1953, and was also Pan-American champion in 1951 and 1955. In the qualifying he missed twice at his opening height of 4.00 (13-1½), but got over on his third attempt and eventually qualified easily. There were expected to be two Europeans contending, Ragnar Lundberg (SWE), 1952 bronze medalist and 1950 European Champion, and 1954 European Champion, Eeles Landström of Finland. They would finish fifth and seventh respectively. The best European turned out to be the surprising Georgios Roubanis (GRE), who was the first vaulter to use a fiberglass pole in a major international competition. He used it to good effect, clearing a PR 4.50 (14-9) and winning the bronze medal. Richards won the competition for gold fairly easily. He jumped every height from 4.15 (13-7¼) to 4.53 (14-10¼) and had no misses. He then cleared 4.56 (14-11½) on his third attempt for the gold medal. Still with him at that height was American Bob Gutowski, who had missed four times at earlier heights, and failed to clear 4.56 (14-11½), earning the silver medal. In April 1957, Gutowski vaulted 4.78 (15-8¼) in a collegiate dual meet for a world record, finally breaking the vaunted world record of 4.77 (15-7¾) set by Cornelius “Dutch” Warmerdam in 1942. Richards predicted that Gutowski would become the first 16-foot vaulter but he was killed in a car crash in August 1960.