1956 Olympics Part 3 of 6

In the shot put, American Bill Nieder opens the action with a toss which is well over the 1952 Olympic mark. Skobla of Czechoslovakia isn't doing badly either. But the man to beat is Lieutenant Perry O'Brien of the Air Force, stepping up now to eye the Olympic and world marks both set by himself. Here in slow motion, Lieutenant O'Brien puts all of his 240 pounds behind the toss. And the 16-pounder lands just short of his world record mark. It measures out at 60 feet, 11 inches. O'Brien is winner and still champ with Bill Nieder second and Skobla of Czechoslovakia third. Now for one of the colorful optional events of Olympic competition, the hop, skip, and jump. Here's Ira Davis of Philadelphia, college meet. But Ira's facing some tough competition, V. Krier of Russia, for instance, shown here in slow motion. Watch the height that Krier gets into each segment of his jump. And grim-faced V. Arnarson of Iceland. In Arnarson's case, the deciding factor seems to be speed. He marks up a near record leap despite a costly hand foul. But it's Ferreira da Silva of Brazil who breaks his own Olympic record by five inches. He takes first place with 53 feet, seven and a half inches. Arnarson is second and Krier of Russia third. In Melbourne's exhibition hall, it's Russia versus the United States in the basketball finals. Prophetically, the U.S. team draws first blood. The Russians play a heads-up brand of ball, but the rangy American five is really up for this game and the Soviet team can't seem to keep pace with them. Teamwork like this under the basket gives the U.S. team an early lead of 21 to 16. The Russian team keeps hustling all the way, but they can't seem to find a loophole in the American defense. Watch the action now as the American five builds an iron curtain of its own around the basket, driving home the point that if you can't get in to shoot, you just don't make points. By halftime, the USA leads by a margin of 56 to 27. And despite Russian comeback efforts, the second half is more of the same. When the final basket is tipped in, the scoreboard tells the story in a nutshell. USA 89, Russia 55, and America holds the world championship of basketball. Coming up next is an Olympic highlight, the decathlon competition, and seaman apprentice Milt Campbell at right emerges as a new star of the sports world. Setting a time of 10 and 8 tenths seconds in the 100 meter dash, the young sailor is off to a flying start, taking the lead over favored Rafer Johnson of California. Next in the broad jump, our slow motion camera sees Milt widen his lead with a leap of 24 feet one half inch. In the shot put ring, Campbell gets off a toss of 48 feet five inches, and follows up in the high jump with a mark of six two and a quarter to put his number 294 still farther in front. The 400 meter run marks the halfway point, and on the inside lane, Milt is still giving it all he's got. It's a tactic which pays off as he wins the 400 in 48 and 8 tenths, giving him a midway lead of 149 points. Next day in the high hurdles, Campbell is in clover. This is Milt's specialty, a fact which becomes obvious when the young seaman romps home a good two hurdles ahead of the competition. Time, 14 seconds flat. The seventh event is discus, shown here in slow motion. That toss will measure 149 feet six and a half inches. The pole vault is Campbell's weak event. The best he can do is 11 feet seven and three quarter inches, but he makes up for it in the javelin, putting plenty of whip into a toss which sails 187 feet three inches. With a comfortable point, Lee Hamble starts the tenth and final decathlon event, the metric mile, and small wonder if he's beginning to show fatigue. At the finish, Lauerer of Germany pulls out to win by 50 yards. Campbell, drawing on his last reserve, sprints in to take second, and the decathlon is over. The final tally gives seaman Campbell a record-breaking 7,937 points with Johnson second and Kuznetsov of Russia third.