These are the official results of the men's high jump event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Twenty-eight contestants met on the morning of the first day of the athletic contests, on Friday November 23, 1956, and 22 cleared the qualifying height of 1.92 metres, to meet again in the afternoon.
Records
These are the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1956 Summer Olympics.
The standing Olympic record was bettered or equalized ten times over the course of the 5 hour long competition.
Charles Dumas, Chilla Porter and Igor Kashkarov cleared 2.06 metres on their first attempts. Stig Pettersson cleared it on his third. Dumas was in third place after a miss at 2.03m At 2.08m, Dumas and Kashkarov cleared on their first attempt, while Porter dropped to third place by making it on his second. Pettersson was eliminated. Dumas held the lead with a second attempt clearance of 2.10m while Porter made it on his last attempt. Kashkarov had to settle for bronze. On his final attempt, Dumas set the final new Olympic record with 2.12 metres while Porter couldn't negotiate the height.