Moments of Melbourne, Part 1 - Thursday, November 22nd, 1956

With cannon fire and a rather slow version of Australia's most popular song, "Waltzing Matilda", Melbourne opened the 1956 Summer Olympics on a cloudy and cool Thursday afternoon. The ceremony, that started at 3:00 PM local time, had nothing of the modern day pomp and pageantry. The somber mood was apt to the politically turbulent times. Considering the backdrop of the crises in Hungary and in the Suez, many people around the globe considered it to be a success that the Games were held at all. German commentator Dr. Paul Laven wrote: "The Olympic flames saves peace on earth!" (picture: Getty)

A spirit of newness and the unusual sorrounded this opening day. Never before had the Games been staged in the southern hemisphere. Never before had an opening ceremony been held so late in the year, with most of the season virtually over for the top-tier athletes from Europe and America and Melbourne's shop windows already featuring Christmas decoration. Nevertheless, it was the Australian audience and their genuine love for sports that saved the opening day and the fortnight to come.

Queen Elizabeth had send her husband Prince Philipp, the Duke of Edinburgh, Down Under to officially declare open the Games. Before that, the parade of nations had seen the first Summer Olympics appearance of a unified team from East and West Germany. Roaring applause welcomed the team from civil war torn Hungary that had left Budapest at the height of the revolution. Many athletes were unsure about the fate of their loved ones back home when arriving at Melbourne, many were never going to go home again (picture: Getty).

Despite of the boycott by the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Egypt, Iran, and the Lebanon, 69 nations entered, equalling the record set four years earlier at Helsinki. While young Australian running hopeful Ron Clarke was almost burnt when he lit the Olympic cauldron, his mentor and hero John Landy spoke the oath for all the athletes (picture: olympics.com.au).

While a lot of things were new on this day, there was also one historic last: This opening ceremony was the last in history not to be followed live by a global TV audience. Australian TV ABC had started broadcasting just two weeks before. At the time of the opening ceremony, only 5000 television sets had been sold in the whole country. Tapes from the opening ceremony and the following competitions were carried to Sydney by car, where the footage was refurbished into daily reports. Outside of Australia, only few moving pictures could be seen - and that only three to five days later (picture: abctvgorehill.com.au).

Ron Clarke - The Unfulfilled Dream, Part 1

Some of the greatest athletes of the world have tried in vain to win an Olympic gold medal. We portray them in this series.

His first Olympic appearance at the age of 19 was also going to be the most memorable. On November 22nd, 1956, the young Australian middle distance runner Ron Clarke had the honour to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Melbourne Games. In order to make the flame more visible to TV viewers, the organizers had added an extra portion of magnesia to the torch. "It was pure fireworks I was carrying with me", Clarke later remembered. When he lit the flame over Melbourne Cricket Ground, the blaze burnt his face and T shirt (picture: Fairfax Media via Getty Images).

On the track, Clarke was on fire rather late, with the first of his 17 world records coming in 1963 when he was already 26 years old. Before the 1956, he had broken the world junior record for the mile and finished second at the Australian trials. But officials considered Clarke to be to young and instead picked John Landy to run at the Games. Landy finished third in the 1500 meters at the Olympics behind surprise winner Ron Delany from Ireland. Clarke had to sit and wait.

By the time of the 1964 Games, Clarke was considered the favourite to win the 10,000 meters and also entered for the 5000 meters and the Marathon. But it was not going to be. On the home stretch of the 10,000 meters, Clarke was first passed by Tunisia's Mohammed Gammoudi. Then American Billy Mills sprinted past both to capture a sensational gold medal while Clarke had to settle for third. After this shocking defeat, he also played no major role in his other events, finishing ninth in both the 5000 meters and the Marathon.

His defeat in the 10,000 meters was typical for his major problem in championship races: Clarke lacked tactical flexibility, he always was the front runner which often resulted in poor finishing sprints. The fans loved him for his courage, but other runners capitalized on Clarke's main weakness and won the titles that eluded the great Aussie forever.

Nobody expected that his best chance for gold had already gone in Tokyo. Four years later, in the thin air and altitude of Mexico City, the African athletes took over long distance running with Clarke having no chance to fulfill his Olympic dream. He finished fifth in the 5000 meters and sixth in the 10,000 meters. At the finish of the 10,000 meters, Clarke collpased due to lack of oygen. "I was frankly worried that he might die", team physician Brian Corrigan said afterwards. When Clarke had to undergo heart surgery in the 1980s, he blamed the long-term effects of the races in Mexico (picture: The Australian).

Clarke retired from athletics in 1970, went on to work for Canon Corporation and as a TV expert and was elected mayor of his home town of Gold Coast in Queensland. Clarke died on June 17th, 2015.