At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, 3,314 athletes from 72 nations went down under to compete in the first Games to take place in the southern hemisphere, with the Soviets triumphing over the Americans in the total medal count 98-74. Since Australian law prohibited foreign horses from entering the country, the Games' equestrian portion took place in Stockholm in June.

Part of the Soviets' success stemmed from their continued dominance in gymnastics where Ukrainian Viktor Chukarin garnered gold medals in the team competition, parallel bars and individual all-round, to go with a silver in floor exercises and a bronze on the pommel horse. Hungarian gymnast Agnes Keleti posted a quartet of gold-medal victories and earned silver twice.