& Entertainment > The 1956 Melbourne, Australia It was the first
time that blood was drawn in the Olympic Games. During the water
polo game between the USSR and Hungary, the Russian athlete
Valentin Propokov cried out Fascist Hungarians and then punched
the Hungarian Ervin Zantor. This action was followed by a
massive brawl between the two teams. The referee stopped the
game in favor of Hungary. On the other hand a romantic story was
created between the American athlete Harold Connely and the
Chechoslovakian athlete Olga Figotova which ended in marriage.
Later on Figotova completed in four more Olympiads as an
American and in 1972 she was the standard bearer for the US
team. In these Olympics we see for the first time the signs of
boycott since several nations did not participate, mainly for
political reasons. The Suez war resulted in the withdrawal of
Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon. The Russian invasion in Hungary caused
many countries to demonstrate their opposition to this action.
These were Switzerland, Holland