The 1956 Games were hosted in 'far-away' Australia, with the participation of 3,300 athletes from 67 countries. They were almost canceled due to armed conflict both in Europe as well as Africa. In Europe, the Russians had invaded Hungary, while the British and French attacked Egypt in order to regain the Suez Canal. As a sign of protest 6 countries withdrew from the Olympics. The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland because of the events in Hungary and Iraq and Lebanon withdrew because of the conflict in Suez. Although the Games were not canceled, there were many episodes such as in the water-polo match between Russia and Hungary where you would have thought it would have been better that the Games were aborted. A bloody head-bunt was the reason the swimming turned into a wrestling and boxing arena! It was a pity our motherland was absent, the ties were still so strong, but at the other hand we were proud of the stand they took against the brutal happenings and the hypocrisy of coming together in the so called peaceful games if nothing had happened. But eventually, on Thursday, 22 November 1956, some 103,000 spectators packed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground in brilliant sunshine (after almost two months of rain) to watch a young athlete later to become one of the most famous in the world, Ron Clarke, run into the arena with the Olympic flame. The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the Games, the great mile runner John Landy took the oath on behalf of the 3300-odd sportsmen and women from 67 nations and the Melbourne Olympics got under way. The 1956 Olympics were the first where athletic events took place in two countries. This was because the health services of Australia did not allow the horse-back riding events to be carried out in their country. Therefore, the riding event took place in Stockholm, Sweden.