Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle
The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1956 Olympic Games took place between December 1 and 4. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated. Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of eight lengths of the pool.Medalists
Results
Heats
Five heats were held; the swimmers with the fastest eight times advanced to the Finals. The swimmers that advanced are highlighted.Heat One
Heat Two
Heat Three
Heat Four
Heat Five
Final
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| Murray Rose | | 4:27.3 | WR |
| Tsuyoshi Yamanaka | | 4:30.4 | |
| George Breen | | 4:32.5 | |
| 4 | Kevin O'Halloran | | 4:32.9 | |
| 5 | Hans Zierold | | 4:34.6 | |
| 6 | Gary Winram | | 4:34.9 | |
| 7 | Koji Nonoshita | | 4:38.2 | |
| 8 | Angelo Romani | | 4:41.7 | |
Key: WR = World record
