Melbourne prepares for Olympic Games

Description: Originally produced for BBC Television, this film is a progress report on preparations for the XVIth Olympiad, 1956. At the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the main stadium for the Games, new triple-deck steel and concrete stands are under construction, the five acre arena has been completely regraded and foundations laid for running tracks. This stadium, the scene for the opening ceremony, the track and field events, the soccer and hockey finals will hold a record Olympic crowd of 110,000. At nearby Olympic Park, new arenas and racing tracks are under construction. Also in close proximity to the main stadium is the Olympic Swimming Pool, an unusual structure of ultramodern design in which roofing and sloping sides without conventional pillars, support seating for 5,000 spectators. At Heidelberg, Olympic Village is nearing completion, for the first time in the history of the Games, competing athletes of both sexes and from all countries will live together at the Village for the duration of the Games.