The men's 200 metre butterfly event at the 1956 Summer Olympics took place on 30 November and 1 December in the Olympic Park Swimming and Diving Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
[1] This swimming event used the butterfly stroke.
This was the first time that the butterfly stroke had appeared in the Olympic Games as a separate event, following its introduction as a superior variant of breaststroke in the 1936 Olympics Men's 200 metre Breaststroke and subsequent dominance in the 200 metre breaststroke events at the 1948 Summer Olympics and 1952 Summer Olympics.
[2] The winning margin was 4.5 seconds which as of 2023 remains the only time this event for men has been won by more than three seconds at the Olympics.
The swimmers with the eight fastest times advanced to the Finals.