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 Emblem of the 1964 Summer Olympics | |
| Host city | Tokyo, Japan |
|---|---|
| Nations | 93 |
| Athletes | 5,137 (4,457 men, 680 women) |
| Events | 163 in 19 sports (25 disciplines) |
| Opening | 10 October 1964 |
| Closing | 24 October 1964 |
| Opened by | |
| Cauldron | |
| Stadium | National Stadium |
Summer Winter
1964 Summer Paralympics | |
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| Part of a series on |
| 1964 Summer Olympics |
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The 1964 Summer Olympics (Japanese: 1964年夏季オリンピック, Hepburn: 1964-Nen Kaki Orinpikku), officially the Games of the XVIII Olympiad (Japanese: 第18回オリンピック競技大会, Hepburn: Dai Jūhachi-kai Orinpikku Kyōgi Taikai) and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (Japanese: 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki due to Japan's invasion of China, before ultimately being cancelled due to World War II. Tokyo was chosen as the host city during the 55th IOC Session in West Germany on 26 May 1959.
The 1964 Summer Games were the first Olympics held in Asia, and marked the first time South Africa was excluded for using its apartheid system in sports.[2][3] Until 1960, South Africa had fielded segregated teams, conforming to the country's racial classifications; for the 1964 Games the International Olympic Committee demanded a multi-racial delegation to be sent, and after South Africa refused, they were excluded from participating. The country was, however, allowed to compete at the 1964 Summer Paralympics, also held in Tokyo, its Paralympic Games debut.[4]
The 1964 Games were also the first to be telecast internationally without the need for tapes to be flown overseas, as they had been for the 1960 Olympics four years earlier. The games were telecast to the United States using Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, and from there to Europe using Relay 1.[5] These were also the first Olympic Games to have color telecasts, albeit partially. Certain events such as the sumo wrestling and judo matches, sports popular in Japan, were tried out using Toshiba's new colour transmission system, but only for the domestic market. The entire 1964 Olympic Games was chronicled in the ground-breaking 1965 sports documentary film Tokyo Olympiad, directed by Kon Ichikawa.
The games were scheduled for mid-October to avoid the city's midsummer heat and humidity and the September typhoon season.[6] The previous Olympics in Rome in 1960 started in late August and experienced hot weather. The following games in 1968 in Mexico City also began in October. The 1964 Olympics were also the last to use a traditional cinder track for the track events. Since 1968, a smooth, synthetic, all-weather track has been used. The United States topped the gold medal table at these Games, while the Soviet Union won the most medals overall.
In 2021, due to delay over the COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics, making it the first city in Asia to host the Summer Olympic Games twice. Japan also hosted the Winter Olympics twice with the Sapporo 1972 and Nagano 1998 games.
Host city selection
Tokyo won the rights to the Games on 26 May 1959 at the 55th IOC Session in Munich, West Germany, over bids from Detroit, Brussels and Vienna.[7]
Toronto was an early bidder again in 1964 after the failed attempt for 1960 and failed to make the final round.[8]
| City | Country | Round 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo |  Japan |
34 |
| Detroit |  United States |
10 |
| Vienna |  Austria |
9 |
| Brussels |  Belgium |
5 |
Highlights
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- Yūji Koseki composed the theme song of the opening ceremony.[10]
- Yoshinori Sakai, who lit the Olympic flame, was born in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, the day an atomic bomb was dropped on that city. He was chosen for the role to symbolize Japan's postwar reconstruction and peace.[11]
- Kumi-daiko was first exhibited to a worldwide audience at the Festival of Arts presentation.[12]
- Judo and volleyball, both popular sports in Japan, were introduced to the Olympics.[13] Japan won gold medals in three judo events, but Dutchman Anton Geesink won the Open category. The Japanese women's volleyball team won the gold medal, with the final being broadcast live.
- The women's pentathlon (shot put, high jump, hurdling, sprint and long jump) was introduced to the athletics events.[14]
- Reigning world champion Osamu Watanabe capped off his career with a gold medal for Japan in freestyle wrestling, surrendering no points and retiring from competition as the only undefeated Olympic champion to date at 189–0.[15]
- Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina won two gold medals, a silver medal and two bronze medals. She had held the record for most Olympic medals at 18 (nine gold, five silver, four bronze) which stood until broken by American swimmer Michael Phelps in 2012.[16]
- Czechoslovakian gymnast Věra Čáslavská won three gold medals, including the individual all-around competition, crowning her the new queen over the reigning champion Larisa Latynina.[17]
- Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser won the 100 m freestyle event for the third time in a row,[18] a feat matched by Soviet Vyacheslav Ivanov in rowing's single scull event.[19]
- Don Schollander won four gold medals in swimming.[20]
- Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia) became the first person to win the Olympic marathon twice.[21]
- 15-year-old Sharon Stouder won four medals in women's swimming, three of them gold.
- New Zealand's Peter Snell became the third person (after British Albert Hill in 1920 and Australian Edwin Flack in 1896) to win gold medals in both the 800 m and 1500 m in the same Olympics.[22]
- Billy Mills, an unfancied runner, became the only American to win the gold in the men's 10,000 m.[23]
- Bob Hayes won the 100 metre title in a time of 10.06 seconds, equaling the world record, and set the current record for the fastest relay leg in the 4×100 m.[24]
- Joe Frazier, future heavyweight champion of the world, won a gold medal in heavyweight boxing while competing with a broken thumb.[25]
- This was the last Summer Olympics to use a cinder running track for athletic events, and the first to use fiberglass poles for pole vaulting.[26]
- Zambia declared its independence on the day of the closing ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics, thereby becoming the first country ever to have entered an Olympic games as one country, and left it as another.[27] This was celebrated in the ceremony itself by the team using a placard with "Zambia" instead of the "Northern Rhodesia" placard from the opening ceremony. Zambia was the only team to use a placard in the closing ceremony.[28]
- The start of operations for the first Japanese "bullet train" (the Tōkaidō Shinkansen) between Tokyo Station and Shin-Ōsaka Station was scheduled to coincide with the Olympic games. The first regularly scheduled train ran on 1 October 1964, just nine days before the opening of the games, transporting passengers 515 kilometres or 320 miles in about four hours, and connecting the three major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka.[29]
- Ranatunge Karunananda who represented Ceylon in men's 10,000 meters, continued to run alone even after the others had finished the race. Spectators first started to jeer at him. But when he came around a second time, there was silence. Finally he finished the race amid cheers and applause.[30][31] Karunananda's Olympic story has been entered into Japanese school textbooks titled 'Uniform Number 67', 'Bottom Ranked Hero'.[32]
Sports
The 1964 Summer Olympics featured 19 different sports encompassing 25 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 163 events. In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
- Aquatics
Diving (4)
Swimming (18)
Water polo (1)
Athletics (36)
Basketball (1)
Boxing (10)
Canoeing (7)
Cycling
- Road (2)
- Track (5)
Equestrian
- Dressage (2)
- Eventing (2)
- Jumping (2)
Fencing (8)
Field hockey (1)
Football (1)
Gymnastics (14)
Judo (4)
Modern pentathlon (2)
Rowing (7)
Sailing (5)
Shooting (6)
Volleyball (2)
Weightlifting (7)
Wrestling
- Freestyle (8)
- Greco-Roman (8)
Note: In the Japan Olympic Committee report, sailing is listed as "yachting".[13]
- Demonstration sports
Medal count
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States | 36 | 26 | 28 | 90 |
| 2 |  Soviet Union | 30 | 31 | 35 | 96 |
| 3 | Japan* | 16 | 5 | 8 | 29 |
| 4 |  United Team of Germany | 10 | 22 | 18 | 50 |
| 5 |  Italy | 10 | 10 | 7 | 27 |
| 6 |  Hungary | 10 | 7 | 5 | 22 |
| 7 |  Poland | 7 | 6 | 10 | 23 |
| 8 |  Australia | 6 | 2 | 10 | 18 |
| 9 |  Czechoslovakia | 5 | 6 | 3 | 14 |
| 10 |  Great Britain | 4 | 12 | 2 | 18 |
| Totals (10 entries) | 134 | 127 | 126 | 387 | |
Conventionally, countries are ranked by the number of gold medals they receive, followed then by the number of silver medals and, finally, bronze.[33]
Participating National Olympic Committees
Ninety-three nations were represented at the 1964 Games. Sixteen nations made their first Olympic appearance in Tokyo: Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire (as Ivory Coast), Dominican Republic, Libya (but it withdrew before the competition), Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Northern Rhodesia, Senegal, and Tanzania (as Tanganyika).[citation needed]
Northern Rhodesia achieved full independence as Zambia on the same day as the closing ceremony. Athletes from Southern Rhodesia competed under the banner of Rhodesia; this was the last of three appearances at the Summer Olympics by a Rhodesian representation. Zimbabwe would later make its first appearance at the 1980 Summer Olympics.[citation needed]
Athletes from East Germany and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany, as they had done previously in 1956 and 1960. The nations would enter separate teams beginning with the 1968 Winter Olympics.[citation needed]
Indonesia was banned from the 1964 Olympics, due to its refusal to allow Israeli and Taiwanese athletes visas at the 1962 Asian Games. Indonesia was originally banned on the meeting which took place in Lausanne on 7 February 1963.[34] The decision was changed on 26 June 1964 citing the changed position of the Government of Indonesia towards the Tokyo games.[34]
Libya also took part in the Opening Ceremony, but its lone athlete (a marathon runner) withdrew from competition.[35]
