1964 Summer Olympics

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Games of the XVIII Olympiad
National Stadium
Summer
Winter
1964 Summer Paralympics

The 1964 Summer Olympics (

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

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 won the most gold medals, while the Soviet Union won the most overall medals.

In 2021, due to delay over 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]

1964 Summer Olympics bidding result[9]
City Country Round 1
Tokyo  Japan 34
Detroit  United States 10
Vienna  Austria 9
Brussels  Belgium 5

Highlights

Yoshinori Sakai running toward the Olympic cauldron.
Marathon winner Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia
Competitor medal awarded to Irish yachtsman Eddie Kelliher at the games
  • Yūji Koseki composed the theme song of the opening ceremony.[10]
  • 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]
  • 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]
  • 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]
  • 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.

Note: In the Japan Olympic Committee report, sailing is listed as "yachting".[13]

Demonstration sports

Medal count

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States36262890
2 Soviet Union30313596
3 Japan*165829
4 United Team of Germany10221850
5 Italy1010727
6 Hungary107522
7 Poland761023
8 Australia621018
9 Czechoslovakia56314
10 Great Britain412218
Totals (10 entries)134127126387

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

Participants
Number of athletes per country

Ninety-three nations were represented at the 1964 Games. Sixteen nations made their first Olympic appearance in Tokyo:

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
]

Summer Olympics by a Rhodesian representation. Zimbabwe would later make its first appearance at the 1980 Summer Olympics.[citation needed
]

Athletes from

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]

Participating National Olympic Committees
  •  Libya also took part in the Opening Ceremony, but its lone athlete (a marathon runner) withdrew from competition.[35]

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Calendar

All dates are in
UTC+9
)
OC Opening ceremony Event competitions 1 Gold medal events CC Closing ceremony
October 1964 10th
Sat
11th
Sun
12th
Mon
13th
Tue
14th
Wed
15th
Thu
16th
Fri
17th
Sat
18th
Sun
19th
Mon
20th
Tue
21st
Wed
22nd
Thu
23rd
Fri
24th
Sat
Events
Ceremonies OC CC
Aquatics Diving 1 1 1 1 23
Swimming 2 2 3 3 2 2 4
Water polo 1
Athletics 3 4 5 6 5 4 3 6 36
Basketball 1 1
Boxing 10 10
Canoeing 7 7
Cycling Road cycling 1 1 7
Track cycling 1 1 1 2
Equestrian
2 2 2 6
Fencing 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8
Field hockey 1 1
Football
1 1
Gymnastics 2 2 5 5 14
Judo 1 1 1 1 4
Modern pentathlon 2 2
Rowing 7 7
Sailing 5 5
Shooting 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
Volleyball 2 2
Weightlifting 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
Wrestling 8 8 16
Daily medal events 1 4 3 17 19 12 12 13 17 10 15 14 24 2 163
Cumulative total 1 5 8 25 44 56 68 81 98 108 123 137 161 163
October 1964 10th
Sat
11th
Sun
12th
Mon
13th
Tue
14th
Wed
15th
Thu
16th
Fri
17th
Sat
18th
Sun
19th
Mon
20th
Tue
21st
Wed
22nd
Thu
23rd
Fri
24th
Sat
Total events

Venues

Yoyogi National Gymnasium, designed by Kenzo Tange
Nippon Budokan

Transportation and communications

These games were the first to be telecast internationally. The games were telecast to the United States using

Tonight Show would not be interrupted.[40] When pressed on the issue NBC announced there would be no more live telecasts which angered the American State Department which saw the broadcasts as a matter of national prestige, and also the Hughes Aircraft Company who won the bid to build the satellite system over RCA which owned NBC.[41]

TRANSPAC-1, the first trans-Pacific communications cable from Japan to Hawaii was also finished in June 1964 in time for these games. Before this, most communications from Japan to other countries were via shortwave.[39]

The start of operations for the first Japanese bullet train (the

Tokaido 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 kilometers (320 mi) in about four hours, and connecting the three major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka
.

Some already-planned upgrades to both highways and commuter rail lines were rescheduled for completion in time for these games. Of the eight main expressways approved by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 1959, No. 1, No. 4 and a portion of No. 2 and No. 3 were completed for the games. Two subway lines totaling 22 kilometers (14 mi) were also completed in time for the games, and the port of Tokyo facilities were expanded to handle the anticipated traffic.[42]

As a visual aid for foreign visitors to the Games, this Olympics was the first to use pictograms, created by Masasa Katzumie, to represent each event visually. This became a standard visual component of the modern Olympics ever since.[43]

Cost

The Oxford Olympics Study established the outturn cost of the Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympics at US$282 million in 2015-dollars.[44] This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost for Tokyo 1964 compares with costs of US$4.6 billion for Rio 2016, US$40–44 billion for Beijing 2008 and US$51 billion for Sochi 2014, the most expensive Olympics in history. Average cost for Summer Games since 1960 is US$5.2 billion.[citation needed]

Legacy

The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo celebrated Japan's progress and reemergence on the world stage. The new Japan was no longer a wartime enemy, but a peaceful country that threatened no one, and this transformation was accomplished in fewer than 20 years.[45]

To host such a major event, Tokyo's infrastructure needed to be modernized in time for large numbers of expected tourists. Enormous energy and expense was devoted to upgrading the city's physical infrastructure, including new buildings, highways, stadiums, hotels, airports and trains. There was a new satellite to facilitate live international broadcast. Multiple train and subway lines, a large highway building project, and the

YS-11, a commercial turboprop plane developed in Japan, was used to transport the Olympic Flame within Japan.[46] For swimming, a new timing system started the clock by the sound of the starter gun and stopped it with touchpads. The photo finish using a photograph with lines on it was introduced to determine the results of sprints. All of this demonstrated that Japan was now part of the first world and a technological leader, and at the same time demonstrated how other countries might modernize.[45] In preparation for the games, 200,000 stray cats and dogs were rounded up and killed.[47]

However, the construction projects resulted in environmental damage, forced relocations for residents, and loss of industry. In addition, corruption by politicians and construction companies resulted in cost overruns and shoddy work.[47]

Although public opinion about the Olympics in Japan had initially been split, by the time the games started almost everyone was behind them. The broadcast of the opening ceremony was watched by over 70% of the viewing public, and the women's volleyball team's gold medal match was watched by over 80%.[45]

As with many other Olympics, observers later stated that 1964 Olympic preparation and construction projects had had a negative effect on the environment and lower income people.[47]

The Cary Grant film Walk, Don't Run was filmed during the Tokyo Olympics, and set in Tokyo during the Olympics. A message at the beginning of the film thanks the Japanese Government and Tokyo Police for putting up with them filming in crowded Tokyo.

The Studio Ghibli film From Up on Poppy Hill takes place one year before the Tokyo Olympics and refers to the upcoming games. The official poster can be seen several times in the film.

Tokyo attempted to bring the Olympic Games back to the city, having unsuccessfully bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro. Tokyo was chosen to host the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics games, making it the first Asian city to host the games twice.[48] The worldwide coronavirus pandemic, however, forced the organizers to postpone the games to summer 2021, the first time that an Olympic Games was cancelled or rescheduled during peacetime.

The Japan Society Fall 2019 exhibition, Made in Tokyo: Architecture and Living, 1964/2020, is an architectural exhibition that examines the social, cultural, economic, and political impacts of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on the modernization of the Tokyo landscape (Homes, Offices, Retail Businesses, Athletic Stadiums, Hotels, and Transportation Stations). The exhibition was curated by the Japanese architectural firm Atelier Bow-Wow.[49]

The majority of

Meiji restoration by the Japanese people and government in order to modernize and westernize Japan and break from their past feudal era of the Daimyo and Shoguns. It was only due to the 1964 Olympics in Japan that cheap concrete replicas of those castles were built in preparation for tourists.[50][51][52] The vast majority of castles in Japan today are new replicas made out of concrete.[53][54][55] In 1959 a concrete keep was built for Nagoya castle.[56]

Boycotting countries

Countries that boycotted the 1964 Summer Olympics (shown in red on map)

Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO) held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1963.[57] China and Indonesia
also chose not to attend the Tokyo Games due to GANEFO issues.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Factsheet – Opening Ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad" (PDF) (Press release). International Olympic Committee. 9 October 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  2. On This Day, 18 August, "1964: South Africa banned from Olympics" Archived 19 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine
    .
  3. ^ "Past Olympic Host City Election Results". GamesWeb.com. Archived from the original on 15 September 2008. Retrieved 23 September 2008.
  4. ^ "Paralympic Results & Historical Records for RSA". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 18 December 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  5. ^ "The Miami News – Google News Archive Search". The Miami News. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  6. ^ Griggs, Lee (28 October 1963). "A very dry run in Tokyo". Sports Illustrated. p. 64. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  7. ^ "IOC Vote History". Aleksandr Vernik. Archived from the original on 25 May 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  8. ^ Edwards, Peter (24 July 2015). "Toronto has made 5 attempts to host the Olympics. Could the sixth be the winner?". thestar.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  10. ^ "Profile". The Yuji Koseki Memorial (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  11. ^ Masuda, Masafumi (2004). "JOC – 東京オリンピックから40年 (Forty years from Tokyo Olympics)" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  12. from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  13. ^ a b Organizing Committee 1964, pp. 43–44
  14. . Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  15. ^ Tomizawa, Roy (2 July 2015). "Osamu "Animal" Watanabe – 189 Straight Victories in Wrestling". The Olympians from 1964 to 2020. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  16. ^ "Larysa Latynina". CNN. 7 July 2008. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  17. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Gymnastics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  18. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Dawn Fraser". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  19. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Vyacheslav Ivanov". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  20. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Don Schollander". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  21. ^ Associated Press (22 October 1964). "Fastest Marathon Ever and Abebe Did Not Tire". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  22. ^ "Peter Snell wins second gold in Tokyo". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  23. ^ "Marine Corps History Division". Marine Corps History Division, United States Marine Corps. 13 August 2008. Archived from the original on 8 April 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
  24. ^ "Bob Hayes". Olympics Fan Guide. ESPN. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  25. .
  26. ^ "Tokyo 1964". Olympic Games. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  27. ^ McNeil, Baye (14 August 2016). "After 30 years in Japan, teacher from Zambia is still learning". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  28. ^ BSスペシャル『青春TVタイムトラベル』 第4回 プレイバック・東京オリンピック(NHK衛星第2テレビジョン/1992年12月26日放送で土門自身が振り返ってコメントしている)
  29. ^ Martin, Alexander (5 September 2013). "The 1964 Tokyo Olympics: A Turning Point for Japan". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  30. ^ "R.J.K. Karunananda: A forgotten hero". The Island. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  31. ^ "Sri Lanka's unsung Karunananda, a hero in Tokyo!". The Island. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  32. ^ "Athletics: The inside story of 'Marathon Karu's' legend". Sunday Times. 15 September 2012. Archived from the original on 17 September 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  33. ^ "Olympic Games Tokyo 1964 – Medal Table". Archived from the original on 6 October 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  34. ^ a b Milutin Tomanović (1965) Hronika međunarodnih događaja 1964, Institute of International Politics and Economics: Belgrade, p. 353 (in Serbo-Croatian)
  35. ^ Complete official IOC report. Volume 2 part 1 (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012. Fighi Hassan, Suliman – LIBYA – Absent
  36. ^ "For Gold, Silver & Bronze". TIME. 16 October 1964. Archived from the original on 21 June 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  37. from the original on 13 December 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  38. ^ "Significant Achievements in Space Communications and Navigation, 1958–1964" (PDF). NASA-SP-93. NASA. 1966. pp. 30–32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  39. ^ a b c Organizing Committee 1964, pp. 381–400
  40. ^ a b c Espy 1981, p. 92
  41. ^ Espy 1981, p. 93
  42. ^ Organizing Committee 1964, pp. 47–49
  43. ^ "Pictograms". Olympic Games Museum. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  44. SSRN 2804554
    .
  45. ^ a b c Droubie, Paul (31 July 2008). "Japan's Rebirth at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics". aboutjapan.japansociety.org. About Japan: A Teacher's Resource. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  46. ^ Organizing Committee 1964, pp. 245–269
  47. ^ a b c Whiting, Robert (24 October 2014). "Negative impact of 1964 Olympics profound". The Japan Times. p. 14. Archived from the original on 2014-10-28. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  48. ^ "Japan's Capital Tokyo to host 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games". Archived from the original on 10 September 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  49. ^ "Made in Tokyo: Architecture and Living, 1964/2020". The Japan Society. Archived from the original on 15 September 2019.
  50. ^ "The Rise of the Concrete Castle". TenguLife: The curious guide to Japan. May 2, 2017.
  51. ^ Foo, Audrey (January 17, 2019). "A Race Across Japan to See its Last Original Castles". GaijinPot.
  52. ^ "Japanese castles History of Castles". Japan Guide. September 4, 2021.
  53. ^ "Himeji-jō". Lonely Planet.
  54. ^ Japan's Modern Castles Episode One: Himeji Castle (姫路城). Japan's Modern Castles. April 6, 2020.
  55. ^ Carter, Alex (22 May 2010). "Japanese Concrete Castle".
  56. ^ Baseel, Casey (March 27, 2017). "Nagoya Castle's concrete keep to be demolished and replaced with traditional wooden structure". RocketNews24.
  57. ^ 東京オリンピックで北朝鮮が金メダルを狙える競技とは?. KoreaWorldTimes (in Japanese). 10 September 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.

Works cited

External links

External videos
video icon Tokyo 1964 Olympics Film on
YouTube
Summer Olympics
Preceded by XVIII Olympiad
Tokyo

1964
Succeeded by