1964 Summer Olympics - Definition and Overview

The Games of the XVIII Olympiad were held in 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Detroit, Vienna and Brussels also made a bid for these Games. Tokyo had already been awarded with the organisation of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honour had been passed to Helsinki because of Japan's involvement in China. The 1940 Olympics were eventually cancelled because of the outbreak of World War II.

Highlights

• Yoshinori Sakai, who lit the Olympic Flame, was born in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the day the atomic bomb exploded there.
• Judo and volleyball, both popular sports in Japan, were introduced to the Olympics. Japan won three of the titles in judo, but Dutchman Anton Geesink won the Open category. The Japanese women's volleyball team won the gold medal, with the final being broadcasted live.
• Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser won the 100 m freestyle event for the third time in a row, a feat matched by Vyacheslav Ivanov in rowing's skiff event.
• Don Schollander (USA) won four gold medals in swimming.
• Abebe Bikila became the first person to win the Olympic marathon twice.
• New Zealand's Peter Snell wins a gold medal in both the 800 m and 1500 m.
• Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina ends her Olympic career with a record 18 medals, of which 9 gold.
• The women's pentathlon was introduced.

Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Medal count

Top medal-collecting nations:
(for the full table, see 1964 Summer Olympics medal count)

1964 Summer Olympics medal count
Pos	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States of America	36	26	28	90
2	USSR	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

Legacy

The Olympic Gymnasium, designed by architect Kenzo Tange, still stands in Tokyo.

See also

• 1964 Summer Paralympics
• International Olympic Committee
• WikiProject Sports Olympics
• IOC country codes

External links

• IOC Site on 1964 Summer Olympics (http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1964)