1964 Summer Olympics

"Tokyo 1964" redirects here. For the Summer Paralympics, see 1964 Summer Paralympics.
Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Emblem of the 1964 Summer Olympics
LocationTokyo, Japan
Nations93
Athletes5,137 (4,457 men, 680 women)
Events163 in 19 sports (25 disciplines)
Opening10 October 1964
Closing24 October 1964
Opened by
Emperor Shōwa[1]
Closed by
Avery Brundage
President of the International Olympic Committee
Cauldron
Yoshinori Sakai[1]
StadiumNational Stadium
Summer
Winter
1964 Summer Paralympics
Olympic rings
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1964 Summer Olympics

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.

  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. ^ BBC News 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.