23/10/1964
Boxing Buster Mathis had been picked for the US boxing team on the basis of an excellent amateur record. He was to become a very good heavyweight boxer, but not one of the greats. Fate had that in min...
Track and Field In Rome, Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila had been added to the team at the last minute and had then astonished the world by winning the Olympic title while competing in bare fee...
22/10/1964
Sailing There was a new prize that emerged from these Games, and it couldn’t be won by coming first in any race. The Fair Play prize was initiated in 1964 to recognise outstanding acts of sportsmanshi...
Track and Field The 100m title went to Bob Hayes, probably one of the fastest runners who has ever lived and certainly one of the most successful, even though his career was short. In the run-up to th...
21/10/1964
Volleyball This was the first time volleyball had been included in the Olympic programme, and it was keenly anticipated by the home supporters. The Japanese men took bronze, behind the dominant Soviet...
Diving The Olympic Games is not just about triumphs, but also about those who have met with disappointment – and come out the other side. One such person is the American diver Frank Gorman. Few Olymp...
Track and Field If versatility is a virtue for sportsmen and women, Ann Packer must be ranked among Britain’s best athletes of the era. She had won the 100 yards (91.4m) title as a schoolgirl in 1959,...
Track and Field The Press sisters from the Soviet Union were a versatile couple of stars. Four years before, in Rome, Irina had won the 80m hurdles while her sister, Tamara Press, had taken gold in th...
20/10/1964
Track and Field The pentathlon was introduced to the Olympic Games in Tokyo and it produced an absorbing contest between three outstanding athletes.The favourite was Irina Press, from the Soviet Union...
19/10/1964
Track and Field Athletes often share a room during the Olympic Games, but rarely can a room have contained quite so much sporting brilliance as the one shared by Anna Packer and Mary Rand, two unassum...
1964 Tokyo - Vyacheslav Ivanov (URS) 1st, on the top, and HILL Achim (EUA) 2nd. © 1964 / IOC
Yoshinori Sakai has lit the Olympic cauldron ©IOC
Yoshinori Sakai, the last torchbearer, stands next to Greek actress Aleka Katseli at a rehearsal prior to the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games ©Central-Press
Larisa Latynina, with a bronze medal around her neck, on the third step of the podium after the beam competition of the Tokyo 1964 OG. On the top step is Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska, while Tamara Manina (USSR) stands on the second step ©IOC
An aerial view of the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, circa 1965. Designed by Kenzo Tange to house the swimming and diving events in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, it is now a major venue for basketball and ice hockey. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Dutch judo champion Anton Geesink arrives back in his home town of Utrecht after winning the gold medal in the open event at the Tokyo Olympics, 6th November 1964. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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