1964 Summer Olympics

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Games of the XVIII. Olympics
1964 Summer Olympics logo
Venue: Tokyo ( Japan )
Stadion: Tokyo Olympic Stadium
Opening ceremony: October 10, 1964
Closing ceremony: October 24, 1964
Opened by: Emperor Hirohito
Olympic oath : Takashi Ono (athlete)
Disciplines: 25 (19 sports)
Competitions: 163
Countries: 93
Athletes: 5151, 678 of them women
← Rome 1960
Mexico City 1968 →
Medal table
space country G S. B. Ges.
1 United StatesUnited States United States 36 26th 28 90
2 Soviet Union 1955Soviet Union Soviet Union 30th 31 35 96
3 Japan 1870Japan Japan 16 5 8th 29
4th Germany team all GermanAll-German team Germany 10 22nd 18th 50
5 ItalyItaly Italy 10 10 7th 27
6th Hungary 1957Hungary Hungary 10 7th 5 22nd
7th Poland 1944Poland Poland 7th 6th 10 23
8th AustraliaAustralia Australia 6th 2 10 18th
9 CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 5 6th 3 14th
10 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Great Britain 4th 12 2 18th
... ... ... ... ... ...
22nd SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 1 2 1 4th
Complete medal table

The 1964 Summer Olympics (officially Games of the XVIII. Olympics called) took place from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo ( Japan instead). It was the first Summer Olympics in Japan after the country had already been awarded the contract to host the 1940 Summer Games, but had given it back.

Application and choice of the venue

Tokyo first tried to host the Summer Olympics in 1940 , on the occasion of the 2600th anniversary of the Japanese Empire. Hidejiro Nagata , the mayor of Tokyo , which was still an administrative unit at the time , announced the application in the town hall there in June 1930, while a Japanese athletics team was traveling to the student world championships in Darmstadt. The Tokyo City Council finally decided on October 28, 1931, to officially apply to host the Summer Games. This was submitted to the International Olympic Committee in July 1932. The decision on the award was made at the IOC session on July 31, 1936 in Berlin. Japan had promised generous perks for the teams arriving, which prompted the IOC to opt against the competitor Helsinki and for the Japanese capital. After the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge on July 7, 1937 and because of the Second Sino-Japanese War that broke out , Tokyo returned the Summer Games to the IOC on July 14, 1938. This subsequently awarded the event to the formerly inferior competitor Helsinki. After the outbreak of World War II, the games there had to be canceled and the 1940 Summer Olympics were canceled entirely.

After the Second World War , the Japanese NOK reorganized under its new President Ryotaro Azuma in 1946/47 . Both Japan and Germany were not invited to the 1948 Summer Olympics , but in 1950 Azuma was elected an IOC member in place of Matsuzo Nagai , who had previously been ambassador to Berlin. The IOC did not recognize the NOK until 1951. With that, renewed efforts to host the Summer Olympic Games began. In May 1952, Tokyo Prefecture announced that it would bid for the 1960 Summer Olympics . On March 7, 1953, the Japanese parliament passed a resolution that officially approved the application. The decision was made at the 51st IOC session in Paris. Tokyo was the last of the seven applicants with five votes.

This defeat was attributed to poor preparation for the candidacy. The desire to host the Olympic Games remained, however, and so the application for the Summer Olympic Games in 1964 was considered. On October 10, 1955, the Tokyo Prefecture Parliament passed a resolution to reapply. As a result, IOC members Azuma and Shingoro Takaishi, on the advice of the Finn Erik von Frenckell, brought the 55th IOC session in 1958 to the Japanese capital. The Japanese government had previously passed a cabinet decision to support the Olympic bid. The IOC session was held in the NHK Hall and convinced IOC members of the suitability of Tokyo. On it, at the request of Prince Axel of Denmark, the hymn of Samara from 1896 was recognized as the Olympic anthem . Tokyo demonstrated its ability to host a major sporting event when it hosted the Asian Games in 1958 . For this, the later Olympic Stadium was built in place of the Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium (English for Meiji jingū gaien kyōgijō , " Meiji Shrine -Gaien Stadium") . Azuma succeeded Seiichiro Yasui as governor of Tokyo in April 1959 and was thus both an IOC member and governor of the prefecture in which the applicant city is located.

The decision on the venue was made at the 56th IOC session in Munich. On May 25, 1959, the IOC members voted Tokyo with 34 votes, Detroit with 10, Vienna with 9 and Brussels with 5 votes. It was the first time that the Olympic Games were awarded to Asia. The award also coincided with a ten-year growth phase in Japan, whose economy grew by an average of ten percent annually from 1960 to 1970. Japan was politically tied to the West and there was a bilateral security treaty with the USA. The 1964 Summer Olympics were intended to show the world the increased economic power of Japan and to confirm the increased reputation after the Second World War.

Preparations

The organizing committee for the 1964 Summer Olympics, The Organizing Committee for the Games of the XVIII Olympiad (COO), was established on 11 June 1959, and had its headquarters in Kishi Kinen Kaikan Taiiku (Engl., Among others Kishi Memorial Hall ). The committee's first president was Juichi Tsushima , who succeeded Azuma as chairman of the Japanese NOK that year. Most of the 28 members of the organizing committee came from government, local politics, and industrialists' associations. However, the work of the organizing committee did not go smoothly. As a result of incidents at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 1962 , President Tsushima and the Secretary General of the Committee, Masaji Tabata , resigned from their offices. The Indonesian government banned Israel from the Asian Games and denied visas to the Republic of China (Taiwan) athletes . The Indian IOC member Guru Dutt Sundhi demanded compliance with the Olympic rules, whereupon Indonesia imposed sanctions on India. On February 7, 1963, the Indonesian NOK was excluded from the IOC because of these events. Tsushima and Tabata, who had both supported the Indonesian position, gave up their posts on October 3, 1962 because they were in opposition to the IOC's position. Both also left their leadership positions in the National Olympic Committee of Japan and the Japanese Amateur Sports Association.

In this situation, Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda , a member of the imperial family, was elected chairman of the NOK on October 15, 1962. In this position he temporarily took over the presidency of the organizing committee. Shigeru Yosano was appointed Secretary General of the COO on November 2, 1962. Only after the industrialist Daigoro Yasukawa was appointed as the new COO-President on February 7, 1963 , did calm return to the organization. As a result, the COO consisted of 34 members. It was divided into eleven committees, 13 departments and the central office for the Olympic village.

The concept of the 1964 Summer Olympics was very different from that planned for 1940. At that time, an Olympic park was planned on the grounds of the Komazawa golf course, the Olympic stadium should offer 100,000 spectators. However, the work did not get beyond the initial stage. After the Second World War, a sports and recreation center was built on the 42 hectare site. For 1964, the organizers went back to a plan that had already been considered for 1940: the main sports facilities were to be built in Yoyogi Park . The future Olympic Stadium was built there for the 1958 Asian Games.

The COO and the work it commissioned was funded by the government and Tokyo Prefecture. It received additional funding from a fund that was requerified by an association resembling a city marketing company. This association generated income from the sale of special postage stamps, the Olympia cigarette brand and commemorative medals. In addition, this association organized a telephone directory campaign and a lottery with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone . Additional income was generated through an Olympic vignette for 10 yen for use on mail. The construction measures directly related to the Olympics and the expansion of the infrastructure were borne by the state. In total, nearly one trillion yen, or about $ 2.78 billion, was invested, making the Tokyo Summer Olympics the most expensive to date.

building

Sports facilities

The Yoyogi National High School

The center of the 1964 Summer Olympics was in the eastern part of Yoyogi Park, which had been redesigned for the Asian Games. In place of the Meiji Shrine Gaien Stadium , in which the field hockey tournament was to be held in 1940, the Jingu National Stadium was built with space for 71,556 spectators. It cost 1.4 billion yen, about $ 3.9 million. It had eight running tracks and was used as an Olympic stadium. The Tokyo Metropolitan Swimming Pool was built next to the stadium, where the water polo tournament was held. In the immediate vicinity was also the Jingu Swimming Pool , the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium for gymnastics competitions, which had been built for the World Wrestling Championship in 1954, the Prince Chichibu Stadium for the soccer tournament and the Olympic press center.

A second center was to the south of Yoyogi Park, south of the Meiji Shrine . The Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyōgijō (English Yoyogi National Gymnasium ) based on a design by the famous architect Kenzo Tange was built near the NHK Hall and the NHK radio and television center between February 1963 and August 1964 . The Olympic swimming competitions took place in the shell-shaped swimming pool, and the basketball tournament was held in the snail-shaped annex.

The third center was set up by Tokyo Prefecture in Komazawa. The 42-hectare Komazawa Olympic Park was created there. It included a stadium with space for 20,784 visitors, a gymnasium used for wrestling, three hockey fields and a volleyball arena. The Bunka Taiikukan (English Cultural Gymnasium ) of Yokohama was used as the second hall for the volleyball tournament . The Boxwettbewerbe found in the retrofitted ice rink of Koraku-en place, the weight lifting in the Stadthalle (Engl. Public Hall ) in Shibuya . The Waseda Memorial Hall of Waseda University was used for fencing competitions, and the judo competitions were held in the Nippon Budokan Hall in Chiyoda . The rowing regattas took place on the Toda Canal. This had already been planned for the 1940 Summer Games.

Few competitions were held outside of Tokyo. The canoeing competitions took place on Lake Sagami, 58 kilometers away , and the sailing regattas were held in Enoshima instead of Yokohama as planned for 1940 , where volleyball and football games were held. The shooting competitions and parts of the modern pentathlon took place in Asaka and Tokorozawa , the rowing competitions were held in Toda on Arakawa . The horse riding competitions were held in Karuizawa , 145 kilometers from Tokyo. In Hachiōji in Tokyo Prefecture, 43 kilometers outside of Tokyo, the cycling competitions took place. The velodrome was built temporarily and demolished again after the end of the games.

Olympic Village

The central Olympic village was on the Washington Heights of Shibuya County. After the Second World War, American occupation soldiers were housed there, and seven blocks of flats were built on the 66-hectare site for the Games, which should only offer space for 7,500 athletes. Ultimately, the capacity was 8,200 beds. Orientation in the Olympic village was made easier by street names, with Olympic cities of the past providing the names for them. This was given special mention because Japanese cities usually don't have street names.
Other athletes' villages were located at sports facilities outside of Tokyo. For example, at Lake Sagami 58 kilometers away, in the sailing town of Oiso 67 kilometers away, Karuizawa 145 kilometers away and Hachiōji 43 kilometers from Tokyo. There were separate Olympic villages for men and women.

Attendees

Number of athletes
Europe (2,609 athletes from 29 nations)
Asia (978 athletes from 19 nations)
America (949 athletes from 22 nations)
Oceania (307 athletes from 2 nations)
Africa (287 athletes from 22 nations)
(Number of athletes) * Participation in summer games for the first time

Competition program

Compared to the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome , two new sports (and 2 disciplines) were added to the Tokyo program: volleyball , which was recognized as early as 1957 - a women's tournament was also decided in 1962 - and the Japanese national sport of judo . The recognition of judo at the 1960 IOC session in Rome was 39 to 2 votes, but was limited to the 1964 Summer Games. It was then removed from the program again, but resumed in Munich in 1972. The number of competitions rose by 13 to 163. 119 were for men, 33 for women and 11 were open competitions. The demonstration sports in Tokyo were baseball and budo . The changes to Rome 1960 are detailed below:

  • Judo became part of the Olympic program - the following weight classes were held: light, medium, heavyweight and an open class.
  • In the canoe , the K4 1000 m replace the K1 4 × 500 m relay for men.
  • In athletics , the 400 m and pentathlon for women were added.
  • In track cycling , the individual pursuit for men extends the program.
  • In equestrian sport , team scoring was reintroduced in the dressage discipline after it was missing in Rome in 1960. In addition, the men's classes in the eventing discipline have been converted into open classes.
  • In swimming , the program for men and women was extended by the 400 m individual medley - for men the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay was added and the 200 m backs replaced the 100 m backs.
  • The team sport volleyball became Olympic for men and women.

Olympic sports / disciplines

Number of competitions in brackets

Time schedule

Time schedule
discipline Sat
10.		 Sun
11.		 Mon.
12.		 Tuesday
13		 Wed.
14.		 Thursday
15.		 Fri.
16.		 Sat.
17.		 Sun.
18.		 Mon.
19.		 Tuesday
20		 Wed.
21.		 Thursday
22.		 Fri.
23.		 Sat.
24.		 Decision-
disk-
applications
October
Olympic rings without rims.svg Opening ceremony
Basketball pictogram.svg basketball 1 1
Boxing pictogram.svg Boxing 10 10
Fencing pictogram.svg fencing 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8th
Football pictogram.svg Soccer 1 1
Weightlifting pictogram.svg Weightlifting 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7th
Field hockey pictogram.svg hockey 1 1
Judo pictogram.svg Judo 4th 4th
Canoeing (flatwater) pictogram.svg canoe 7th 7th
Athletics pictogram.svg athletics 3 4th 5 6th 5 4th 3 6th 36
Modern pentathlon pictogram.svg Modern pentathlon 2 2
Cycling Cycling (track) pictogram.svg train 1 1 1 2 4th
Cycling (road) pictogram.svg Street 1 1 2
Equestrian sport Equestrian Dressage pictogram.svg dressage 2 2
Equestrian Jumping pictogram.svg Leap 2 2
Equestrian Eventing pictogram.svg versatility 2 2
Wrestling Wrestling Freestyle pictogram.svg Freestyle 8th 8th
Wrestling pictogram.svg Greco-Roman 8th 8th
Rowing pictogram.svg rowing 7th 7th
Shooting pictogram.svg shoot 1 1 1 1 1 1 6th
Swimming sport Swimming pictogram.svg swim 2 2 3 3 2 2 4th 29
Water polo pictogram.svg Water polo 1 1
Diving pictogram.svg Diving 1 1 1 1 4th
Sailing pictogram.svg sailing 5 5
Gymnastics (artistic) pictogram.svg do gymnastics 2 2 5 5 14th
Volleyball (indoor) pictogram.svg volleyball 2 2
Olympic rings without rims.svg Closing ceremony
Demonstration competitions
baseball
Budo Kendo
Kyūdō
Sumo
decisions 1 4th 3 17th 19th 12 12 13 17th 9 14th 13 27 2 163
discipline Sat
10.		 Sun
11.		 Mon.
12.		 Tuesday
13		 Wed.
14.		 Thursday
15.		 Fri.
16.		 Sat.
17.		 Sun.
18.		 Mon.
19.		 Tuesday
20		 Wed.
21.		 Thursday
22.		 Fri.
23.		 Sat.
24.		 Decision-
disk-
applications
October

Color legend

  • Opening ceremony
  • Competition day (no decisions)
  • Competition day (x decisions)
  • Closing ceremony

    • reporting

    The press areas in Tokyo were equipped with televisions for the first time. The results of the competitions were available electronically shortly after the competition ended. The information center was located in the Akasaka Palace . The data processing system was provided by IBM . In Rome in 1960 it was still in its infancy, now it was fully developed.

    The Syncom 3 communications satellite enabled intercontinental television broadcasts for the first time. The television pictures were produced by NHK . The Japanese television company acquired the rights to the games from the COO for 568 million yen (1,577,778 US dollars). NHK concluded further contracts with the EBU for Western Europe, OIRT for the socialist countries, NBC for the USA, CBC for Canada, ABC for Australia and New Zealand and NBCI for Latin America and Africa. A total of 165 hours were broadcast, which corresponds to around eleven hours per day.

    Outstanding athletes

    Worth mentioning

    • The Olympic flame was lit by Yoshinori Sakai , who was born on August 6, 1945, the day the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima .
    • The games were officially opened by the Japanese Emperor Hirohito .
    • The athlete's oath was spoken by the Japanese gymnast Takashi Ono .
    • The IOC excluded five countries from participating: PR China, Indonesia, North Korea, North Vietnam and South Africa - that was a negative Olympic record.
    • On August 11, 1964, the Tokyo City Council decided to allow all athletes, officials and journalists to use the city's transport system (trams, buses, subways) free of charge, from September 15 to November 4.
    • As at the Summer Olympics in Melbourne in 1956 and in Rome in 1960, the German athletes competed  again with a common team and last time until Barcelona in 1992 . In 1964, however, the athletes from East and West were strictly separated.
    • For the first time there were competitions in judo ; This probably also against the background that Japan was the country of birth of this sport. When in the open class - unlike in light, middle and heavyweight, where Japanese athletes won gold medals - Anton Geesink from the Netherlands defeated the much-favored Japanese Akio Kaminaga in the final, many Japanese spectators could no longer hold back their tears .
    • The US swimming team won seven out of ten possible gold medals for men.
    • Libya took part in the opening ceremony. The only participant, a marathon runner, withdrew his participation shortly before the start of the competition.

    Web links

    Commons : 1964 Summer Olympics  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ a b c Kluge, p. 659.
    2. ↑ a b Kluge, p. 660.
    3. ↑ a b Kluge, p. 661.
    4. ↑ a b Kluge, p. 662.
    5. ↑ a b c Kluge, p. 663.
    6. ↑ a b c d e Kluge, p. 664.
    7. ^ Columns 4 and 5: "Olympic Village for 14,000" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna September 2, 1964, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    8. ↑ a b c Kluge, p. 665.
    9. ↑ Column 2, middle: “Tokyo: Free travel for Olympic participants” . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna August 12, 1964, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    10. ↑ "Sometimes it was a farce. We were like strangers" , welt.de.
    11. ↑ www.sport-komplett.de
    12. ^ Olympic report 1964