1964 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 3000 m obstacle (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	3000 meter obstacle course
gender	Men
Attendees	29 athletes from 19 countries
Competition location	Tokyo Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	October 15, 1964 (preliminary) October 17, 1964 (final)
Medalist Gaston Roelants ( BEL )   Maurice Herriott ( GBR )   Ivan Byelyayev ( URS )

The men's 3000 meter obstacle course at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo was held on October 15 and 17, 1964 in the Tokyo Olympic Stadium. 29 athletes took part.

The Belgian Gaston Roelants became Olympic champion . He won ahead of the British Maurice Herriott and Iwan Bjeljajew from the Soviet Union.

Three Germans started: Dieter Hartmann , Alfred Döring and Rainer Dörner failed in the heats. Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	8: 29.6 min	Gaston Roelants ( Belgium )	Leuven , Belgium	September 7, 1963
Olympic record	8: 34.2 min	Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak ( Poland )	Final of Rome , Italy	September 3, 1960

Conducting the competition

The athletes started a total of three heats on October 15th. The three best starters as well as the following fastest qualified for the final on October 17th.

Time schedule

October 15, 3:50 p.m .: preliminary runs

October 17, 4:50 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Tokyo local time (UTC + 9)

The athletes directly qualified for the next round are highlighted in light blue, those who have qualified over time are highlighted in light green.

Prelims

Date: October 16, 1964, from 3:50 p.m.

Weather conditions: sunny, 21–22 ° C, humidity 51–58%

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Manuel de Oliveira	Portugal	8: 40.8 min
2	Ivan Byelyayev	Soviet Union	8: 42.0 min
3	Ben Assou El Ghazi	Morocco	8: 42.8 min
4th	Vic Zwolak	United States	8: 43.6 min
5	Zenji Okuzawa	Japan	8: 50.0 min
6th	Slavko Špan	Yugoslavia	8: 57.6 min
7th	József Mácsár	Hungary	9: 08.8 min
8th	Dieter Hartmann	Germany	9: 09.2 min
9	Jean Toffey Ekonian	Ivory Coast	9: 47.4 min

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Maurice Herriott	Great Britain	8: 33.0 min	OR
2	Lars-Erik Gustafsson	Sweden	8: 34.2 min
3	George Young	United States	8: 34.2 min
4th	Guy Texereau	France	8: 34.6 min
5	Lazar Naroditski	Soviet Union	8: 43.0 min
6th	Alfred Döring	Germany	8: 43.2 min
7th	Taketsugu Saruwatari	Japan	8: 46.6 min
8th	Edward Szklarczyk	Poland	8: 48.0 min
9	Labidi Ayachi	Tunisia	9: 02.0 min
10	Cahit oil	Turkey	9: 15.6 min

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Adolfas Aleksejūnas	Soviet Union	8: 31.8 min	OR
2	Gaston Roelants	Belgium	8: 33.8 min
3	Ernie Pomfret	Great Britain	8: 45.2 min
4th	Jeff Fishback	United States	8: 50.2 min
5	Benjamin Kogo	Kenya	8: 51.0 min
6th	Rainer Dörner	Germany	8: 55.0 min
7th	Attila Simon	Hungary	8: 57.8 min
8th	Trevor Vincent	Australia	8: 58.8 min
9	Saburo Yokomizo	Japan	9: 04.6 min
10	Dilbagh Singh Clergy	Malaysia	9: 18.8 min

final

Olympic Champion Gaston Roelants (BEL)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Gaston Roelants	Belgium	8: 30.8 min	OR
2	Maurice Herriott	Great Britain	8: 32.4 min
3	Ivan Byelyayev	Soviet Union	8: 33.8 min
4th	Manuel de Oliveira	Portugal	8: 36.2 min
5	George Young	United States	8: 38.2 min
6th	Guy Texereau	France	8: 38.6 min
7th	Adolfas Aleksejūnas	Soviet Union	8: 39.0 min
8th	Lars-Erik Gustafsson	Sweden	8: 41.8 min
9	Ben Assou El Ghazi	Morocco	8: 43.6 min
10	Ernie Pomfret	Great Britain	8: 43.8 min

Date: October 17, 1964, 4:50 p.m.

Weather conditions: sunny, approx. 20 ° C, humidity approx. 69%

The favorite was the Belgian Gaston Roelants, world record holder and European champion from 1962 . Since August 5, 1961, he has remained unbeaten in 25 races. The level in this discipline was already very high in the preliminary stages. The Olympic record was improved twice and the new record holder Adolfas Aleksejūnas from the USSR even defeated Roelants in the third run. After the heats, the final result was more open than expected.

Two days later, in the finale, Roelants put all their eggs in one basket right from the start. In 1960 in Rome he was fourth, now he wanted the gold medal. After one kilometer, Roelants had built a small lead of around five meters, but Aleksejūnas, the French Guy Texereau and, surprisingly, the Portuguese Manuel de Oliveira were still fairly close at first. Then the leading Belgian tightened again considerably. Now nobody could follow anymore and Roelants increased the distance to 50 meters. In the last lap he didn't have to give everything, his Olympic victory was certain and he won the race with a new Olympic record. Behind him, the pursuers were now fighting for the other medals. The Briton Maurice Herriott was the first to take the initiative and secured the silver medal with a long sprint. Third was Ivan Bjeljajew from the USSR and fourth was the Portuguese outsider Manuel de Oliveira, who improved his country's record for the second time after the heat.

Gaston Roelants won the first Belgian Olympic victory in this discipline.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 269f

Video

• 3,000 METERS STEEPLE - NO SOUND , published July 21, 2015 on youtube.com, accessed October 27, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 3000 m obstacle , accessed October 27, 2017
• Official report of the Olympic Games 1964 p. 38f engl. (PDF), accessed on October 27, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 553 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 27, 2017
2. ↑ Official report of the 1964 Olympic Games ( memento of the original from June 30, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 17 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 27, 2017 
3. ↑ Official report of the 1964 Olympic Games ( memento of the original from June 30, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 38 (English) at library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 27, 2017 
4. ↑ Official report of the 1964 Olympic Games ( memento of the original from June 30, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 39 (English) from library.la84.org (PDF), accessed on October 27, 2017 
5. ↑ SportsReference , accessed October 27, 2017