This month marks 60 years because the 1964 version of the Olympic Video games befell within the Japanese capital
Sixty years in the past this month, the world witnessed the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a landmark occasion that launched Asia to the worldwide stage of the Olympic Video games.
Not solely was it the primary time the Video games have been hosted in Asia, however it additionally marked a technological milestone as the primary Olympics to be broadcast stay by way of satellite tv for pc.
Whereas Crew GB’s efficiency in 2012 was celebrated because the nation’s best-ever Olympic outing, it’s fascinating to match it to the 1964 haul.
Again then, Nice Britain introduced residence 4 gold medals, seven silvers, one bronze and 5 fourth-place finishes.
Two of the gold medals from Tokyo got here with record-breaking performances. Mary Rand, certainly one of Britain’s standout athletes on the time, took residence gold within the lengthy leap.
On a rain-soaked runway, she started with a UK report leap of 6.59m and by the fifth spherical she shattered the world report, leaping a powerful 6.76m.
Simply three days later, on October 17, 1964, Rand added to her medal tally with a silver within the girls’s pentathlon.
She accomplished her Olympic medal set by profitable bronze within the 4x100m relay alongside team-mates Janet Simpson, Daphne Arden and Dorothy Hyman.
Ann Packer wins in Tokyo (Mark Shearman)
The second world report for the British group in Tokyo got here from Ann Packer within the 800m. Regardless of being a relative novice on the distance, she gained a dramatic race in a world report of two:01.10. With this victory, Packer turned the primary British girl to win an Olympic title on the monitor.
The opposite two golds for Nice Britain in 1964 have been achieved by Ken Matthews within the 20km race stroll and Lynn Davies within the males’s lengthy leap.
Davies delivered the most effective efficiency of his profession with a leap of 8.07m, clinching the highest spot on the rostrum.
Lynn Davies (Mark Shearman)
In whole, 11 world information have been set through the Tokyo Olympics. Among the many most notable was Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila, who clocked a marathon time of two:12:20, and USA’s Bob Hayes, who ran a blistering 10.00 seconds within the 100m remaining.
The Video games additionally noticed different unforgettable performances, akin to New Zealand’s Peter Snell securing a unprecedented 800m and 1500m double.
Peter Snell (Mark Shearman)
Within the 10,000m, America’s Billy Mills pulled off a sensational win, ending practically 50 seconds quicker than his private greatest to take gold and the dramatic males’s discus remaining stood out, with USA’s Al Oerter claiming victory in an exhilarating contest.
Quick ahead to 2021 and Tokyo as soon as once more made historical past by internet hosting the postponed Olympics through the international pandemic. Crew GB walked away from these video games with a smaller medal haul (two silvers and three bronze) however they have been thought of vastly completely different from the 1964 version.
To rejoice the sixtieth anniversary, you could find our unique protection from the 1964 Video games by way of the Athletics Weekly archive.
Athletics Weekly 1964
From the primary ever challenge in December 1945 by means of to the current day, present subscribers to our journal are capable of dip into this useful resource without cost whereas non-subscribers pays simply £3.99 per 30 days for full entry.
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