TOKYO, Japan, October 10. FIFTY years ago, Tokyo brought the Olympic Games to Asia for the first time, and all indications were that the Japanese were exceptional hosts. The International Olympic Committee apparently took note of their previous hosting gig, giving Tokyo the 2020 Olympics.
Japan’s invasion of China gave the IOC reason to cancel the Tokyo bid for the 1940 Olympics, an event that was canceled anyway due to World War II. Tokyo was determined to make good on a second chance, and a couple of historic moments took place.
It was the first Olympics beamed to televisions around the world via satellite, allowing viewers to see their favorite athletes in a more timely manner – though not live for many countries. The Japanese didn’t shy away from recognizing the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, presenting bombing survivor Yoshinori Sakai to light the Olympic Flame. Sakai was born on the day the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima.
Larissa Latynina was making history in gymnastics, earning five medals in Tokyo to bring her Olympic total to 18. Michael Phelps was the person to break that record with 22 in London in 2012. Billy Mills became the first and only American to win the 10,000-meter run, and future heavyweight boxing champion Joe Fraser won the gold medal in boxing.
In the pool, several swimmers made the Tokyo Games an event to remember for generations. At the top of the list is Australian Dawn Fraser, who won the 100 freestyle for the third consecutive Olympics. Before her, no one had been able to win the same individual event three times in swimming, though many had won twice. Fraser was 27 years old at the time, fairly advanced in age for an elite swimmer at the time. But she was able to hold off American Sharon Stouder for the historic gold and a place in the record books. She would stand alone in the exclusive threepeat club for 40 years, when Hungary’s Krisztina Egerszegi won the 200 backstroke. Sixteen years later, Phelps became the first man to threepeat, doing so in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly.
Here’s how Swimming World Magazine reported on the race in the November 1964 issue:
At the gun, the Aussie swimmer (Fraser) took the lead with her powerful arm stroke. She had about 2 feet on Miss Stouder at the 50 meter mark. The California youngster rallied and stroked even to the leader, only to see her opponent burst forth to win by about two feet. It was a tremendous win for the defending champion, a school teacher, who almost lost her career from an automobile accident last March. Her winning time of 59.5 set a new Olympic record.
Miss Stouder gave it a gallant try, and tasted defeat for the last time as she was to stage an Olympic performance that rivaled Don Schollander. Her time of 59.9 for the silver medal made her the second woman to break a minute for the 100 meter event.
Miss Fraser said she does not intend to retire, indicating that she may go after her fourth straight gold medal at the Mexico Games. The Aussie swimmer said, “I am very proud of my third straight victory. … I was very nervous and remained nervous until about halfway through the first lap.”
Fraser did not get the opportunity to shoot for a fourth Olympic gold in the 100 free. After she finished swimming, she was charged with stealing a flag from the emperor’s castle. The charges were dismissed, but the Australian swimming federation imposed a 10-year suspension on Fraser. As the 1968 Games approached, the federation lifted the suspension, but Fraser decided to not come out of retirement.
Don Schollander put his stamp on Olympic history by winning four gold medals. The 18-year-old was the first swimmer to win four gold medals at one Olympics, a feat that would go unmatched until Mark Spitz’s seven-for-seven in 1972. Schollander set the world record in the 400 free with a 4:12.2 and an Olympic record of 53.4 in the 100 free, as well as joining his American teammates on the 400 free relay and 400 medley relay. Schollander would have likely won six gold medals if the 200 freestyle – his best event – had been a part of the 1960 Games, and he had been a part of the 400 medley relay. Steve Clark handled freestyle duties for Team USA in the medley relay despite not swimming the 100 free in Tokyo. Clark led off the 400 free relay with a world record time of 52.9, cementing his spot on the medley relay and giving him three gold medals at the meet.
In describing the work he put in to win four golds at one meet, Schollander was quoted saying the following in Swimming World Magazine:
”For something like this you train 11 month a year, twice a day and even three times a day in the summer,” Schollander said. “I get up at seven in the morning and practice from 9 to 10, 12 to 1 and 6 to 8. It doesn’t leave time for much of anything else.
“Somebody figured out if I had trained as hard and as long to become a golfer, as I’ve done swimming, I probably could be getting ready to make a lot of money on the professional golf circuit now,” he said.”
The 1964 Games marked the debut of the men’s 400 free relay, which boded well for Clark and Schollander. It was also the first time the 400 individual medley was contested, and it featured a gold medal for Donna de Varona, now a legendary figure in Olympic history and in the fight for equality in sports. De Varona would capitalize on her Olympic success with a career as one of the first female sports reporters in the United States and co-founder of the Women’s Sport Foundation. The men’s 400 IM was won by Dick Roth, who was feeling the effects of appendicitis just before the final but refused surgery and won the gold medal in world record time.
”I felt a little weak from illness, but once I started to swim, I just went out as I had planned,” Roth was quoted as saying in Swimming World Magazine. I knew I would trail after the butterfly and backstroke. My backstroke leg was almost 2-1/2 seconds faster than when I had set my world record last July.”
The 1964 Olympics was the first time bona fide swimming stars were made as they were competing, thanks to the speed at which video was sent to other countries. This was also the last time East and West Germany competed together under one flag at the Olympics. The East German women would not begin to show their strength in the sport until the 1973 world championships, making their most infamous Olympic appearance at the 1976 Games.