Games of the XVIII Olympiad. From the history of the Olympics

Even before the outbreak of World War II, Tokyo was chosen as the host of the 1940 Games. However, at that turbulent time, the Japanese authorities chose not to host the Olympics.

The 1964 Games were of great political importance to Japan. The country sought to gain prestige in the world, as quickly as possible to eliminate the political consequences of the Second World War. Japan managed to create an environment in which the Games became the concern of the whole people.

The Japanese authorities and means were not spared. On the eve of the Olympics, a major reconstruction of the city was carried out. Almost all sports facilities have been radically re-equipped and reconstructed, new architecturally unique sports facilities, highways, and hotels have been built in the capital. The two largest complexes - the Olympic Park and Komazawa Park - concentrated 70% of all Olympic facilities.

The organization and holding of the Olympic Games cost more than 2 billion dollars. The efforts have borne fruit. The Tokyo Games, of course, outwardly surpassed all previous ones. The opening and closing festivities of the Games were held on a grand scale and impressively. The success was overwhelming, the competition gathered crowds of spectators.

The Games were attended by 5140 athletes (including 683 women), representing 94 countries of the world. The program has been expanded. Medals were played in 163 types of competitions in 19 sports. Women competed in 7 sports. For the first time the program included volleyball - men and women, and judo.

South Africa no longer received invitations to participate in the Games, Indonesia and North Korea were excluded from the list of participants, while for the first time athletes from 14 countries that had not previously participated in the Olympics came to the Games.

81 Olympic and 32 world records were set.

A brilliant result was shown at the 1964 Games by Soviet weightlifters: not one was left without prizes. Alexei Vakhonin, Rudolf Plyukfelder, Vladimir Golovanov, Leonid Zhabotinsky received gold medals, Vladimir Kaplunov and Yuri Vlasov received silver. Seven medals went to the treasury of the Soviet Union national team. 43 points out of 49 possible! During the competition, 26 out of 28 possible Olympic records were set, 8 world records.

The gymnastics competition was the third Olympic tournament in which outstanding Soviet athletes Larisa Latynina and Boris Shakhlin participated. For the gymnast, it was a farewell Olympic performance. Latynina and Shakhlin were second in the all-around, but managed to become Olympic champions in competitions in certain types: Latynina - in floor exercises, Shakhlin - on the crossbar. In total, Shakhlin won 12 medals at the Olympic Games - 6 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze, Latynina - 18 (9 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze).

The first team place was won by boxers of the USSR - 3 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze medals. The first in their weight categories were Stanislav Stepashkin, Boris Lagutini Valery Popenchenko, who was recognized as the best boxer of the Olympics. By decision of the International Association of Amateur Boxing, he was awarded a challenge prize, the Val Barker Cup - the highest award for an amateur boxer. The performance of Popenchenko, who had a clear advantage over all his opponents, became the decoration of the boxing tournament. Demonstrating an original style of fighting and perfect technique, Popenchenko won the semifinal fight by knockout against the silver medalist of the Roman Olympics, European champion, the famous Polish athlete Tadeusz Walaseka, and in the final already in the first minute he knocked out the German Emil Schulz.

The commotion and discontent of the organizers of the Games was caused by the Dutchman Anton Gessink, having won the prestigious open judo championship.

Judo was included in the program of the Olympic competitions for the first time, and the Japanese, not without reason, believed that they were guaranteed superiority in this sport. Having managed to win in three of the four weight categories, they were shocked that an athlete from the Netherlands became the best in the open championship (that is, a competition without weight restrictions). When it became clear that the Japanese A. Kaminaga was clearly inferior to the Dutchman, there was absolute silence in the hall. Nevertheless, the Japanese duly appreciated Gesink's sportsmanship and talent - a flurry of applause fell upon the winner in a few seconds. The Dutch judoka was one of the strongest athletes of that time. Three times he became the world champion, and won the European championship 14 times.

In classical wrestling competitions, Anatoly Kolesov became the champion of the Olympics, who won all the fights. However, he became famous not so much sports achievements, although in addition to the Olympic Games he twice became the world champion (in 1962 and 1963), how much a huge contribution to the achievements of the Soviet Olympians in all the Games from 1972 to 1988. From 1969 for more than 20 years, until the collapse of the USSR, Kolesov led the preparation of the USSR teams for the Olympic Games . Largely due to his highest professionalism and ability to mobilize a huge team of athletes, coaches, organizers, scientists and service personnel to prepare for competitions, the USSR national team confidently won the subsequent Olympic Games.

At the 1964 Games, Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia defended the marathon title. Never before has an athlete won twice in a marathon distance. Moreover, just a month and a half before the race, he had his appendix removed. Bikila took the win, breaking the world record by 3 minutes. He was sure that he would be able to win at the Games of the next Olympiad, but he got into a car accident and after it was forced to move to wheelchair. However, in 1971, Bikila reappeared on the sports arena: he competed in archery at the World Disabled Games. The athlete hoped that the sport would help him get back on his feet. However, these hopes were not destined to come true. A few years later, the athlete died.

Mary Rend brought Britain the first gold medal in women's athletics and her roommate Ann Packer soon repeated her success, coming first in the 800-meter race.

Compared to previous Games, the situation in fencing has changed significantly. All gold medals in personal and team championship in men and women, the athletes of Hungary won - 4, the USSR - 3 and Poland - 1.

Luck was especially favored by the American swimmer Don Schollander, who brought his country 4 gold medals. The 18-year-old American with a new world record won the 100-meter freestyle and also set a world record in the 400-meter freestyle. He received 2 more gold medals for victories in the 4x100 and 4x200 relay races.

The first gold medal in the history of Soviet swimming was won in Tokyo by 16-year-old Galina Prozumenshchikova in the 200 m breaststroke.

Athletes of the USSR retained the championship in the unofficial team standings, despite the fact that they performed less successfully than in Melbourne and Rome.

The rivalry in the fight for the team victory was much sharper than at previous Games. The greatest number of points (607, 8) was scored by the athletes of the USSR. The Americans, who were second in this indicator, won 581.8 points, and the athletes of the United German Team - 337.5 points. Having won 96 medals (30 gold, 31 silver, 35 bronze), the athletes of the USSR were ahead of the Americans, who got 90 medals (respectively, 36, 26, 28) and in the total number of medals, however, there were more medals of the highest standard among the US Olympians. Athletes of the United German team in the most intense struggle managed to get 50 medals (10, 22, 18).

Galina Prozumenshchikova

Olympic medal (obverse) of the Games of the XVIII Olympiad

Olympic medal (back side) of the Games of the XVIII Olympic Games

For the first time the Olympic Games were held in Asia. The number of participants in the world forum of athletes joined large group countries freed from the yoke of colonialism. 5140 athletes from 93 countries gathered in the capital of Japan. 163 gold medals were played in 22 types of the program.

77 Olympic records were set, of which 35 were world records. In swimming competitions, the Olympians updated their previous achievements at all distances, and at 12 of them they also broke world records.

In the team championship, the athletes of the Soviet Union again won - 607.8 points, 96 medals (30 gold). The US team, which managed to bypass the Soviet delegation in the number of gold awards (36), lost to it in the total number of medals (90) and in the number of points (581.8). 3rd place was taken by the joint team of the GDR and the FRG (52% of the participants were from the GDR) - 337.5 points, 50 medals.

There were 36 Leningraders in the sports delegation of the USSR. They won 15 medals: in individual competitions - 4 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze; in the team - 3 gold, 2 bronze - and received 69.98 points in the team event - 11.51 percent of the total points of the entire USSR delegation.

269 ​​boxers from 56 countries competed in the ring. By the finals, the compositions of pairs in ten weight categories were determined, in six of them the boxers of the USSR were to perform (in two weight categories they had already won 3rd place). No team has ever achieved such success.

Among those who distinguished themselves were two Leningrad boxers, Valery Popenchenko - European champion, five-time winner of the country's championships ... His performance in Tokyo can be called a triumph. In the first fight, his opponent was Mahmoud, a boxer from Pakistan. Immediately after the start of the fight, a series of powerful blows from Leningrad made the opponent refuse to fight. The second duel - with Darki from Ghana - Popenchenko won on points. In the 3rd draw, our compatriot met with the famous Polish boxer Tadeusz Walasek - European champion, two-time silver medalist of the continental championships and winner of the "silver" of the Olympic Games in Rome. The fight between two worthy athletes was remembered for a long time by everyone who watched him. Popenchenko held it extremely purposefully and did not allow the formidable opponent to use the power of his blows to the end, but he attacked persistently and effectively. In the third round, Valery managed to deal a crushing blow: a knockout! The shortest for Popenchenko was the final fight: a boxer from Germany, E. Schultz, was knocked down at the fortieth second, and half a minute later he was knocked out. Jury International Federation boxing awarded the Leningrader the most honorable traditional prize - the Val Barker Challenge Cup, awarded the best boxer Olympic Games, regardless of the weight category.

Being engaged in boxing, Valery Popenchenko successfully continued his studies in graduate school. He brilliantly defended his dissertation and received the title of candidate of technical sciences... In 1975, an accident ended the life of this remarkable man, the standard-bearer of Soviet sports.

Another Leningrader, Vadim Emelyanov, was entrusted with defending the honor of our country's team in the heavy weight category. Like Popenchenko, Vadim began boxing at the Suvorov School. Good physical training, excellent reaction, a strong blow soon attracted the attention of the coaches of the national team of the country. Although the boxer still lacked tournament experience, he was included in the Olympic team. The first two fights Yemelyanov played confidently, rather quickly defeating the Polish boxer Vladislav Enzheevsky, and finished the fight with the Argentinean Santiago Lovell in the second round. And here is the semi-final. The opponent of the Leningrader is American boxer Joe Frazier. In the first round - the advantage for Emelyanov. In the second, the American delivered a strong blow, from which Vadim failed to recover. Having easily won in the final battle, Frazier became the Olympic champion. Emelyanov was awarded a bronze medal. A year later, Fraser turned professional and for three years held the title of absolute world champion among professional boxers.

On the final day of the competition, classical style wrestlers were pleased by Moscow welterweight Anatoly Kolesov, who won the title of champion. Unfortunately, this "gold" was the only highest award of the Soviet team in this tournament. 3 more silver medals were added to her assets, one of which went to Anatoly Goshchin from Leningrad, who competed in the heavy weight category. For Roshchin, this was the first Olympic start, although he was already 32 years old. He spent six meetings on the way to the Olympic medal. And in the first fight, after 4 minutes 4 seconds, he put Finn Toisto Kangasniemi on the shoulder blades. The Romanian Stefan Stingu held out against him for a little over a minute. And over the Czech Petr Kment, the victory was won with a significant advantage. The duel with the strong and experienced Swedish wrestler R. Svensson was very difficult. But in it, the Soviet athlete won on points. In the fifth round, Anatoly's opponent was the West German wrestler Wilfried Dietrich, who held the world and Olympic titles. In a stubborn and approximately equal duel, the decisive factor was the will and perseverance shown by the Leningrader. After the referee's final whistle, he was declared the winner. And then followed by a draw with the mighty giant Hungarian Istvan Kozma. As a result of the tournament, the Hungarian had one losing point less, which brought him 1st place. 2nd place and a silver medal were also awarded to Anatoly Roshchin, who did not know defeat.

The history of judo wrestling dates back to the last century. but olympic view judo became only in 1964 in Tokyo. By that time, the Soviet judo team did not have much experience not only in international, but even in intra-union competitions. However, our wrestlers had an excellent base - sambo wrestling, related to judo. Of the strongest sambists, they decided to complete the team that entered the Tokyo carpet - tatami. The debut was successful. Soviet athletes, of course, could not surpass the Japanese athletes, who won the team first place with 3 gold medals out of 4 played. But 4 bronze medals and the second team total of points, of course, pleased.

Our fellow countryman, who lived in Riga at that time, Aron Bogolyubov, played in the Soviet team. In the first fights, he defeated wrestlers from Thailand, South Vietnam, South Korea and reached the semi-finals, securing 3rd place. In the fight for the 2nd place, Bogolyubov met with the Swiss E. Henny. Leningradets attacked a lot and persistently. It seemed that he was the strongest in this fight. But the opinions of the judges differed, and the victory was given to Henny by a majority of votes. Bogolyubov was awarded the bronze medal.

Lyudmila Khvedosyuk (Pinaeva) from Leningrad took part in the single kayak competition. She arrived in Tokyo as the undisputed favorite, as the owner of the high title of European champion, a multiple winner at the national championships. In the final, the Romanian X. Lauer took the lead, Ludmila was second. Decisive events played out in the last 100 meters of the distance. Lyudmila increased the pace a lot and, having managed to break away from her competitor, finished the race first.

Tokyo performance of Tamara Press was marked with two gold medals. She was considered the leader in the shot put sector, as she held the world record. Here, the silver medalist of the European Championship, an athlete from the GDR Renata Garnsh, Soviet athletes Galina Zybina and Irina Press contested the victory.

On the podium, not far from the shot put sector, Victor Ilyich Alekseev, the mentor of famous champions and record holders, settled down with a movie camera. There are three of his students in the arena. Most of all, he was worried about the "little" Press - Irina. I was much more calmly worried about Galina Zybina. And he was confident in the victory of the "big" Press - Tamara. Three Leningrad women fought the final duel with the strongest rivals in the world.

It was the fifth attempt. Viktor Ilyich clung to the camera. Through the hole in it, he saw how abruptly and athletically Tamara sent the core. A metal ball fell near the world record flag. Alekseev pointed the camera at the electrical panel, where the numbers flashed - 18.34 meters. It was a victory - impressive and beautiful. But, as it turned out, not the only one. His second student - Galina - showed the third result. And the "small" Press remained sixth. His pupils performed brilliantly!

In the 12 years that have passed since the XV Games, Zybina improved her world record, which brought her a gold medal in Helsinki, by more than 2 meters! Yes, and after the Olympics in Tokyo, for another 4 years, Zybina was among the strongest shot putters in the world.

In the discus throw competition, Tamara Press managed to send a kilogram projectile 57 meters 27 centimeters in the fifth attempt and take 1st place, ahead of Ingrid Lotz, an athlete from the GDR, by 6 centimeters.

The Olympic debut of the pentathlon (before that it had changed several times) took place in 1964 in Tokyo, where 20 strongest athletes from 15 countries competed for the championship. The Soviet team featured Irina Press and Galina Bystrova from Gorky. In the very first start, Press made a bid for victory: together with a teammate, she ran the fastest - in 10.7 seconds - 80 meters hurdles. Then Irina stunned her rivals in the shot put.
“When her projectile flew over seventeen meters, it seemed to me that it was not Irina Press in the sector, but her sister Tamara,” Mary Rand, the main rival of our athletes, told reporters.

It was she who managed to beat Irina by 9 centimeters in the sector for high jumps. However, in the sum of three performances, Rand lost to the leader by 328 points. On the second and final day of the competition, Rand made a great long jump - 6 meters 55 centimeters. After all, here in Tokyo, she won a gold medal in this particular kind of athletics. The Leningrad girl also had a good result - 6 meters 24 centimeters.

15 centimeters more than 2 months before, she showed in Kiev, setting a world record. The last type of pentathlon: 200 meters run. Rand excelled here too, but managed to win back from Irina Press only half a second. However, this was too little to surpass the leader.

Irina Press scored an unprecedented amount of points in the pentathlon - 5246. This victory, adorned with a world record, was doubly joyful. Rand - 5035 points 2nd place. Bystrova, finishing the competition with 4956 points, became the bronze medalist.

Sports fans, not without good reason, counted on victory in the long jump from Leningrad Tatyana Shchelkanova. Her "calling card" looked impressive: European champion, world record holder. The last achievement - 6 meters 70 centimeters - was established by her shortly before the Games. But forecasts and assumptions are one thing, battles at the Olympic Stadium are quite another! The Englishwoman Mary Rand, the one who won the silver medal in the pentathlon, not only fought the world record holder in the long jump, but, landing at around 6 meters 76 centimeters, achieved a double victory - she became the owner of the world record and the Olympic gold medal. Tatyana showed a weak result for herself - 6 meters 42 centimeters, losing to the Polish athlete Irena Kirshenstein. True, in the next two years, Tatyana was able to bring her personal achievement and the country's record to 6 meters 73 centimeters, but she never managed to return the world record.

And another one of our compatriots did not justify the hopes of numerous fans of the "Queen of Sports" - javelin thrower Elvira Ozolina. Elvira arrived in Tokyo with very high titles: the champion of the Olympic Games, Europe, who set world records three times. Moreover, the last of them - 61 meters 38 centimeters - was registered just a month and a half before the tournament in Tokyo.

But sporting happiness was deceptive. In the morning qualifying competition, when the right to participate in the main fight for medals was determined, Muscovite Elena Gorchakova distinguished herself by setting a new world record - 62 meters 40 centimeters. The main struggle for the right to climb the podium unfolded in the evening. But our athletes seem to have been changed. Gorchakova threw the javelin more than 5 meters closer than in the morning, and took only 3rd place. And Elvira somehow went wrong all at once - the spear, as they say, did not fly. The result was disappointing - 54 meters 81 centimeters and 5th place. But for success, it was necessary, judging by the capabilities of Ozolina, not so much: the Romanian champion Mihaela Penes threw a javelin at 60 meters 54 centimeters.

If achievements were recorded in terms of the number of permanent victories at the championships of the USSR, then, undoubtedly, the Leningrad hurdler Anatoly Mikhailov would have been the record holder among athletes: annually, from 1957 to 1966, i.e. 10 years in a row, he won the title of national champion in 110 meters hurdles. For more than 15 years, Anatoly was the owner of the country's record in this kind of athletics. Performed three times Olympic Games. In Melbourne, the young athlete dropped out of the fight in the preliminary competitions, in Rome - reached the semi-finals. In Tokyo, he performed well and fought on equal terms with the strongest hurdlers in the world, whose personal achievements surpassed the record of the Leningrader. Anatoly Mikhailov finished third, covering the distance in 13.7 seconds, repeating his record time, only 0.1 seconds behind American Haye Jones.

As in Rome, Soviet fencers performed with great success. According to the total points in the team championship, our sports team took 1st place. Of the 8 gold medals that were to be played, Soviet athletes won 3. The two teams that won gold medals included Leningrad fencers - foil fencer Viktor Zhdanovich and saber fencer Boris Melnikov. The team of foil fencers again won the title of the strongest team in the world.

The Soviet gymnasts again distinguished themselves by continuing the victorious relay race, the start of which was taken in Helsinki. But this time the fight for the team championship was more acute. The rapidly progressing gymnasts of Japan not only competed with Soviet athletes, but also, having won 5 gold medals out of 8, outran our team in terms of points. In the women's competitions, the best were Soviet gymnasts, who won 3 gold medals out of 6, and in the other three types - silver.

The main part of the women's team was Tamara Manina from Leningrad. She successfully completed the exercises on her favorite projectile - the balance beam, losing only 0.1 points to the Czechoslovak gymnast Vera Chaslavskaya, and won the silver medal. As one of the winners in the team championship, Tamara was awarded a gold medal.

The sports path of champions begins in different ways. Someone is taking their first steps in childhood, and someone will make his debut at major competitions as a mature person. The Leningrad equestrian Ivan Kizimov entered the Olympic arena when he was 36 years old. When our compatriot started in Tokyo, it was only his second international competitions. He was given the task of entering the top ten. And he took exactly 10th place. This was enough to win the 3rd team place in dressage together with Muscovites Sergey Filatov and Ivan Kalita and become the owner of the bronze medal.

Competitions in Tokyo became for Ivan Mikhailovich the first of the four Olympics in which he competed, and the bronze medal of the XVIII Games was the first of 4 Olympic medals won by a wonderful athlete.

Leningrad cyclists also competed at the Tokyo Olympics. Here, however, they looked noticeably weaker than in Rome. The best achievement was 5th place in the team race on the highway, where 3 of our countrymen were in the Soviet quartet - Anatoly Olizarenko, Yuri Melikhov and Alexei Petrov.

IX Winter Olympic Games were held in Innsbruck from 29 January to 9 February 1964.

City selection

Austrian representatives have always taken an active part in the work Olympic Movement and the IOC, and very much expected to bring more Games-1960 to Innsbruck. To do this, they began to build a new ice arena, a skating rink, ski lifts and jumping hills, as well as roads, hotels, restaurants and bridges. After that, Austria was very upset. But they did not despair, but continued to prepare. And by decision of the 55th session of the IOC, the city of Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol region, was chosen as the host city of the IX Winter Olympic Games. The rivals of the Austrian city - Canadian Calgary and Finnish Lahti scored 12 and 1 votes, respectively, against 55 votes for Innsbruck.

Preparing for the Games

Innsbruck perfectly prepared for the Games, new sports facilities were built and the existing ones were reconstructed. However, the thaw sharply complicated the situation of the competition. The special services, which consisted mainly of the military, had to move 15,000 cubic meters of snow from the hollows to the toboggan, bobsleigh and ski slopes. It was necessary to restore the snow cover in the literal sense with their own hands and feet. As a result, the competition was held at a very high level.

Snow delivery to Innsbruck Olympic venues

The Winter Games of 1964 gathered a record number of spectators - more than a million people visited Innsbruck's sports facilities in 12 days. Competitions in skiing and hockey.

The 1964 Winter Olympics was the largest in history. More than a thousand athletes (197 of them women) from 37 countries of the world took part in it. For the first time, teams from Mongolia, India and North Korea came to the games. And the teams of the GDR and the FRG acted as a united front, so officially there were 36 teams at the Olympics.

Games emblem

The coat of arms of the city of Innsbruck is represented on the emblem of the Games. The coat of arms depicts a bridge over the Inn River, from which the name of the city of Innsbruck is derived. The bridge connects the old town with the district of Hötting.

Official poster of the Games

12 artists from Austria participated in the competition for the best poster of the Olympics. But only one won. Wilhelm Jarushka presented the symbol of the Olympics in the form of a stylized snowflake on a black background, in the central ray of which the Olympic rings are inscribed.

Sports

For the first time, luge appeared on the program of the Winter Olympic Games, and bobsleigh competitions returned. 34 sets of medals were played in 10 sports, including biathlon, bobsleigh, alpine skiing, figure skating, ski jumping, skating, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, luge and hockey.

USSR at the 1964 Winter Games

The USSR national team, represented in Innsbruck by 69 athletes (52 men and 17 women), confidently won for the third time in a row. On account of Soviet athletes 25 medals (11 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze). The second place was taken by the hosts of the competition, the Austrians (4-5-3), and the third place was taken by the Norwegian team (3-6-6). Representatives of the national team of the Soviet Union participated in all types Olympic program, except for single figure skating, luge and bobsleigh.

torch relay

For the first time in the history of the Games, the Olympic flame in honor of the Winter Olympics was lit in ancient Olympia in the Sacred Grove near the temple of Hera. This event took place on January 22, 1964. The high priestess, accompanied by the priestesses of the temple of Hera, carried the Olympic flame to the building of the Olympic Academy and handed it over to the representatives of Innsbruck, the host city of the IX Winter Olympic Games in 1964. This solemn ceremony was attended by Crown Prince Constantine, representatives of state and church organizations of Greece, the heads of the IOC and the Greek NOC, the Austrian Ambassador to Greece and other officials and honored guests. The national anthems of Austria were performed in Greece, the head of the Austrian delegation made a short speech of thanks.

Olympic torch of the 1964 Innsbruck Games

Olympic torch relay

During the day, the Olympic flame was stored in the building of the NOC of Greece, and on January 23, 1964, an escort of 16 people delivered the Olympic torch to Athens airport. The plane headed for Vienna. On January 24, 1964, the Olympic flame arrived in Innsbruck, whose Olympic stadium was decorated with the national flags of 36 countries participating in the Games.

The opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the IX Olympic Games took place on January 29, 1964. The solemn speech was delivered by Adolf Scherf, at that time the President of the Republic of Austria.

After the parade participants left and lined up in the Olympic arena, fanfares and timpani sounded. To the sound of the Olympic anthem, the IOC flag was hoisted on the flagpole, and at the same time the fire was lit in the Olympic cup of the arena. Then Austrian bobsledder Paul Aste took the Olympic oath and fireworks were fired.

The standard-bearer of the USSR national team was the famous skater, four-time Olympic champion Evgeny Grishin.

The solemn opening ceremony of the IX Winter Olympic Games in 1964, which lasted about an hour and a half, was attended by more than 1,200 people representing 36 countries participating in the Games.

Closing ceremony

First, the traditional parade of participating countries took place. Standard-bearers with the state flags of their countries walked ahead of their teams. After the parade, IOC President Avery Brundage, accompanied by two soldiers of the Tyrolean Guard, went up to the tribune for guests of honor and announced the closing of the IX Winter Olympic Games. The Olympic flame went out, the Games went down in history ...

In Innsbruck, for the first time in the history of the Olympic Movement, an award was given for the observance of the principles of nobility. It was given to the Italian bobsledder Eugenio Monti, who was in the lead with Sergio Siopres. He gave his bean's mounting bolt to competitors Robin Dixon and Anthony Nash from the UK, who were left without their own spare part during the descent. As a result, the British celebrated the victory, and Monty was left with bronze.

At the IX Winter Olympic Games, for the first time, participants began to record up to a hundredth of a second, which made it possible to avoid a large number of identical results.

On the opening day of the Games, West German figure skaters Marika Kilyus and Hans-Jurgen Baumler won. Two years later, they were disqualified and deprived of awards, as it turned out that before the start of the Olympics, the athletes entered into a professional contract, although the rules of the IOC prohibited the participation of professional athletes in competitions. After another 21 years, the athletes managed to prove that before the Olympics-64 they had never performed at professional tournaments. In December 1987, by decision of the IOC, the medals were returned to them.

The capital of Japan, Tokyo, was supposed to host the Olympic Games back in 1940.
As you know, the Olympiad did not take place due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Tokyo bid to host Summer Olympics 1960, but then the IOC gave preference to Rome.
And finally, in 1964, the Olympic Games were held for the first time on the Asian continent.

Preparing for the Tokyo Olympics

The municipality of Tokyo and the organizing committee of the XVIII Olympic Games have done a great deal of preparatory work for the world sports festival.

A huge number of old dilapidated buildings were demolished in the city, new highways, road junctions and bridges were built.
The existing ones were reconstructed and new sports facilities were built, equipped with the most modern technologies at that time.

The Tokyo Olympics has become latest games where athletes competed in running along the cinder track.
Also, these games last used manual time synchronization.

Opening of the 1964 Olympiad

The grand opening of the games of the XVIII Olympiad took place on October 10, 1964.
The Olympic flame was lit by the Japanese athlete Yoshinori Sakai, who was born on August 6, 1945, on the day of the atomic bombing of the city of Hiroshima.
With this gesture of goodwill, Japan called for world peace.

5,140 athletes from 93 countries marched in front of the stands of the Olympic Stadium.

For the first time, representatives of Mongolia, the Dominican Republic and Nepal performed at the games.
For pursuing a policy of racial discrimination, South Africa was not allowed to participate in the Tokyo 1968 Olympics.

USSR national team at the 1964 Summer Olympics

The USSR team that competed at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics included 319 athletes (256 men and 63 women).
Despite the fact that we lost to the US team in terms of the number of gold medals, the Soviet team was the first in the overall medal standings.

In Tokyo, for the first time, the Olympic volleyball tournament was held, which was won by the USSR men's team, thus becoming the first ever Olympic champions in this sport. The women came second.

Basketball players won the fourth consecutive silver medal at the Olympics.
The athletics team, wrestlers, boxers and fencers performed well.
For the first time gold was won in swimming.

As always, the USSR national gymnastics team was out of competition.
Victor Lissitzky won 4 silver, which is a unique result.

The main character was Larisa Latynina, who became a nine-time winner in Tokyo Olympic champion and the owner of the world's largest collection of Olympic awards in the history of sports.
At three Olympiads she won 18 medals (9 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze).

In total, medals were won in 18 sports, of which gold in 11 sports (light and weightlifting, volleyball, gymnastics, rowing and canoeing, rowing, pentathlon, fencing, boxing, swimming and wrestling).

Medals by sport