東京オリンピック（Games of the XVIII Olympiad）は、1964年(昭和39年)に日本の東京で開かれた第18回夏季オリンピック。
The 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Tokyo had been awarded with the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki because of Japan’s invasion of China, before ultimately being canceled because of World War II. The 1964 Summer Games were the first Olympics held in Asia, and the first time South Africa was barred from taking part due to its apartheid system in sports.[1] (South Africa was, however, allowed to compete at the 1964 Summer Paralympics, also held in Tokyo, where it made its Paralympic Games début.[2]) These games were also the first to be telecast internationally. The games were telecast to the United States using Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, and from there to Europe using Relay 1.
Tokyo won the rights to the Games on May 26, 1959, at the 55th IOC Session in Munich, West Germany, over bids from Detroit, Brussels and Vienna.
Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser won the 100 m freestyle event for the third time in a row, a feat matched by Vyacheslav Ivanov in rowing’s single scull event.
Don Schollander (USA) won four gold medals in swimming.
Abebe Bikila became the first person to win the Olympic marathon twice.
New Zealand’s Peter Snell won a gold medal in both the 800 m and 1500 m.
American Billy Mills, a little-known distance runner, shocked everyone when he won the gold in the men’s 10,000 m. No American had won it before and no American has won it since.
Bob Hayes won the 100 m title in a time of 10.0 seconds, equaling the world record. He had run the distance in 9.9 seconds in the semifinal but this was not recognized as a world record as it was wind assisted. He went on to win a Super Bowl ring as a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Joe Frazier, future heavyweight champion of the world, won a gold medal for the USA in heavyweight boxing.
This was the last Summer Olympics to use a cinder running track for athletic events, and the first to use fiberglass poles for pole vaulting.
Unfortunately for Japan, several big international events also took attention during the Olympics, including the sudden removal of Nikita Khrushchev and the first nuclear test in China.
The nation of Malaysia, which had formed the previous year by a union of Malaya, British North Borneo and Singapore, competed for the first time in the Games.
The U.S. men’s swimming team won all but three gold medals (7 out of 10).
日本で初めてのオリンピックである。また、アジア地域における初のオリンピックとなった。歴史的には、第二次世界大戦で敗戦した日本が、再び国際社会に復帰するシンボル的な意味を持った。
また、1940年代から1960年代にかけてヨーロッパ諸国やアメリカによる植民地支配を破り、次々と独立を成し遂げたアジアやアフリカ諸国による初出場が相次ぎ、過去最高の出場国数となった。
開会式は10月10日、閉会式は10月24日に行なわれた。開会宣言は昭和天皇、組織委員会会長は安川第五郎、準備委員長は新田純興であった。開会式の10月10日は、1966年以降体育の日として親しまれるようになったが、体育の日は2000年より10月の第2月曜日となっている。10月10日が選ばれた理由について「東京の晴れの特異日であったことから」とよく言われるが、実際には10月10日は統計的に晴れが多い日とは言いがたい。
詳細は「特異日」を参照
