At the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

in Tokyo, eighteen

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

events were contested, ten for men and eight for women. There were a total of 405 participants from 42 countries competing. For the first time, the 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay for men and the 400 metres individual medley for both men and women were contested. Olympic records were broken in all events and the world record was broken in ten events. This competition also marked the debut of electronic touchpads for timing. 15-year-old Sharon Stouder won four medals, three of them gold.

Events

Swimming at the 1964 Olympics featured a total of 18 events (10 for men and 8 for women). On the men's side, the 100 metre backstroke was removed, but the 200 metre backstroke, 4× 100 metre freestyle relay, and the 400 metre individual medley was added. On the women's side, the 400 metre individual medley was added. The following events were contested (all pool events are

long course An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Champion ...

, and distances are in meters): * Freestyle: 100, 200, 400, and 1500 (men's); 100, 400 (women's) *

Backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

: 100 and 200; *

Breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

: 100 and 200; *

Butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

: 100 and 200; *

Individual medley Medley swimming is a combination of four different swimming strokes ( freestyle (usually front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as ...

: 200 and 400; * Relays: 4 × 100 free, 4 × 200 free, 4 × 100 medley (men's); 4 × 100 free, 4 × 100 medley (women's)

Participating nations

405 swimmers from 42 nations competed.

Medal table

Medal summary

Men's events

Women's events

Gallery of the medalists

Some of the Olympic medalists in Tokyo: File:Don Schollander 1964.jpg, Don Schollander, winner of the 100-metre freestyle, 400-metre freestyle, 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay, and 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay. File:Jed Graef 1964.jpg, Jed Graef, winner of the 200-metre backstroke. File:Fred Schmidt 1964.jpg, Fred Schmidt, winner of the 4 × 100-metre medley relay. File:Dick Roth 1964.jpg, Dick Roth, winner of the 400-metre individual medley. File:Donna de Varona 1961.jpg,

Donna de Varona Donna de Varona Pinto (née Donna Elizabeth de Varona; born April 26, 1947) is an American former swimmer, Olympic champion, activist, and television sportscaster. Biography Swimming career de Varona attended Santa Clara High School, whose sw ...

, winner of the 400-metre individual medley and 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay. File:Dawn Fraser 1958.jpg,

Dawn Fraser Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer, eight-time olympic medallist, a 15-year world record holder in the 100-metre freestyle, and former politician. Controversial, yet the winner of countless honours, ...

, winner of the 100-metre freestyle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 1964 Summer Olympics

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

Events at the 1964 Summer Olympics 1964 in swimming