Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles was the longer of the men's hurdle races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 14 October, 15 October, and 16 October 1964. 39 athletes from 26 nations competed, with 1 more not starting in the first round. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The first round was held on 14 October, with the semifinals on 15 October and the final on 16 October.[1] The event was won by Rex Cawley of the United States, the nation's sixth consecutive and 11th overall victory in the men's 400 metres hurdles. For the first time since 1952, the Americans did not sweep the event. John Cooper earned Great Britain's first medal in the event since 1928 with his silver; Salvatore Morale took Italy's first-ever medal in the 400 metres hurdles with his bronze.

Men's 400 metres hurdles
at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Yemeni stamp commemorating 1964 Olympic athletics
VenueOlympic Stadium
Dates14–16 October
Competitors39 from 26 nations
Winning time49.6
Medalists
Rex Cawley
 United States
John Cooper
 Great Britain
Salvatore Morale
 Italy

Background

This was the 13th time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

None of the six finalists from the 1960 Games returned. American Rex Cawley was the favorite after setting a world record at the U.S. trials; he was also the 1963 AAU champion.[2]

Malaysia, Peru, Senegal, and Uganda each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 13th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every edition of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition used the three-round format used every Games since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.

The format also continued to use the "fastest loser" system introduced in 1960. The 1964 event standardized later-round heat sizes at 8 rather than 6.

There were 5 quarterfinal heats with 8 athletes each (before one withdrawal). The top 3 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals, along with the next fastest hurdler overall. The 16 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 8 athletes each, with the top 4 in each semifinal advancing to the 8-man final.[2]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record Rex Cawley (USA)49.1Los Angeles, United States13 September 1964
Olympic record Glenn Davis (USA)49.3Rome, Italy2 September 1960

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

Date Time Round
Wednesday, 14 October 196414:00Quarterfinals
Thursday, 15 October 196414:15Semifinals
Friday, 16 October 196416:00Final

Results

Quarterfinals

The top three runners in each of the 5 heats as well as the fastest remaining runner advanced.

Quarterfinal 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1John Cooper Great Britain50.5Q
2Gary Knoke Australia50.9Q
3Roberto Frinolli Italy51.2Q
4Edvīns Zāģeris Soviet Union51.5q
5Bill Gairdner Canada53.8
6Helmut Haid Austria54.6
Horst Gieseler United Team of GermanyDNF
Nicola Dimitrov Dagorov BulgariaDNS

Quarterfinal 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Rex Cawley United States50.8Q
2Juan Carlos Dyrzka Argentina51.1Q
3Peter Warden Great Britain51.6Q
4Joachim Singer United Team of Germany52.1
5Boguslaw Gierajewski Poland52.8
6Samir Ambrose Vincent Iraq54.0
7Kiyoo Yui Japan54.7
8Michael Ryan Australia58.0

Quarterfinal 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Wilfried Geeroms Belgium51.2Q
2Ken Roche Australia51.5Q
3Jay Luck United States51.7Q
4Jerom Ochana Uganda52.4
5Robert Poirier France52.6
6Valeriu Jurca Romania52.7
7Kimaru Songok Kenya54.5
8Mansour ul-Haq Awan Pakistan55.3

Quarterfinal 4

Anisimov is listed in the Official Report results for heat 4 as being a competitor for the United States; however, the Official Report lists his nationality as Soviet in all other instances in the report.

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Salvatore Morale Italy51.1Q
2Vasyl Anisimov Soviet Union51.7Q
3Ferdinand Haas United Team of Germany52.2Q
4Mike Hogan Great Britain52.5
5Keiji Ogushi Japan53.6
6José Cavero Peru53.7
7Karu Selvaratnam Malaysia53.8
Djani Kovac YugoslaviaDSQ

Quarterfinal 5

Heat 5
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Billy Hardin United States51.3Q
2Víctor Maldonado Venezuela51.6Q
3Jaakko Tuominen Finland51.8Q
4Jean-Jacques Behm France52.2
5Keiko Iijima Japan52.8
6Mamadou Sarr Senegal53.2
7Amrit Pal India53.3
8Imants Kukličs Soviet Union53.3

Semifinals

The fastest four runners of each of the two semifinals advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Rex Cawley United States49.8Q
2Roberto Frinolli Italy50.2Q
3Gary Knoke Australia50.6Q
4Wilfried Geeroms Belgium51.0Q
5Peter Warden Great Britain51.2
6Ferdinand Haas United Team of Germany51.6
7Edvin Zageris Soviet Union52.2
8Jaakko Tuominen Finland54.0

Semifinal 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1John Cooper Great Britain50.4Q
2Jay Luck United States50.4Q
3Salvatore Morale Italy50.4Q
4Vasyl Anisimov Soviet Union50.7Q
5Ken Roche Australia50.8
6Billy Hardin United States50.9
7Victor Maldonado Venezuela51.1
8Juan Carlos Dyrzka Argentina53.1

Final

RankAthleteNationTime
Rex Cawley United States49.6
John Cooper Great Britain50.1
Salvatore Morale Italy50.1
4Gary Knoke Australia50.4
5Jay Luck United States50.5
6Roberto Frinolli Italy50.7
7Vasyl Anisimov Soviet Union51.1
8Wilfried Geeroms Belgium51.4

Results summary

RankAthleteNationQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
Rex Cawley United States50.849.849.6
John Cooper Great Britain50.550.450.1
Salvatore Morale Italy51.150.450.1
4Gary Knoke Australia50.950.650.4
5Jay Luck United States51.750.450.5
6Roberto Frinolli Italy51.250.250.7
7Vasyl Anisimov Soviet Union51.750.751.1
8Wilfried Geeroms Belgium51.251.051.4
9Ken Roche Australia51.550.8Did not advance
10Billy Hardin United States51.350.9
11Victor Maldonado Venezuela51.651.1
12Peter Warden Great Britain51.651.2
13Ferdinand Haas United Team of Germany52.251.6
14Edvin Zageris Soviet Union51.552.2
15Juan Carlos Dyrzka Argentina51.153.1
16Jaakko Tuominen Finland51.854.0
17Joachim Singer United Team of Germany52.1Did not advance
18Jean-Jacques Behm France52.2
19Jerom Ochana Uganda52.4
20Mike Hogan Great Britain52.5
21Robert Poirier France52.6
22Valeriu Jurca Romania52.7
23Boguslaw Gierajewski Poland52.8
Keiko Iijima Japan52.8
25Mamadou Sarr Senegal53.2
26Amrit Pal India53.3
Imants Kukličs Soviet Union53.3
28Keiji Ogushi Japan53.6
29José Cavero Peru53.7
30Bill Gairdner Canada53.8
Karu Selvaratnam Malaysia53.8
32Samir Ambrose Vincent Iraq54.0
33Kimaru Songok Kenya54.5
34Helmut Haid Austria54.6
35Kiyoo Yui Japan54.7
36Mansour ul-Haq Awan Pakistan55.3
37Michael Ryan Australia58.0
Horst Gieseler United Team of GermanyDNF
Djani Kovac YugoslaviaDSQ
Nicola Dimitrov Dagorov BulgariaDNS

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's 400 metres Hurdles". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  2. "400 metres Hurdles, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
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