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. 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.
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.
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): heats, 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 first round heats with 8 athletes each (before one withdrawal). The top 3 men in each heat 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.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
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 1964 14:00 Heats Thursday, 15 October 1964 14:15 Semifinals Friday, 16 October 1964 16:00 Final
Results
Heats
The top three runners in each of the 5 heats as well as the fastest remaining runner advanced.
Heat 1
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 John Cooper 50.5 50.58 2 Gary Knoke 50.9 50.94 3 Roberto Frinolli 51.2 51.23 4 Edvins Zageris 51.5 51.59 5 Bill Gairdner 53.8 – 6 Helmut Haid 54.6 – — Horst Gieseler – Nicola Dimitrov Dagorov –
Heat 2
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Rex Cawley 50.8 50.88 2 Juan Carlos Dyrzka 51.1 51.17 3 Peter Warden 51.6 51.61 4 Joachim Singer 52.1 – 5 Bogusław Gierajewski 52.8 – 6 Samir Ambrose Vincent 54.0 – 7 Kiyoo Yui 54.7 – 8 Michael Ryan 58.0 –
Heat 3
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Wilfried Geeroms 51.2 51.24 2 Ken Roche 51.5 51.52 3 Jay Luck 51.7 51.77 4 Jerom Ochana 52.4 – 5 Robert Poirier 52.6 – 6 Valeriu Jurca 52.7 – 7 Kimaru Songok 54.5 – 8 Mansour ul-Haq Awan 55.3 –
Heat 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.
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Salvatore Morale 51.1 51.17 2 Vasyl Anisimov 51.7 51.72 3 Ferdinand Haas 52.2 – 4 Mike Hogan 52.5 – 5 Keiji Ogushi 53.6 – 6 José Cavero 53.7 – 7 Karu Selvaratnam 53.8 – — Ðani Kovač –
Heat 5
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Billy Hardin 51.3 51.37 2 Víctor Maldonado 51.6 51.64 3 Jaakko Tuominen 51.8 51.88 4 Jean-Jacques Behm 52.2 52.20 5 Keiko Iijima 52.8 – 6 Mamadou Sarr 53.2 – 7 Amrit Pal 53.3 – 8 Imants Kukličs 53.3 –
Semifinals
The fastest four runners of each of the two semifinals advanced to the final.
Semifinal 1
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Rex Cawley 49.8 49.89 2 Roberto Frinolli 50.2 50.28 3 Gary Knoke 50.6 50.63 4 Wilfried Geeroms 51.0 51.00 5 Peter Warden 51.2 – 6 Ferdinand Haas 51.6 – 7 Edvin Zageris 52.2 – 8 Jaakko Tuominen 54.0 –
Semifinal 2
Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 John Cooper 50.4 50.40 2 Jay Luck 50.4 50.43 3 Salvatore Morale 50.4 50.48 4 Vasyl Anisimov 50.7 50.72 5 Ken Roche 50.8 50.86 6 Billy Hardin 50.9 50.90 7 Víctor Maldonado 51.1 51.19 8 Juan Carlos Dyrzka 53.1 –
Final
Rank Athlete Nation Time Rex Cawley 49.6 John Cooper 50.1 Salvatore Morale 50.1 4 Gary Knoke 50.4 5 Jay Luck 50.5 6 Roberto Frinolli 50.7 7 Vasyl Anisimov 51.1 8 Wilfried Geeroms 51.4
Results summary
Rank Athlete Nation Heats Semifinals Final Rex Cawley 50.8 49.8 49.6 John Cooper 50.5 50.4 50.1 Salvatore Morale 51.1 50.4 50.1 4 Gary Knoke 50.9 50.6 50.4 5 Jay Luck 51.7 50.4 50.5 6 Roberto Frinolli 51.2 50.2 50.7 7 Vasyl Anisimov 51.7 50.7 51.1 8 Wilfried Geeroms 51.2 51.0 51.4 9 Ken Roche 51.5 50.8 Did not advance 10 Billy Hardin 51.3 50.9 11 Víctor Maldonado 51.6 51.1 12 Peter Warden 51.6 51.2 13 Ferdinand Haas 52.2 51.6 14 Edvin Zageris 51.5 52.2 15 Juan Carlos Dyrzka 51.1 53.1 16 Jaakko Tuominen 51.8 54.0 17 Joachim Singer 52.1 Did not advance 18 Jean-Jacques Behm 52.2 19 Jerom Ochana 52.4 20 Mike Hogan 52.5 21 Robert Poirier 52.6 22 Valeriu Jurca 52.7 23 Bogusław Gierajewski 52.8 Keiko Iijima 52.8 25 Mamadou Sarr 53.2 26 Amrit Pal 53.3 Imants Kukličs 53.3 28 Keiji Ogushi 53.6 29 José Cavero 53.7 30 Bill Gairdner 53.8 Karu Selvaratnam 53.8 32 Samir Ambrose Vincent 54.0 33 Kimaru Songok 54.5 34 Helmut Haid 54.6 35 Kiyoo Yui 54.7 36 Mansour ul-Haq Awan 55.3 37 Michael Ryan 58.0 — Horst Gieseler Djani Kovac Nicola Dimitrov Dagorov
References