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

Men's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Yemeni stamp commemorating 1964 Olympic athletics
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	14–16 October 1964
Competitors	39 from 26 nations
Winning time	49.6
Medalists
Rex Cawley  United States John Cooper  Great Britain Salvatore Morale  Italy

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.

World record	Rex Cawley (USA)	49.1	Los Angeles, United States	13 September 1964
Olympic record	Glenn Davis (USA)	49.3	Rome, Italy	2 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 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	Great Britain	50.5	50.58	Q
2	Gary Knoke	Australia	50.9	50.94	Q
3	Roberto Frinolli	Italy	51.2	51.23	Q
4	Edvins Zageris	Soviet Union	51.5	51.59	q
5	Bill Gairdner	Canada	53.8	–
6	Helmut Haid	Austria	54.6	–
—	Horst Gieseler	United Team of Germany	DNF	–
	Nicola Dimitrov Dagorov	Bulgaria	DNS	–

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (automatic)	Notes
1	Rex Cawley	United States	50.8	50.88	Q
2	Juan Carlos Dyrzka	Argentina	51.1	51.17	Q
3	Peter Warden	Great Britain	51.6	51.61	Q
4	Joachim Singer	United Team of Germany	52.1	–
5	Bogusław Gierajewski	Poland	52.8	–
6	Samir Ambrose Vincent	Iraq	54.0	–
7	Kiyoo Yui	Japan	54.7	–
8	Michael Ryan	Australia	58.0	–

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (automatic)	Notes
1	Wilfried Geeroms	Belgium	51.2	51.24	Q
2	Ken Roche	Australia	51.5	51.52	Q
3	Jay Luck	United States	51.7	51.77	Q
4	Jerom Ochana	Uganda	52.4	–
5	Robert Poirier	France	52.6	–
6	Valeriu Jurca	Romania	52.7	–
7	Kimaru Songok	Kenya	54.5	–
8	Mansour ul-Haq Awan	Pakistan	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	Italy	51.1	51.17	Q
2	Vasyl Anisimov	Soviet Union	51.7	51.72	Q
3	Ferdinand Haas	United Team of Germany	52.2	–	Q
4	Mike Hogan	Great Britain	52.5	–
5	Keiji Ogushi	Japan	53.6	–
6	José Cavero	Peru	53.7	–
7	Karu Selvaratnam	Malaysia	53.8	–
—	Ðani Kovač	Yugoslavia	DSQ	–

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (automatic)	Notes
1	Billy Hardin	United States	51.3	51.37	Q
2	Víctor Maldonado	Venezuela	51.6	51.64	Q
3	Jaakko Tuominen	Finland	51.8	51.88	Q
4	Jean-Jacques Behm	France	52.2	52.20
5	Keiko Iijima	Japan	52.8	–
6	Mamadou Sarr	Senegal	53.2	–
7	Amrit Pal	India	53.3	–
8	Imants Kukličs	Soviet Union	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	United States	49.8	49.89	Q
2	Roberto Frinolli	Italy	50.2	50.28	Q
3	Gary Knoke	Australia	50.6	50.63	Q
4	Wilfried Geeroms	Belgium	51.0	51.00	Q
5	Peter Warden	Great Britain	51.2	–
6	Ferdinand Haas	United Team of Germany	51.6	–
7	Edvin Zageris	Soviet Union	52.2	–
8	Jaakko Tuominen	Finland	54.0	–

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (automatic)	Notes
1	John Cooper	Great Britain	50.4	50.40	Q
2	Jay Luck	United States	50.4	50.43	Q
3	Salvatore Morale	Italy	50.4	50.48	Q
4	Vasyl Anisimov	Soviet Union	50.7	50.72	Q
5	Ken Roche	Australia	50.8	50.86
6	Billy Hardin	United States	50.9	50.90
7	Víctor Maldonado	Venezuela	51.1	51.19
8	Juan Carlos Dyrzka	Argentina	53.1	–

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time
	Rex Cawley	United States	49.6
	John Cooper	Great Britain	50.1
	Salvatore Morale	Italy	50.1
4	Gary Knoke	Australia	50.4
5	Jay Luck	United States	50.5
6	Roberto Frinolli	Italy	50.7
7	Vasyl Anisimov	Soviet Union	51.1
8	Wilfried Geeroms	Belgium	51.4

Results summary

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Heats	Semifinals	Final
	Rex Cawley	United States	50.8	49.8	49.6
	John Cooper	Great Britain	50.5	50.4	50.1
	Salvatore Morale	Italy	51.1	50.4	50.1
4	Gary Knoke	Australia	50.9	50.6	50.4
5	Jay Luck	United States	51.7	50.4	50.5
6	Roberto Frinolli	Italy	51.2	50.2	50.7
7	Vasyl Anisimov	Soviet Union	51.7	50.7	51.1
8	Wilfried Geeroms	Belgium	51.2	51.0	51.4
9	Ken Roche	Australia	51.5	50.8	Did not advance
10	Billy Hardin	United States	51.3	50.9
11	Víctor Maldonado	Venezuela	51.6	51.1
12	Peter Warden	Great Britain	51.6	51.2
13	Ferdinand Haas	United Team of Germany	52.2	51.6
14	Edvin Zageris	Soviet Union	51.5	52.2
15	Juan Carlos Dyrzka	Argentina	51.1	53.1
16	Jaakko Tuominen	Finland	51.8	54.0
17	Joachim Singer	United Team of Germany	52.1	Did not advance
18	Jean-Jacques Behm	France	52.2
19	Jerom Ochana	Uganda	52.4
20	Mike Hogan	Great Britain	52.5
21	Robert Poirier	France	52.6
22	Valeriu Jurca	Romania	52.7
23	Bogusław Gierajewski	Poland	52.8
	Keiko Iijima	Japan	52.8
25	Mamadou Sarr	Senegal	53.2
26	Amrit Pal	India	53.3
	Imants Kukličs	Soviet Union	53.3
28	Keiji Ogushi	Japan	53.6
29	José Cavero	Peru	53.7
30	Bill Gairdner	Canada	53.8
	Karu Selvaratnam	Malaysia	53.8
32	Samir Ambrose Vincent	Iraq	54.0
33	Kimaru Songok	Kenya	54.5
34	Helmut Haid	Austria	54.6
35	Kiyoo Yui	Japan	54.7
36	Mansour ul-Haq Awan	Pakistan	55.3
37	Michael Ryan	Australia	58.0
—	Horst Gieseler	United Team of Germany	DNF
	Djani Kovac	Yugoslavia	DSQ
	Nicola Dimitrov Dagorov	Bulgaria	DNS