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Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

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Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Gold medalist Don Schollander and finalists Gary Ilman and Mike Austin with relay teammate Steve Clark
VenueYoyogi National Gymnasium
Dates11–12 October
Competitors66 from 33 nations
Winning time53.4 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Don Schollander
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Bobby McGregor
 Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Hans-Joachim Klein
 United Team of Germany
← 1960
1968 →

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1964 Olympic Games took place between October 11 and 12.[1] There were 66 competitors from 33 nations.[2] Nations were again able to bring up to three swimmers each after a one-Games limit of two in 1960. The event was won by Don Schollander of the United States, the nation's first victory in the event since 1952 and eighth overall (most of any nation). Great Britain (Bobby McGregor's silver) and the United Team of Germany (Hans-Joachim Klein's bronze) both earned their first medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle.

Background

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This was the 14th appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.[2]

Two of the eight finalists from the 1960 Games returned: fifth-place finisher Gyula Dobay of Hungary and eighth-place finisher Per-Ola Lindberg of Sweden. John Devitt of Australia, the winner of a controversial finish in 1960, had retired, as had silver medalist Lance Larson of the United States. The American team in Tokyo was led by Don Schollander, who was expected to vie with Scotsman Bobby McGregor.[2]

Iran, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and Thailand each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 14th appearance, having competed at each edition of the event to date.

Competition format

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The competition used a three-round (heats, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 9 heats of 7 or 8 swimmers each. The top 24 swimmers advanced to the semifinals. There were 3 semifinals of 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1964 Summer Olympics.

World record  Alain Gottvallès (FRA) 52.9 Budapest, Hungary 13 September 1964
Olympic record  John Devitt (AUS)
 Lance Larson (USA)
55.2 Rome, Italy 27 August 1960

Gary Ilman dropped more than a second off the Olympic record in the very first heat, recording a time of 54.0 seconds. Seven swimmers beat the old record in the heats, with two more tying it. Ilman shaved off another tenth in the first semifinal, finishing in 53.9 seconds. Ten swimmers beat the old record in that round, with another matching it. The new record fell again in the final, with Don Schollander swimming 53.4 seconds and Bobby McGregor 53.5 seconds.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Sunday, 11 October 1964 11:50
19:45
Heats
Semifinals
Monday, 12 October 1964 20:40 Final

Results

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Heats

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Nine heats were held; the fastest 24 swimmers advanced to the semifinals.

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 1 Gary Ilman  United States 54.0 Q, OR
2 5 Don Schollander  United States 54.3 Q
3 5 Yukiaki Okabe  Japan 54.4 Q
4 9 Bobby McGregor  Great Britain 54.7 Q
5 2 Mike Austin  United States 54.9 Q
6 2 David Dickson  Australia 55.1 Q
3 Per-Ola Lindberg  Sweden 55.1 Q
8 6 Alain Gottvallès  France 55.2 Q
6 Daniel Sherry  Canada 55.2 Q
10 4 Hans-Joachim Klein  United Team of Germany 55.3 Q
11 8 Ron Kroon  Netherlands 55.5 Q
6 John Ryan  Australia 55.5 Q
8 Jindřich Vágner  Czechoslovakia 55.5 Q
14 5 Uwe Jacobsen  United Team of Germany 55.6 Q
6 Horst Löffler  United Team of Germany 55.6 Q
9 Bengt Nordwall  Sweden 55.6 Q
17 8 Bob Lord  Great Britain 55.7 Q
18 3 Pietro Boscaini  Italy 55.8 Q
7 Gyula Dobay  Hungary 55.8 Q
7 Tatsuo Fujimoto  Japan 55.8 Q
7 Sandy Gilchrist  Canada 55.8 Q
3 Tadaharu Goto  Japan 55.8 Q
1 Gérard Gropaiz  France 55.8 Q
24 6 Vladimir Shuvalov  Soviet Union 55.9 Q
25 1 Athos de Oliveira  Brazil 56.0
26 3 Luis Nicolao  Argentina 56.1
4 Peter Phelps  Australia 56.1
28 2 Jean-Pascal Curtillet  France 56.2
4 Lester Eriksson  Sweden 56.2
9 Viktor Semchenkov  Soviet Union 56.2
31 8 József Gulrich  Hungary 56.3
2 Matti Kasvio  Finland 56.3
4 Yury Sumtsov  Soviet Union 56.3
34 5 Petr Lohnický  Czechoslovakia 56.4
35 7 Gert Kölli  Austria 56.5
36 1 Bruno Bianchi  Italy 56.8
9 Sergio De Gregorio  Italy 56.8
2 Álvaro Pires  Brazil 56.8
4 François Simons  Belgium 56.8
9 Antal Száll  Hungary 56.8
1 Vinus van Baalen  Netherlands 56.8
5 Gerhard Wieland  Austria 56.8
43 2 Téodoro Capriles  Venezuela 57.2
44 3 José Miguel Espinosa  Spain 57.4
45 4 Carlos van der Maath  Argentina 57.5
46 8 Tuomo Hämäläinen  Finland 57.6
47 7 David Haller  Great Britain 57.7
1 Ralph Hutton  Canada 57.7
49 5 Antonio Pérez  Spain 57.8
50 7 Bert Sitters  Netherlands 58.1
51 7 Luis Paz  Peru 58.5
52 6 Georges Welbes  Luxembourg 58.6
53 2 Tan Thuan Heng  Malaysia 58.7
6 Hannu Vaahtoranta  Finland 58.7
55 8 Salvador Ruiz  Mexico 58.8
56 8 Pano Capéronis  Switzerland 58.9
57 6 Guðmundur Gíslason  Iceland 59.0
3 Herlander Ribeiro  Portugal 59.0
59 5 Mauri Fonseca  Brazil 59.6
60 3 Somchai Limpichat  Thailand 59.8
61 7 Robert Loh  Hong Kong 1:00.4
62 4 Nguyễn Ðình Lê  Vietnam 1:01.1
9 Phan Hữu Dong  Vietnam 1:01.1
64 1 Kim Bong-jo  South Korea 1:01.2
65 9 Celestino Pérez  Puerto Rico 1:01.3
66 9 Haydar Shonjani  Iran 1:02.1

Semifinals

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Three heats were held; the fastest eight swimmers advanced to the final.

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 1 Gary Ilman  United States 53.9 Q, OR
2 2 Don Schollander  United States 54.0 Q
3 1 Mike Austin  United States 54.3 Q
2 Alain Gottvallès  France 54.3 Q
3 Bobby McGregor  Great Britain 54.3 Q
6 3 Hans-Joachim Klein  United Team of Germany 54.4 Q
7 3 Gyula Dobay  Hungary 54.8 Q
2 Uwe Jacobsen  United Team of Germany 54.8 Q
9 3 David Dickson  Australia 54.9
10 2 Per-Ola Lindberg  Sweden 55.1
11 1 Yukiaki Okabe  Japan 55.2
12 1 Daniel Sherry  Canada 55.5
2 Jindřich Vágner  Czechoslovakia 55.5
14 1 Tadaharu Goto  Japan 55.6
15 2 Gérard Gropaiz  France 55.7
1 Ron Kroon  Netherlands 55.7
17 3 Tatsuo Fujimoto  Japan 55.8
3 Vladimir Shuvalov  Soviet Union 55.8
19 1 Horst Löffler  United Team of Germany 56.0
20 1 Pietro Boscaini  Italy 56.1
21 2 Sandy Gilchrist  Canada 56.4
3 Bengt Nordwall  Sweden 56.4
23 2 Bob Lord  Great Britain 56.5
3 John Ryan  Australia 56.5

Final

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The officials used unofficial electronic scoring to determine which swimmer won the bronze medal - Klein had finished one one-thousandth of a second sooner than Ilman.[3]

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Don Schollander  United States 53.4 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Bobby McGregor  Great Britain 53.5
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Hans-Joachim Klein  United Team of Germany 54.0
4 Gary Ilman  United States 54.0
5 Alain Gottvallès  France 54.2
6 Mike Austin  United States 54.5
7 Gyula Dobay  Hungary 54.9
8 Uwe Jacobsen  United Team of Germany 56.1

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  3. ^ Wallechinsky, David (1984). The Complete Book of the Olympics. England: Penguin Books. p. 395. ISBN 0140066322.