The women's 80 metres hurdles was the only women's hurdle race in the

Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the athletics competition included 36 events, 24 for men and 12 for women. The women's 400 metres and women's pentathlon events were newly introduced at these Games. There were a total number of 1016 particip ...

program in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. It was held on 18 October and 19 October 1964. 31 athletes from 20 nations entered, with 4 not starting the first round. The first round was held on 18 October, with the semifinals and final on 19 October. The 1965 film ''

Tokyo Olympiad ''Tokyo Olympiad'', also known in Japan as , is a 1965 Japanese documentary film directed by Kon Ichikawa which documents the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Like Leni Riefenstahl's '' Olympia'', which documented the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berli ...

'' by

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary '' Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won ...

shows amazingly great detail of the preliminaries, preparation, final and medal ceremony surrounding this event. The slow motion study of the final shows Yoda Ikuko getting a fast start. Joining Ikuko in the lead is Teresa Ciepły. Rosie Bonds crashed the second hurdle and is awkward the rest of the race. By the third hurdle

Pam Kilborn Pamela Kilborn-Ryan, AM, MBE (born 12 August 1939) is an Australian former athlete who set world records as a hurdler. For three years, she was ranked as the world's top woman hurdler. Kilborn was also an Olympic class sprinter, Long Jumper ...

has overtaken Ikuko and Ciepły for the lead.

Karin Balzer Karin Balzer (''née'' Richert; 5 June 1938 – 17 December 2019) was an East German hurdler who competed in the 80 m hurdles event at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics, and in the 100 m hurdles in 1972. She won a gold medal in 1964 and a bronz ...

and

Irina Press Irina Natanovna Press, uk, Ірина Натанівна Пресс, ''Iryna Natanivna Press'', group=nb (10 March 1939 – 21 February 2004) was a multitalented Soviet athlete who competed at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics. In 1960, she won a gold ...

were close behind. Over the course of the final five hurdles, Balzer and Press edged closer as Ikuko lost a little ground. Ciepły, Kilborn and Balzer landing at virtually the same moment and Press inches behind. On the run in, Balzer was able to gain just enough ground to take the gold over a straining Ciepły.

Results

First round

The top four runners in each of the 4 heats advanced.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

There was a strong wind behind the runners; the official report does not credit Piątkowska with equalling the Olympic record of 10.6 seconds.

Heat 4

Semifinals

The top four runners in each semifinal advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

Balzer, Ciepły, and Kilborn are not credited by the official report with tying the world record of 10.5 seconds (and breaking the 10.6 second Olympic record) due to the wind advantage. They finished in one of the closest endings to an Olympic final ever, with Balzer defeating Ciepły by about one-hundredth of a second and Kilborn by two one-hundredths.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics - Women's 80 metres hurdles Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics Sprint hurdles at the Olympics 1964 in women's athletics Women's events at the 1964 Summer Olympics