It was 55 years ago today that Australia marched into the National Stadium in Tokyo, unknowing of the iconic Olympic moments they were about to witness over the following two weeks.
The decorated careers of Olympic legends Dawn Fraser and Betty Cuthbert came to an end at Tokyo 1964, but the Games also marked the birth of new Australian Olympic success in sports such as hockey and sailing.
In total, the Aussies won 18 medals, including six gold, two silver and 10 bronze across five sports: Athletics, Hockey, Judo, Sailing and Swimming. The team finished eighth on the Olympic ladder with its largest medal haul at the time.
Australia sent a team of 250 athletes to Tokyo which was made up of 208 men and 42 women. Four-time Olympic Fencer Ivan Lund was the Opening Ceremony Flagbearer and at the time, held the record for competing in the most Olympic Games.
From the beginning, Australia’s entrance into the Tokyo 1964 Games was meticulously planned, with Drill Sergeant Mr Judy Patching being assigned for the Opening Ceremony, to ensure all athletes marched in perfect sequence.
Australia’s first medal of the Games came through Dawn Fraser who set an Olympic record in all three of her races before winning her third women’s 100m freestyle Olympic gold medal.
Dawn Fraser would close her Olympic career anchoring the 4x100m Medley relay and leave her marvellous Olympic record standing at four gold and four silver medals. It was Tokyo 1964 that Fraser became the world’s very first four-time Olympic Champion in swimming and such was her dominance of the 100m freestyle, that she held the world record for 16 years.
Fraser was also the first Australian to carry the Olympic Flag at a Closing Ceremony at Tokyo 1964.
Australia’s ‘Golden Girl’ of the track, Betty Cuthbert, competed in her third and final Games in 1964 .
After dominating the competition at Melbourne 1956 and winning three gold medals across the women’s 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, Cuthbert suffered injury at Rome 1960 and subsequently retired.
But luckily for Australian track and field fans, her retirement didn’t last long. Cuthbert returned to international competition in 1962 and added one more Olympic Games gold to her collection when she ran the 400m in Olympic record time, 52 seconds flat.
A trio of men’s swimmers also added to Australia’s gold medal tally:
• Kevin Berry in the 200m butterfly
• Ian O’Brien in the 200m breaststroke, and
• Rob Windle in the 1500m freestyle.
The final gold medal was Australia’s first sailing (yachting) victory: gold to Bill Northam, Peter O’Donnell and James Sargeant in the 5.5m class.
In another history-making moment grandfather Northam, at age 59, became - and still remains - Australia’s oldest Olympic champion.
Australia also reached the podium in some new sports. Ted Boronovskis won a bronze medal in the open judo event, the men’s hockey team won its first medal, a bronze, along with Ron Clarke, who had lit the Olympic cauldron as a teenager in Melbourne eight years earlier, who won bronze on the track in the 10,000m.
In 288 days, the Australian Olympic Team will return to Tokyo for the 2020 edition of the Olympic Games, where family, friends, fans and spectators can look forward to witnessing the birth of Australia’s next sporting heroes.
