# Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics

At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, eighteen swimming events were contested, ten for men and eight for women. There were a total of 405 participants from 42 countries competing. For the first time, the 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay for men and the 400 metres individual medley for both men and women were contested. Olympic records were broken in all events and the world record was broken in ten events. This competition also marked the debut of electronic touchpads for timing.
15-year-old Sharon Stouder won four medals, three of them gold.

## Events

Swimming at the 1964 Olympics featured a total of 18 events (10 for men and 8 for women). On the men's side, the 100 metre backstroke was removed, but the 200 metre backstroke, 4× 100 metre freestyle relay, and the 400 metre individual medley was added. On the women's side, the 400 metre individual medley was added. The following events were contested (all pool events are long course, and distances are in meters):
* Freestyle: 100, 200, 400, and 1500 (men's); 100, 400 (women's)
* Backstroke: 100 and 200;
* Breaststroke: 100 and 200;
* Butterfly: 100 and 200;
* Individual medley: 200 and 400;
* Relays: 4 × 100 free, 4 × 200 free, 4 × 100 medley (men's); 4 × 100 free, 4 × 100 medley (women's)

## Participating nations

405 swimmers from 42 nations competed.
| Argentina (7)  Australia (32)  Austria (7)  Belgium (2)  Brazil (4)  Burma (1)  Canada (12)  Colombia (1)  Czechoslovakia (3)  Denmark (3)  Finland (6) | France (9)  United Team of Germany (38)  Great Britain (25)  Hong Kong (3)  Hungary (19)  Iceland (2)  Iran (1)  Israel (2)  Italy (16)  Japan (38)  Luxembourg (1) | Malaysia (7)  Mexico (10)  Netherlands (26)  New Zealand (2)  Peru (6)  Philippines (2)  Portugal (3)  Puerto Rico (4)  South Korea (4)  Soviet Union (21) | Spain (11)  Sweden (14)  Switzerland (2)  Thailand (2)  United States (48)  Venezuela (2)  Vietnam (3)  Yugoslavia (2)  Zambia (2)  Zimbabwe (2) |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States | 13 | 8 | 8 | 29 |
| 2 | Australia | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 3 | Soviet Union | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | United Team of Germany | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | France | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (8 entries) | Totals (8 entries) | 18 | 18 | 18 | 54 |

## Medal summary
### Men's events

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m freestyle details | Don Schollander (USA) | 53.4 (OR) | Robert McGregor (GBR) | 53.5 | Hans-Joachim Klein (EUA) | 54.0 |
| 400 m freestyle details | Don Schollander (USA) | 4:12.2 (WR) | Frank Wiegand (EUA) | 4:14.9 | Allan Wood (AUS) | 4:15.1 |
| 1500 m freestyle details | Bob Windle Australia | 17:01.7 (OR) | John Nelson United States | 17:03.0 | Allan Wood Australia | 17:07.7 |
| 200 m backstroke details | Jed Graef United States | 2:10.3 (WR) | Gary Dilley United States | 2:10.5 | Bob Bennett United States | 2:13.1 |
| 200 m breaststroke details | Ian O'Brien Australia | 2:27.8 (WR) | Georgy Prokopenko Soviet Union | 2:28.2 | Chet Jastremski United States | 2:29.6 |
| 200 m butterfly details | Kevin Berry Australia | 2:06.6 (WR) | Carl Robie United States | 2:07.5 | Fred Schmidt United States | 2:09.3 |
| 400 m individual medley details | Dick Roth (USA) | 4:45.4 (WR) | Roy Saari (USA) | 4:47.1 | Gerhard Hetz (EUA) | 4:51.0 |
| 4 × 100 m freestyle relay details | United States (USA) Steve Clark Mike Austin Gary Ilman Don Schollander | 3:33.2 (WR) | United Team of Germany (EUA) Horst Löffler Frank Wiegand Uwe Jacobsen Hans-Joachim Klein | 3:37.2 | Australia (AUS) David Dickson Peter Doak John Ryan Bob Windle | 3:39.1 |
| 4 × 200 m freestyle relay details | United States (USA) Steve Clark Roy Saari Gary Ilman Don Schollander | 7:52.1 (WR) | United Team of Germany (EUA) Horst-Günther Gregor Gerhard Hetz Frank Wiegand Hans-Joachim Klein | 7.59.3 | Japan (JPN) Makoto Fukui Kunihiro Iwasaki Toshio Shoji Yukiaki Okabe | 8:03.8 |
| 4 × 100 m medley relay details | United States (USA) Thompson Mann Bill Craig Fred Schmidt Steve Clark | 3:58.4 (WR) | United Team of Germany (EUA) Ernst-Joachim Küppers Egon Henninger Horst-Günther Gregor Hans-Joachim Klein | 4:01.6 | Australia (AUS) Peter Reynolds Ian O'Brien Kevin Berry David Dickson | 4:02.3 |

### Women's events

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m freestyle details | Dawn Fraser Australia | 59.5 (OR) | Sharon Stouder United States | 59.9 | Kathy Ellis United States | 1:00.8 |
| 400 m freestyle details | Ginny Duenkel United States | 4:43.3 (OR) | Marilyn Ramenofsky United States | 4:44.6 | Terri Stickles United States | 4:47.2 |
| 100 m backstroke details | Cathy Ferguson United States | 1:07.7 (WR) | Kiki Caron France | 1:07.9 | Ginny Duenkel United States | 1:08.0 |
| 200 m breaststroke details | Galina Prozumenshchikova Soviet Union | 2:46.4 (OR) | Claudia Kolb United States | 2:47.6 | Svetlana Babanina Soviet Union | 2:48.6 |
| 100 m butterfly details | Sharon Stouder United States | 1:04.7 (WR) | Ada Kok Netherlands | 1:05.6 | Kathy Ellis United States | 1:06.0 |
| 400 m individual medley details | Donna de Varona United States | 5:18.7 (OR) | Sharon Finneran United States | 5:24.1 | Martha Randall United States | 5:24.2 |
| 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay details | United States (USA) Sharon Stouder Donna de Varona Lillian Watson Kathy Ellis | 4:03.8 (WR) | Australia (AUS) Robyn Thorn Janice Murphy Lynette Bell Dawn Fraser | 4:06.9 | Netherlands (NED) Pauline van der Wildt Toos Beumer Winnie van Weerdenburg Erica Terpstra | 4:12.0 |
| 4 × 100 metre medley relay details | United States (USA) Cathy Ferguson Cynthia Goyette Sharon Stouder Kathy Ellis | 4:33.9 (OR) | Netherlands (NED) Corrie Winkel Klenie Bimolt Ada Kok Erica Terpstra | 4:37.0 | Soviet Union (URS) Tatyana Savelyeva Svetlana Babanina Tatyana Devyatova Natalya Ustinova | 4:39.2 |

## Gallery of the medalists

Some of the Olympic medalists in Tokyo:
* Don Schollander, winner of the 100-metre freestyle, 400-metre freestyle, 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay, and 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay.
* Jed Graef, winner of the 200-metre backstroke.
* Fred Schmidt, winner of the 4 × 100-metre medley relay.
* Dick Roth, winner of the 400-metre individual medley.
* Donna de Varona, winner of the 400-metre individual medley and 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay.
* Dawn Fraser, winner of the 100-metre freestyle.