Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 80 metres hurdles


The women's 80 metres hurdles was the only women's hurdle race in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. 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 by Kon Ichikawa 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 has overtaken Ikuko and Ciepły for the lead. Karin Balzer and Irina Press 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.

First round, heat 1

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Karin Balzer10.7 seconds
2Galina Bystrova10.9 seconds
3Rose Hart11.3 seconds
4Snejana Kerkova11.5 seconds
5Lorraine Dunn11.5 seconds
—Amy SniderDisqualified
—Amelia HintenDid not start

First round, heat 2

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Irina Press10.7 seconds
2Pat Pryce10.8 seconds
3Avis Mcintosh10.8 seconds
4Gundula Diel10.9 seconds
5Cherrie Sherrard11.0 seconds
6Marlene Canguio11.0 seconds
7Chi Cheng11.1 seconds
8Sirkka Norrlund11.2 seconds

First round, 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.
PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Maria Piątkowska10.6 seconds
2Pam Kilborn10.7 seconds
3Tatyana Talysheva10.9 seconds
4Lacey O'Neal10.9 seconds
5Carmen Smith11.8 seconds
6Yeh Chu Mei12.1 seconds
—Zenta KoppDid not start
—Mary RandDid not start

First round, heat 4

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Rosie Bonds10.6 seconds
2Yoda Ikuko10.7 seconds
3Teresa Ciepły10.7 seconds
4Draga Stamejcic10.8 seconds
5Jenny Wingerson11.1 seconds
6Inge Aigner11.2 seconds
7Mary Musani12.9 seconds
—Denise GuenardDid not start

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Pam Kilborn10.6 seconds =OR
2Teresa Ciepły10.7 seconds
3Irina Press10.8 seconds
4Rosie Bonds10.8 seconds
5Avis Mcintosh10.9 seconds
6Tatyana Talysheva10.9 seconds
7Gundula Diel11.0 seconds
8Snejana Kerkova11.4 seconds

Semifinal 2

PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Karin Balzer10.6 seconds =OR
2Yoda Ikuko10.7 seconds
3Draga Stamejcic10.7 seconds
4Maria Piątkowska10.7 seconds
5Pat Pryce10.7 seconds
6Galina Bystrova10.8 seconds
7Leahseneth O'Neal10.9 seconds
8Rose Hart11.1 seconds

Final

Balzer, Ciepły, and Kilborn are not credited by the official report with tying the world record of 10.5 seconds 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.
PlaceAthleteNationTime
1Karin Balzer10.5 seconds
2Teresa Ciepły10.5 seconds
3Pam Kilborn10.6 seconds
4Irina Press10.6 seconds
5Ikuko Yoda10.7 seconds
6Maria Piątkowska10.7 seconds
7Draga Stamejčič10.8 seconds
8Rosie Bonds10.8 seconds