TOKYO 1964 PARALYMPIC GAMES

His Imperial Highness Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko oversaw the Tokyo 1964 Paralympics which drew together 378 Para athletes from 21 countries. In total there were 144 medal events across nine sports.

SPORTS

Wheelchair racing, in the form of a 60m race for men and women, was added to the competition schedule in 1964, which included a total of nine different sports.

Athletes in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo 1964 — Archery was one of the nine sports contested at Tokyo 1964

The nine sports featured at the Games were; archery, Para athletics, dartchery, snooker, Para swimming, table tennis, weightlifting, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair fencing.

OPENING CEREMONY

The Opening Ceremony was held at the Oda Field located within the Olympic village, as nearly 5,000 spectators looked on. The patrons of the Games, His Imperial Highness Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko, were in attendance.

MEDALS

The Tokyo 1964 Games marked the first time the word “Paralympic” was used to refer to the Games, although the medal and its ribbon did not use this wording. Led by Mr George Butler, an engineering instructor in the Occupational Therapy department attached to the National Spinal Injuries Unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, 610 medals were crafted with the assistance of patients.

Design Elements of the Medals

The medals display the words “Stoke Mandeville International Games – Tokyo 1964” on their rim, as “Paralympic Games” was not the official name of the Games at the time. Despite the medals featuring this name, the emblem of the Games uses the word “Paralympic”. One face of the medal has an engraving of a globe, while the other face showcases an image representing the sport event the medal was awarded in. Mr Butler both engraved and covered (with a gold, silver, or bronze coating) each medal himself.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCES

Zimbabwe’s Margaret Harriman (archery), France’s Serge Bec (fencing) and Great Britain’s Dick Thompson, USA’s Ron Stein and South Africa’s Daniel Erasmus (athletics) highlighted the Games with their stellar performances.

ATTENDANCE AND COVERAGE

The local and national press, both radio and television, responded with intense coverage after the Organising Committee’s earlier worries that it might be difficult to create media interest because of the focus on the Olympic Games.

CLOSING CEREMONY

Black and white photo of Japanese man posing with Sir Ludwig Guttman — Sir Ludwig Guttmann attended the Tokyo 1964 Paralympic Games

A capacity crowd of 5,000 cheered on the competitors at the Closing Ceremony on 12 November in the National Gymnasium. In attendance were the Crown Prince and Princess, Sir Ludwig Guttmann, the representative of the Prime Minister of Japan, the Minister of Health and the Governor of Tokyo.