| Men's marathon at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Abebe Bikila with gold medal from the marathon | ||||||||||
| Venue | Olympic Stadium,Tokyo | |||||||||
| Dates | 21 October 1964 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 68 from 35 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 2:12:11.2WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | |
| 5000 m | men | |
| 10,000 m | men | |
| 80 m hurdles | women | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | |
| 3000 m steeplechase | men | |
| 4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
| 4 × 400 m relay | men | |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | |
| 20 km walk | men | |
| 50 km walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| Long jump | men | women |
| Triple jump | men | |
| High jump | men | women |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Shot put | men | women |
| Discus throw | men | women |
| Javelin throw | men | women |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Combined events | ||
| Pentathlon | women | |
| Decathlon | men | |
Themen's marathon was part of theAthletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program inTokyo. It was held on 21 October 1964. 79 athletes from 41 nations entered, with 68 starting and 58 finishing.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won byAbebe Bikila of Ethiopia, the first man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the marathon (and, indeed, the first to win two medals of any color in Olympic marathons). Unlike in 1960, he wore shoes this time. Great Britain earned its first marathon medal since 1948 withBasil Heatley's silver; Japan took its first medal since 1936 with bronze byKōkichi Tsuburaya.
This was the 15th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1960 marathon included defending championAbebe Bikila of Ethiopia and ninth-place finisherOsvaldo Suárez of Argentina. Bikila was favored to repeat. Significant challengers wereToru Terasawa of Japan (who had taken the world record from Bikila at the 1963Beppu-Ōita Marathon and held it until the 1963Polytechnic Marathon),Leonard Edelen of the United States (who had held the world record from the 1963 Polytechnic to the 1964 Polytechnic), andBasil Heatley of Great Britain (the current world record, who had broken it at the 1964 Polytechnic).[2]
Luxembourg (not countingMichel Theato, the gold medalist in 1900 who was Luxembourg-born but registered as a French competitor) Nepal, Puerto Rico, Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, Tanzania, Thailand, and Vietnam each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its 15th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.
As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over an out-and-back course. The course was very flat and straight.[2]
These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1964 Summer Olympics.
| World record |  Basil Heatley (GBR) | 2:13:55 | London,United Kingdom | 13 June 1964 |
| Olympic record |  Abebe Bikila (ETH) | 2:15:16.2 | Rome,Italy | 10 September 1960 |
Abebe Bikila set a new world record at 2:12:11.2.
All times areJapan Standard Time (UTC+9)
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, 21 October 1964 | 13:00 | Final |
Bikila broke the world's best time for the marathon by 1 minute 44 seconds set by runner-upBasil Heatley four months prior at thePolytechnic Marathon to defend his Olympic gold medal.
