Athletes participating 375 Opening ceremony November 8 | Nations participating 21 Closing ceremony November 12 | |
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The 1964 Summer Paralympics (第二回パラリンピック夏季競技大会, Dai Ni-kai Pararinpikku Kyōgi Taikai), originally known as the 13th International Stoke Mandeville Games, were the 2nd Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Tokyo, Japan, they were the last Summer Paralympics to take place in the same city as the Summer Olympics until the 1988 Summer Paralympics. The term "Paralympic Games" was approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) first in 1984, while the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was formed in 1989.
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In contrast with the 1960 Games, many events had more than three participants, meaning that athletes were no longer guaranteed a medal upon completing their event.
Also originally known as Paralympic Tokyo 1964.
Tokyo will host the Summer Paralympic Games again in 2020..
Sports
Nine sports were competed at the 1964 games. In athletics, a wheelchair racing event in the form of a 60 m dash was added; previously the athletics program had included only field events. Wheelchair racing has since become one of the most prominent Paralympic events.
Medal table
Athletes from 17 of the 19 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) won at least one medal. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IPC country code.
With a few exceptions, each event contributed one medal of each type to the table (although for team events, multiple physical medals were actually awarded). Two bronze medals were awarded in the dartchery, snooker and table tennis events. Some swimming events did not award silver or bronze medals.
Host country (Japan)
First-time Paralympic appearance
Fiji also made their debut Paralympic appearance.
Athletes with outstanding performances included Margaret Harriman of Rhodesia who won two gold medals in archery, and Serge Bec of France who won two individuals gold medals, one team gold medal and one team silver medal. Dick Thompson of the United Kingdom won two individual golds, one silver and one bronze in athletics. The United States' Ron Stein won six golds and South Africa's Daniel Erasmus won two golds and two silvers in athletics.
Participating delegations
Nineteen delegations participated in the Tokyo Paralympics.
The 1964 Games marked South Africa's Paralympic Games début. The country had just been banned from taking part in the Olympic Games, due to its policy of apartheid, and was thus absent from the 1964 Summer Olympics. It was not, however, banned from the Paralympics until 1980, and Japan (as host country) did not oppose its participation.
Ceremonies
The Opening ceremony was organized in the Oda Field, and the Closing Ceremony at Yoyogi National Gymnasium. About 5000 spectators were present at both of the ceremonies. Then Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko were present in both of them.
Media coverage
Earlier it was thought that the Games might not get much media coverage, due to the focus on the Olympic Games, but both radio and television media gave high coverage to the Games.
Organizing Committee
Yoshisuke Kasai was the chairman of the Board of directors. The board had 3 vice-chairmen, namely T. Azuma, H. Dazai and I. Miki. The auditor of the organizing committee was M. Tozawa, and the secretary general was K. Ujiie.