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

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Official Video Highlights @59:07 Video on YouTube

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.

Heat 1

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Karin Balzer	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
2	Galina Bystrova	Template:FlagIOC	10.9 seconds
3	Rose Hart	Template:FlagIOC	11.3 seconds
4	Snejana Kerkova	Template:FlagIOC	11.5 seconds
5	Lorraine Dunn	Template:FlagIOC	11.5 seconds
—	Amy Snider	Template:FlagIOC	Disqualified
	Amelia Hinten	Template:FlagIOC	Did not start

Heat 2

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Irina Press	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
2	Pat Pryce	Template:FlagIOC	10.8 seconds
3	Avis Mcintosh	Template:FlagIOC	10.8 seconds
4	Gundula Diel	Template:FlagIOC	10.9 seconds
5	Cherrie Sherrard	Template:FlagIOC	11.0 seconds
6	Marlene Canguio	Template:FlagIOC	11.0 seconds
7	Chi Cheng	Template:FlagIOC	11.1 seconds
8	Sirkka Norrlund	Template:FlagIOC	11.2 seconds

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.

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Maria Piątkowska	Template:FlagIOC	10.6 seconds
2	Pam Kilborn	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
3	Tatyana Talysheva	Template:FlagIOC	10.9 seconds
4	Lacey O'Neal	Template:FlagIOC	10.9 seconds
5	Carmen Smith	Template:FlagIOC	11.8 seconds
6	Yeh Chu Mei	Template:FlagIOC	12.1 seconds
—	Zenta Kopp	Template:FlagIOC	Did not start
	Mary Rand	Template:FlagIOC	Did not start

Heat 4

File:Jenny Meldrum, Teresa Ciepły, Ikuko Yoda, Draga Stamejčič 1964.jpg

Left-right: Jenny Meldrum, Teresa Ciepły, Ikuko Yoda and Draga Stamejčič running heat 4

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Rosie Bonds	Template:FlagIOC	10.6 seconds
2	Yoda Ikuko	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
3	Teresa Ciepły	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
4	Draga Stamejčič	Template:FlagIOC	10.8 seconds
5	Jenny Wingerson	Template:FlagIOC	11.1 seconds
6	Inge Aigner	Template:FlagIOC	11.2 seconds
7	Mary Musani	Template:FlagIOC	12.9 seconds
—	Denise Guenard	Template:FlagIOC	Did not start

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Pam Kilborn	Template:FlagIOC	10.6 seconds =OR
2	Teresa Ciepły	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
3	Irina Press	Template:FlagIOC	10.8 seconds
4	Rosie Bonds	Template:FlagIOC	10.8 seconds
5	Avis Mcintosh	Template:FlagIOC	10.9 seconds
6	Tatyana Talysheva	Template:FlagIOC	10.9 seconds
7	Gundula Diel	Template:FlagIOC	11.0 seconds
8	Snejana Kerkova	Template:FlagIOC	11.4 seconds

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Karin Balzer	Template:FlagIOC	10.6 seconds =OR
2	Yoda Ikuko	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
3	Draga Stamejčič	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
4	Maria Piątkowska	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
5	Pat Pryce	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
6	Galina Bystrova	Template:FlagIOC	10.8 seconds
7	Leahseneth O'Neal	Template:FlagIOC	10.9 seconds
8	Rose Hart	Template:FlagIOC	11.1 seconds

Final

Balzer, Ciepły, and Kilborn are not credited by the official report with tying the world record of 10.5 seconds (and breaking the 10.6 second Olympic record) 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.

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
	Karin Balzer	Template:FlagIOC	10.5 seconds
	Teresa Ciepły	Template:FlagIOC	10.5 seconds
	Pam Kilborn	Template:FlagIOC	10.6 seconds
4	Irina Press	Template:FlagIOC	10.6 seconds
5	Ikuko Yoda	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
6	Maria Piątkowska	Template:FlagIOC	10.7 seconds
7	Draga Stamejčič	Template:FlagIOC	10.8 seconds
8	Rosie Bonds	Template:FlagIOC	10.8 seconds