This Day in Track & Field, October 17, Fred Hansen took gold in Tokyo pole vault (1964), Gaston Roelants won Olympic steeple (1964), by Walt Murphy News and Results Services

This Day in Track & Field–October 17

1964—The fiberglass pole had revolutionized the Pole Vault since the previous Olympics in Rome, leading to 13 men clearing 15-5 (4.70) in Tokyo to better the previous Olympic Record.

American Fred Hansen, who had set a World Record of 17-3  ¾ (5.28m) in July, was one of four men to clear       16-4  ¾ (5.00m) on their opening attempt. He then passed at  16-6  ¾ (5.05), a height only cleared by West Germany’s Wolfgang Reinhardt. Hansen then “stole” the gold medal from Reinhardt by narrowly clearing 16-8  ¾ (5.10/Olympic Record) on his final attempt. Reinhardt won the silver medal and teammate Klaus Lehnertz won the bronze on fewer misses over East Germany’s Manfred Preussger.

         Dallas Long (66-8  ½ [20.33]) and Randy Matson (66-3  ¼ [20.20m]) gave the U.S. a 1-2 finish in the Men’s Shot Put. Finishing 4^th in his 4^th Games was Parry O’Brien (63-0 [19.20]), the Olympic Champion in 1952 and 1956 (he won the silver medal in 1960). All 3 are members of the National Hall of Fame. Hungary’s Vilmos Varjú (63-7  ½ [19.39]) won the bronze medal.

         The U.S. got another 1-2 finish in the Men’s 200-Meters, with Henry Carr (20.3/20.36/Olympic Record) finishing ahead of Paul Drayton (20.5/20.58). Winning the bronze was Trinidad and Tobago’s Edwin Roberts (20.6/20.63), who has been a long-time official at the Penn Relays. 4^th was Canada’s Harry Jerome (20.7/20.79), the bronze medalist in the 100, and 5^th was Italy’s Livio Berruti (20.8/20.83), the defending champion.

         The Soviet Union’s Irina Press won the 5-event Pentathlon, a new event on the Olympic program, with a World Record score of 5246 points. Winning silver and bronze were Great Britain’s Mary Bignall-Rand (5035), the winner of the Long Jump, and the Soviet Union’s (and Azerbaijan’s) Galina Bystrova (4956).

         Betty Cuthbert, Australia’s Golden Girl, became the first Olympic Champion in the Women’s 400-Meters, running 52.01 to beat Great Britain’s Ann Packer (52.2/52.20). 3^rd was another Australian, Judy Amoore (53.4).

         Cuthbert had won 3 gold medals in the 1956 Olympics (100,200,4×100), but was injured in 1960 and found athletics a chore by then. By 1964 she had recovered her enthusiasm, and had a remarkably emotional reaction to her win – “in Tokyo the fact that I had won…