Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase

Men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	15–17 October
Competitors	30 from 19 nations
Medalists
Gaston Roelants   Belgium   Maurice Herriott   Great Britain   Ivan Belyayev   Soviet Union

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

The men's 3000 metres steeplechase was the only steeplechase on the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 15 October and 17 October 1964. 30 athletes from 19 nations entered, with 1 not starting in the first round. The first round was held on 15 October and the final on 17 October.

New Olympic records for the event were set in two of the three heats as well as in the final, for a total of three out of four races resulting in a new record.

Results

First round

The top three runners in each of the 3 heats as well as the fastest remaining runner advanced.

First round, heat 1

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Manuel Oliveira	Portugal	8:40.8
2	Ivan Belyayev	Soviet Union	8:42.0
3	Ben Assou El Ghazi	Morocco	8:42.8
4	Victor Zwolak	United States	8:43.6
5	Okuzawa Zenji	Japan	8:50.0
6	Slavko Span	Yugoslavia	8:57.6
7	Jozsef Macsar	Hungary	9:08.8
8	Dieter Hartmann	United Team of Germany	9:09.2
9	Jean Ekonian Toffey	Ivory Coast	9:47.4
—	Bengt Perssoon	Sweden	Did not start

First round, heat 2

Gustaffson and Young tied the old Olympic record, but Herriott beat it by 1.2 seconds.

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Maurice Herriott	Great Britain	8:33.0 OR
2	Lars-Erik Gustafsson	Sweden	8:34.2
3	George L. Young	United States	8:34.2
4	Guy Texereau	France	8:34.6
5	Lazar Naroditsky	Soviet Union	8:43.0
6	Fred Doring	United Team of Germany	8:43.2
7	Saruwatari Taketsugu	Japan	8:46.6
8	Edward Szklarczyk	Poland	8:48.0
9	A. Labidi Taouadi	Tunisia	9:02.0
10	Cahit Onel	Turkey	9:15.6

First round, heat 3

Herriott's Olympic record did not last long, as Alexeiunas dropped another 1.2 seconds off of the record in the very next heat.

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Adolf Alexeiunas	Soviet Union	8:31.8 OR
2	Gaston Roelants	Belgium	8:33.8
3	Ernie Pomfret	Great Britain	8:45.2
4	Jeffrey Fishback	United States	8:50.2
5	Benjamin Kogo	Kenya	8:51.0
6	Rainier Dorner	United Team of Germany	8:55.0
7	Attila Simon	Hungary	8:57.8
8	Trevor Vincent	Australia	8:58.8
9	Yokomizo Saburo	Japan	9:04.6
10	Dilbagh Singh Kler	Malaysia	9:18.8

Final

Alexeiunas could not match his record-setting pace from the heats, falling to 7th in the final. Herriott, who had set the record Alexeiunas had broken, improved on his own time but could not reach Alexeiunas's record as he placed second. Roelants, the world record-holder who had run behind Alexeiunas in the heat, turned out victorious in the final, breaking the Soviet's record by a full second to set a third new record in the event.

Place	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Gaston Roelants	Belgium	8:30.8 OR
2	Maurice Herriott	Great Britain	8:32.4
3	Ivan Belyayev	Soviet Union	8:33.8
4	Manuel Oliveira	Portugal	8:36.2
5	George L. Young	United States	8:38.2
6	Guy Texereau	France	8:38.6
7	Adolf Alexeiunas	Soviet Union	8:39.0
8	Lars-Erik Gustafsson	Sweden	8:41.8
9	Ben Assou El Ghazi	Morocco	8:43.6
10	Ernie Pomfret	Great Britain	8:43.8

References

• Official Report