| Date | 14 – 15 October 1964 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyogijo, Shibuya, Tokyo |
| Participants | 49 from 27 countries |
Australia’s Murray Rose had won this event in 1956 and 1960 and was still considered formidable, holding the world record of 4:13.4 at the beginning of 1964. But by 1964 he had settled in the United States, first as a student at the University of Southern California, and then as an actor in Los Angeles. He elected not to return for the Australian Trials in February, and Australian swimming officials responded by not allowing him on the Olympic team. He might have contended for gold in Tokyo, but American Don Schollander would have been difficult to beat. On 31 July he had broken Rose’s world record, posting 4:12.7, and was considered the favorite. In the final he trailed Roy Saari at 100 metres but pulled away to lead at 200 metres and then kept extending his lead, finishing in 4:12.2 to better his own world record. He was behind his world record pace at 300 metres, but finished in 1:01.7 for the record. Germany’s Frank Wiegand trailed 2.7 seconds behind for silver, with Australian Allan Wood getting bronze as Saari struggled on the final laps.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | R1 | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Don Schollander |  USA | 4:15.8 (1 h7) | 4:12.2 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Frank Wiegand |  GER | 4:17.2 (1 h6) | 4:14.9 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Allan Wood |  AUS | 4:16.2 (2 h7) | 4:15.1 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Roy Saari | USA | 4:20.0 (1 h2) | 4:16.7 (4) | |||
| 5 | John Nelson | USA | 4:19.9 (1 h3) | 4:16.9 (5) | |||
| 6 | Tsuyoshi Yamanaka |  JPN | 4:21.1 (1 h4) | 4:19.1 (6) | |||
| 7 | Russell Phegan | AUS | 4:19.8 (1 h5) | 4:20.2 (7) | |||
| 8 | Semyon Belits-Geyman |  URS | 4:19.4 (2 h6) | 4:21.4 (8) | |||
| 9 | Bob Windle | AUS | 4:21.6 (1 h1) | – | |||
| 10 | Hans Rosendahl |  SWE | 4:23.5 (2 h4) | – | |||
| 11 | Sandy Gilchrist |  CAN | 4:24.2 (2 h2) | – | |||
| 12 | Mats Svensson | SWE | 4:24.6 (3 h7) | – | |||
| 13 | József Katona |  HUN | 4:24.7 (2 h5) | – | |||
| 14 | Johan Bontekoe |  NED | 4:26.6 (2 h3) | – | |||
| 15 | Sergio De Gregorio |  ITA | 4:27.4 (3 h2) | – | |||
| 16 | Takeshi Yamakage | JPN | 4:27.8 (3 h5) | – | |||
| 17 | Haruo Yoshimuta | JPN | 4:28.8 (2 h1) | – | |||
| 18 | Petr Lohnický |  TCH | 4:28.9 (3 h6) | – | |||
| 19 | Martin Klink | GER | 4:29.1 (4 h7) | – | |||
| 20 | Ron Jacks | CAN | 4:29.3 (3 h4) | – | |||
| 21 | Ralph Hutton | CAN | 4:29.4 (5 h7) | – | |||
| 22 | Wolfgang Kremer | GER | 4:29.9 (3 h1) | – | |||
| =23 | Yevgeny Novikov | URS | 4:30.0 (3 h3) | – | |||
| =23 | Pierpaolo Spangaro | ITA | 4:30.0 (4 h4) | – | |||
| 25 | Carlos van der Maath |  ARG | 4:30.2 (4 h3) | – | |||
| 26 | Giovanni Orlando | ITA | 4:30.8 (4 h1) | – | |||
| 27 | Celestino Pérez |  PUR | 4:30.9 (4 h6) | – | |||
| 28 | John Thurley |  GBR | 4:31.0 (4 h5) | – | |||
| =29 | Bob Lord | GBR | 4:33.2 (5 h6) | – | |||
| =29 | Francis Luyce |  FRA | 4:33.2 (6 h6) | – | |||
| 31 | Aleksandr Paramonov | URS | 4:34.0 (4 h2) | – | |||
| 32 | John Martin-Dye | GBR | 4:34.3 (6 h7) | – | |||
| 33 | Julio Arango |  COL | 4:35.1 (5 h2) | – | |||
| 34 | Tuomo Hämäläinen |  FIN | 4:35.5 (5 h4) | – | |||
| 35 | Ilkka Suvanto | FIN | 4:38.0 (7 h6) | – | |||
| 36 | Tan Thuan Heng |  MAS | 4:38.2 (7 h7) | – | |||
| 37 | Gert Kölli |  AUT | 4:38.4 (6 h4) | – | |||
| 38 | Alan Durrett |  ZAM | 4:39.0 (5 h3) | – | |||
| 39 | Tin Maung Ni |  MYA | 4:40.9 (6 h2) | – | |||
| 40 | Slobodan Dijaković |  YUG | 4:41.0 (5 h5) | – | |||
| 41 | Pano Capéronis |  SUI | 4:43.8 (8 h7) | – | |||
| 42 | Teodoro Capriles |  VEN | 4:44.5 (6 h5) | – | |||
| 43 | Carlos Canepa |  PER | 4:44.9 (5 h1) | – | |||
| 44 | Aad Oudt | NED | 4:46.5 (6 h3) | – | |||
| 45 | Walter Ledgard Buse | PER | 4:50.4 (7 h5) | – | |||
| 46 | Bob Loh |  HKG | 4:53.3 (7 h2) | – | |||
| 47 | Kim Bong-Jo |  KOR | 4:55.8 (7 h4) | – | |||
| 48 | László Szlamka | HUN | 5:00.0 (6 h1) | – | |||
| 49 | András Bodnár | HUN | 5:03.7 (8 h6) | – | |||
| Luis Nicolao | ARG | – (DNS h1) | – | ||||
| Pierre Canavèse | FRA | – (DNS h2) | – | ||||
| Guillermo Echevarría |  MEX | – (DNS h3) | – | ||||
| Jan Lundin | SWE | – (DNS h3) | – | ||||
| Jean Pommat | FRA | – (DNS h4) | – | ||||
| Elliot Chenaux | PUR | – (DNS h5) | – |
| Date | 14 October 1964 — 12:10 |
|---|---|
| Format | Fastest eight advanced to the final. |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Bob Windle | AUS | 4:21.6 | ||
| 2 | 4 | Haruo Yoshimuta | JPN | 4:28.8 | ||
| 3 | 6 | Wolfgang Kremer | GER | 4:29.9 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Giovanni Orlando | ITA | 4:30.8 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Carlos Canepa | PER | 4:44.9 | ||
| 6 | 1 | László Szlamka | HUN | 5:00.0 | ||
| 5 | Luis Nicolao | ARG | – |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Roy Saari | USA | 4:20.0 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Sandy Gilchrist | CAN | 4:24.2 | ||
| 3 | 7 | Sergio De Gregorio | ITA | 4:27.4 | ||
| 4 | 8 | Aleksandr Paramonov | URS | 4:34.0 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Julio Arango | COL | 4:35.1 | ||
| 6 | 4 | Tin Maung Ni | MYA | 4:40.9 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Bob Loh | HKG | 4:53.3 | ||
| 6 | Pierre Canavèse | FRA | – |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | John Nelson | USA | 4:19.9 | ||
| 2 | 2 | Johan Bontekoe | NED | 4:26.6 | ||
| 3 | 6 | Yevgeny Novikov | URS | 4:30.0 | ||
| 4 | 8 | Carlos van der Maath | ARG | 4:30.2 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Alan Durrett | ZAM | 4:39.0 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Aad Oudt | NED | 4:46.5 | ||
| 4 | Guillermo Echevarría | MEX | – | |||
| 1 | Jan Lundin | SWE | – |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Tsuyoshi Yamanaka | JPN | 4:21.1 | ||
| 2 | 6 | Hans Rosendahl | SWE | 4:23.5 | ||
| 3 | 5 | Ron Jacks | CAN | 4:29.3 | ||
| 4 | 3 | Pierpaolo Spangaro | ITA | 4:30.0 | ||
| 5 | 4 | Tuomo Hämäläinen | FIN | 4:35.5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Gert Kölli | AUT | 4:38.4 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Kim Bong-Jo | KOR | 4:55.8 | ||
| 8 | Jean Pommat | FRA | – |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Russell Phegan | AUS | 4:19.8 | ||
| 2 | 3 | József Katona | HUN | 4:24.7 | ||
| 3 | 6 | Takeshi Yamakage | JPN | 4:27.8 | ||
| 4 | 5 | John Thurley | GBR | 4:31.0 | ||
| 5 | 8 | Slobodan Dijaković | YUG | 4:41.0 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Teodoro Capriles | VEN | 4:44.5 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Walter Ledgard Buse | PER | 4:50.4 | ||
| 1 | Elliot Chenaux | PUR | – |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Frank Wiegand | GER | 4:17.2 | ||
| 2 | 7 | Semyon Belits-Geyman | URS | 4:19.4 | ||
| 3 | 6 | Petr Lohnický | TCH | 4:28.9 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Celestino Pérez | PUR | 4:30.9 | ||
| 5 | 5 | Bob Lord | GBR | 4:33.2 | ||
| 6 | 3 | Francis Luyce | FRA | 4:33.2 | ||
| 7 | 1 | Ilkka Suvanto | FIN | 4:38.0 | ||
| 8 | 8 | András Bodnár | HUN | 5:03.7 |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Don Schollander | USA | 4:15.8 | ||
| 2 | 6 | Allan Wood | AUS | 4:16.2 | ||
| 3 | 5 | Mats Svensson | SWE | 4:24.6 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Martin Klink | GER | 4:29.1 | ||
| 5 | 7 | Ralph Hutton | CAN | 4:29.4 | ||
| 6 | 8 | John Martin-Dye | GBR | 4:34.3 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Tan Thuan Heng | MAS | 4:38.2 | ||
| 8 | 2 | Pano Capéronis | SUI | 4:43.8 |
| Date | 15 October 1964 — 20:35 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Don Schollander | USA | 4:12.2 | ||
| 2 | 3 | Frank Wiegand | GER | 4:14.9 | ||
| 3 | 5 | Allan Wood | AUS | 4:15.1 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Roy Saari | USA | 4:16.7 | ||
| 5 | 7 | John Nelson | USA | 4:16.9 | ||
| 6 | 8 | Tsuyoshi Yamanaka | JPN | 4:19.1 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Russell Phegan | AUS | 4:20.2 | ||
| 8 | 6 | Semyon Belits-Geyman | URS | 4:21.4 |
