Cycling at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's sprint was a track cycling event held as part of the Cycling at the 1964 Summer Olympics programme. It was held on 17 and 18 October 1964 at the Hachioji Velodrome. 39 cyclists from 22 nations competed.[1] Nations were limited to two cyclists each. The event was won by Giovanni Pettenella of Italy, the nation's second consecutive and fourth overall victory in the men's sprint (trailing only France's five gold medals all-time). Sergio Bianchetto took silver, making it the second consecutive Games in which Italy had two men on the podium in the event. It was also the fifth straight Games with Italy taking at least silver. Daniel Morelon of France took bronze, the first of his record four medals in the event.

Men's sprint
at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
North Korean stamp commemorating 1964 Olympic cycling
VenueHachioji Road Race Course, Tokyo
Dates17–18 October 1964
Competitors39 from 22 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)Giovanni Pettenella
 Italy
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Sergio Bianchetto
 Italy
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)Daniel Morelon
 France
← 1960
1968 →

Background

This was the 13th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. None of the quarterfinalists from 1960 returned. Italy and France, which had combined for 8 of the 12 previous gold medals, had strong teams. France was favored, with Pierre Trentin and Daniel Morelon the top two at the 1964 World Championship. Third place had gone to Italian Sergio Bianchetto, who had also won Olympic gold in the tandem in 1960. The other Italian, Giovanni Pettenella, was less well-known but had taken silver in the track time trial earlier in the Games. Belgium also had a strong contender, with 1963 World Champion Patrick Sercu.[2]

Cambodia made its debut in the men's sprint. France made its 13th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.

Competition format

Sprint cycling involves a series of head-to-head matches. The 1964 competition involved nine rounds: heats, a two-round repechage, 1/8 finals, another two-round repechage, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.[2][3]

  • Heats: The 39 competitors were divided into 13 heats of 3 cyclists each. The winner of each heat advanced directly to the 1/8 finals (13 cyclists), while all other cyclists who competed were sent to the first repechage (26 cyclists).
  • Repechage 1: This was a two-round repechage. The first round consisted of 10 heats of 2 or 3 cyclists each. The winners advanced to the second round of the repechage, while the losers were eliminated. The second round had 5 heats of 2 cyclists each; the winner of each heat joined the main competition again at the 1/8 finals (5 cyclists) while the loser was eliminated.
  • 1/8 finals: The 18 cyclists who advanced through the heats or the first repechage competed in a 1/8 finals round. There were 6 heats in this round, with 3 cyclists in each. The top cyclist in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals (6 cyclists), while the other 2 in each heat went to the second repechage (12 cyclists).
  • Repechage 2: This was another two-round repechage. This repechage began with 4 heats of 3 cyclists each. The top cyclist in each heat advanced to the second round, while the other 2 cyclists in each heat were eliminated. The second round of this repechage featured 2 heats of 2 cyclists each, with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals and the losers eliminated.
  • Quarterfinals: Beginning with the quarterfinals, all matches were one-on-one competitions and were held in best-of-three format. There were 4 quarterfinals, with the winner of each advancing to the semifinals and the loser eliminated.
  • Semifinals: The two semifinals provided for advancement to the gold medal final for winners and to the bronze medal final for losers.
  • Finals: Both a gold medal final and a bronze medal final were held.

Records

The records for the sprint are 200 metre flying time trial records, kept for the qualifying round in later Games as well as for the finish of races.

World record  Sante Gaiardoni (ITA)11.0 Rome, Italy30 July 1960
Olympic record  Valentino Gasparella (ITA)11.1 Rome, Italy29 August 1960

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

DateTimeRound
Saturday, 17 October 196410:00
 
 
14:00
 
 
Round 1
First repechage semifinals
First repechage finals
1/8 finals
Second repechage semifinals
Second repechage finals
Sunday, 18 October 196410:00
14:00
 
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Finals

Results

Round 1

In the first round of heats, the 39 cyclists were divided into 13 heats of 3 cyclists each. The winner of each heat advanced to the 1/8 finals, while the 26 remaining cyclists were relegated to the first round of repechages.

Heat 1

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Pierre Trentin  France12.77Q
2Nguyễn Văn Châu  VietnamR
3Jose Tellez  MexicoR

Heat 2

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Daniel Morelon  France12.84Q
2Eduardo Bustos  ColombiaR
3Tan Thol  CambodiaR

Heat 3

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Sergio Bianchetto  Italy11.58Q
2Muhammad Hafeez  PakistanR
3Suchha Singh  IndiaR

Heat 4

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Patrick Sercu  Belgium11.67Q
2Oscar García  ArgentinaR
3Amar Singh Billing  IndiaR

Heat 5

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Ivan Kučírek  Czechoslovakia11.60Q
2Roger Gibbon  Trinidad and TobagoR
3Alan Grieco  United StatesR

Heat 6

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Karl Barton  Great Britain12.68Q
2Richárd Bicskey  HungaryR
Carlos Alberto Vázquez  ArgentinaDNF

Heat 7

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Giovanni Pettenella  Italy11.40Q
2Fitzroy Hoyte  Trinidad and TobagoR
3Tim Phivana  CambodiaR

Heat 8

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Omar Pkhak'adze  Soviet Union12.26Q
2Willi Fuggerer  United Team of GermanyR
3Peder Pedersen  DenmarkR

Heat 9

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Valery Khitrov  Soviet Union11.54Q
2Christopher Church  Great BritainR
3Arie de Graaf  NetherlandsR

Heat 10

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Katsuhiko Sato  Japan11.92Q
2José Mercado  MexicoR
3Jackie Simes  United StatesR

Heat 11

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Thomas Harrison  Australia11.60Q
2Pieter van der Touw  NetherlandsR
3Ferenc Habony  HungaryR

Heat 12

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Mario Vanegas  Colombia12.09Q
2Gordon Johnson  AustraliaR
3Zbysław Zając  PolandR

Heat 13

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Ulrich Schillinger  United Team of Germany12.60Q
2Niels Fredborg  DenmarkR
3Tsuyoshi Kawachi  JapanR

First repechage semifinals

All of the competitors who had not qualified for the 1/8 finals in the heats competed in the first round repechage. Ten heats, each with 2 or 3 cyclists, were held. The winner of each heat moved on to the first round repechage finals, all others (16 in all) were eliminated.

First repechage semifinal 1

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Oscar Garcia  Argentina12.16Q
2Fitzroy Hoyte  Trinidad and Tobago
3Jose Tellez  Mexico

First repechage semifinal 2

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Roger Gibbon  Trinidad and Tobago11.65Q
2Tsuyoshi Kawachi  Japan
3Tim Phivana  Cambodia

First repechage semifinal 3

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Zbysław Zając  Poland12.31Q
2Nguyễn Văn Châu  Vietnam
3Amar Singh Billing  India

First repechage semifinal 4

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Tan Thol  Cambodia13.00Q
2Richárd Bicskey  Hungary
3Christopher Church  Great Britain

First repechage semifinal 5

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Niels Fredborg  Denmark12.31Q
2Alan Grieco  United States
3José Mercado  Mexico

First repechage semifinal 6

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Willi Fuggerer  United Team of Germany12.69Q
2Jackie Simes  United States

First repechage semifinal 7

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Peder Pedersen  Denmark11.61Q
2Muhammad Hafeez  Pakistan

First repechage semifinal 8

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Arie de Graaf  Netherlands12.21Q
2Suchha Singh  India

First repechage semifinal 9

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Pieter van der Touw  Netherlands12.48Q
2Eduardo Bustos  Colombia

First repechage semifinal 10

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Gordon Johnson  Australia12.20Q
2Ferenc Habony  Hungary

First repechage finals

The winners of the 10 heats of the elimination round of the first repechage competed against each other in 5 heats of repechage finals. The winners of the five heats advanced to the 1/8 finals, the losers were eliminated.

First repechage final 1

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Zbysław Zając  Poland12.09Q
2Oscar Garcia  Argentina

First repechage final 2

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Niels Fredborg  Denmark12.25Q
2Tan Thol  Cambodia

First repechage final 3

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Peder Pedersen  Denmark11.91Q
2Pieter van der Touw  Netherlands

First repechage final 4

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Roger Gibbon  Trinidad and Tobago11.35Q
2Arie de Graaf  Netherlands

First repechage final 5

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Willi Fuggerer  United Team of Germany11.52Q
2Gordon Johnson  Australia

1/8 finals

The 18 remaining cyclists competed in 6 heats of 3 cyclists in the 1/8 finals. The winner of each heat advanced to the quarterfinals, with the 2 defeated cyclists in each heat relegated to the second round of repechages.

1/8 final 1

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Mario Vanegas  Colombia12.07Q
2Omar Pkhak'adze  Soviet UnionR
3Pierre Trentin  FranceR

1/8 final 2

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Daniel Morelon  France11.93Q
2Niels Fredborg  DenmarkR
3Karl Barton  Great BritainR

1/8 final 3

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Sergio Bianchetto  Italy11.83Q
2Ulrich Schillinger  United Team of GermanyR
3Peder Pedersen  DenmarkR

1/8 final 4

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Patrick Sercu  Belgium11.43Q
2Thomas Harrison  AustraliaR
3Roger Gibbon  Trinidad and TobagoR

1/8 final 5

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Zbysław Zając  Poland12.06Q
2Valery Khitrov  Soviet UnionR
3Giovanni Pettenella  ItalyR

1/8 final 6

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Willi Fuggerer  United Team of Germany12.15Q
2Ivan Kučírek  CzechoslovakiaR
3Katsuhiko Sato  JapanR

Second repechage semifinals

Four heats of three cyclists each were held, with the winner of each moving to the finals of the second repechage while the other 8 cyclists were eliminated.

Second repechage semifinal 1

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Pierre Trentin  France12.81Q
2Karl Barton  Great Britain
3Roger Gibbon  Trinidad and TobagoDNF

Second repechage semifinal 2

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Giovanni Pettenella  Italy12.06Q
2Ulrich Schillinger  United Team of Germany
3Niels Fredborg  Denmark

Second repechage semifinal 3

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Omar Pkhak'adze  Soviet Union11.70Q
2Thomas Harrison  Australia
3Katsuhiko Sato  Japan

Second repechage semifinal 4

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Valery Khitrov  Soviet Union11.45Q
2Ivan Kučírek  Czechoslovakia
3Peder Pedersen  Denmark

Second repechage finals

The four winners of the eliminations of the second repechage faced off in two heats of finals for the repechage. The winner in each heat moved on to the semifinals, the loser was eliminated.

Second repechage final 1

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Pierre Trentin  France11.88Q
2Valery Khitrov  Soviet Union

Second repechage final 2

RankCyclistNationTime
200 m
Notes
1Giovanni Pettenella  Italy11.71Q
2Omar Pkhak'adze  Soviet Union

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals, which began the day of 19 October, were the first round of direct elimination. The 8 remaining cyclists were paired off into four heats. The winner of each match, which was in a best-of-three format, advanced, the loser was eliminated.

Quarterfinal 1

RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3Notes
1Daniel Morelon  France12.0712.18Q
2Zbysław Zając  Poland

Quarterfinal 2

RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3Notes
1Sergio Bianchetto  Italy13.0012.31Q
2Mario Vanegas  Colombia

Quarterfinal 3

RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3Notes
1Giovanni Pettenella  Italy12.0311.57Q
2Patrick Sercu  Belgium

Quarterfinal 4

RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3Notes
1Pierre Trentin  France12.5812.72Q
2Willi Fuggerer  United Team of Germany12.52

Semifinals

The semifinals were also raced in a best-of-three format. The winner of each semifinal advanced to the gold medal match, while the loser was sent to the bronze medal match.

Semifinal 1

Trentin was penalized for interference in the second race.

RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3Notes
1Giovanni Pettenella  Italywo12.74Q
2Pierre Trentin  France12.89DSQB

Semifinal 2

During their semifinal, Pettenella and Trentin set an Olympic record by standing still for 21 minutes and 57 seconds.[4]

RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3Notes
1Sergio Bianchetto  Italy12.5212.91Q
2Daniel Morelon  France11.83B

Finals

The two finals each pitted a pair of countrymen against each other; Italians in the gold medal match and Frenchmen in the bronze. Again the format was best-of-three.

Bronze medal match

RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3
Daniel Morelon  France11.5813.85
4Pierre Trentin  France11.42

Final

RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3
Giovanni Pettenella  Italy13.8513.69
Sergio Bianchetto  Italy

Sources

  • Tokyo Organizing Committee (1964). The Games of the XVIII Olympiad: Tokyo 1964, vol. 2.

References