The Olympic Media dossier

 1964: Tokyo   

10-24 October
Television coverage is provided by Japan's state broadcaster NHK. These were the first Games to be televised in colour [opening ceremony, right]. Satellite coverage is also provided globally for the first time, known as Mondovision and made possible by the American Syncom 3, the first geostationary satellite, launched by Hughes. Compression techniques to squeeze the television signal into capacity designed for voice telephony is successfully tested on 7 October. However, the transponder bandwidth is wide enough to send only the video signal; sound is relayed by undersea cables.
        In the US, the ABC network paid £1.5m for the television rights to 14 hours of programming (and paid $597,000 for the Winter games at Innsbruck, which yielded 18 hours).
        One significant innovation is the use of a helicopter to relay signals from mobile cameras to a base unit. This technique is used to provide coverage of the entire marathon [left].
        Perhaps most significantly, the comparative superiority of American television technology used at the games causes the Japanese to review their technology and manufacturing strategies, leading to rapid advances and, in due course, world leadership in television, video and audio technology and products. 
[Picture source: NHK]

The official film of these Games, Tokyo Orimpikku (Tokyo Olympiad), was directed by the great Japanese director Kon Ichikawa and released in 1965. Visually stunning—as in the magnificent shot of the runner with the Olympic torch passing in front of Mount Fuji—the film was an artistic expression of the humanity of the Games rather than a straightforward documentary chronicling the results.
        Arriflex cameras fitted with anamorphic (2.35:1) telephoto lenses were used to shoot 70 hours of film, much of it on high-speed stock, from which a 170-minute feature was distilled. Slow-motion and strobing effects are used in the editing. 
        The film is available on DVD.