Tokyo Olympiad (東京オリンピック, Tōkyō Orinpikku) is a 1965 Japanese documentary film directed by Kon Ichikawa, documenting the 1964 Olympic Summer Games in Japan. Tokyo Olympiad focuses more on the atmosphere of the Games than on journalistic coverage, making it an important cinematic work in contemporary history.
Tokyo was supposed to host the Olympics as early as 1940, but the Games were cancelled due to the war. Thus, the 18th Summer Olympics in 1964 were considered by the Japanese government to be particularly important in presenting the new Japan to the world after World War II. It is interesting to see which nations compete in this world event at the beginning of the Cold War: the USA and the Soviet Union, Germany with a joint team from West Germany and the GDR, South Korea, South Vietnam and some very young African states such as Cameroon, Niger and the Republic of Congo with only one or two athletes each.
Ichikawa lets the viewer follow the chronological course of the disciplines in a calm atmosphere, using stylistic accents to highlight certain aspects of the athletes’ struggle, such as slow motion, amplified sound and extreme close-ups. A team of more than 500 employees worked on the production and since then no documentary about a sporting event in this dimension has been implemented. “Tokyo Olympiad”, along with Leni Riefenstahl’s “Olympia” (1938), is considered one of the finest films about the Olympic Games and is one of the best sports documentaries of all time.
Click Filmposter to watch the Film on the Official Olympics Youtube Channel:
