Swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games:

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.