[4][5] Two new sports were introduced to the Summer Olympic Games program in Tokyo: judo and volleyball.

[8][9] The 1964 Summer Games were the first Olympics held in Asia,[10] and marked the first time South Africa was excluded for using its apartheid system in sports.

[11][12] North Korea and Indonesia withdrew their athletes from the 1964 Summer Olympics just before the games were due to start, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were refusing to accept any athletes who had participated in the Games of the New Emerging Forces held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1963.

[21] Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina won the most medals at the games with six (two gold, two silver, and two bronze).

[26][27] If teams are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by their IOC country code.