1964 Summer Olympics closing ceremony 1964 Summer Olympics closing ceremony The Closing Ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics took place on October 24, 1964, in the National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. The athletes from each country entered informally, despite plans to have a formal entrance. There did not appear to be any backup plan to sort athletes into their respective countries, and as a result the athletes rushed the field, sometimes arm in arm or riding piggyback, in a disorganized and chaotic spectacle. Zambia had just declared independence from Northern Rhodesia on that day and proudly marched under a newly made placard, but other
Southern Rhodesia which was situated on the Southern Rhodesian side of the Zambezi Gorge. This situation caused some embarrassment for the Zambian government later when it was a "front line state" in support of insurgents into Rhodesia in that its major source of electric power was controlled by the Rhodesian state. With the protectorate of Northern Rhodesia no longer in existence, in 1964 Southern Rhodesia reverted to the name "Rhodesia" (see next section). In 1965, Rhodesia unilaterally declared itself independent under a white-dominated government led by Ian Smith. After a long civil war between the white (until 1979) government and two African