The Olympics are continually evolving, but all throughout the years the Games have a simple appeal: The best athletes in the world gather and compete to see who is the fastest, the strongest, and the most acrobatic. On top of it you have pageantry: the opening and closing ceremonies can be as compelling as the games themselves.

In 1964 LIFE staff photographer Art Rickerby went to Tokyo to capture the 1964 Summer games in all their glory.

The Tokyo Olympics made history because it was the first the time the event was staged in Asia. That was also the first time the Olympics were broadcast via satellite—before that, improbable as it sounds, video tapes had to be flown across oceans before the competition could be seen by overseas viewers.

From the perspective of LIFE managing editor George P. Hunt, who covered many Olympics, the Tokyo event also stood out for the control exerted by Japanese officials. “The Games were precise, stiff and formal,” Hunter wrote, looking back in 1968. “The Japanese have a penchant for over-organization. The government even put a lid on the hot spots in Ginza.”

That management style which seemed novel to Hunter has become the standard, no matter where the Olympics are held. Host cities spend many billions to stage the games, and media companies invest heavily to broadcast them. They prepare with the same intensity as the athletes, and they do what they can to make sure all goes as hoped.

And the 1964 event, as always, made for not just plenty of athletic drama but some pretty pictures as well.

Opening ceremony at the track and field stadium of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

West and East Germans march together at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Arthur Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Japanese athletes marched in at the opening ceremonies of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Arthur Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

(Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)

Japanese trumpeters at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock)

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Japanese track athlete Yoshinori Sakai lit the torch at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

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The Olympic torch at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The opening ceremonies of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Japan.

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Sunrise at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, home of the swimming and diving events of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

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1964 Summer Olympic flags, Tokyo, Japan.

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Opening ceremony at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A snack vendor at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

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1964 Summer Olympics, Tokyo, Japan.

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Al Oerter of the U.S. team won a gold medal in discus at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

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The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US swimmer Don Schollander (second from left) competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics, Tokyo.

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US gold medal winner swimmer Don Schollander celebrated at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

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US gold medal winner swimmer Don Schollander at 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

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The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

USA swimmer Cathy Ferguson cried after winning gold in the 100-meter backstroke at the 1964 Summer Olympics. (L) Christine Caron of France won silver, (R) American Ginny Duenkel won bronze.

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The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The USA women’s swim team signed a kick board after winning gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay, 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics. L-R: Cynthia Goyette, Kathy Ellis ,Cathy Ferguson, Sharon Stouder.

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The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

(Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US sprinter Edith McGuire at 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

USA diver Larry Andreasen at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US athlete Hayes Jones in Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympics, Japan

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The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Soviet heavy-weightlifter Yuri Vlasov at 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Medal ceremony at Lake Sagami for the Women’s 550-meter kayak pairs event. West Germans Roswitha Esser and Annemarie Zimmermann won gold. Second place went to 15-year-old Francine Fox and 35-year-old Gloriane Perrier of the US. In third place were Hilde Lauer and Cornelia Sideri of Romania.

Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ginny Duenkel (C), Marilyn Ramenofsky (R), and Terri Stickles (L) on the victory stand following the 400 meter race at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 1964.

Arthur Rickerby/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Majesty in Tokyo: The 1964 Olympics appeared first on LIFE.

Here, in acknowledgement of the long, icy, often-uphill trail that sportswomen have had to navigate through the years, LIFE offers a series of Winter Olympics photos from the 1940s to the 1970s — pictures featuring the still-famous (Peggy Fleming, Lidiya Skoblikova, Andrea Mead Lawrence) as well as more than a few largely forgotten female athletes who made a mark in the Olympics, whether they medaled or not.

Fifteen-year-old Andrea Mead Lawrence, the first American alpine skier to win Olympic gold, trained in 1947.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Six-time U.S. national figure-skating champion Gretchen Merrill, St. Moritz Olympics, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

French figure skater Jacqueline du Bief, St. Moritz, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

British figure skater Jeanette Altwegg, bronze medalist at St. Moritz, 1948.

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Canadian Patricia Gault, St. Moritz, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Olympic figure skater, St. Moritz, 1948.

Walter Sanders/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Gretchen Merrill, St. Moritz Olympics, 1948.

Walter Sanders/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American skier Brynhild Grasmoen, St. Moritz, 1948.

Walter Sanders/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Great Britain’s Sue Holmes, Cortina, Italy, 1956.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified skater, Cortina, Italy, 1956.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified athlete, Cortina, Italy, 1956.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American figure-skating silver medalist Carol Heiss, Cortina, Italy, 1956.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Russian cross-country skiers Radya Yeroshina (silver) and Lyubov Kozyreva (gold), Cortina, Italy, 1956.

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American silver medalist Penny Pitou (left) and German downhill gold medalist Heidi Biebl, Squaw Valley, 1960.

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Slalom silver medalist Betsy Snite (USA), Squaw Valley, 1960.

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American downhill skier Penny Pitou (silver medalist), Squaw Valley, 1960.

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American downhill skier Penny Pitou (silver medalist), Squaw Valley, 1960.

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Unidentified athlete, Squaw Valley, 1960.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Figure skater Carol Heiss (gold medal, Ladies Singles), Squaw Valley, 1960.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Figure skater Carol Heiss (gold medal, Ladies Singles), Squaw Valley, 1960.

Ralph Crane/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Russian speed-skating gold medalist Lidiya Skoblikova (center), with Poland’s Elwira Seroczynska (left, silver) and Helena Pilejczyk (right, bronze), Squaw Valley, 1960.

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Unidentified athlete, Innsbruck Olympics, 1964.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified athlete, Innsbruck Olympics, 1964.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American skier Jean Saubert (center) received kisses from French downhill gold and silver medalists (and sisters), Christine and Marielle Goitschel, Innsbruck Olympics, 1964.

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Unidentified athlete, Innsbruck Olympics, 1964.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Left to right: Christine Goitschel, Jean Saubert, and Marielle Goitschel, Innsbruck, 1964

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American speed skater and four-time Olympic medalist Dianne Holum, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Unidentified athlete, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Three-time Olympic medalist Lyudmila Titova, Russian speed skater, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American figure skater Peggy Fleming, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

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Twelve-year-old Romanian figure skater Beatrice Hustiu, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American figure skater Janet Lynn, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

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American figure skater Peggy Fleming, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

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Peggy Fleming, gold medalist, Ladies Singles figure skating, Grenoble Olympics, 1968.

Art Rickerby/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Anne Henning, 16, won the 500-meter speed skating race at the Sapporo Winter Olympics, 1972.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Figure skaters Janet Lynn (American, bronze), Beatrix Schuba (Austrian, gold) and Karin Manguessen (Canadian, silver), Sapporo Winter Olympics, 1972.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American speed skater and four-time Olympic medalist Dianne Holum, Sapporo Winter Olympics, 1972.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Women’s luge, Sapporo Winter Olympics, 1972.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post Women of the Winter Olympics: Amazing Athletes in Action appeared first on LIFE.

While the war was over, however, it was hardly forgotten. Neither Japan nor Germany was allowed to compete. (The third Axis power, Italy, sent more than 200 athletes to London, having wisely joined the Allies in the middle of the war after Mussolini was deposed and executed.) The Soviet Union, meanwhile, as LIFE told its readers in August 1945, “snubbed the whole show” hardly surprising, as the USSR had not sent athletes to an Olympiad since 1922, and would not do so until 1952.

But whatever ideological fault lines existed around the globe in the immediate aftermath of the war, the obvious and overriding emphasis in London in 1948 was the athletes, and the generally friendly, intense competition on display.

As LIFE put it in an article shortly after the ’48 Games ended:

For 17 days except for one night when there was trouble with the gas line the torch flamed brightly at Wembley, England.

The ceremonial dignity of the London Olympiad was no match for the neopagan histrionics which characterized Adolf Hitler’s 1936 spectacle in Berlin. But by athletic standards the show was superb, despite the fact that the weather was the worst in Olympic history (the sun shone only three days). The general decorum of competing athletes was admirable, and only a very slight international tension followed a disputed U.S. victory in the 400-meter relay.

The U.S. won 38 golds in 1948, followed by Sweden (16), France and Hungary (10 apiece). The United Kingdom won three gold medals.

Torchbearer Henry Allen Bishop, 1948 London Olympics.

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As 5,000 athletes massed on the infield of Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 82,000, the Olympic torch flared up for the first time on July 29, a few minutes after XIV Olympiad has been officially opened by King George VI. The huge delegations in front are the British and U.S. teams.

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After years of cancelled Olympics due to World War II, the Games were back on at Wembley Stadium, London, 1948.

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Distance champion Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia, running with his characteristic agonized expression, started the last lap in the 10,000 meters, where he set a new Olympic record in London, 1948. He received a gold medal and promotion from second to first lieutenant in Czech army.

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Swedish Henry Eriksson received congratulations after winning the 1500 meters in the driving rain at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

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The Netherlands’ Fanny Blankers-Koen (foreground), who won four golds in at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, competed in a sprint heat.

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Hurdles champion Fanny Blankers-Koen (right) of Holland skimmed over last barrier in the 80-meter race inches ahead of Great Britain’s Maureen Gardner. Mrs. Blankers-Koen, 30-year-old mother of two children who cooks, knits, darns socks and does her training in between, also won the women’s 100-meter and 200-meter sprints and picked up a fourth medal by running on a victorious relay team, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

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Jamaican athlete Herb McKenley, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

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American pole vaulter Guinn Smith attempted (unsuccessfully) a world record jump at the summer Olympics, London, 1948.

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Guinn Smith of U.S. won at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London the hard way— in a driving rain which caused vaulters’ hands to slip from bamboo poles and made Olympic record impossible. This photo shows Smith’s body is draped over bar as he fails on first try at winning height. Next time he made it.

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Eventual decathlon winner, 17-year-old American Bob Mathias, waited for his turn at the pole vault, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

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Javelin throw winner Herma Baumer of Austria, London Olympics, 1948.

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American diver Zoe Ann Olsen prepared for a springboard dive. She won silver in at the Olympics in London, 1948.

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Swimming at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

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American springboard dive winners Zoe Ann Olsen (left), Vicki Manolo Draves (center) and Patty Elsener displayed their medals at the Summer Olympics in London, 1948.

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Fanny Blankers-Koen (right) of the Netherlands after winning the 200-meter dash, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

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Gaston Reiff of Belgium stood on the winner’s block after the 5,000 meters at the Summer Olympics in London, 1948.

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Members of the winning American crew (from UC-Berkeley) carried coach Ky Ebright on their shoulders, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post The First Post-WWII Olympics: London, 1948 appeared first on LIFE.

Leaving behind the main force of 1,200 athletes, this small group pushed on north to a sterner battleground. These were the true daredevils of winter sport the downhill ski racers. Their destination, 62 miles from Oslo, was Mount Norefjell, a snow-capped peak whose terrain is considered rugged enough for the most hazardous of all Olympic events. No sport on earth matches in danger the downhill race: the course at Norefjell drops a breathtaking 2,400 feet in a mile and half.

Among the men en route there this week, with less chance of winning a race than of losing a limb, was the underdog eight-man American team. All in their 20s and pink-faced from weeks of outdoor training, they included three college boys from New England, a lumberjack from the Pacific northwest, a ski-tow mechanic, a yeoman 2/c on leave from the U.S. Navy, an Air Force private and one fellow who had no other occupation than skiing for the fun of it. With them in the role of keeper was one middle-aged Frenchman named Emile Allais, their trainer and technical adviser.

Norefjell looks no more formidable than a dozen other mountains they have conquered: it is no tougher than the “rock garden” at Sun Valley or skiing down the side of the Empire State Building.

LIFE was right, in the end, in its estimation of the team’s chances in Norway or rather, LIFE was right about the men’s chances. No one on the American men’s ski team medaled in 1952. But a young native Vermonter on the women’s squad, 19-year-old Andrea Mead Lawrence (a future National Ski Hall of Fame inductee), made up for the dearth of laurels on the male side, winning gold in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom.

Here, LIFE.com presents photos of the men’s squad by George Silk as they trained for the ’52 Oslo games in Squaw Valley, California. These pictures that capture the rigor and the beauty of, as LIFE put it, “the most hazardous of all Olympic events.”

American skier Jack Reddish training for the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics, Squaw Valley, California, 1950.

George Silk Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A skier trains for the Olympics, Squaw Valley, California, 1950.

George Silk Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American skiers in training, Squaw Valley, California, 1950.

George Silk Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Original caption: ” “Over the edge and seemingly off into space goes U.S. Olympic team member Dick Buek at Squaw Valley. On straight drops skiers have gone 73 mph.” Buek, an adrenaline junkie nicknamed “the Madman of Donner Summit,” died at the age of 27 in a plane crash.”

George Silk Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Skiers train for the 1952 Winter Olympics, Squaw Valley, California, 1950.

George Silk Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

“Avalanche of men and snow plunges down steep side of mountain at Squaw Valley in California as American team gets ready for the Olympics. This dramatic picture was taken in early morning before the sun had touched the snow.”

George Silk Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

U.S. Olympic skier training in Squaw Valley, California, 1950.

George Silk Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

U.S. Olympic Skier training in Squaw Valley, California, 1950.

George Silk Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A skier trains for the Olympics, Squaw Valley, California, 1950.

George Silk Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post 1952 U.S. Olympic Skiers: Stunning Images from Squaw Valley appeared first on LIFE.