Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's pentathlon

The women's pentathlon was part of the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 16 October and 17 October 1964, with the first three events on 16 October and the last two on 17 October. 20 athletes from 15 nations entered. The 1964 Summer Olympics were the first appearance of the women's pentathlon.

The events of the pentathlon, in order, were:
 * 1) 80 metre hurdles
 * 2) Shot put
 * 3) High jump
 * 4) Long jump
 * 5) 200 metres

Shot put
Press's shot put, more than 2.5 metres further than the nearest competitor's, combined with her hurdles victory to give her a solid lead after two events.

First day rankings

 * 1) Irina Press, 3245 points
 * 2) Galina Bystrova, 3055 points
 * 3) Mary Elizabeth Peters, 3004 points
 * 4) Mary Rand, 2917 points
 * 5) Draga Stamejcic, 2845 points
 * 6) Pat Winslow, 2790 points
 * 7) Maria Siziakova, 2786 points
 * 8) Denise Guenard, 2779 points
 * 9) Dianne Gerace, 2740 points
 * 10) Helen Frith, 2738 points
 * 11) Ingrid Becker, 2722 points
 * 12) Helga Hoffmann, 2718 points
 * 13) Nina Hansen, 2711 points
 * 14) Ulla Flegel, 2670 points
 * 15) Jennifer Wingerson, 2668 points
 * 16) Oddrun Hokland, 2583 points
 * 17) Amelia Hinten, 2541 points
 * 18) Chi Cheng, 2445 points
 * 19) Takahashi Miyuki, 2291 points
 * 20) Lee Hak Ja, 2196 points

Long jump
Rand won her second straight event, climbing back up to third place overall after her fall to seventh following the shot put. Press, never having been outside the top four in any event, increased her lead to over 200 points above fellow Soviet Bystrova.

200 metres
Rand won her third straight event to pass Bystrova and take the silver medal. Press, who had won the first two events, had her lowest finish of the pentathlon in sixth place, still winning the gold medal by over 200 points and breaking her own world record (5137 points, set in 1961) by more than 100 points.