Benjamin Basil Heatley (born 25 December 1933) was a British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 athlete, who mainly competed in the marathon. He was born in Kenilworth, Warwickshire.

On 13 July 1964 Heatley broke the world record for the marathon at the Polytechnic Marathon

Polytechnic Marathon

The Polytechnic Marathon, often called the Poly, was a marathon held annually between 1909 and 1996, over various courses in or near London. It was the first marathon to be run regularly over the distance of 26 miles, 385 yards which is now the global standard...

 in England, running a 2:13:56 to surpass Leonard Edelen

Leonard Edelen

Leonard Graves "Buddy" Edelen was an American marathoner. Based in England for most of his prime competitive years, in 1963 Edelen became the first man to run a marathon faster than 2 hours and 15 minutes when he set a world record of 2:14:28. Edelen also won the 1964 U.S...

's world best from the previous year's race by 32 seconds. Three months later, on 21 October 1964, Heatley competed in the men's marathon in the 1964 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics

At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the athletics competition included 36 events, 24 for men and 12 for women. The women's 400 metres and women's pentathlon events were newly introduced at these Games. There were a total number of 1016 participating athletes from 82 countries.-Men's...

 held in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Defending Olympic marathon champion Abebe Bikila

Abebe Bikila

Abebe Bikila was a two-time Olympic marathon champion from Ethiopia. A stadium in Addis Ababa is named in his honor.-1932–1959:...

 won another Olympic gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 in another world record time. Heatley managed to stay close to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

's Kokichi Tsuburaya

Kokichi Tsuburaya

was a Japanese athlete who competed mainly in the Marathon. He competed for Japan in the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, where he won the bronze medal, and was overtaken within the final 100 meters by Basil Heatley of the UK.After the Tokyo Olympics, Kokichi suffered from lumbago...

 and passed Tsuburaya shortly before the finish line to win the silver medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

.