Winter Olympiad (1956)

The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event, which was celebrated in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The USSR made its Winter Olympics debut and immediately showed their strength by winning more medals than any other nation. Their speed skaters won three of the four events, while their ice hockey team ended Canada’s domination. Pavel Kolchin became the first non-Scandinavian to earn a medal in cross-country skiing. Anton Sailer won all three men’s races in Alpine skiing - the first clean sweep in Olympic history. Madeleine Berthod celebrated her birthday by winning the downhill by an amazing 4.7 seconds. The United States began to emerge as a definite power in figure skating as Tenley Albright won the women’s title and Hayes Alan Jenkins led an American medal sweep on the men’s side. The Cortina Games were the first to be televised and the last at which the figure skating competitions were held outdoors.

Opening date
26 January 1956

Closing date
05 February 1956

Ceremonies

Official opening of the Games by: President Giovanni Gronchi

Lighting the Olympic Flame by: Guido Caroli (speed skating)

Olympic Oath by: Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo (skiing)

Official Oath by: The first officials' oath was sworn at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

Participation

32 NOCs (Nations)
821 athletes (134 women, 687 men)
24 events

Country of the host city:  Italy (ITA)

Candidate cities:  Colorado Springs (USA), Lake Placid (USA) and Montreal (CAN)

Sports

• Bobsleigh
• Skating
• Skiing
• Ice Hockey

Highlights

• In the Alpine Skiing Toni Sailer was the first Alpine skier who wins all the events with three gold medals. He began by winning the giant slalom by 6.2 seconds, the largest margin of victory in the history of Olympic Alpine skiing. He then won the slalom, recording the fastest time in both runs, and the downhill by 3.5 seconds.

• Just before the Games, Tenley Albright (USA-figure skating) suffered a major injury because of her left skate cut through three layers of her right boot, slashed a vein, and severely scraped the bone.

• The USSR won the Games with 16 medals, 7 of them being gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze.

Facts

• The Cortina Games were the last Games at which the figure skating competitions took place outdoors.

• For the first time in the history of the Games, a female athlete- the skier Giuliana Chenal Minuzzo, swore the Olympic Oath.