Winter Olympiad (1980)

The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, celebrated in Lake Placid, New York, United States of America. This was the second time the upstate New York village hosted the Games, after 1932. The great Swedish skier, Ingemar Stenmark, won both the giant slalom and the slalom. Hanni Wenzel did the same in the women’s races and her nation, Liechtenstein, became the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion. Ulrich Wehling won the Nordic combined for the third time and pair’s skater Irina Rodnina did the same in her event. In the biathlon relay, Aleksandr Tikhonov earned his fourth straight gold medal. Nikolay Zimyatov earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing. In an unprecedented achievement, Eric Heiden of the United States won all five speed skating races, from 500m all the way up to 10,000m. Nonetheless, for the home crowd, the highlight was the unexpected victory of the US ice hockey team.

Opening date
13 February 1980

Closing date
24 February 1980

Ceremonies

Official opening of the Games by: Vice-President of the United States, Walter Mondale.

Lighting the Olympic Flame by: Dr Charles Morgan Kerr

Olympic Oath by: Eric Heiden (speed skating)

Official Oath by: Terry McDermott (speed skating)

Participation

37 NOCs (Nations)
1,072 athletes (232 women, 840 men)
38 events
6,703 volunteers

Country of the host city: United States of America (USA)

Candidate cities: Vancouver-Garibaldi (CAN) who withdrew before the final vote

Sports

• Biathlon                         
• Bobsleigh
• Ice Hockey                     
• Skating
• Skiing                            
• Luge

Venues

• Bobsleigh and Luge track (separate facilities)
• Olympic Center (now known as Herb Brooks Arena)--ice hockey, figure skating
• Olympic Jumping Complex
• Olympic Sports Complex
• Whiteface Mountain
• Mirror Lake-award ceremonies

Highlights

• Hanni Wenzel won the women's giant slalom and slalom, making Liechtenstein the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion.

• Eric Heiden won five gold medals in speed skating (500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m), setting four Olympic records and one world record (10,000m) in the process. Heiden was the first to win five individual gold medals at one Game.

• An upstart United States ice hockey team, made up primarily of collegiate players, won the gold medal, defeating the heavily favored Soviet team and then Finland in the medal round. Their defeat of the Soviet team became known as the "Miracle on Ice" in the US press. A film about the event, called Miracle, was released in 2004.

Facts

• Lake Placid 1980 marked the first use of artificial snow in Olympic competition.

• This was the second time the upstate New York village hosted the Games, after 1932. The only other candidate city to bid for the Games was Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia, Canada; they withdrew before the final vote.

• The mascots of the Games were "Roni" and "Ronny", the raccoon. The natural mask on a raccoon recalls the goggles and hats worn by many athletes in winter sports.