1964 Winter Olympics

IX Olympic Winter Games
1964 Winter Olympics logo.png
The emblem represents the coat of arms of Innsbruck, which shows the bridge on the Inn River that connects the old town and the Hötting district.
Host city Innsbruck, Austria
Nations participating 36
Athletes participating 1091
(892 men, 199 women)
Events 34 in 6 sports
Opening ceremony January 29
Closing ceremony February 9
Officially opened by President Adolf Schärf
Athlete's Oath Paul Aste
Olympic Torch Joseph Rieder
Stadium Bergisel

The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The games included 1091 athletes from 36 nations, and the Olympic Torch was carried by Joseph Rieder,[1] a former alpine skier who had participated in the 1956 Winter Olympics.

The games were affected by the deaths of Australian alpine skier Ross Milne and British luge slider Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski, during training, and by the deaths, three years earlier, of the entire US figure skating team and family members (see Prior tragedies below).

Contents

Host city selection

Innsbruck had two other candidate cities to go against for the 1964 Winter Olympics. Here are the resulting vote count that occurred at the 55th IOC Session in Munich, West Germany, on May 26, 1959, compliments of the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page.

1964 Winter Olympics Bidding Results
City NOC Name Round 1
Innsbruck  Austria 49
Calgary  Canada 9
Lahti  Finland -

Games highlights

Medal winners

Demonstration sport

Venues

Participating nations

36 nations sent athletes to compete in Innsbruck. India, Mongolia, and North Korea participated in the Winter Games for the first time. Athletes from West Germany (FRG) and East Germany (GDR) competed together as the United Team of Germany from 1956 to 1964.

  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Canada
  • Chile
  • Czechoslovakia
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Great Britain
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Iran
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • North Korea
  • Lebanon
  • Liechtenstein
  • Mongolia
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Romania
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey
  • United States
  • Soviet Union
  • Yugoslavia

Medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:

 Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Soviet Union 11 8 6 25
2 Austria (host nation) 4 5 3 12
3 Norway 3 6 6 15
4 Finland 3 4 3 10
5 France 3 4 0 7
6 Germany 3 3 3 9
7 Sweden 3 3 1 7
8 United States 1 2 3 6
9 Netherlands 1 1 0 2
10 Canada 1 0 2 3

Prior tragedies

Two tragedies prior to the 1964 Winter Olympics affected the outcome and mood of the Games:

See also

Notes

  1. "Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck 1964" (history), kiat.net, webpage: KIAT-Innsbruck.
  2. www.Olympic.org

References

External links

Preceded by
Squaw Valley
Winter Olympics
Innsbruck

IX Olympic Winter Games (1964)
Succeeded by
Grenoble