1980 Winter Olympics

XIII Olympic Winter Games
The emblem is a line that forms the Adirondacks, which turns into a column on the left, paying tribute the ancient Olympic games. On the top of the column it is serrated to hold the Olympic rings. This represents a double cauldron, acknowledging that the Olympics were also held in Lake Placid in 1932.
Host city	Lake Placid, New York, USA
Nations participating	37
Athletes participating	1072 (840 men, 232 women)
Events	38 in 6 sports
Opening ceremony	February 14
Closing ceremony	February 23
Officially opened by	Vice President Walter Mondale
Athlete's Oath	Eric Heiden
Judge's Oath	Terry McDermott
Olympic Torch	Charles Morgan Kerr
Stadium	Lake Placid Equestrian Stadium

The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in February 13 through February 24, 1980 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 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", two raccoons. The mask-like rings on a raccoon's face recall the goggles and hats worn by many athletes in winter sports.

The sports were played at the Olympic Center (later renamed Herb Brooks Arena), Whiteface Mt., Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run, , the Olympic Ski Jumps, the Cascade Cross Country Ski Center, and the Lake Placid High School Speed Skating Oval.

Highlights

The most notable highlight of the Games involved the United States men's ice hockey team. The team was mostly made up of collegiate players and was not predicted to advance beyond group play. They won the gold medal, defeating the heavily favored Soviet team and Finland in the medal round. Their 4–3 defeat of the Soviet team, which came into the '80 Games having won 4 consecutive Olympic gold medals, became known as the "Miracle on Ice" in the U.S. press. The win captured the hearts of Americans during a time of Cold War tensions, even though it was the win against Finland that captured the gold medal. A film about the event, called Miracle, was released in 2004.

Other notable highlights included:

• Lake Placid 1980 marked the first use of artificial snow in Olympic competition.
• Although they did not get any medals, the People's Republic of China entered the Olympics Games for the first time after the IOC agreed to designate the Republic of China "Chinese Taipei".
• Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark won both the giant slalom and the slalom.
• Hanni Wenzel won the women's giant slalom and slalom, making Liechtenstein the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion.
• Ulrich Wehling of East Germany and Irina Rodnina of the USSR won their respective events for the third time.
• Aleksandr Tikhonov of the USSR earned his fourth straight gold medal.
• Nikolay Zimyatov of the USSR earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing.
• Eric Heiden of the United States won 5 gold medals in speedskating (500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m), setting 4 Olympic records and 1 world record (10,000m) in the process. Heiden was the first to win 5 individual gold medals at one Winter Games.
• Robin Cousins won gold for Great Britain in the men's singles figure skating.
• The closing ceremonies are held indoor at the Herb Brooks Arena.
• East Germany won the most medals overall (23) but had fewer golds (9) than the USSR (10).
• In possibly the most dramatic duel of the games, Sweden's Thomas Wassberg edged Finland's Juha Mieto in the 15 km cross-country skiing by 0.01 seconds, the closest margin of victory ever in Olympic cross-country skiing. This led the International Ski Federation (FIS) to time all events to the nearest 1/10th second in the future.

Medals awarded

The Olympic cauldron

The Ski Jumping Complex.

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

• Alpine skiing
• Biathlon
• Bobsleigh
• Figure skating
• Ice hockey
• Luge
• Nordic skiing
  • Cross-country skiing
  • Nordic combined
  • Ski jumping
• Speed skating

Venues

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

Critics decried poorly planned transportation which left spectators waiting for hours in freezing weather, and some athletes complained about lousy accommodations at the Olympic village, where the dorms would later be turned into a prison. The supply and demand for event tickets never merged, as would-be buyers were unable to buy unsold tickets because only those who already had a ticket could enter ticket-sales areas at venues.^[1] Unsold tickets are still being sold as souvenirs at several local tourist shops, including the Olympic Regional Development Association's gift shop at the Olympic Arena. The former Will Rogers Memorial Hospital was briefly used as press headquarters.^[2]

Medal count

(Host nation highlighted)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	10	6	6	22
2	East Germany (GDR)	9	7	7	23
3	United States	6	4	2	12
4	Austria	3	2	2	7
5	Sweden	3	0	1	4
6	Liechtenstein	2	2	0	4
7	Finland	1	5	3	9
8	Norway	1	3	6	10
9	Netherlands	1	2	1	4
10	Switzerland	1	1	3	5

Participating nations

36 NOCs participated. United States President Jimmy Carter had already called for the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, leading to a great deal of tension at the Games. Nevertheless, the USSR and its allies participated.

Cyprus made their Olympic debut at the 1980 Winter Olympics. The People's Republic of China and Costa Rica both made their Winter Olympic debut. The Republic of China boycotted the Games over the IOC's recognition of the PRC as "China", and its request for the Republic of China to compete as "Chinese Taipei".^[3]

Theme song

The official theme song for the 1980 Winter Olympics was "Give It All You Got" by the American flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, who performed the song live at the Closing Ceremonies.^[4]

See also

• 1980 Winter Paralympics
• 1980 Summer Paralympics
• 1980 Summer Olympics
• Olympic games celebrated in the United States
  • 1904 Summer Olympics – St. Louis
  • 1932 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles
  • 1932 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid
  • 1960 Winter Olympics – Squaw Valley
  • 1980 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid
  • 1984 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles
  • 1996 Summer Olympics – Atlanta
  • 2002 Winter Olympics – Salt Lake City

• Winter Olympic Games
• Olympic Games
• International Olympic Committee
• List of IOC country codes

Notes

References

• "Lake Placid 1980". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Winter/Lake-Placid-1980. 
• "All the Medallists since 1896". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/All-Olympic-results-since-1896/?AthleteName=&Games=1334082&Country=&Sport=&TargetResults=true&resultsPageIPP=30. 
• PDF file with «Official results of the XIII Olympic Winter Games — Lake Placid 1980»

External links

• "Lake Placid 1980". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Winter/Lake-Placid-1980. 
• Lake Placid Olympic Regional Development Authority
• Highlights from US vs USSR ice hockey match
• Personal travelogue of the Games
• The program of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics