The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=
Austro-Bavarian
Bavarian (german: Bairisch , Bavarian: ''Boarisch'') or alternately Austro-Bavarian, is a West Germanic language, part of the Upper German family, together with Alemannic and East Franconian.
Bavarian is spoken by approximately 12 million peo ...
), was a winter
multi-sport event which was celebrated in
Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...
, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was already an Olympic candidate, unsuccessfully bidding to host the
1960 Games. Innsbruck won the 1964 Games bid, defeating the cities of
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
in Canada and
Lahti
Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
in Finland. The sports venues, many of which were built for the Games, were located within a radius of around Innsbruck. The Games included 1,091 athletes from 36 nations, which was a record for the Winter Games at the time. Athletes participated in six
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
and ten disciplines which bring together a total of thirty-four official events, seven more than the
1960 Winter Olympic Games. The
luge
A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for ...
made its debut on the Olympic program. Three Asian nations made their Winter Games debut:
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
and
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...
.
The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
broke the record for the most gold and overall medals at a single Winter Olympics, with eleven and twenty five, and finished first in the
medal table. The Soviet Union was followed by
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, the host country, which won twelve medals, four of which were gold. Soviet athletes
Lidia Skoblikova won all four women's races of
speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skati ...
and
Klavdiya Boyarskikh won all three events of
cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...
. The Swedish cross-country skier
Sixten Jernberg, a three-time medalist at these Games, became the first athlete to achieve nine medals at the Winter Games. In
alpine skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...
, the French sisters
Christine
Christine may refer to:
People
* Christine (name), a female given name
Film
* ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei''
* ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on King's novel of the same name
* ''Christine'' (1987 fil ...
and
Marielle Goitschel each obtained a gold and a silver medal. Before the Games, the Austrian army was mobilized to deal with the lack of snow. They brought thousands of cubic meters of it from
Brenner Pass
The Brenner Pass (german: link=no, Brennerpass , shortly ; it, Passo del Brennero ) is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has ...
, close to the Italian border. The Olympic Winter Games was held a second time in Innsbruck in
1976.
The
Olympic Torch was carried by
Joseph Rieder, a former
alpine skier who had participated in the
1956 Winter Olympics
The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( lld, Anpezo 1956 or ), was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, fro ...
.
The Games were affected by the deaths of Australian alpine skier
Ross Milne and
British luge
A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for ...
slider
Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski, during training, and by the deaths,
three years earlier, of the entire United States
figure skating
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
team and family members.
Bid and background for the Games
Host city selection
The city of
Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...
submitted its first Olympic bid in the 1950s to host the
1960 Winter Olympic Games. The Austrians had a convincing bid and were viewed as the favorites to host the games. In the second round of the vote of the members of the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...
(IOC) selected the American city of
Squaw Valley.
A month later, the Innsbruck authorities decided to enter a bid again for the 1964 Winter Games. On 26 May 1959, during the 55th session of the (IOC) in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
, the Austrians were selected in a landslide for the Games with 49 votes in the first round, ahead of
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
(
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
), which obtained 9 votes and
Lahti
Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
(
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
), which did not receive a vote.
Political situation
Despite the construction of the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...
in 1961, which increased tensions between East and West and the fact that East Germany wanted to have its own team, the managed to maintain the
United Team of Germany for the third consecutive Olympiad. In the 1960s, the IOC also discussed the Olympic participation of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
, a country immersed in the
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
regime. During the Games in Innbruck, the IOC President
Avery Brundage announced that the country would not be able to participate in the
1964 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this h ...
because of its policy of racial segregation in sport. On the other hand, several African countries which had become independent joined the Olympic movement: the
national Olympic committees of
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
, of
Congo, from
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
and
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
were recognized by the IOC during the session held during the Innsbruck Games. The number of IOC member nations increased to 114.
In addition, the Innsbruck Games were used for the dissemination of political messages. Five Iranian students are arrested after marching with banners hostile to the
shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
. Twenty other Iranians, who demonstrated for the release of prisoners in their country, were also imprisoned.
Organization
Organizing Committee
The Organizing Committee of the IX Winter Olympics in Innsbruck 1964 was formed on 2 June 1959.
Heinrich Drimmel, President of the
Austrian Olympic Committee
The Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC) (german: link=no, Österreichisches Olympisches Comité) is the non-profit organization representing Austrian athletes in the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The ÖOC also represents the selection of A ...
and
Federal Minister of Education, was elected as its president and Friedl Wolfgang was elected as its secretary-general. The organizing committee was made up of the general assembly, the board of directors, and the executive committee, as well as eight sub-committees created to manage the different aspects of the Games: finance, construction, sports, transport, etc. accommodation and medical services, lodging, administration and checks.
Financial aspects
The Innsbruck Games cost around one billion
schillings
Schillings (originally Schilling & Lom) is an international reputation and privacy consultancy staffed by reputation, privacy and family lawyers, risk consulting, cyber security and intelligence specialists. The company is an Alternative Busin ...
, or 40 million
US dollar
The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
s distributed among the organizing committee, the Austrian state, the Land of Tyrol and the city of Innsbruck.
The organizers tried to reduce the expenses related to the provisional elements, and to invest more money for the facilities which would continue to be used after the Games. The
Olympiaeisstadion costs 75 million schillings, the renovation of the
Bergisel Ski Jump 15 million and the
Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck
The Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck is a venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton located in Igls, Austria (southeast of Innsbruck). The most recent version of the track was completed in 1975 and is the first permanent, combination artificially ref ...
10 million. The development of ski slopes, cross-country skiing and biathlon required a total of 29 million. The Olympic village, intended to become a leisure center, costs 174 million. A total of 225 million was invested to renovate and develop the road network in the region.
Television
The 1964 edition was the third time that the Winter Games were broadcast on television and the second time that exclusive broadcasting rights were sold. This was a substantial increase: where they were in
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
, the broadcast rights yielded in 1964, which was approximately 24 million
schillings
Schillings (originally Schilling & Lom) is an international reputation and privacy consultancy staffed by reputation, privacy and family lawyers, risk consulting, cyber security and intelligence specialists. The company is an Alternative Busin ...
. Thirty countries broadcast the Games. The American channel
ABC paid nearly 15.4 million schillings, or 64 per cent of the broadcast rights revenue. The
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...
network spent around 7.6 million for 16 countries, the Soviet television 600,000
Rbls and the Intervision network for six countries in Western Europe. The
CTV Television Network
The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...
paid for the exclusive broadcast rights in Canada.
Schedule
Calendar
The Games were held over twelve days, from January 29 to February 9. Thirty-four events were on the program, an increase from the twenty-seven at Squaw Valley four years earlier. Three
luge
A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for ...
events (individual men and women, doubles men) were included in the Olympic program.
Bobsled
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Fede ...
, which was absent from the 1960 Games due to the cost of building the track, returned to the Games.
Ski jumping was divided into two events (small and large hill) and the women's 5-kilometer was added in
cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...
.
Ice stock sport (Eisstockschießen), a variant of curling popular in Alpine countries, was a
demonstration sport
A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events.
Demonstration spor ...
as in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the Ob ...
in
1936. In total, 1,073,000 people attend the various events. The disciplines which attracted the most spectators were alpine skiing and ice hockey.
Weather conditions before the Games
In the weeks leading up to the Games, temperatures often rose above zero degrees Celsius due to the
foehn
A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range.
It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of ...
, a hot, dry wind. There was no major snowfall for seven weeks, and the rain melted snow and ice at sports venues. This was the first time in around a century that the snowfall had been so low in Tyrol.
Two weeks before the start of the Games, thousands of Austrian soldiers were mobilized to transport by truck 40,000m3 of snow from the
Brenner Pass
The Brenner Pass (german: link=no, Brennerpass , shortly ; it, Passo del Brennero ) is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has ...
, close to the Italian border, and spread it by hand on the ski slopes. 20,000m3 of snow was built up and 20,000 blocks of ice were transported to the bobsleigh and toboggan run.
Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony took place on January 29 at the
Bergisel Ski Jump stadium in front of approximately 50,000 spectators. The Games were opened by the
President of Austria
The president of Austria (german: Bundespräsident der Republik Österreich) is the head of state of the Republic of Austria. Though theoretically entrusted with great power by the Constitution, in practice the president is largely a ceremonial ...
Adolf Schärf. The bobsledder
Paul Aste took the
Olympic oath. Aste modified the oath slightly: instead of saying "for the glory of sport and the honor of our countries", he replaced the word "country" with "teams" to remove the nationalist elements of the oath. This was the first time that the
Olympic flame
The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olymp ...
of the Winter Games has been lit in front of the Temple of Hera in
Olympia, Greece. In the stadium, the alpine skier
Josef Rieder
Josef Rieder (26 December 1893 – 13 July 1916) was a German cyclist. He competed in two events at the 1912 Summer Olympics. He died during the Battle of Verdun in the First World War.
See also
* List of Olympians killed in World War I
...
lit the cauldron. Tyrolean orchestras performed during the ceremony.
Events
Biathlon
The
biathlon made its second Olympic appearance. As in 1960, the only event contested was a 20-kilometer cross-country ski race with four shooting ranges of 100 to 250 meters. Soviet athlete
Vladimir Melanin
Vladimir Mikhailovich Melanin (russian: Владимир Михайлович Меланьин; 1 December 1933 – 10 August 1994) was a Soviet biathlete.
Life and career
He won an Olympic gold medal for the USSR in the 20 km individual in ...
, a heavy favorite, won the event. This was the first time he did not miss any of his twenty shots in a major competition. His compatriot
Aleksandr Privalov
Aleksandr Vasilyevich Privalov (russian: Александр Васильевич Привалов; 6 August 1933 – 19 May 2021) was a Soviet biathlete.
He received a bronze medal at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. He received a silv ...
, who also had a clean shoot, was second by more than three minutes and the Norwegian
Olav Jordet, who missed a target, won the bronze medal. The Finn
Veikko Hakulinen
Veikko Johannes Hakulinen (4 January 1925 – 24 October 2003) was a Finnish cross-country skier, triple champion in both the Olympics and World Championships. He also competed in biathlon, orienteering, ski-orienteering, cross-country running, a ...
was the fastest, but missed six shots and finished 15th.
Bobsleigh
The
bobsleigh
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Fede ...
was not on the program for the
1960 Winter Olympic Games, at Squaw Valley in the United States, because of the low number of crews and the cost of building the track. In 1964, bobsleigh events made a comeback and were contested on the
Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck
The Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck is a venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton located in Igls, Austria (southeast of Innsbruck). The most recent version of the track was completed in 1975 and is the first permanent, combination artificially ref ...
. Neither of the two Olympic champion teams, Great Britain and Canada, has a track in their country
During the first round of the two-man event, the bobsleigh of the British
Robin Dixon and
Tony Nash was damaged and the competition's favorite, the Italian
Eugenio Monti, lent them a axle bolt. After two rounds, the British beat the two Italian teams. After the third set, the Italians
Sergio Zardini and
Romano Bonagura beat Dixon and Nash by just five hundredths of a second. Finally, Dixon and Nash become Olympic champions with 12 hundredths ahead of silver medalists Zardini and Bonagura and 73 over third, Eugenio Monti and
Sergio Siorpaes. This is the only time in history that the British have been Olympic bobsleigh champions. After the Games, Monti received the first
Pierre de Coubertin medal for his sportsmanship towards the British team.
The Canadians surprised in the four-man bobsleigh event. As the country competed for the first time in the Olympic bobsleigh events, the pilot's team
Vic Emery won the first round, breaking the track record, and increased his lead in the following three rounds. Canada won gold by more than a second ahead of
Erwin Thaler 's Austrian bobsleigh and Eugenio Monti' s Italian bobsleigh.
Nordic combined
The
Nordic combined event took place in the village of
Seefeld in Tirol. On the first day, the competitors did three jumps and the two best results are recorded. The next day, they did a 15-kilometer cross-country ski race. The final ranking was established with a new points system.
The reigning Olympic champion, the German
Georg Thoma, was first ahead of the Norwegian
Tormod Knutsen
Tormod Kåre Knutsen (7 January 1932 – 23 February 2021) was a Norwegian Nordic combined skier, who won the Nordic combined event at the 1964 Winter Olympics, and came second at the 1960 Winter Olympics. He won four national championships, an ...
and the Soviet
Nikolay Kiselyov after the jumps. Knutsen needed to beat Thoma by at least twelve seconds in the cross-country ski race to pass him, which he did, winning by 1.33 and becoming Olympic champion. Kisseliov wins the silver medal. Thoma, who had wax problems and fell twice during the race, was third, just 0.16 points behind Kisseliov after a tenth-place finish in cross-country skiing.
Ice hockey
The matches of
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
were played in the
Olympiaeisstadion and the
Messehalle. The sixteen participating teams first played a match to determine their group for the rest of the competition: group A (which allocates places 1 to 8) or in group B (places 9 to 16). Then, each team faces the other seven of its group.
In Group A, the Soviet favorites won their seven matches and became Olympic champions. The tournament was actually very close since in the last game, the Soviets were losing 2–1 against Canada after two periods to finally win 3–2; if Canada had won they would have taken the gold medal. Behind the Soviet Union, three teams had five wins and two losses: Canada, Czechoslovakia and Sweden. These three teams were ranked by goal difference with Sweden receiving silver, Czechoslovakia bronze and Canada finishing fourth. The Canadians, who were not satisfied with the method used to decide between Sweden and Czechoslovakia, boycotted the medal ceremony.
Luge
Luge
A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for ...
was a popular sport in the Alpine countries, the first competition of which dates back to 1831. The first international event was organized in 1928. The decided in 1954 to include luge in the program of the 1964 Games to replace the
skeleton
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...
, because there was only one track adapted to this sport: the
Cresta Run of
Saint-Moritz
St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality i ...
in Switzerland.
[The skeleton would only be part of the Olympic program again in ]2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
Three events are contested at the Games: individual for men and women and two for men. Some commentators believed that luge was too dangerous a sport to enter the Olympic program. The death of Poland-born British luger
Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski during a test run two weeks before the start of the Games helped reinforce this position.
The luge events were dominated by the Germans, who take five out of six medals individually. During the men's individual event, a German trio dominated the competition: the 1962 world champion
Thomas Köhler as well as
Klaus Bonsack and
Hans Plenk
Hans Plenk (born 21 February 1938) was a West German luger who competed during the 1960s.
He was born in Berchtesgaden.
He won the bronze medal in the men's singles event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.
Plenk won five medals at the ...
are the top three in each of the first three rounds. , won respectively by Köhler, Bonsack and again Köhler. Bonsack also wins the fourth round. Finally, Köhler is Olympic champion with 27 hundredths ahead of Bonsack and 3.38 of Plenk.
The German
Ilse Geisler
Ilse Geisler (later Vorsprach and since divorced, born 10 January 1941) is an East German luger who competed from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. She won the silver medal in the women's singles event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.
...
, world champion in 1962 and 1963, was the favorite in the women's event. However, it was her compatriot
Ortrun Enderlein who won the first three races. Geiser took a lot of risks in the last heat and made a big mistake, letting Enderlein wins again. Enderlein became Olympic champion, almost three seconds ahead of Geisler. The Austrian
Helene Thurner
Helene "Leni" Thurner (born 12 August 1938 in Zams) is an Austrian luger who competed during the 1960s. She won the bronze medal in the women's singles event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. She also competed at the 1968 Winter Olympi ...
won the bronze medal.
The doubles event, which takes place over two rounds, was dominated by the Austrians. Indeed,
Josef Feistmantl
Josef Feistmantl (23 February 1939 – 10 March 2019) was an Austrian luger who competed from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. He competed at three Olympic Games.
Biography
Feistmantl was born in Absam. Competing in two Winter Ol ...
and
Manfred Stengl
Manfred Stengl (April 1, 1946 – June 6, 1992) was an Austrian luger.
Stengl was born in Salzburg. He worked as a road-building engineer.
He won the gold medal in the men's doubles event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Stengl also w ...
won the first round ahead of
Reinhold Senn
Reinhold Senn (born in Imst on 6 December 1936) was an Austrian luger who competed during the 1960s.
Senn won the silver medal in the men's doubles event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.
At the 1961 FIL World Luge Championshi ...
and
Helmut Thaler
Helmut Thaler (born 22 January 1940) was an Austrian luger who competed from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. He won the silver medal in the men's doubles event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck and competed at the 1968 Winter Olympics.
...
. The latter won the second round without worrying Feistmantl and Stengl, crowned Olympic champions. Italians
Walter Aussendorfer and
Sigisfredo Mair
Siegfried Mair (18 April 1939 – 15 May 1977) was an Italian luger who competed from the early 1960s to the early 1970s. He was born in Toblach. He won the bronze medal in the men's doubles event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbr ...
are bronze medalists.
Figure skating
The
figure skating
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
events were held at the
Olympiaeisstadion. Individually, men and women performed a free skate and compulsory figures while, for the last time in an international competition, the couples only presented one program. Computers are used for refereeing, which is new to the Olympics. The data processing system provided by the company
IBM allows scores to be announced instantly. In addition to figure skating, information is sent to a
data center
A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommun ...
at
University of Innsbruck
The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...
from eleven other facilities.
In the men's event, the German
Manfred Schnelldorfer became Olympic champion by winning each round. The Frenchman
Alain Calmat, slightly favored before the Olympics, finished in second place. The American
Scott Allen won the bronze medal, two days before his fifteenth birthday. He thus becomes the youngest medalist in the history of the Winter Games.
The big favorite in the women's event, the Dutch
Sjoukje Dijkstra, easily became Olympic champion. She is in fact placed in the first row by the nine judges. In front of the Dutch royal family, she won the first Dutch gold medal at the Winter Games. The Austrian
Regine Heitzer
Regine Heitzer (born 16 February 1944) is a retired Austrian figure skater. She competed at the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics and won a silver medal in the singles event in 1964. Between 1960 and 1965 she also won 11 medals at European and world ...
was the silver medalist with a small lead over the Canadian
Petra Burka
Petra Burka (; born November 17, 1946) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater and now coach. She won the 1964 Olympic bronze medal in women's figure skating and the 1965 World championship in the sport.
Personal life
Petra Burka was bor ...
.
The Soviets
Ludmila Belousova
Ludmila Yevgenyevna Belousova (russian: Людмила Евгеньевна Белоусова; 22 November 1935 – 26 September 2017) was a Soviet and Russian pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With her partner and husband Oleg P ...
and
Oleg Protopopov, a married couple, narrowly won the pair event ahead of the German
Marika Kilius
Marika Kilius (; born 24 March 1943) is a German former pair skater. With Hans-Jürgen Bäumler, she is a two-time Olympic silver medalist, a two-time World champion, and a six-time European champion. Earlier in her career, she competed with F ...
and
Hans-Jürgen Bäumler
Hans-Jürgen Bäumler (born 28 January 1942) is a German former pair skater, actor, and Schlager singer.
Career
Bäumler became famous in pair skating with his skating partner Marika Kilius. Between 1958 and 1964, they won the German nation ...
. The bronze medal went to Canadians
Debbi Wilkes and
Guy Revell. Olympic athletes must be
amateurs s, and in 1966 Kilius and Bäumler had to return their medals because of a professional contract signed before the Games. The Canadians received the silver medal and the Americans
Vivian and
Ronald Joseph, initially fourth, received the bronze medal. In 1987, however, the decided to return the medals of the German couple. The results are then plunged into confusion since the different rankings do not indicate the same information. In 2013, the IOC indicated that the Soviets had the gold medal, the Canadians and the Germans shared the silver medal and the Americans the bronze medal. These were the official results since 1987.
Speed skating
The
speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skati ...
events took place on an outdoor track set up around the
Olympiaeisstadion. While the Soviets dominated the women's events, the men's podiums are more international.
The American
Terry McDermott
Terence McDermott (born 8 December 1951) is an English former football midfielder who was a member of the Liverpool team of the 1970s and early 1980s, in which he won three European Cups and five First Division titles. He was capped 25 times ...
, who was not one of the favorites, won the men's 500 meters setting a new Olympic record. Taking part in his first international competition, he borrowed skates from his trainer
Leo Freisinger
Leonhard Freisinger (February 7, 1916 – August 29, 1985) was an American speed skater who competed at the 1936 Winter Olympics. He won a bronze medal in the 500 m and placed fourth in the 1500 m event. He won the U.S. National Indoor title in ...
. Three athletes, including the favorite of the event
Yevgeny Grishin, shared second place. The Soviet
Ants Antson
Ants Antson (11 November 1938 – 31 October 2015) was an Estonian speed skater who competed for the Soviet Union.
Biography
Antson trained at the Kalev Voluntary Sports Society. Coached by former World, Olympic, and European Champion Boris ...
won the gold medal in the 1,500 meters, ahead of the Dutch
Kees Verkerk
Cornelis Arie "Kees" Verkerk (born 28 October 1942) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands. and the Norwegian
Villy Haugen, after a very close race. The Norwegians score a hat-trick in the 5,000 meters.
Knut Johannesen is a gold medalist beating the Olympic record just two tenths ahead of
Per Ivar Moe. Finally, the Swede
Jonny Nilsson
Erling Martin Jonny Nilsson (9 February 1943 – 22 June 2022) was a Swedish competitive speed skater. He was the men's Olympic champion in the 10 000 m skating in 1964.
Biography
Aged 19 Nilsson made his international debut at the European ...
won the 10,000 meters ahead of the Norwegians
Fred Anton Maier and Knut Johannesen. This race was controversial because Nilsson was one of the few to skate before the wind picked up, and enjoyed better ice than most of the other competitors.
The Soviet
Lidia Skoblikova won all four races at the 1963 world championships. A big favorite, she reproduced the same performance at the 1964 Olympic Games, breaking the Olympic record each time. She thus becomes the first athlete to win four gold medals in one edition of the Winter Games and the first, after her two titles in 1960, to accumulate six gold medals in several editions. Skoblikova first won the 500 meters ahead of her compatriots
Irina Yegorova and
Tatyana Sidorova. On 1,000 meters, she was ahead of Irina Iegorova and the Finn
Kaija Mustonen. She dominated the 1,500 meters, with a time almost three seconds ahead of Mustonen. Finally, Skoblikova took the 5,000 meters with almost four seconds. The North Korean
Han Pil-hwa, unknown before the Games, created a surprise: tied with Skoblikova halfway through the course, she was ended up tied for second with the Soviet
Valentina Stenina. North Korea participated in the Games for the first time; that was the country's first Olympic medal. Upon her return home, Skoblikova was made a member of the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...
and became the first woman to win the title of Soviet Sportsman of the Year.
Ski jumping
For the first time in 1964, two
ski jumping events were contested at the Olympic Games: small hill, contested at
Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze
Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze is a ski jumping hill in Seefeld outside of Innsbruck, Austria. It is a part of the Seefeld Nordic Competence Centre consists of two hills, a normal hill with a hill size of HS109 ( K-99) and medium hill with at HS75 ...
and big hill, which takes place at
Bergisel Ski Jump. They have a
construction point
The construction point ( ger, Konstruktionspunkt), also known as the K-point or K-spot and formerly critical point, is a line across a ski jumping hill. It is used to calculate the number of points granted for a given jump. It is therefore also ca ...
of 70 and 90 meters respectively. Athletes jump three times and their two best results count in each event.
The Czechoslovak
Josef Matouš
Josef Matouš (born 6 January 1942) is a Czechoslovakian former ski jumper who competed from 1963 to 1974. He finished fourth in the individual normal hill event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Matouš's best career finish was third twic ...
surprised many by winning the first round of the normal hill while the Finn
Veikko Kankkonen
Veikko Kankkonen (born 5 January 1940) is a retired Finnish ski jumper who competed at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympics. He won two medals in 1964 with a gold in the individual normal hill and a silver in the individual large hill eve ...
, who was among the favorites, was only twenty-ninth. Kankkonen had the best jump of the competition in the second set, at 80 meters, and the Norwegian
Toralf Engan
Toralf Engan (born 1 October 1936) is a retired Norwegian ski jumper. At the 1964 Winter Olympics he won the large hill and placed second in the new normal hill event. His other victories include the Four Hills Tournament, which he had won the ...
took the lead. After the third round, Kankkonen who again produced a good jump, became Olympic champion. Toralf Engan is second while young Norwegian
Torgeir Brandtzæg
Torgeir Torbjørn Brandtzæg (born 6 October 1941) is a retired Norwegian ski jumper who won bronze medals both in the large hill and normal hill at the 1964 Winter Olympics.
Brandtzæg placed fifth in the Four Hills Tournament in 1963; he won ...
takes third place. In the first round of the big hill, Veikko Kankkonen took the lead in front of Toralf Engan with a jump of 95.5 meters. Engan took the first place after the second jump, while Kankkonen and Brandtzæg followed closely behind. Brandtzæg finished with a good jump unlike his two rivals. The medalists are the same as for the normal hill, but this time Engan is Olympic champion ahead of Kankkonen.
Alpine skiing
Most
alpine skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...
events were held at
Axamer Lizum
Axamer Lizum is a village and ski resort in Austria, located southwest of Innsbruck in the state of Tyrol. At the 1964 Winter Olympics, it hosted five of the six alpine skiing events: women's downhill, and men's and women's slalom and giant slalom ...
, with the men's downhill being held at
Igls. Three events were on the program for men and women:
downhill,
giant slalom
Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G.
Giant slalom and slalom make up th ...
and
slalom
To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to:
Sports
;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding
* Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline
* Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline
* Super-G ...
. For the first time at the Olympics, athletes were timed to the hundredth of a second. The competition was held in mourning for the death of Australian Ross Milne, who crashed into a tree during downhill training.
The Austrian
Egon Zimmermann won the men's downhill, 74 hundredths of a second ahead of the French
Léo Lacroix and 1.32 seconds over the German
Wolfgang Bartels
Wolfgang Bartels (14 July 1940 – 6 February 2007) was a German alpine skier who competed for the United Team of Germany in the 1964 Winter Olympics.
He was born in Bischofswiesen and died in Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden
Ramsau is a German munic ...
. For the last time at the Olympics, the men's giant slalom was held in a single round. The French
François Bonlieu
François Pierre Philippe Bonlieu (21 March 1937 – 18 August 1973) was a French alpine skier.
Born at Juvincourt-et-Damary, Aisne, Bonlieu debuted for the French alpine skiing national team when he was 15 years old. From 1958 until 1959 ...
won the race ahead of the Austrian favorites:
Karl Schranz
Karl Schranz (born 18 November 1938) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria, one of the best of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Born and raised in St. Anton, Tyrol, Schranz had a lengthy ski career, from 1957 to 1972. He won twenty maj ...
was second, and
Josef Stiegler was third. For the first time, the Olympic slalom has a two-round qualifying phase. The 25 best take part in the two final rounds which determine the ranking of the event. Austrian officials tried to replace Josef Stiegler with Egon Zimmermann, but Stiegler competed in the slalom under public pressure. He finally won the event. The Americans
Billy Kidd
{{Infobox alpine ski racer
, name = Billy Kidd
, image = Billy Kidd skier 1970.jpg
, image_size = 220
, caption = Kidd after winning the world title in 1970
, birth_date = {{birth date and ag ...
and
Jimmy Heuga, second and third respectively, won their country's first Olympic medals in alpine skiing.
In the women's downhill, the Austrians achieved the second treble in the history of the Winter Games in alpine skiing. The favorite
Christl Haas was Olympic champion, more than a second ahead of
Edith Zimmermann and
Traudl Hecher. The technical events were dominated by two French women, the Goitschel sisters.
Marielle Goitschel, aged 18, won the first round of the slalom ahead of her sister
Christine
Christine may refer to:
People
* Christine (name), a female given name
Film
* ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei''
* ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on King's novel of the same name
* ''Christine'' (1987 fil ...
, one year her senior. Christine was the fastest, however, in the second run. She won gold, ahead of Marielle, while the bronze medal is awarded to the American
Jean Saubert. Two days later, Christine Goitschel took the lead in the giant slalom. His time was then equaled by Jean Saubert. Marielle Goitschel, the fourteenth skier to set off, was almost a second ahead of them however. The eldest Goitschel finished furst this time, while her sister shares second place with Saubert.
Cross-country skiing
The
cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...
events took place near the village of
Seefeld in Tirol. The men competed as usual in individual over 15, 30 and 50 kilometer as well as in the 4 × 10 kilometer relay. On the other hand, women competed for the first time at the Olympic Games the 5 kilometer, introduced at the world championships in 1962, in addition to the 10 kilometer and the relay 3 × 5 kilometer.
Men's events started with the 30 kilometers. The Finn
Eero Mäntyranta
Eero Antero Mäntyranta (20 November 1937 – 29 December 2013) was one of the most successful Finnish cross-country skiers. He competed in four Winter Olympics (1960–1972) winning seven medals at three of them. His performance at the 1964 Wi ...
won the race ahead of the Norwegian
Harald Grønningen
Harald Grønningen (9 October 1934 – 26 August 2016) was a Norwegian cross-country skier who competed during the 1960s, earning five winter olympic and two world championship medals. He also won nine Norwegian championship titles and received t ...
and the Soviet
Igor Voronchikhin. The Swede
Sixten Jernberg, the favorite after his six Olympic medals obtained in
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...
and
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
, finished fifth. Eight of the top nine athletes were Scandinavian. In the 15 kilometer skied three days later, Eero Mäntyranta was once again crowned Olympic champion ahead of Harald Grønningen. Sixten Jernberg wins bronze, his seventh Olympic medal. Racing the day before his 35th birthday, Jernberg took the lead at the end of the 50 kilometer. He won gold, his eighth Olympic medal, finishing more than a minute ahead of his compatriot
Assar Rönnlund. The end of the relay 4 × 10 kilometer was a duel between the Finnish Eero Mäntyranta and the Swede Assar Rönnlund, who overtook the Soviet
Pavel Kolchin one kilometer from the finish. Sweden eventually won the event, eight seconds ahead of Finland and twelve over the Soviet Union. Jernberg ended his Olympic career with nine medals including four gold, which was a new record.
Soviet skiers dominated the women's events as they won six of the seven possible medals.
In the 10 kilometer they achieved the treble as in 1960:
Klavdiya Boyarskikh ahead
Yevdokiya Mekshilo
Yevdokiya Panteleyevna Mekshilo (russian: Евдокия Пантелеевна Мекшило) (23 March 1931 – 16 January 2013) was a female Soviet cross-country skier who competed in the 1960s for Armed Forces sports society. At the 1964 ...
and
Maria Gusakova
Maria Ivanovna Gusakova (russian: Мари́я Ива́новна Гусако́ва; 2 February 1931 – 8 May 2022) was a Soviet cross-country skier who competed from the late 1950s to the early 1960s for VSS Spartak. She won a comp ...
. For the first time among women, non-European cross-country skiers took part in the Olympic Games. The two North Koreans and the two Mongols, however, finished in the last four places.
Boyarskikh also won the very close Olympic 5 km, while Finland's
Mirja Lehtonen surprised by taking second place. The Soviet
Alevtina Kolchina
Alevtina Pavlovna Kolchina (russian: Алевти́на Па́вловна Ко́лчина alternate spelling: Alevtina Koltsjina; 11 November 1930 – 1 March 2022) was a Soviet cross-country skier who competed during the 1950s and 1960s for ...
was third. Finally, the Soviets won the relay 3 × 5 kilometer for the first time. They were well ahead of the Swedes by two minutes and the Finns by three. Klavdiya Boyarskikh wins his third gold medal at these Games.
Closing Ceremony
For the first time on games history, the Closing Ceremony was not held at the Olympic Stadium and in an indoor place, took place on February 9 at the
Olympiaeisstadion.
The flags of Greece, the founding nation of the Olympic Games, Austria, the host country, and France, the host country of the next Games, were raised to the sound of the national anthems. The President of the
Avery Brundage officially declared the Games closed before the extinction of the
Olympic flame
The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olymp ...
.
Games highlights
* The games were opened by a concert performed by
Vienna Philharmonic
The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...
, under the baton of
Karl Böhm.
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
's
7th Symphony and
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
's
40th Symphony were performed in the opening concert.
* Normally snowy, Innsbruck was threatened by a lack of snow. The Austrian army carved out 20,000 ice bricks from a mountain top and transported them to the bobsled and luge runs. They also carried 40,000 cubic meters of snow to the Alpine skiing courses. The army packed down the slopes by hand and foot.
[www.Olympic.org]
/ref> (A heavy snowfall occurred immediately after
* Lidia Skoblikova won all of the women's speed skating events.
* Italian bobsleigh pilot Eugenio Monti distinguished himself by helping Britain's Tony Nash and Robin Dixon to win the gold medals when he loaned them an axle bolt to replace one that was broken. The Italians took bronze, but Monti was honored as the first recipient of the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship.
* Egon Zimmermann of Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
took the gold medal in the men's downhill alpine skiing event.
* In the 4 man bobsled, the Canadian team won the gold medal with a total winning time of 4:14.46.
* Norway's Knut Johannesen won the men's 5,000m speed skating event in an Olympic record time of 7:38.40.
* Klavdiya Boyarskikh of the USSR earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing and, on the men's side, Finnish Eero Mäntyranta
Eero Antero Mäntyranta (20 November 1937 – 29 December 2013) was one of the most successful Finnish cross-country skiers. He competed in four Winter Olympics (1960–1972) winning seven medals at three of them. His performance at the 1964 Wi ...
won two and earned the nickname "Mr. Seefeld" after the venue because of his domination.
* In alpine skiing, French sisters Christine
Christine may refer to:
People
* Christine (name), a female given name
Film
* ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei''
* ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on King's novel of the same name
* ''Christine'' (1987 fil ...
and Marielle Goitschel finished first and second in both the slalom and the giant slalom.
* Ski jumping gained a second event, and the sport of luge
A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for ...
made its Olympic debut.
* Politically, the Games were notable because East and West Germany entered a combined team for the last time.
* For the first time the Closing Ceremonies were held at a different place than the Opening Ceremonies.This also the first time that an Olympic Ceremonies are held in an indoor venue.
Table of medals
Fourteen of the thirty-six nations which participated in these Games won at least one medal, as detailed in the table below. Already first in 1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...
and 1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
, Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
came far ahead of this table with twenty-five medals: eleven gold, eight silver and six bronze, a new record for both gold and total medals won at a single Wainter Olympics. The host country, ninth four years earlier, was second with twelve medals, including seven in alpine skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...
. Norway, fourth in 1964, came third with fifteen medals.
Most Decorated Athletes
The Soviets also dominated the ranking of the most medal-winning athletes as the speed skater Lidia Skoblikova and cross-country skier Klavdiya Boyarskikh came first and second.
Medal count
These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:
Podium sweeps
Venues
Several sports venues were built especially for the Games. New slopes for alpine skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...
were developed near the village of Axamer Lizum
Axamer Lizum is a village and ski resort in Austria, located southwest of Innsbruck in the state of Tyrol. At the 1964 Winter Olympics, it hosted five of the six alpine skiing events: women's downhill, and men's and women's slalom and giant slalom ...
, about twenty kilometers from Innsbruck. There is a bobsleigh and luge track in Igls, seven kilometers south of Innsbruck. The runway, 1506 meters long, had 14 curves and a drop of 138 meters. For the first time at the Games, the bobsleigh track used artificial ice. The Olympiaeisstadion, an eleven thousand-seat ice rink completed in 1963 and located in the center of Innsbruck, hosted the competitions of figure skating
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
and most games of ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
. The other hockey matches were played at the Messehalle. The speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skati ...
ring, made of artificial ice, was installed outside the Olympiaeisstadion.
The ski jumping events were held on the Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze
Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze is a ski jumping hill in Seefeld outside of Innsbruck, Austria. It is a part of the Seefeld Nordic Competence Centre consists of two hills, a normal hill with a hill size of HS109 ( K-99) and medium hill with at HS75 ...
(normal hill) at Seefeld in Tirol and the Bergisel Ski Jump (big jump) in Innsbruck. The Bergisel ski jump, built in wood in 1920, was replaced by a concrete ski jump. The cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...
and biathlon tracks were located in Seefeld, like the small hill. The opening ceremony was celebrated at the foot of the Bergisel ski jump while the closing ceremony took place at the Olympiaeisstadion. An Olympic Village consisting of eight eleven-storey buildings was built outside the city.
*Axamer Lizum
Axamer Lizum is a village and ski resort in Austria, located southwest of Innsbruck in the state of Tyrol. At the 1964 Winter Olympics, it hosted five of the six alpine skiing events: women's downhill, and men's and women's slalom and giant slalom ...
– Alpine skiing (except the men's downhill)
*Bergiselschanze
The Bergisel Ski Jump (german: Bergiselschanze), whose stadium has a capacity of 26,000, is a ski jumping hill located in Bergisel in Innsbruck, Austria. It is one of the more important venues in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, annually hosting the ...
– opening ceremonies and ski jumping (large hill)
* Bob und Rodelbahn Igls – bobsleigh, luge
*Eisschnellaufbahn
The Olympia Eisschnellaufbahn is a speed skating venue located in Innsbruck, Austria. The outdoor venue hosted the speed skating events both for the 1964 and the 1976 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics.
It is part of the OlympiaW ...
– speed skating
* Messehalle – ice hockey
* Olympiahalle – closing ceremonies, figure skating, ice hockey
* Patscherkofel – Alpine skiing (men's downhill)
* Seefeld – biathlon, cross-county skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping (normal hill)
Participating nations
A total of 36 nations sent athletes to Innsbruck, six more than in Squaw Valley in 1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
. The total number of athletes was 1,091, up from 665 four years earlier. Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
and North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
participated in the Winter Games for the first time. Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
, Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
returned to this competition after missing it in 1960. On the other hand, South Africa and New Zealand, which took part in Squaw Valley, did not compete in Innsbruck. Athletes from West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
(FRG) and East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...
(GDR) competed together as United Team of Germany at the Olympics, Unified Team Germany from 1956 to 1964.
The number indicated in brackets is the number of athletes entered in the official events for each country.
Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees
Prior fatalities
Two fatal events before the 1964 Winter Olympics affected the outcome and mood of the Games:
* Australia at the 1964 Winter Olympics, Australian alpine skier Ross Milne and Great Britain at the 1964 Winter Olympics, British luge slider Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski, Kazimierz "Kay" Skrzypecki died during training shortly before the Games. The organizing committee said that Ross crashed into a tree during a training run. The International Olympic Committee, IOC suggested that inexperience might have played a role in Ross's death. Manager John Wagner suggested that overcrowding played a role, saying that Milne had tried to slow down "on a spot which was not prepared for stopping or swinging" to avoid a crowd of contestants. His brother Malcolm Milne competed at the 1968 Winter Olympics, 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics.
* On February 15, 1961, the entire United States figure skating, Figure Skating team and several family members, coaches, and officials were killed when Sabena Flight 548 crashed in Brussels, Belgium, en route to the World Championships in Prague. The accident caused the cancellation of the 1961 World Championships and necessitated the building of a new American skating program.
There were also several injuries which occurred prior to the event.
* Liechtenstein at the 1964 Winter Olympics, Liechtenstein Alpine skiers Wolfgang Ender broke his leg and Edmund Schaedler fractured his arm in a crash close to the same location as Australian Milne, only a few minutes after the fatality occurred.
* United Team of Germany at the 1964 Winter Olympics, German tobogganer Josef Fleischmann crashed during practices.
After the Games
After the Games
In the 1970s, the American city of Denver, chosen to host the 1976 Winter Olympics, rejected the bid after a statewide referendum. About ten cities applied to take over the Games and Innsbruck was selected. The main reasons for this choice were the venues built for the 1964 Games, which kept costs down, and their good organization during the 1964 Olympics. The Olympic venues subsequently hosted various sports competitions such as the Four Hills Tournament, Bobsleigh and Luge World Cup events, the 2005 Winter Universiade, Winter Universiade and the 2005 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships, Ice Hockey World Championship in 2005 and the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games, first Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012.
See also
Notes
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
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The program of the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics
* "Australia and the Olympic Games" by Harry Gordon.
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