1980 Winter Olympics

XIII Olympic Winter Games
Poster for the 1980 Winter Olympics[lower-alpha 1]
Host city Lake Placid , United States
Nations 37
Athletes 1,072 (840 men, 232 women)
Events 38 in 6 sports (10 disciplines)
Opening 14 February
Closing 23 February
Opened by Vice President Walter Mondale
Cauldron Charles Gugino
Stadium Lake Placid Equestrian Stadium
Winter
← Innsbruck 1976 Sarajevo 1984 →
Summer
← Montreal 1976 Moscow 1980 →

The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games (French: Les XIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), was a multi-sport event which was celebrated from February 13, through February 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States.[1] 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, which withdrew before the final vote (though Vancouver would eventually win the bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.)

The mascot of the Games was "Roni", a raccoon. 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, Whiteface Mountain, 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.

Host selection

The selection process for the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of one bid, from Lake Placid, United States. It was selected at the 75th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Vienna on October 13, 1974.[2]

Highlights

Notable highlights included:

  • The United States men's ice hockey team, composed mostly of collegiate players and not predicted to advance beyond group play, won the gold medal. The United States team's 4–3 win over the veteran Soviet team, which came into the 1980 Games having won four consecutive Olympic gold medals, became known as the "Miracle on Ice" in the US culture and all over the world. The win captured the hearts of Americans during a time of Cold War tensions, even though it was the win against Finland that secured the gold medal.
  • Eric Heiden of the United States won gold in the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m, and 10,000m speed skating events, setting four Olympic records and one world record (10,000m) in the process and delivering 83% of the American gold medals (the only other gold, as noted above, was won by the hockey team). Heiden became the first to ever win all five speed skating events, the first of only three to win five gold medals in individual events at a single Games (either Summer or Winter), and is still the only athlete to win five gold medals at one Winter Games.
  • 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, Wehling in Nordic combined and Rodnina in pairs figure skating.
  • Aleksandr Tikhonov of the USSR earned his fourth straight gold medal as part of the 4 x 7.5m biathlon relay team.
  • Nikolay Zimyatov of the USSR earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing.
  • Robin Cousins won gold for Great Britain in the men's singles figure skating.
  • 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 1/10 second in the future.
  • Although they did not get any medals, the People's Republic of China entered the Olympic Games for the first time after the IOC agreed to designate the Republic of China "Chinese Taipei".
  • Lake Placid 1980 marked the first use of artificial snow in Olympic competition.
  • Lake Placid 1980 was the last Olympics to be opened by the Vice President of the United States, as 1980 was a Presidential election year.

Sports

The Olympic cauldron
The Ski Jumping Complex.

There were 38 events contested in 6 sports (10 disciplines). See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Venues

Map of the venues in Lake Placid

Critics decried poorly planned transportation which left spectators waiting for hours in freezing weather, and some athletes complained about lousy accommodation at the Olympic village, where the dorms would later be turned into a prison, FCI Ray Brook. 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. 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.[3]

Medal count

Two gold and bronze Olympic medals from XIII Olympic Winter Games, designed by Gladys Gunzer

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1980 Winter Games.

  *   Host nation (United States)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Soviet Union106622
2 East Germany97723
3 United States*64212
4 Austria3227
5 Sweden3014
6 Liechtenstein2204
7 Finland1539
8 Norway13610
9 Netherlands1214
10 Switzerland1135
Totals (10 nations)373231100

Participating nations

37 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 (though the USSR didn't participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles).

Cyprus made their Olympic debut at the games. The People's Republic of China and Costa Rica both made their Winter Olympic debut. The Republic of China had 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".[4]

Participating National Olympic Committees

Mascot

Roni is the Olympic mascot of these Games, created by Don Moss. The mascot is a racoon, which is a familiar animal from the mountainous region of the Adirondacks where Lake Placid is situated. The name Roni comes from the word racoon in Iroquoian, the language of the native people from the region of the State of New York and Lake Placid and was chosen by Lake Placid school children.[5]

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 (along with the song "Pina Colada") live at the Closing Ceremony, with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (Canada).[6]

See also

Notes

Notes

  1. ↑ The emblem is a line that forms the Adirondacks, which becomes a column on the left, paying tribute to the ancient Olympic games. The top of the column is serrated to hold the Olympic rings. This represents a double cauldron, acknowledging that the Olympics were also held in Lake Placid in 1932.

Citations

  1. ↑ "Lake Placid 1980 Torch Relay". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on March 17, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  3. ↑ Raymond W. Smith (July 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Will Rogers Memorial Hospital". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on January 27, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  4. ↑ Kiat.net Archived June 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Olympic Winter Games Mascots from Innsbruck 1976 to Sochi 2014 Archived June 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Olympic.org
  6. ↑ Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of No.1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
  • "Lake Placid 1980". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee.
  • "Results and Medalists — 1980 Winter Olympics". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee.
  • PDF file with «Official results of the XIII Olympic Winter Games – Lake Placid 1980»
  • Lake Placid Olympic Regional Development Authority
  • Highlights from US vs USSR ice hockey match on YouTube
  • Personal travelogue of the Games
  • The program of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics
Preceded by
Innsbruck		 Winter Olympics
Lake Placid
XIII Olympic Winter Games (1980)		 Succeeded by
Sarajevo
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