1980 Winter Olympics

Updated on Nov 11, 2023

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Nations participating 37 Closing ceremony February 23		Opening ceremony February 14

Host city Lake Placid, New York, United States Athletes participating 1,072 (840 men, 232 women) Events 38 in 6 sports (10 disciplines)

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 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, which withdrew before the final vote.

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 IOC Session in Vienna on October 13, 1974.

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, defeating the heavily favored Soviet team and Finland in the medal round. The United States team's 4–3 win over the Soviet team, which came into the 1980 Games having won 4 consecutive Olympic gold medals, became known as the "Miracle on Ice" in the US 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.

Eric Heiden of the United States won gold in the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m, and 10,000m speedskating events, setting 4 Olympic records and 1 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 and is still the only athlete to win 5 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 (ISF) 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 Olympics 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

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

Venues

Intervales Ski-Hill – Nordic combined (ski jumping), Ski jumping

Lake Placid Equestrian Stadium – Opening Ceremony

Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center – Biathlon, Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined (Cross-country skiing)

Mt. Van Hoevenberg Bob and Luge Run – Bobsleigh, Luge (separate tracks)

Olympic Center – Figure skating, Ice hockey, Closing ceremonies

James B. Sheffield Speed Skating Oval – Speed skating

Whiteface Mountain – Alpine skiing

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, 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.

Medal count

(Host nation highlighted)

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".

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.

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).

References

1980 Winter Olympics Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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