1956 Winter Olympics

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VII. Olympic Winter Games
Venue: Cortina d'Ampezzo ( Italy )
Stadion: Cortina Olympic Ice Stadium
Opening ceremony: January 26, 1956
Closing ceremony: 5th February 1956
Opened by: Giovanni Gronchi (President)
Olympic oath : Giuliana Chenal Minuzzo (athlete)
Disciplines: 8 (4 sports)
Competitions: 24 in 8 sports
Countries: 32
Athletes: 823, including 132 women
← Oslo 1952
Squaw Valley 1960 →
Medal table
space country G S. B. Ges.
1 Soviet Union 1955Soviet Union Soviet Union 7th 3 6th 16
2 AustriaAustria Austria 4th 3 4th 11
3 FinlandFinland Finland 3 3 1 7th
4th SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 3 2 1 6th
5 SwedenSweden Sweden 2 4th 4th 10
6th United States 48United States United States 2 3 2 7th
7th NorwayNorway Norway 2 1 1 4th
8th ItalyItaly Italy 1 2 - 3
9 Germany team all German 1956All-German team Germany 1 - 1 2
10 Canada 1921Canada Canada - 1 2 3
Complete medal table

The 1956 Winter Olympics (also called VII. Winter Olympics ) were held from January 26th to February 5th, 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo , Italy . Other candidate cities were Colorado Springs , USA, Lake Placid , USA, and Montreal , Canada.

background

Olympic flame from 1956 on the ice rink in Cortina
  • Because of the Second World War, the Winter Games planned for 1944 in Cortina d'Ampezzo did not take place.
  • Count (Conte) Alberto Bonacossa , born on August 24, 1883 in Vigevano , a former alpine skier and figure skater and member of the IOC since 1925 , campaigned for the award to Cortina. He was unable to see the games himself because he died on January 30, 1953 in Milan . There was already an application in 1946 for 1952, but at the 40th IOC Congress in Stockholm , Oslo was awarded the contract. At the 43rd IOC session, which took place in Rome , on April 28, 1949, Cortina was "elected" with 31 votes (75%) (Montreal was second with 7 votes). The organizing committee consisted of members of the Italian National Olympic Committee and the Italian government. Because Cortina was only a small town with around 6500 inhabitants, which lacked a lot of infrastructure, a lot of structural measures had to be taken. The state subsidy was 460 million lire. Fiat was designated as the "official car of the games", Olivetti made the typewriters available to the 400 journalists.
  • The Games were opened on January 26th by President Giovanni Gronchi in a magnificent ceremony. For the time being, Olympic downhill champion Zeno Colò had brought the Olympic flame down from the Tofana to Cortina with a torch and speed skater Guido Caroli had finally taken over the fire at the stadium gate and, after the President had spoken the opening words, he lit the fire in the large copper bowl. For the first time, a woman took the Olympic oath with alpine skier Giuliana Chenal Minuzzo .
  • At the age of twelve, figure skater Marika Kilius was the youngest participant. And because she and her partner Franz Ningel were only ranked 4th by the judges, indignant spectators threw oranges and Chianti bottles.
  • The 1956 Winter Games were the first to be televised. However, this also contributed to a lower number of visitors (around 160,000).
    There is also a report in the “Wiener Rathaus-Korrespondenz” dated January 23, 1956: “In order to give a large group of people the opportunity to watch a television broadcast of the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Philips and Kiba-Ges .mbH a series of large-screen television broadcasts in the Colosseum cinema (9, Nussdorfer Straße 4). The broadcasts will take place from January 26th to February 5th - during the entire Winter Olympics. "
  • The USSR, which participated for the first time, won the most medals and was u. a. Winner in the ice hockey tournament (Canada had always won the gold medal since 1920, with the exception of Great Britain in 1936).
  • The ice hockey competitions were also world and European championships.
  • At the 20th FIS Congress in Montreux on June 2, 1955, the ski program for the 1956 Winter Olympics was set.
  • The Finnish ski jumpers surprised with a new jumping position, the so-called "drop style" (laid hands), with which they celebrated a double victory.
  • New competitions at these games were the women's 3 × 5 km cross-country relay and the men's 30 km cross-country team.
  • The Nordic combined was held in a new format. So far there had been an 18 km cross-country skiing first, followed by two jumps. From now on it was first a 15 km cross-country skiing, then there were three jumping runs, of which the best two counted.
  • The National Olympic Committees of the two German states, whose teams formed an all-German team for the first time, received the Alberto Bonacossa Trophy from the IOC two years after the Games .

Outstanding athletes

  • Toni Sailer from Austria won all three alpine ski races and thus also the gold medal in the combination, which is only valid for the world championship ranking.
  • Sixten Jernberg from Sweden won medals in all four cross-country skiing competitions.

Attendees

With 32 participating nations, a new record was set at the Winter Games. After the USSR's Olympic debut in Helsinki four years earlier, the Soviet Union will take part in the Winter Games for the first time in Cortina d'Ampezzo. In addition, Bolivia and Iran will celebrate their premieres at the Winter Games. The Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR competed together for the first time as an all-German team .

Europe (777 athletes from 23 nations)
America (116 athletes from 4 nations)
Asia (21 athletes from 4 nations)
Oceania (10 athletes from 1 nation)
(Number of athletes) * Participation in winter games for the first time

Competition program

24 competitions (17 for men, 6 for women and one mixed competition) in 4 sports / 8 disciplines were held. That was two more competitions than in Oslo in 1952 - the number of sports and disciplines remained the same. The changes are detailed below:

  • In cross-country skiing , the 18 km were replaced by 15 km for men - the program was also expanded by 30 km for men and a 3 × 5 km relay for women.
  • In Nordic Combined , cross-country skiing was reduced from 18 km to 15 km.

Olympic sports / disciplines

Number of competitions in brackets

Time schedule

Time schedule
discipline Thursday
26.		 Fr.
27.		 Sat.
28.		 Sun
29.		 Mon.
30.		 Tuesday
31		 Wed.
1.		 Thursday
2.		 Fri.
3.		 Sat
4th		 Sun.
5.		 Decision-
disk-
applications
January February
Olympic rings without rims.svg Opening ceremony
Bobsleigh pictogram.svg bob 1 1 2
Ice hockey pictogram.svg ice Hockey 1 1
Ice skating Figure skating pictogram.svg figure skating 1 1 1 3
Speed ​​skating pictogram.svg Speed ​​skating 1 1 1 1 4th
Skiing Alpine skiing pictogram.svg Alpine skiing 1 1 1 1 1 1 6th

Nordic skiing		 Nordic combined pictogram.svg Nordic combination 1 1
Cross country skiing pictogram.svg Cross-country skiing 1 1 1 1 1 1 6th
Ski jumping pictogram.svg Ski jumping 1 1
Olympic rings without rims.svg Closing ceremony
decisions 2 3 2 3 3 3 2 2 3 1 24
Thursday
26.		 Fr.
27.		 Sat.
28.		 Sun
29.		 Mon.
30.		 Tuesday
31		 Wed.
1.		 Thursday
2.		 Fri.
3.		 Sat
4th		 Sun.
5.
January February

Color legend

  • Opening ceremony
  • Competition day (no decisions)
  • Competition day (x decisions)
  • Closing ceremony

    • Web links

    Commons : 1956 Winter Olympics  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ The Olympic flame is burning in Cortina . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 27, 1956, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    2. ^ Glossary "Olympic Superlatives", far right . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 27, 1956, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    3. ^ "The World Ski Championships in Gastein" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna June 3, 1955, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).