1960 Winter Olympics

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VIII. Olympic Winter Games
1960 Winter Olympics logo
Venue: Squaw Valley ( United States )
Stadion: Blyth Memorial Arena
Opening ceremony: February 18, 1960
Closing ceremony: February 28, 1960
Opened by: Richard Nixon (Vice President of the USA)
Olympic oath : Carol Heiss (athlete)
Disciplines: 8 (4 sports)
Competitions: 27
Countries: 30th
Athletes: 665, including 144 women
← Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956
Innsbruck 1964 →
Medal table
space country G S. B. Ges.
1 Soviet Union 1955Soviet Union Soviet Union 7th 5 9 21st
2 Germany team all GermanAll-German team Germany 4th 3 1 8th
3 United States 49United States United States 3 4th 3 10
4th NorwayNorway Norway 3 3 - 6th
5 SwedenSweden Sweden 3 2 2 7th
6th FinlandFinland Finland 2 3 3 8th
7th Canada 1957Canada Canada 2 1 1 4th
8th SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 2 - - 2
9 AustriaAustria Austria 1 2 3 6th
10 FranceFrance France 1 - 2 3
Complete medal table

The 1960 Winter Olympics (also known as the VIII Winter Olympics ) were held from February 18-28, 1960 in Squaw Valley , United States .

Choice of venue

Squaw Valley prevailed at the 51st IOC session in Cortina d'Ampezzo in two ballots against Innsbruck , St. Moritz and Garmisch-Partenkirchen .

Results of the ballots:

place country Ballot 1 Ballot 2
Squaw Valley United States 48United States United States 30th 32
innsbruck AustriaAustria Austria 24 30th
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany Federal RepublicFederal Republic of Germany BR Germany 4th -
St. Moritz SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 3 -

Outstanding athletes

The speed skater Helga Haase won the gold medal over 500 meters - the first women's speed skating gold at the Olympic Games - and a silver medal over 1000 meters. Lidija Pavlovna Skoblikowa from the USSR won two of the four new speed skating competitions. Georg Thoma from Hinterzarten , uncle of ski jumper Dieter Thoma , was the first non-Scandinavian to win a gold medal in Nordic combined . Heidi Biebl from Oberstaufen won the gold medal in downhill skiing and at the age of 19 was the youngest gold medalist at these Olympic Games. Helmut Recknagel won Olympic gold in ski jumping . Recknagel's victory surprised the jury so much that they did not even have a national flag at the award ceremony. The German athletes started for the all-German team .

All-German team

On January 23, 1960 in East Berlin, the National Olympic Committees of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR agreed on the composition of the all-German team for the Games in Squaw Valley. There were also many concerns about a common flag. Despite vigorous protests on the part of the federal government, the general assembly of the NOK on December 6, 1959 in Hanover decided that the all-German team would compete at the 1960 Olympic Games under a black, red and gold flag with the five Olympic rings in the middle red field, which the sports federations of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR agreed on January 6, 1960. The German federal government had from November 23, 1959 between the Olympic Committees of the Federal Republic and the GDR on November 19. The agreed compromise on the flag of an all-German team at the next Olympic Games was rejected. It is incompatible with national dignity if the German Olympic team shows an emblem other than the federal flag.

Exclusion from National China and withdrawal from India

National China ( Taiwan ) was banned from participation on February 17th for failure to apply to FIS in time. As it was stated in the comments, "the FIS has shown that it knows how to put the clear-cut regulations before political considerations, with which it was hoped that American circles would open a back door".

India, which was not yet a member of the FIS, had meanwhile voluntarily withdrawn its skier.

Electronic calculator

In mid-August, the construction of an evaluation center began, in which there was an electronic computer with the name “Ramac 305”, which was supposed to supply both the viewers and the news agencies with the results during the respective competition.

Organizing Committee - cancellation of the bobsleigh races

According to. "Sport Zurich" No. 21 of February 19, 1960, pages 1 and 2: "The method of how the Squaw Valley games were thrown up aroused numerous critical and judgmental voices". “The cunning propagandists from the land of unlimited possibilities would have built Potemkin villages, they would have tinkled with the hard dollars, with which the sound of the old gentlemen of the IOC softened the hearts of the IOC and not a dry eye. The many staff changes in the large organizational staff, the never-silent more or less serious reports about financial difficulties, black-colored expert reports and, above all, the scandal surrounding the promised and never built bobsleigh track (a bluff) were not conducive to the prestige of the organization to be valued in the world ”.

The official justification for the non-construction of the bobsleigh track was that only nine countries had announced their participation in this discipline. This means that the 1960 Winter Games are the only ones where no bobsleigh competitions were held.

Request for freedom of the press at the 56th IOC session

At the 56th session of the IOC, which was held on February 15 and 16 in the Bohemian Club in San Francisco and in which only 25 of 66 members attended (the quorum was barely given), an allegation was made against the US -State Department, which had refused entry to some GDR journalists. The assembly agreed to a motion for the freedom of the press at the games and all journalists who had been expelled had to be allowed to enter. Regarding the question of GDR coaches who had to stay behind in Berlin, it was established that the GDR also had to keep a delegation within the scope of the quota and that additional claims could not be accepted.

Further information

  • The holding of the games was in jeopardy at short notice due to persistent rainfall. The longed-for snowfall didn't come until February 9th.
  • Responsible for the opening and closing ceremonies, each in Blyth Memorial Arena were conducted was Walt Disney .
  • A few days before the opening, the emblems of Greece, Argentina, Australia and Austria were stolen by “souvenir hunters”, but they could be replaced a few hours before the celebrations (source: “Arbeiterzeitung Wien” of February 20, 1960).
  • For the three alpine skiers of Liechtenstein, the trip to the west of the USA was the first big trip ever; so far they had never moved further than 200 kilometers from their home.
  • Biathlon was an Olympic discipline for the first time. Speed ​​skating competitions for women made their Olympic debut. For the all-German team, the final chorus ( Ode to Joy ) from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was played instead of a hymn .
  • The Swiss company Longines was responsible for measuring the time, which was accurate to a thousandth of a second ; the company sent 16 specialists. For the alpine races, clocks were also installed along the routes, on which the intermediate times could be followed.
  • The six individual alpine competitions were won by six different women and men, only Penny Pitou (silver in downhill and giant slalom) and Ernst Hinterseer (slalom gold, giant slalom bronze) won two medals. Regarding the races, which are also considered to be world championships, adding the combinations, there was a second gold medal for Anne Heggtveit and a second bronze medal for Barbara Henneberger or for Guy Périllat (in addition to bronze in the downhill, gold in the combination), and slalom bronze medal winner Charles Bozon was able to win a second bronze medal.
  • An open secret at the games was the close relationship between the Austrian alpine skier Egon Zimmermann and the US alpine runner Penny Pitou, who later also married. At the time of the games, it was still unclear how they could shape their future plans.

Complaints about organizational deficiencies

Immediately before the start of the games, there were reports of many organizational deficiencies and reports that the person responsible for “public relations” turned out to be “ignorant of the press service for this major event”. For example, there would be chaos during the training in speed skating, the parking system had collapsed, every meal in the dining room dragged on for hours and in its uncertainty the organization management was constantly issuing new regulations that were only insufficiently publicized.

With regard to the press sector, the organizers finally ran out of money. A planned radio building could not be built, so that now both radio and newspaper reporters would have to work in a space that was far too small. The press room does not even have 200 seats, which are distributed in such a way that only those newspapers have a place that are represented by two reporters, but there are reporters who would represent two or more large newspapers. These regulations were only withdrawn after protests. There was further excitement when entry to the Olympic Village was no longer even permitted with a special permit. A single small counter 1.5 m wide was set up for the 800 journalists, where they not only received certain information, but also all the special permits for a place in the stadium and the other competition facilities - and that caused long queues. The management of the entire press service is in the hands of a man who is familiar with "public relations", but not with the workings of sports reporters.

The organizational deficiencies also included the fact that both visitors and media representatives had to take care of getting to the competition venues; those responsible did not lift a finger to set up official transports.

Opening ceremony

5,000 entertainers (entertainers, artists) were called up. The celebrations in front of about 5,000 visitors who had to pay 25 US dollars for a ticket took place in the middle of a blizzard. The heavy snowfall caused tense traffic problems (cars got stuck, some were even in the ditch). Even Vice President Richard Nixon , who had to cover the last part of his journey not by helicopter but in a car, was a victim of the road conditions and was clearly delayed. It took the convoy four hours to travel 160 km from Sacramento . The ceremony, which was scheduled for 1.30 p.m. local time, began one hour late. Nixon should also have opened the new ice rink, this part of the program, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., took place without him. When Nixon was escorted to the grandstand in the arena, an orchestra made up of 1,285 members from Californian middle schools, accompanied by middle school choirs with 2,545 singers, intoned the American anthem.

At the beginning, the flags of Greece as the country of origin of the Olympic Games, the official Olympic flag of these 1960s Games and the stars and stripes of the USA were hoisted under the drum roll , then the flags of all participating nations were raised. For the march of the Olympians , the teams marched in, led by their flag-bearers, with ski jumper Helmut Recknagel wearing those of the all-German team. Switzerland had also chosen a ski jumper with Andreas Däscher , while figure skater Norbert Felsinger wore Austria's (Felsinger had obviously only been chosen just before the start of the games, as the two alpine skiers Ernst Oberaigner and Andreas Molterer had refused).

The nations invaded alphabetically, beginning with Argentina, and ending with the USA, which, as expected, received the most applause. While most of the flag bearers greeted the Vice President, he was ignored by the Eastern Bloc countries, except Hungary, but including Recknagel and the Swiss (at least the four officials marching ahead of the delegation raised their hats here). The Austrians wore gray coats with fur collars and Tyrolean hats .

After the flag bearers were welcomed by the head of the organization, Prentis C. Hale, he gave the floor to Nixon, who made no additional speech apart from the fifteen-word opening formula (so, as the UPI news agency found, he had traveled 4,300 km for it).

During the rest of the ceremony, when the Vice Mayor of Cortina d'Ampezzo , Renzo Menardi, presented the Olympic flag to Brundage, the sun broke through. The choir sang the Olympic hymn , the Olympic flag with the five different colored rings slowly rose on the flagpole. 2,000 pigeons were released and there were eight gun shots, each for one of the previous Winter Olympics. Andrea Mead-Lawrence and other skiers brought the Olympic flame from Papoose Peak into the valley. There it was taken over by the speed skater Kenneth Henry , the 500-meter gold medalist at the 1952 Winter Olympics, who carried the torch into the stadium and let it blaze up on the kettle. Figure skater Carol Heiss took the oath. As the national delegations left the stadium, fireworks completed the ceremony.

Closing ceremony

In front of 20,000 visitors there was the closing ceremony, which began with the award ceremony and medals for the special jumping and ice hockey tournament. The flags of all participating nations were then brought in, followed by the athletes, who marched in in any order. Many teams were only represented with a part of their stock because some of their members had already returned home, followed private invitations to the USA or went to other competitions, such as the figure skaters who were facing the world championships in Vancouver .

The flag bearers formed a semicircle around the stands, the national anthems of Greece, the United States of America and Austria (organizers of the 1964 Winter Games ) were played and their flags were hoisted. IOC President Avery Brundage emphasized in his speech that "the competitions were sporty and fair", "the interest in winter sports is growing in all countries", "the level of performance has increased" and "the medals are spread across fourteen countries" . The most important thing, however, is that everyone, whether functionary, active or spectator, has been seized by the Olympic spirit, that everyone has felt the nationwide idea of ​​sport. He then declared the Games over, at which point the Olympic flag was lowered and the Olympic flame went out at 4:35 p.m. At the end there was another fireworks display and several thousand colorful balloons were released.

Barely two hours after the Games ended, the organizing committee presented an estimated revenue balance of $ 2.475 million, consisting of $ 2.1 million entry tickets, $ 105,000 program sales, each $ 95,000 for park and concession fees and $ 50,000 for ski lift taxes.

watch TV

Television was not new to the Winter Olympics, as there were broadcasts in Europe as early as 1956. For the first time, however, the exclusive rights were sold, and the organizing committee decided to sell them to the CBS station for 50,000 US dollars . At that time it was not yet known how lucrative the broadcast rights business would be. For the 1960 Summer Olympics rights , CBS had to lay down $ 550,000.

During the Winter Games, the station broadcast 35 hours of ice hockey, speed skating and art skating competitions, alpine races and ski jumping. The importance of television also came to the fore when, on the occasion of the men's slalom, officials were unsure whether a runner had missed a goal and CBS asked for a tape of the event. This inquiry gave CBS an idea that is now known as "instant replay" (video or television evidence).

TV broadcasts in Germany were another topic. In the Federal Republic of Germany at that time, people were not entirely satisfied with some television broadcasts (or the fact that they did not take place or were delayed and not voted for in Germany) from Squaw Valley, which is said to have been due to the fact that those responsible did not make the preparations more precisely and only eight Had signed contracts with the US stations days before the start of the games. At that time, direct broadcasts were not yet possible. Instead, the film rolls were sent by plane from New York, where the CBS broadcasts could be recorded, to the individual destinations in Europe. Only a representative of West German television was missing in New York. Among other things, viewers of figure skating pair skating only saw the winning pair, but not Kilius / Bäumler, Helga Haase's victory in 500-meter speed skating was shown on GDR TV a day earlier. (Source: »Der Spiegel« 10/1960).

It should be noted that Austrian television z. B. reported one day late from 10:15 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. on the women's descent, compulsory skating and speed skating, although the start times for the other events varied slightly, but apparently half-hour reports were planned around 10 p.m. or earlier, but it already started 8 p.m. there were such, see u. a.

Competition program

There were 27 competitions (16 for men, 10 for women and 1 mixed competition) in 4 sports / 8 disciplines. That was 3 more competitions than in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956 - the number of sports / disciplines remained the same. The changes are detailed below:

  • Biathlon became part of the Olympic program with the men's 20 km race.
  • Bob was absent from Squaw Valley because the organizers refused to build a bobsleigh track for the Games.
  • Women's debut in speed skating with the 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m and 3000 m.

Olympic sports / disciplines

Number of competitions in brackets

Time schedule

Time schedule
discipline Thursday
18.		 Fri.
19.		 Sat.
20.		 Sun.
21.		 Mon.
22.		 Tuesday
23		 Wed.
24.		 Thursday
25.		 Fr.
26.		 Sat.
27.		 Sun.
28.		 Decision-
disk-
applications
February
Olympic rings without rims.svg Opening ceremony
Biathlon pictogram.svg biathlon 1 1
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 1 1 1 1 8th
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 3 2 3 3 4th 2 2 4th 2 2 27
Thursday
18.		 Fri.
19.		 Sat.
20.		 Sun.
21.		 Mon.
22.		 Tuesday
23		 Wed.
24.		 Thursday
25.		 Fr.
26.		 Sat.
27.		 Sun.
28.
February

Color legend

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

    • Attendees

    Athletes from 30 nations took part in the Games in Squaw Valley. South Africa premiered at the Winter Olympics; is then banned because of the apartheid policy until the Winter Games in Lillehammer 1994. The Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR are again competing with an all-German team.

    Europe (445 athletes from 20 nations)
    America (133 athletes from 4 nations)
    Asia (50 athletes from 3 nations)
    Oceania (34 athletes from 2 nations)
    Africa (4 athletes from 1 nation)
    (Number of athletes) * Participation in winter games for the first time

    Web links

    Commons : 1960 Winter Olympics  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ "Innsbruck safe aspirant for 1964" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 26, 1956, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    2. ↑ «National China definitely not in the Olympic Games»; “Sport Zürich” No. 21 of February 19, 1960, page 12, column 5
    3. ^ Columns 2 and 3, middle: "Electronic computing systems for Squaw Valley" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna August 21, 1959, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    4. ^ "IOC votes for freedom of the press"; "Sport-Zurich" No. 20 of February 17, 1960, page 3, column 4
    5. ↑ Column 4, first article: «Only nine days left» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 9, 1960, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    6. ↑ "Breathe easy in Squaw Valley: Snowfall at last" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 10, 1960, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    7. ^ "The Liechtensteiners see the world"; "Sport-Zurich" No. 20 of February 17, 1960, page 3, column 1, fourth heading
    8. ↑ "Olympia-Allerlei"; "Sport-Zurich" No. 20 of February 17, 1960, page 2, column 5, fifth article
    9. ↑ Column 4, third post: “Only seven days left” . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 11, 1960, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    10. ^ "The organization is swimming" and "Hair-raising working conditions for the press"; “Sport-Zürich” No. 21 of February 19, 1960, page 12, columns 3 and 4
    11. ↑ Column 3 below: "The Olympic village closed to the press" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 23, 1960, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    12. ↑ "The most embarrassing surprise for Norway"; »Sport Zürich« No. 24 of February 26, 1960, page 3, column 4
    13. ↑ Column 4, first article: “Just one more day” . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 17, 1960, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    14. ↑ "Today the Olympic Games begin" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 18, 1960, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    15. ↑ "Olympic opening in a snowstorm" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 19, 1960, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    16. ^ "The program of the winter games"; "Sport-Zurich" No. 20 of February 17, 1960, page 3, column 2
    17. ^ "Olympic Fire Burns in Squaw Valley"; »Sport-Zürich« No. 22 of February 22, 1950, page 9
    18. ^ "Fireworks and thousands of colorful balloons" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 1, 1960, p. 9 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    19. ^ "The Olympic flame went out"; "Sport-Zurich" No. 27 of March 2, 1960; page 5
    20. ^ "Radio program of the week" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 21, 1960, p. 22 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized version).
    21. ↑ Columns 3 and 4, below: "The program with pictures and with radio" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 20, 1960, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    22. ↑ Column 4, below: "What is happening today" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 25, 1960, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).