1976 Winter Olympics

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XII. winter Olympics
1976 Winter Olympics logo
Venue: Innsbruck ( Austria )
Stadion: Bergisel ski jumping stadium
Opening ceremony: 4th February 1976
Closing ceremony: 15th February 1976
Opened by: Rudolf Kirchschläger (Federal President)
Olympic oath : Werner Delle Karth (athlete)
Willi Köstinger (referee)
Disciplines: 10 (6 sports)
Competitions: 37
Countries: 37
Athletes: 1261, of which 248 women
← Sapporo 1972
Lake Placid 1980 →
Medal table
space country G S. B. Ges.
1 Soviet Union 1955Soviet Union Soviet Union 13 6th 8th 27
2 Germany Democratic Republic 1949GDR GDR 7th 5 7th 19th
3 United StatesUnited States United States 3 3 4th 10
4th NorwayNorway Norway 3 3 1 7th
5 Germany BRBR Germany BR Germany 2 5 3 10
6th FinlandFinland Finland 2 4th 1 7th
7th AustriaAustria Austria 2 2 2 6th
8th SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 1 3 1 5
9 NetherlandsNetherlands Netherlands 1 2 3 6th
10 ItalyItaly Italy 1 2 1 4th
... ... ... ... ... ...
14th Liechtenstein 1937Liechtenstein Liechtenstein - - 2 2
Complete medal table

The 1976 Winter Olympics (also known as the XII Winter Olympics ) were held from February 4 to 15, 1976 in Innsbruck , Austria . The games had initially been awarded to Denver , which had prevailed against Sion , Tampere , Vancouver and Granada . The population of the US state of Colorado spoke out against the use of taxpayers' money for the Winter Games in Denver. After a referendum on November 7, 1972, the games were returned to the IOC . In the second decision, Innsbruck prevailed against Lake Placid , Chamonix and Tampere.

Worth mentioning

  • Innsbruck hosted the Winter Olympics for the second time since 1964 after Denver returned the Games. Rudolf Nemetschke was an Austrian member of the IOC at the time , and he campaigned vehemently in the IOC to award the Games to Innsbruck.
  • The Austrian state issued silver coins worth 100 schillings; the first edition took place on December 23, 1974.
  • Two Olympic fires were lit at the opening ceremony. The first for 1964 by Christl Haas , the second for 1976 by Josef Feistmantl .
  • For the first time, ice dancing was an Olympic discipline.
  • For the Viennese schoolchildren (including those in secondary schools), the day of departure for the gentlemen was February 5, starting at 11 a.m. There were similar solutions in other federal states to enable the schoolchildren to watch the race on television.
  • In the run-up to the Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck experienced numerous urban changes in addition to the construction of sports facilities. In keeping with the zeitgeist of the time , many of the measures followed the ideal of the car-friendly city . Among other things, tram line 4 to Hall in Tirol was discontinued and replaced by buses.
  • The West German national ice hockey team took a sensational third place ahead of the Finns with equal points and won the bronze medal. In the division process , the Germans were 41 thousandths ahead of Finland (goal difference 7: 6 to 9: 8). In a direct comparison Finland had won the game against Germany 5: 3. The team only found out about their success in the dressing room. This was the best placement of a German ice hockey team at an Olympic tournament until 2018.

Choice of venue

Candidate city 1st ballot 2nd ballot 3rd ballot
United StatesUnited States Denver 29 29 39
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Sion 18th 31 30th
FinlandFinland Tampere 12 8th -
CanadaCanada Vancouver 9 - -
Spain 1945Spain Granada 0 - -

At the 69th IOC session in Amsterdam on May 12, 1970, the allocation of the 1976 Winter Olympics was voted on. Five candidates stood for election, with Denver and Sion as favorites . Vancouver and Granada were eliminated in the first ballot and Tampere in the second ballot . In the third ballot, Denver finally prevailed against Sion with 39 to 30 votes.

The initiator and greatest advocate of the Denver Winter Games was Governor John A. Love . The Games were intended to be the culmination of Colorado State 100th Anniversary celebrations in 1976. But the first controversies arose as early as the fall of 1971. The organizing committee wanted to move the Nordic disciplines to Steamboat Springs and the Alpine disciplines to Vail for reasons of cost . In addition, they only wanted to build a smaller and combined bobsleigh and toboggan run, on which no four-man bobsleigh races could have taken place. The IOC, however, insisted on the concept of the application documents that all disciplines would be held in Denver or in the immediate vicinity, and threatened with the withdrawal of the games. After it became known that the cost of the alignment would rise by at least 300% and that extensive interventions in the landscape around Denver would be required for the construction of the competition facilities, protests from the population also broke out in late 1971. A citizens' initiative For the future of Colorado was founded . At the end of July 1972 there were 77,392 votes against in a signature campaign, of which more than 20,000 came from Denver itself. The later governor Richard Lamm took the lead in the protest movement with the slogan No Games for Denver . On November 9, 1972, there was a referendum in which 57% of the population voted against hosting the Games. Denver then gave the order to host the 1976 Winter Games in Denver back to the IOC.

The IOC initially offered the games to the defeated Sion, who had to decline due to the short preparation time and unclear funding. The IOC then reissued the games. On November 16, 1972, the Austrian Olympic Committee declared to support Innsbruck's application in principle. On February 4, 1973 in Lausanne for a new award. In addition to Innsbruck , which had already announced its eligibility at the end of June 1972, applicants were also Lake Placid , Tampere and Chamonix . The official election results were not published, however, Innsbruck was chosen after statements with only one vote against. Rudolf Nemetschke , Austrian IOC member, previously explicitly promoted Innsbruck again. The 1964 Winter Olympics , which are fondly remembered, were plus points for Innsbruck . Most of the competition venues could be used again. In addition, only Innsbruck of the applicants could guarantee that all disciplines would be held. Alois Lugger , Mayor and Head of Applications of Innsbruck, promised to return to simple games.

organization

Organizing Committee

The organizing committee was founded immediately after the games were awarded to Innsbruck in February 1973. The head of the committee was made up of chairman Fred Sinowatz , deputy chairman Alois Lugger and general secretary Karl Heinz Klee . The previous promise of simple games dominated the planning of the games from the start. The focus was on the goal of keeping the costs as low as possible and not continuing the gigantism of previous games. For this reason, too, the committee was largely formed from the employees who had already worked on the 1964 Games, so that the staff was small, but experienced. The competitions were also carried out, if possible, at the competition venues that were already in use in 1964; only absolutely necessary new buildings were built. All construction measures should bring long-term benefits and under no circumstances should be used only once during the games. At the beginning of the work, the committee set itself a predetermined minus of 60 million schillings , which could not be exceeded. Expenditures of 334 million Schillings for equipping the competition venues, timing and display boards, personnel and material costs, all construction work for the press and television and the design of the ceremonies, 274 million in income for television rights (141 million), sales of tickets (81 million) , a building block campaign introduced in 1974 (22 million), sales of special postage stamps (15 million) and the proportion of participating teams (15 million). The organizing committee was dissolved in the spring of 1977.

Construction work

The competition venues had to be partially rebuilt and expanded due to new requirements, but only two new ones were built. The costs for the renovation and new construction of the direct competition venues amounted to 210 million schillings. The new building of the Pedagogical Academy served as the press center , which was brought forward for this purpose, the IVB hall was built as a television center, later the hall belonged to the new central station. The additional costs for the press and television center amounted to 164 million. You can find more information on the construction work at the competition venues and at the press and television center in the #Olympic locations section .

The armed forces took over a major part of the measures, also to save costs . Routing and preparation of the cross-country trails and alpine slopes, laying cables, building television and press facilities at the competition venues, all of this was done by a total of 2,700 soldiers who, according to estimates, worked up to 650,000 hours.

The urban development measures that the federal, state and city authorities brought forward and implemented after award were more extensive. The city of Innsbruck built a new residential area (as social housing) with a leisure center, secondary school and indoor swimming pool, which functioned as an Olympic village during the games . The Reichenau Bridge over the Inn , the above-mentioned IVB hall and numerous road construction projects were also newly built . The federal government was responsible for the new building of the Pedagogical Academy, which was used as a press center during the Games.

The state of Tyrol built a state sports center and also implemented numerous road construction projects. In the run-up to the Games, the city invested a total of 865 million schillings, the federal government 160 million and the state 190 million. Since all construction projects were already planned in the households , but were only brought forward because of the games, the costs were not counted as Olympic costs.

Entrance fees

These were 50 to 200 schillings for standing room and 100 to 900 schillings for seats. There were season tickets for the alpine competitions for 650 shillings and for cross-country skiing, biathlon and ski jumping for 600 shillings, speed skating for 550 shillings, bobsleigh and tobogganing for 250 shillings, these cards being transferable. In group A, the ice hockey cards could only be purchased in a block with 15 games, transferability was also possible here. Standing places cost 1,300 schillings, seats were available in the price ranges 2000, 3000 and 5000 schillings.

Problems

The weather situation before the games started was problematic. An above-average warm winter with little snow raised numerous concerns. From the beginning of January, snow was therefore transported from the Wipptal to Innsbruck in order to ensure that all alpine and Nordic competitions could be held even when there was no snow. Transport and distribution of the snow were organized by the armed forces. A good week before the start of the games, heavy snow fell in Innsbruck and the surrounding area, so that all worries about lack of snow became a thing of the past.

Torch relay

Torch of the
Innsbruck Games 1976

On January 30, 1976, the Olympic torch was lit in ancient Olympia in Greece in the grove of Altis. An Innsbruck delegation, consisting of City Councilor Theodor Seykora , Deputy Mayor Ferdinand Obenfeldner and City Councilor Dir. Alois Prazeller as well as Master of Ceremonies Alfred Nagl and Councilor Anton Weghofer accompanied the fire from Greece to Innsbruck.

From Olympia the flame was brought to Athens in a runner relay and then flown to Vienna in a miner's lamp . There the fire was divided into a commemorative flame for the 1964 Winter Olympics and a flame for 1976. The two flames were brought to Innsbruck via two 800 km long auto routes, one via Graz and Klagenfurt , the other via Linz and Salzburg . Two Austrian Olympic champions, Olga Pall ( Grenoble 1968 ) and Beatrix Schuba ( Sapporo 1972 ) carried the two flames past cheering spectators to the Golden Roof , where Vice Mayor Obenfeldner handed them over to Mayor Lugger. The fires were kept in the ballroom of the Golden Roof until the opening ceremony. On February 4th, the two flames were ceremoniously carried into the stadium for the opening ceremony. Christl Haas lit the flame of memory of the 1964 Games in the old pylon, Josef Feistmantl lit the 1976 Olympic flame in a new pylon.

Logo, mascot, medals, olympic films

The logo and official poster of the games were designed by Arthur Zelger. The logo corresponds to a slightly modified version of the Innsbruck city arms. It shows the Inn Bridge , which gave the city its name. The Olympic rings are shown above the bridge, and below the lettering Innsbruck 1976 . The bridge is intended to symbolize the bond between the individual peoples. The logo was used in a similar form for the 1964 Games. The official poster was designed in such a way that it addresses as many winter sports as possible and leaves room for interpretation. The white field, curved down to the right, can be seen as a ski tip, a bobsleigh or toboggan runner, a skate runner, a ski jump or simply a big “I” for Innsbruck. The colored peaks in the lower part symbolize the mountains of Tyrol.

snowman mascot

The mascot of the games was called " Snowman ". It was a snowman with a red hat and a carrot for a nose. The simple mascot should match the promise of a return to simple games . It was mainly marketed as a sticker and patch, and the plush version enjoyed great popularity.

The medals were always awarded in the Olympic Hall. For the first time, the most important scenes of the respective competition were recorded with a large screen projector. Music and hymns were played by the music band of the Tyrolean military command. The medals showed the logo of the games and the lettering XII on the front . Olympic Winter Games , the back has been individually embossed.

In the run-up to the Games, three Olympic short films were made. They showed the preparatory measures, the development of the sports facilities and impressions from the region. The films were presented at press conferences of the organizing committee and later also used as advertising for tourism. The Coca-Cola company took over the cost of the films . After the Games, two Olympic films were made , White Rock and Olympic Symphony , produced by Samuelson Film. Above all, White Rock shows impressions of training and competition performances in all sports, whereas the Olympic Symphony deals with the preparations and parallels of the Winter Games in Innsbruck and the Summer Olympics in Montreal . For the first film mentioned, two small cameras were mounted on their skis for the two Austrian ski jumpers Edi Federer and Alfred Pungg for the first time in the world , with which they took on the big one on February 15 at 12:30 p.m., half an hour before the competition Schanze, floated to the valley.

Olympic places

Competition venues

Local mountain Patscherkofel
Axamer Lizum ski area, existing reservoir since 2000

Overview of the competition venues:

Most of the competitions where they took place at the 1964 Games were held there. The only new buildings were the artificial ice rink in Igls and an air dome for figure skating training on the Tivoli grounds . All other sports facilities were rebuilt and modernized in such a way that they met the new requirements. The costs for the renovation and new construction of the sports facilities totaled 210 million schillings and were thus well below the costs of previous games. Most of the competitions took place in Innsbruck and the directly adjacent ski areas, only the Nordic competitions and biathlon were held in Seefeld, about 20 km away.

Alpine competitions for women and slalom and giant slalom for men took place in the Axamer Lizum ski area . The slopes were re-routed so that they were faster and more selective. The most complex measures were new avalanche protection structures and the construction of a new funicular . The men's downhill race took place on the Patscherkofel , which is also Innsbruck's local mountain . Since the 1964 Games, the speed of descents had increased so much that the route had to be made safer by widening it and creating fall areas.

Bergiselschanze today

The Bergiselschanze was not only the venue for ski jumping from the large hill, the opening ceremony also took place in the associated Bergisel Stadium. Since the ski jump was still on a wooden construction and barely met modern requirements, the facility was extensively rebuilt. The wooden structure was replaced and the takeoff redesigned the judges tower was built. The stadium was enlarged and new scoreboards installed. The cost of the renovation amounted to about 20 million schillings.

The ice skating competitions were held on the Tivoli grounds. Figure skating and ice hockey (A group) in the Olympic hall , ice hockey (B group) in the exhibition hall and speed skating in the Olympic ice stadium. There was also a newly built air dome for figure skating training. A new ice rink had to be created in the exhibition hall, and the refrigeration technology had to be completely renovated in the other stadiums. In addition, the audience capacity was expanded, new display boards were installed and the entire Tivoli area was redesigned. The total cost was about 69 million schillings.

The combined bobsleigh and luge ice rink in the Igls district was built between March 1974 and January 1975. The system could already be tested in competitions in the pre-Olympic winter. The construction costs amounted to 110 million schillings, making the ice rink the most expensive sports facility at the Games. For the first time, bobsleigh riders and tobogganists held their Olympic competitions on the same track, which would have been unthinkable for many athletes until then. Criticism of the track came from the bobsleigh riders, in their view the route was too easy and therefore too unselective.

The Nordic competitions took place in Seefeld . The trails that were built for the 1964 Games were used. However, the individual loops of the route were shortened so that the runners came through the cross-country stadium more often. Ski jumping from the normal hill and the combined jumping also took place on the Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze . For this purpose, a new jury tower was built and new display boards were installed.

Olympic Village

The Olympic village was built south of the old village from 1964. The village had 35 houses, a school with a gym, an indoor swimming pool, a multi-purpose hall and a leisure center. The construction of the school, indoor swimming pool and leisure center was planned before the games were awarded, but was only brought forward after the successful award. The cost of building the village was around 700 million shillings, but they were not included in the cost of the Olympic Games, as these costs would have been incurred without the Games. The canteen, a temporary business area and the doping laboratory were located on the ground floor of the school building. The various medical departments were set up on the upper floor. For the first time at the Olympic Games there was also pastoral care for the athletes. The gym served as the dining room for the officials. At peak times, 1900 athletes and 3500 officials lived in the village.

The extreme safety precautions were new for an Olympic village. The entire village was fenced in, alarmed and guarded. One was only allowed to enter the area through a passage, there were passport and security controls. The reason for this was the threat of terrorism at the time , in particular the OPEC hostage-taking in December 1975 in Vienna was still badly remembered in Austria.

After the games, the village became social housing. All houses were occupied within a very short time.

Press center

The newly constructed building of the Pedagogical Academy served as the press center . Construction had already been decided before the games were awarded, but was brought forward after the award. Temporary offices, transmission masts and an interview zone were set up, among other things. The cost of the renovation was around four million schillings. The IVB hall was newly built . It served as a television center and contained almost all of the television technology, and the press staff were also fed here. The construction costs amounted to about 160 million schillings, after the games the hall was used by the transport companies. In Seefeld and in the Axamer Lizum ski area, smaller press sub-centers were also set up.

Attendees

Europe (864 athletes from 26 nations)
America (179 athletes from 4 nations)
Asia (72 athletes from 5 nations)
Oceania (12 athletes from 2 nations)
(Number of athletes) * Participation in winter games for the first time

A total of 1261 athletes, 1013 men and 248 women, from 37 countries took part in the competitions. This set a new attendance record for the Winter Games. As already four years before, no athlete from Africa took part. San Marino and Andorra took part for the first time, and the Republic of China on Taiwan took part for the last time under its own name and flag. From now on they had to start under the name “ Chinese Taipei ” and under the Olympic flag.

A record was also set for the audience. A total of 732,726 spectators attended the competitions.

Competition program

37 competitions (23 for men, 12 for women and 2 mixed competitions) in 6 sports / 10 disciplines were held. Compared to the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo , two new competitions were added to the program - the number of sports / disciplines remained the same. The changes are detailed below:

  • In figure skating , the program was expanded to include ice dancing, which was part of the demonstration sport in 1968.
  • In speed skating , the men's 1000 m has been added
  • In cross-country skiing , the women's 3 × 5 km relay was replaced by a 4 × 5 km relay.

Olympic sports / disciplines

Number of competitions in brackets

Time schedule

On February 2 and 3, there were six ice hockey qualifying matches before the official opening of the games . The winners then played in the A group for places 1–6, the losers in the B group for places 7–12.

Time schedule
discipline Mon.
2.		 Tuesday
3rd		 Wed.
4.		 Thursday
5.		 Fr.
6.		 Sat
7.		 Sun.
8.		 Mon.
9.		 Tuesday
10.		 Wed
11.		 Thursday
12.		 Fri.
13.		 Sat
14.		 Sun.
15.		 Decision-
disk-
applications
February
Olympic rings without rims.svg Opening ceremony
Biathlon pictogram.svg biathlon 1 1 2
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 1 4th
Speed ​​skating pictogram.svg Speed ​​skating 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9
Luge pictogram.svg Luge 2 1 3
ski
sport		 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 1 7th
Ski jumping pictogram.svg Ski jumping 1 1 2
Olympic rings without rims.svg Closing ceremony
decisions 3 2 7th 3 3 3 4th 2 4th 5 1 37
Mon.
2.		 Tuesday
3rd		 Wed.
4.		 Thursday
5.		 Fr.
6.		 Sat
7.		 Sun.
8.		 Mon.
9.		 Tuesday
10.		 Wed
11.		 Thursday
12.		 Fri.
13.		 Sat
14.		 Sun.
15.
February

Color legend

  • Opening ceremony
  • Competition day (no decisions)
  • Competition day (x decisions)
  • Exhibition running (figure skating gala)
  • Closing ceremony

    • Ceremonies

    Opening ceremony

    The opening ceremony took place on February 4th in the Bergisel Stadium. A good 60,000 spectators in the stadium and an estimated 750 million television viewers saw the celebration. At the beginning of the celebration, three helicopters of the armed forces with the Olympic flag circled over the stadium. Shortly afterwards, the 1,581 athletes and supervisors began to move in, accompanied musically by the Wilten traditional costume band . Traditionally, the Greek delegation moved in first, followed by a total of 36 countries in alphabetical order (in English spelling) and concluded by the host's representatives. The fashion of individual delegations provided a topic of conversation, and sometimes also amusement. The Argentines were disguised as gauchos , Chileans disguised themselves as summer visitors , Soviet citizens showed themselves in fur and the Austrians wore gold plastic suits that were quickly referred to as "space fashion".

    This was followed by three official speeches by Minister of Education Fred Sinowatz , IOC President Lord Killanin and Federal President Rudolf Kirchschläger . The loudspeakers failed during Fred Sinowatz's speech, and after the breakdown was repaired, his spontaneous words “Now it's become simple games” met with a lot of applause from the audience. He greeted all athletes, coaches and spectators. Lord Killanin thanked Austria for taking over the games, which were initially awarded to Denver, and called for fair competitions without doping. The shortest speech was given by Rudolf Kirchschläger, who only spoke the opening formula “I declare the Olympic Games open”. Afterwards, Werner Delle Karth spoke the Olympic oath as the representative of the athletes and referee Willi Köstinger .

    The celebration began with the solemn rituals. Representatives from Sapporo , the host of the previous Olympic Games , presented the Olympic flag, which was then hoisted to the sound of fanfare. A thousand balloons and a flock of peace doves rose into the sky.

    The highlight of the celebration was the arrival of the Olympic torches and the lighting of two Olympic flames. Christl Haas lit the commemorative flame of the 1964 Olympic Games in the old pylon , Josef Feistmantl lit the 1976 Olympic flame in a new pylon.

    Closing ceremony

    The closing ceremony took place on Sunday, February 15th in the Olympiahalle. For this purpose, the ice surface was covered with artificial turf. 549 athletes moved into the hall. Two carnival groups performed Tyrolean customs and 40 couples from the Federation of Austrian National Costume and Local Associations in a torch dance . The music was played by the music band of the Tyrolean Military Command. When the athletes marched out, they were thrown a thousand tulips.

    Competitions

    bob

    Meinhard Nehmer from the GDR surprised at the two competitions in the two and four-man bobsleigh . Surprisingly for many experts, he won both races ahead of the favored bobsleighs from Germany and Switzerland. This was particularly surprising because he had only started bobsleigh two years earlier and was very quickly going to the top of the world.

    In the two-man bobsleigh, Nehmer and Bernhard Germeshausen took the lead after the third run and finally won with a lead of 0.57 seconds. He set the fastest time in three out of four runs. Silver won Wolfgang Zimmerer with pusher Manfred Schumann . Schumann was the first German athlete to compete in both summer and winter games. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich , he started as a hurdle sprinter in athletics . Erich Schärer won bronze with Josef Benz pusher . The Austrian Fritz Sperling , who was still leading after two races, made too many driving errors on the second day and was even ousted bronze by Schärer by four hundredths of a second.

    In the four-man bobsleigh, the same drivers stood on the podium again. Only the order was different. This time Nehmer (with the pushers Germeshausen, Babok and Lehmann ) won ahead of Schärer (Benz, Bächli, Marti) and Zimmerer (Schumann, Bittner, Utzschneider ). Shortly before the start, Schärer caused a stir in his own team when he replaced two pushers. Bächli and Marti were initially supposed to start in the Switzerland III bobsleigh, but they pushed better in training and quickly became part of Schärer's bobsleigh. On the second day, Schärer was able to set two fastest times in fog and blowing snow. He improved from third to second place, but could no longer endanger Nehmer, who set two fastest times on the first day. The bobsled from Austria were unlucky again. Walter Delle Karth was in second place after the first run, but the start of the second run failed. Krenn was injured in the process, so that in the end only sixth place came out.

    biathlon

    The last time military rifles were used in biathlon competitions . In future competitions, they were replaced by special small-bore rifles. In the 20 km individual, Alexander Tichonow from the Soviet Union was the clear favorite. He was the strongest athlete in the field and led by more than a minute after the third shooting. In the fourth and final shooting, however, he missed all targets and was penalized for five minutes. In the end, he only ended up in fifth place. The winner was his team-mate Nikolai Kruglow in front of the Finn Heikki Ikola and Alexander Jelisarow . The shooting performance in the individual was poor overall. All runners in the field receive at least two penalty minutes.

    In the season, the Soviet Union was again the clear favorite. With a lead of almost four minutes and without a single shooting error, their team finally won clearly. The victory was only threatened once. The second runner, Ivan Bjakow , broke the ski binding during the run. The French starter Arpin helped him out with replacement skis and Bjakow soon took the lead again. Silver went to the Finnish relay. The German-German battle for bronze was exciting. The last runner of the GDR, Manfred Geyer , caught up more than 1.5 minutes behind the last runner Claus Gehrke from the Federal Republic and passed the last climb. At the finish, the two seasons were separated by just three seconds.

    ice Hockey

    The Olympic ice hockey tournament took place in the Olympic Hall on the Tivoli grounds . It started two days before the official opening of the games. First, the twelve teams played six playoffs, the winners played in the A group for places 1–6, the losers in the B group for places 7–12. In the A group that played the Soviet Union , the Czechoslovakia , Finland , Federal Republic of Germany , Poland and the USA .

    The team of the Soviet Union won gold with five wins from five games, it was the fourth Olympic victory in a row. Silver went to Czechoslovakia, although there was a scandal after the game against Poland. After the game, the player František Pospíšil was shown to have taken the drug codeine, which is on the doping list . The player justified this with the use of a nasal spray. The game, which Czechoslovakia had won 7-1, was then rated 0-2 points and 0-1 goals. The team from the Federal Republic of Germany won a sensational bronze and only prevailed because of the better goal quotient in direct comparison with the teams from Finland and the USA. The German players only found out about winning the medal in the dressing room. At first, many believed that the face-to-face duel between Finland and Germany, which Finland won, would make the difference. Until 2018, this was the best placement of a German ice hockey team at an Olympic tournament.

    Promising teams from Sweden and Canada as well as the team from the GDR did not participate. The tournament mode met with heavy criticism. Elimination games without any tension and a sportily insignificant B group with poor audience response ensured that this mode was abolished for the 1980 games .

    figure skating

    In the men's singles, Terry Kubicka performed a backflip for the first time during a competition. He stood this somersault with both legs, unlike other figure skating jumps. However, the world federation ISU then made a rule change in the same year, which forbids doing somersaults in figure skating. The later Olympic champion John Curry offered an outstanding freestyle. Bronze winner Toller Cranston failed in the compulsory program. However, it was still enough to keep Jan Hoffmann from the GDR behind, as he also made mistakes. There were no runners from West Germany or Switzerland and the local hero Roland Koppelent from Austria also had to withdraw.

    In the women's category, the Olympic champion Dorothy Hamill did not show a triple jump in the freestyle, making her the last figure skater to triumph without such a jump. Her two pursuers, Dianne de Leeuw and Christine Errath, made mistakes, especially in the planned triple jumps. Isabel de Navarre from Germany won the compulsory program . The couples from the Soviet Union and the GDR dominated. Irina Rodnina and Alexander Saizew won clearly, but Romy Kermer and Rolf Austria were among the few serious competitors for the Olympic victory. Bronze went to Manuela Groß and Uwe Kagelmann, who achieved this place for the second time since 1972.

    In the ice dance competition, which was held for the first time, Lyudmilla Pachomowa and Alexander Gorshkov from the Soviet Union won unchallenged. There were no German, Austrian or Swiss couples at the start.

    Nordic skiing

    Cross-country skiing was once again the focus of the Nordic disciplines . In the men's singles, the US American Bill Koch surprised the experts. Previously completely unknown, he won the silver medal in the individual race over 30 km behind Sergei Saweljew . He also led over 50 km for a long time before finally falling back after half the distance and finally finishing 13th. Until 2006, Koch was the only American cross-country skier and the only North American ever to win an Olympic medal.

    In the women's category , Galina Kulakowa won the bronze medal in the individual over 5 km after her three gold medals in 1972. However, after traces of ephedrine were found in her , the cause of which was a nasal spray, she was disqualified. It was the first proven doping case in cross-country skiing at the Olympic Games.

    As in 1964, ski jumping was held in Innsbruck and Seefeld. In both individual competitions there was a clear fight between the teams from Austria and the GDR. On the Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze in Seefeld, the eventual winner Hans-Georg Aschenbach from the GDR managed the longest jump of the competition with 84.5 meters in the first jump. His compatriot Jochen Danneberg won silver in front of local hero Karl Schnabl , who finally took bronze as the best Austrian. In the ranking there were four Austrians among the best eight. Since the two jumpers Bernd Eckstein and Henry Glaß from the GDR team fell in the second round after they were sixth and seventh, a better result was no longer possible for the team.

    The Austrian team showed its strength from the large hill on Bergisel in Innsbruck. In the first round, the only 17-year-old young jumper Toni Innauer surprised with a jump to 102 meters, ahead of Danneberg and Innauer's compatriot Schnabl. In the second round, Schnabl was able to overtake Innauer and won gold. Danneberg finally had to admit defeat by Glaß and only missed his second medal by 0.1 points.

    In the Nordic Combined, the 1972 gold medalist Ulrich Wehling from the GDR was once again the favorite, after he also won the world title in 1974 and in 1975 at Holmenkollen. Already in ski jumping he showed his strength and landed the best distance in all three jumps. Also in the 15 km cross-country skiing on the following day, nobody could catch up with him, so that in the end he safely won gold ahead of the German Urban Hettich and his compatriot Konrad Winkler .

    Luge

    In luge, the dominance of the teams from both German states was again evident. In the men's singles, the top four were completely in German hands. Only Josef Fendt managed to break the East German trio around the winner Dettlef Günther with second place . A team from Germany also won in the men's doubles. Bernd Hahn and his brother Ulrich Hahn from the GDR won before the West German doubles, consisting of Hans Brandner and Balthasar Schwarm . Bronze was surprisingly won by Team Austria I with Rudolf Schmid and Franz Schachner . In the women's category, all of the medals went to German female pilots. The two East German starters Margit Schumann and Ute Rührold won ahead of Elisabeth Demleitner .

    Outstanding athletes

    • Rosi Mittermaier won two of the three alpine skiing competitions.
    • The USSR ice hockey team won the gold medal for the fourth time in a row.
    • Austrian top athlete Franz Klammer won the alpine downhill race against defending champion Bernhard Russi from Switzerland.

    Olympic Museum

    The Golden Roof is now home to the Olympic Museum

    After the Olympic Games, an Olympic Museum was built in Weiherburg Castle , which showed exhibits from the two Innsbruck Games and Austrian Olympic history. However, the museum later moved and is now located in the Golden Roof .

    literature

    Web links

    Commons : 1976 Winter Olympics  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ "Storm on supermarkets and Olympic hundreds" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna December 24, 1974, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    2. ↑ POS .: Column 5: “School closes before the Olympic downhill run” . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 27, 1976, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    3. ↑ «77,392 are against the games» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna July 29, 1972, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    4. ↑ bottom left: “ÖOC for Innsbruck's candidacy” . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna November 17, 1972, p. 15 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    5. ^ Glossary «Taken at the grain» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna June 29, 1972, p. 15 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    6. ↑ Column 4, below: "Olympic Prizes for Innsbruck" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna October 4th 1974, p. 15 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    7. ^ "Vienna: Today the Olympic fire is coming" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 30, 1976, p. 10 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    8. ↑ Ski jumpers have a film camera strapped to their feet . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 10, 1976, p. 16 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
    9. ↑ https://portal.tirol.gv.at/wisSrvPublic/wis/wbo_wb_auszug.aspx?TYPE=T&ANL_ID=T20698562R3
    10. ^ Final report, published by the Organizing Committee of the XII. Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck 1976, editor: Bertl Neumann, 1976, page 163