XIII Winter Olympic Games (XIII Olympic Winter Games) were held from February 13 to 24, 1980 in the American city of Lake Placid, New York, which was elected the capital of the Games for the second time (in 1932, the III Winter Olympics were held here). And he also…
XIII Winter Olympic Games have opened in Lake Placid (USA)
XIII Winter Olympic Games (XIII Olympic Winter Games) were held from February 13 to 24, 1980 in the American city of Lake Placid, New York, which was elected the capital of the Games for the second time (in 1932, the III Winter Olympics were held here). It also became the third city (after St. Moritz and Innsbruck) to host the Olympic Winter Games twice. To date, this is the last time at the Winter Games that a city has re-hosted the competition.
Since practically no assistance was provided by the US government in preparation for this Olympiad, the organizers had to minimize all the costs of hosting the Games, declaring them the most businesslike and inexpensive. The venues for the competitions were located very compactly and quite close to the city center, not all sports facilities were reconstructed, and even the athletes had to be accommodated not in a specially built Olympic village (as was already customary), but in prison block complexes, which were converted into an Olympic village.
Also, never before has the Winter Games had so many organizational problems as in Lake Placid in 1980. Difficulties arose with transport, with the accommodation of officials and guests of the Games, with the transfer of correspondence … However, to the honor of the athletes, it must be said that all these unpleasant moments did not affect the sports side of the Olympics – the competitions, as always, were held in an exceptionally tense struggle. The technical novelty of these Games was the use of artificial snow in competitions.
The raccoon, which was given the name Roni, became the mascot of the XIII Winter Olympics. The choice fell on him because the coloring of the muzzle of this traditional American animal resembles goggles and a winter hat worn by athletes involved in winter sports.
The program of the Games traditionally included 10 sports: biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, alpine skiing, luge and speed skating, figure skating and hockey, in which 38 sets of awards were played. For the first time in biathlon competitions, the men's 10 km sprint race was included in the Olympic program.
According to the results of the competition in the unofficial team standings, for the first time the GDR team became the leader (23 medals, of which 9 were gold). Although Soviet athletes won the largest number of gold medals – 10, they lost to the Germans in terms of the total number of Olympic awards (22 medals) and points won.The US team came in third with 12 medals (6 gold).
The heroes of these Games were skater E. Hayden (USA), who won 5 gold medals (a unique event in the history of sports), Soviet skier N. Zimyatov (3 gold medals) and skier H. Wenzel from Liechtenstein, who won 2 gold medals – the only Olympic history of Liechtenstein. For the fourth Games in a row in biathlon relay races, A.Tikhonov won gold, for the third time I.Rodnina became the Olympic champion in pair skating together with A.Zaitsev. Skier R. Smetanina won another championship title. The first gold medal for the Soviet luge was won by V. Zozulya. Figure skaters N. Linichuk and G. Karoponosov won the competition of dance couples.
One of the main sensations of the 1980 Olympics was the unexpected victory of US hockey players over the USSR team, which had previously won four Olympics in a row. This duel was called Miracle on Ice. Composed of the best players from US universities and colleges, a well-trained team held the tournament very confidently and deservedly took gold, the USSR team got silver. By the way, the Canadian team returned to these Games, which had previously boycotted the Olympics, but could not get into the prize-winners.