The Winter Games had 1,091 athletes from 36 countries, a record for the Winter Games at the time. Athletes competed in six sports and ten disciplines, resulting in thirty-four sanctioned events, seven more than in 1960. The luge debuted on the Olympic program. The deaths of Australian alpinist Ross Milne and British luge slider Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski during training, as well as the loss of the entire United States figure skating team and family members three years earlier, had an impact on the Games.