1980 Winter Olympics

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Multi-sport event in Lake Placid, New York, USTemplate:SHORTDESC:Multi-sport event in Lake Placid, New York, US

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**Summer**← Montreal 1976Moscow 1980 →

The **1980 Winter Olympics**, officially the **XIII Olympic Winter Games** and also known as **Lake Placid 1980**, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States.

Lake Placid was elected as the host city for the 1980 Winter Games at the 75th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Vienna, Austria in 1974. This marked the second time the Upstate New York village hosted the Winter Games, after 1932. The only other candidate city to bid for the 1980 games, Vancouver-Garibaldi withdrew before the final vote.

Some venues from the 1932 Games were renovated for use in the 1980 Games, and events were held at the Olympic Center, Whiteface Mountain, Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run, the Olympic Ski Jumps, the Cascade Cross Country Ski Center, and the Lake Placid High School Speed Skating Oval. The Games were a success in terms of sport, but the organization was criticized because of numerous transport problems. The 1980 Games were the last to take place in a city of less than 15,000 inhabitants.

The Lake Placid Winter Olympics brought together 1,072 athletes from 37 countries to take part in six sports and 10 disciplines comprising a total of 38 official events (one more than in 1976). People's Republic of China, Cyprus and Costa Rica participated in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time. The American speed skater Eric Heiden set the record for most medals for an athlete in one edition of the Winter Olympic Games after he medaled in all five speed skating events. The Olympic ice hockey saw the young American team defeat the heavily-favored Soviet professionals in what became known as the *Miracle on Ice*, on their way to the gold medal. In the other disciplines, the Soviet Nikolaj Zimjatov won three gold medals in  cross-country skiing and the Liechtenstein skier Hanni Wenzel won her country's first two gold medals in alpine skiing. The Soviet Union finished first in the medal standings, with ten gold medals, while East Germany won the most medals overall, 23. The United States was third on both counts.

## Host selection

The selection process for the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of one bid, from Lake Placid, United States. It was selected at the 75th IOC Session in Vienna on October 13, 1974.

## Highlights

Notable highlights included:

* The United States men's ice hockey team, composed mostly of collegiate players and not predicted to advance beyond group play, won the gold medal, defeating the heavily favored Soviet team and Finland in the medal round. The United States team's 4–3 win over the Soviet team, which came into the 1980 Games having won 4 consecutive Olympic gold medals, became known as the "Miracle on Ice" in the US press. The win captured the hearts of Americans during a time of Cold War tensions, even though it was the win against Finland that captured the gold medal.
* Eric Heiden of the United States won gold in the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m, and 10,000m speedskating events, setting 4 Olympic records and 1 world record (10,000m) in the process and delivering 83% of the American gold medals (the only other gold, as noted above, was won by the hockey team). Heiden became the first to ever win all five speed skating events and is still the only athlete to win 5 gold medals at one Winter Games.
* Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark won both the giant slalom and the slalom.
* Hanni Wenzel won the women's giant slalom and slalom, making Liechtenstein the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion.
* Ulrich Wehling of East Germany and Irina Rodnina of the USSR won their respective events for the third time, Wehling in Nordic combined and Rodnina in pairs figure skating.
* Aleksandr Tikhonov of the USSR earned his fourth straight gold medal as part of the 4 x 7.5m biathlon relay team.
* Nikolay Zimyatov of the USSR earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing.
* Robin Cousins won gold for Great Britain in the men's singles figure skating.
* East Germany won the most medals overall (23) but had fewer golds (9) than the USSR (10).
* In possibly the most dramatic duel of the games, Sweden's Thomas Wassberg edged Finland's Juha Mieto in the 15 km cross-country skiing by 0.01 seconds, the closest margin of victory ever in Olympic cross-country skiing. This led the International Ski Federation (ISF) to time all events to the nearest 1/10 second in the future.[*citation needed*]
* Although they did not get any medals, the People's Republic of China entered the Olympics Games for the first time after the IOC agreed to designate the Republic of China "Chinese Taipei".
* Lake Placid 1980 marked the first use of artificial snow in Olympic competition.
* Lake Placid 1980 was the last Olympics to be opened by the Vice President of the United States, as 1980 was a Presidential election year.

## Sports

 File:Lake Placid - Cauldron.jpg
 File:Lake Placid - Ski jumps.jpg
There were 38 events contested in 6 sports (10 disciplines). See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

* File:Biathlon pictogram.svg Biathlon (3) (details)
* File:Bobsleigh pictogram.svg Bobsleigh (2) (details)
* File:Cross country skiing pictogram.svg Cross-country skiing (7) (details)
* File:Figure skating pictogram.svg Figure skating (4) (details)
* File:Luge pictogram.svg Luge (3) (details)
* File:Nordic combined pictogram.svg Nordic combined (1) (details)
* File:Ski jumping pictogram.svg Ski jumping (2) (details)
* File:Speed skating pictogram.svg Speed skating (9) (details)

## Venues

 File:Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympics.jpg
Main article: Venues of the 1980 Winter Olympics
* Intervales Ski-Hill – Nordic combined (ski jumping), Ski jumping
* Lake Placid Equestrian Stadium – Opening Ceremony
* Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center – Biathlon, Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined (Cross-country skiing)
* Mt. Van Hoevenberg Bob and Luge Run – Bobsleigh, Luge (separate tracks)
* Olympic Center – Figure skating, Ice hockey, Closing ceremonies
* James B. Sheffield Speed Skating Oval – Speed skating
* Whiteface Mountain – Alpine skiing

Critics decried poorly planned transportation which left spectators waiting for hours in freezing weather, and some athletes complained about lousy accommodations at the Olympic village, where the dorms would later be turned into a prison, FCI Ray Brook. The supply and demand for event tickets never merged, as would-be buyers were unable to buy unsold tickets because only those who already had a ticket could enter ticket-sales areas at venues. Unsold tickets are still being sold as souvenirs at several local tourist shops, including the Olympic Regional Development Association's gift shop at the Olympic Arena.

The former Will Rogers Memorial Hospital was briefly used as press headquarters.

## Medal count

 File:Olympic medals Anatoly Alyabyev.jpg
Main article: 1980 Winter Olympics medal table
*(Host nation highlighted)*

## Participating nations

37 NOCs participated. United States President Jimmy Carter had already called for the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, leading to a great deal of tension at the Games. Nevertheless, the USSR and its allies participated (though the USSR didn't participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles).

Cyprus made their Olympic debut at the games. The People's Republic of China and Costa Rica both made their Winter Olympic debut. The Republic of China had boycotted the Games over the IOC's recognition of the PRC as "China", and its request for the Republic of China to compete as "Chinese Taipei".

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## Mascot

Main article: Roni (mascot)
Roni is the Olympic mascot of these Games, created by Don Moss. The mascot is a racoon, which is a familiar animal from the mountainous region of the Adirondacks where Lake Placid is situated. The name Roni comes from the word *racoon* in Iroquoian, the language of the native people from the region of the State of New York and Lake Placid and was chosen by Lake Placid school children.

## Theme song

The official theme song for the 1980 Winter Olympics was "Give It All You Got" by the American flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, who performed the song (along with the song "Pina Colada") live at the Closing Ceremony, with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (Canada).

## See also

Template:IOC seealso

* Adirondack Railway: provided train service from Utica, New York, to Lake Placid

## Notes

1. ↑ "Lake Placid 1980 - The Torch". *Olympics.com*. December 17, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
2. ↑ "Passing the test: How Charles Kerr was chosen to light the Olympic Cauldron". *United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum*. February 13, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
3. ↑ "Lake Placid 1980 Torch Relay". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
4. ↑ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on March 17, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011. Unknown parameter `|deadurl=` ignored (`|url-status=` suggested) (help)
5. ↑ Raymond W. Smith (July 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Will Rogers Memorial Hospital". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
6. ↑ Kiat.net
7. ↑ Olympic Winter Games Mascots from Innsbruck 1976 to Sochi 2014 Olympic.org
8. ↑ Hyatt, Wesley (1999). *The Billboard Book of No.1 Adult Contemporary Hits* (Billboard Publications)

## External links

* "Lake Placid 1980". *Olympics.com*. International Olympic Committee.
* Template:IOC medals
* PDF file with «Official results of the XIII Olympic Winter Games – Lake Placid 1980»
* Lake Placid Olympic Regional Development Authority
* Highlights from US vs USSR ice hockey match on YouTube
* Personal travelogue of the Games
* The program of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics

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