1976 Winter Olympics
The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (, ) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria, from February 4 to 15, 1976. The Games were awarded to Innsbruck after Denver, the original host city, withdrew in 1972. This was the second time the Tyrolean capital had hosted the Winter Olympics, having first done so in 1964. Host selection. The cities of Denver, Colorado, United States; Sion, Switzerland; Tampere, Finland; and Vancouver (with the Garibaldi mountains), British Columbia, Canada, made bids for the Games. The  chart below displays the vote count for the 69th IOC meeting at Amsterdam, Netherlands, on May 12, 1970. The selection process for the 1976 Winter Olympics consisted of four bids, and saw Denver, United States, selected ahead of Sion, Switzerland; Tampere, Finland; and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The selection was made at the 70th IOC Session in Amsterdam on 12 May 1970. In a statewide referendum on 7 November 1972, Colorado voters rejected funding for the games, and for the first time a city awarded the Games rejected them. Denver officially withdrew on 15 November, and the IOC then offered  the games to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, but they too declined owing to a change of government following elections. Salt Lake City offered to host the games, but the IOC, still reeling from the Denver rejection, declined and selected Innsbruck to host the 1976 Winter Olympics, which had hosted the 1964 Winter Olympics games twelve years earlier, on 5 February 1973. Mascot. The mascot of the 1976 Winter Olympics was Schneemann, a snowman in a red Tyrolean hat. Designed by Walter Pötsch, Schneeman was purported to represent the 1976 Games as the "Games of Simplicity". It was also regarded as  a good-luck charm, to avert the dearth of snow that had marred the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Medals awarded. There were 37 events contested in 6 sports (10 disciplines). Ice dance made its Olympic debut. See the medal winners, ordered by sport: Participating nations. 37 nations participated in the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. The games marked the final time the Republic of China (Taiwan) participated under the Republic of China flag and name. After most of the international community recognized the People's Republic of China as the legitimate government of all China, the ROC was forced to  compete under the name Chinese Taipei, under an altered flag and to use its National Banner Song instead of its national anthem. Andorra and San Marino participated in their first Winter Olympic Games. Medal count. These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1976 Winter Games. References. Notes Citations