1960 Winter Olympics
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| VIII Olympic Winter Games | |
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Missing image 1960_wolympics_logo.jpg | |
| Nations participating | 30 |
| Athletes participating | 665 (521 men, 144 women) |
| Events | 27 in four sports |
| Opening ceremony | February 18, 1960 |
| Closing ceremony | February 28, 1960 |
| Officially opened by | Richard Nixon |
| Athlete's Oath | Carol Heiss |
| Official's Oath | n/a |
| Olympic Torch | Ken Henry |
The VIII Olympic Winter Games were held in 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, USA.
Alexander Cushing, the creator of the resort, campaigned vigorously to win the Games. Then, there was a rush to construct roads, hotels, restaurants, and bridges, as well as the Ice Arena, the speed skating track, ski lifts, and the ski jumping hill.
The temporary parking lot was built on the frozen flood plain of the nearby stream, but was destroyed when unseasonable rains washed it out. The U.S. military was called in to repair the damage to the packed-snow and ice lot before the Games began.
Walt Disney was the Head of Pageantry for the Games. CBS paid $50,000 for the right to broadcast the games in the USA. [1] (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/O/htmlO/olympicsand/olympicsand.htm)
The Olympic Village housed all the athletes.
An early IBM computer was used to calculate the results.
This Winter Olympics introduced Disney artist John Hench's Olympic torch design, which all further torches would be based on. The Olympic flame was lit in the cottage of Sondre Norheim in Morgedal, Norway, and was brought to Los Angeles by plane from Oslo. It is still burning in Squaw Valley.
There were 15 alpine and ski jumping events, eight speed skiing events, and three figure skating events. However, there was no bobsleigh run.
1960 was the first year for women's speed skating and the men's biathlon.
Medal winners
Medal count
Top medal-collecting nations:
(Host nation in bold.)
| 1960 Winter Olympics medal count | 
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Missing image Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.png USSR | 7 | 5 | 9 | 21 |
| 2 | Missing image Unified_German_Olympic_Flag.png United Team of Germany¹ | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Missing image USA_flag.png United States | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 |  Norway | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 |  Sweden | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 6 | Missing image Finland_flag_large.png Finland | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 |  Canada | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Missing image Switzerland_flag_large.png Switzerland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 |  Austria | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 10 |  France | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
- Yevgeny Grishin, USSR, men's speed skating, 500m gold, 1500m gold
- Lidia Skoblikova, USSR, women's speed skating 1500m gold, 3000m gold
- Jean Vuarnet, FR, men's downhill, gold
- Ann Heggtveit, Canada, slalom gold medal
- Penny Pitou, USA, women's downhill, silver and women's giant slalom, silver
- United States men's ice-hockey team won gold.
(¹ Athletes from East and West Germany competed together as the "United Team of Germany," designated as the EUA. This combined team appeared in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Winter Olympics).
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de:Olympische Winterspiele 1960 et:1960. aasta taliolümpiamängud fr:Jeux Olympiques d'hiver de 1960 it:VIII Olimpiade Invernale ja:スコーバレーオリンピック nl:Olympische Winterspelen 1960 no:Vinter-OL 1960 pl:Zimowe Igrzyska Olimpijskie 1960 sv:Olympiska vinterspelen 1960