 |
Innsbruck, Austria 1976
XIIth WINTER GAMES |
February 4 -
15, 1976 |
Mascot -
Tyrolean Snowman |
37 countries,
1123 athletes (231 women) |
6 sports, 37 events |
Opening -
President Dr. Rudolf Kirchschlager |
Torch lit by -
Christl Haas & Josef Feistmantl |
Candidates: Denver,
Sion (SUI), Tampere/Are (FIN), Vancouver
Originally, Denver was chosen but withdrew |
Two Olympic flames burned
brightly at Innsbruck; one each was lit for the Austrian city's host
roles in 1964 and 1976. Sixty thousand spectators were present at the
opening ceremony of the XII Winter Games and 200 million people watched
it live on television. Denver originally was the odds-on favorite to be
host to the 1976 Games, but concerns about the financial cost of the
Games, the possible environmental effect and concerns over a negative
effect on the state's winter tourism prompted the local population to
reject hosting the Games through a referendum.
Originally the 1976 Games were to
be held in Denver. However, soon after Denver was selected, citizen
groups campaigned to cancel the Games due to environmental and economic
concerns. In 1972, a referendum was held in Colorado calling for an
amendment to state laws which would prohibit certain expenditures made
with state taxes. The referendum passed, technically making the Denver
Games illegal. Having no other choice, the Denver Olympic Organizing
Committee withdrew as host city. In an emergency meeting of the
executive board, the IOC chose Innsbruck as the host for the 1976 Games.
Hometown heroes were plentiful
once again in Innsbruck. Franz Klammer won the men's downhill, and Karl
Schnabl won the 90-meter ski jumping event. Rosi Mittermaier, a West
German from right across the Austrian border, came within 13/100ths of a
second of sweeping the women's alpine events. Having already won the
downhill and the slalom, she finished agonizingly close to Canada's
Kathy Kreiner in the giant slalom, but had to settle for a silver medal.
Figure skating was once again
dominated by the Soviets, who captured gold in pairs as well as the
newly-introduced ice dancing event. The men's gold was won surprisingly
by British skater John Curry. Dorothy Hamill followed in the steps of
Carol Heiss and Peggy Fleming to become the latest American "Queen
of the Winter Games," as crowds fell in love with her on her way to
a gold medal.
Speed skating saw Tatiana Averina
of the Soviet Union take four medals, while the U.S. team earned six of
its 10 total medals in speed skating events.
In no surprise at all, the
Soviets again won the hockey competition. But in a total surprise,
American Bill Koch won America's first and only cross-country skiing
medal in the 30km by finishing second.
The Soviet Union was the top
medals winner with 27.
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1924
1928
1932
1936
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010 |
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6 sports, 37 events |
U
R
S |
G
D
R |
U
S
A |
N
O
R |
F
R
G |
F
I
N |
A
U
T |
S
U
I |
N
E
D |
I
T
A |
C
A
N |
G
B
R |
|
BIATHLON |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
BOBSLED |
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
ICE HOCKEY |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
LUGE |
|
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
SKATING |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Figure Skating |
2 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
4 |
Sped Skating |
4 |
|
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
9 |
SKIING |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alpine Skiing |
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
6 |
Cross-Country Skiing |
4 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
Nordic Combined |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
Ski Jumping |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
TOTAL |
13 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
37 |
GOLD MEDAL
WINNERS
(2 events added, 1 event changed - 4x5 instead of 3x5)
(23 Men, 12 Women, 2 Combined Events)
|
BIATHLON
M\20km: Nikolay Kruglov, USSR
M\4x7.5km Relay: Soviet Union
BOBSLEIGH
M\Two-Man: Meinhard Nehmer/Bernhard Germeshausen, East Germany
M\Four-Man: East Germany
ICE HOCKEY
Men's Team: Soviet Union
LUGE
M\Single: Detlef GÜNTHER, East Germany
M\Double: Hans Rinn/Norbert Hahn, GDR
W\Single: Margit Schumann, East Germany |
SKIING
ALPINE SKIING
M\Downhill: Franz Klammer, Austria
M\Slalom: Piero Gros, Italy
M\Giant Slalom: Heini Hemmi, Switzerland
W\Downhill: Rosi Mittermaier, West Germany
W\Slalom: Rosi Mittermaier, West Germany
W\Giant Slalom: Kathy Kreiner, Canada
CROSS-COUNTRY
SKIING
M\15km Classical: Nikolay Bazhukov, USSR
M\30km Classical: Sergey Savelyev, USSR
M\50km Classical: Ivar Formo, Norway
M\4x10km Relay: Finland
W\5km Classical: Helena Takalo, Finland
W\10km Classical: Raisa Smetanina, USSR
W\4x5km Relay: Soviet Union
NORDIC COMBINED
M\Individual: Ulrich Wehling, East Germany
SKI JUMPING
M\K-90 Individual: Hans-Georg Aschenbach, GDR
M\K-120 Individual: Karl Schnabl, Austria
|
|
SKATING
FIGURE SKATING
M\Singles: John Curry, Great Britain
W\Singles: Dorothy Hamill, United States
Pairs: Irina Rodnina/Aleksandr Zaitsev, USSR
Ice-Dancing: Lyudmila Pakhomova/Aleksandr
Gorschkov, USSR SPEED
SKATING
M\500m: Yevgeny Kulikov, USSR
M\1000m: Peter Mueller, United States
M\1500m: Jan Egil Storholt, Norway
M\5000m: Sten Stensen, Norway
M\10000m: Piet Kleine, Netherlands
W\500m: Sheila Young, United States
W\1000m: Tatyana Averina, USSR
W\1500m: Galina Stepanskaya, USSR
W\3000m: Tatyana Averina, USSR
|
|
Country
|
G
|
S |
B |
TTL |
USSR |
13 |
6 |
8 |
27 |
East
Germany |
7 |
5 |
7 |
19 |
United
States |
3 |
3 |
4 |
10 |
Norway |
3 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
West
Germany |
2 |
5 |
3 |
10 |
Finland |
2 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
Austria |
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
Switzerland |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
Netherlands |
1 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
Italy |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
Canada |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
Great
Britain |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Czechoslovakia |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Liechtenstein |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Sweden |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
France |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
TOTAL
|
37 |
37 |
37 |
111 |
|
