1976 Innsbruck

Innsbruck 1976

Alpine Skiing

Biathlon

Bobsleigh

Cross-Country Skiing

Figure Skating

Ice Hockey

Luge

Speed Skating

Austria

Canada

Finland

Germany

Great Britain

Netherlands

Norway

Switzerland

United States

USSR

The story of how a group of Canadian daredevils broke the European stranglehold on the downhill and became the talk of the alpine circuit.

Innsbruck 1976 | Olympic Winter games

Originals

Innsbruck_1976_1532095652439.jpg

The Legend of the Crazy Canucks | Innsbruck 1976

West Germany's Rosi Mittermaier twice stands at the top of the podium after winning gold in downhill and slalom skiing at Innsbruck 1976.

Rosi MITTERMAIER

GCDG-OLYMMOME001-_E16062858.jpeg

Slalom and downhill double for Mittermaier

The shy 19\-year\-old from Chicago, whose trademark was not athleticism but flowing grace and beauty, took gold after a unanimous decision by the judges – becoming the last ever figure skater to triumph without performing a triple jump\.

Graceful Hamill mesmerises the world

The East German athlete, just 21, completed the hair\-raising course at the Olympic Sliding Centre in 3:27\.688 – contributing to his country’s clean sweep of luge and bobsleigh titles\.

Günther becomes luge's youngest champion

Smetanina, a 23\-year\-old physical education teacher from Mokhcha, Kome in the north\-west of the Soviet Union, collected two gold medals in the Nordic skiing events – her first successes on her way to becoming the first woman to win 10 Olympic medals, a haul of four golds, five silvers and

Smetanina launches Olympic odyssey with double cross country gold

We would be right to consider him the greatest downhill skier of all time\. From his first victory in the World Cup at 19 years old, to Schladming on 22 December 1973, to his ultimate success in the discipline, his fourth triumph on the Kitzb&uuml;hel Streif on 21 January 1984,

5 February 1976, Innsbruck – Franz Klammer writes the greatest page of his story

The triple on a pair of skis
Two editions of the Olympic Games were enough to enter Hanni Wenzel in the history of skiing and Olympism: Innsbruck in 1976 and Lake Placid in 1980\.
For her first participation in the Winter Games, the young skier did not have to travel

The Wenzels: from Innsbruck to Sochi?

After a promising start to his career on the ice, the Norwegian suffered a near\-fatal mining accident at the turn of the 1970s and was told by doctors his days of competing at the highest level were over\. But Storholt had other ideas\.

Jan Egil Storholt's triumph over adversity

The unemployed carpenter’s amazing performance signalled the emergence of a major new talent in speed skating – and even landed him a full\-time job\.

Flying Dutchman Kleine storms to speed skating glory

With his compact frame and thick, bushy beard, the unassuming Hemmi seemed likely to be locked out of the medals race in the giant slalom, dominated at the time by the Italian, Gustavo Thöni, and Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden\. But anything can happen in an Olympic contest\.

Hemmi springs a surprise in the giant slalom

But Schumann, an army lieutenant, played a crucial role in the astounding success enjoyed by East Germany in the 1970s\. It was the dominant force in the luge and bobsleigh, and the peak of its brilliance was arguably the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics, where the GDR squad picked up where

Schumann steps up a gear to win luge gold

As such, he went into the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck as the favourite to pick up gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m events\. But that feat was to elude him, thanks to a rivalry that was as unexpected, and as thrilling, as it was brief\.

Ace of the ice Stenson takes 5,000m gold

Though the sport was first invented in Norway in the 18th century, its first World Championships didn’t arrive until 1958\. After making its Olympic debut two years later, with a 20km race in Squaw Valley, the men’s 4x7\.5km relay was added in Grenoble in 1968\.

Ice cool Kruglov strikes double biathlon gold

It was a fairytale start to the Games for the Detroit\-born athlete, who had announced her engagement to Olympic cyclist Jim Ochowicz on the eve of the competition\.

Speed skater Young caps fairytale games with a medal of each colour

There&rsquo;s little doubt the team was helped by the fact that Canada &ndash; where the game originated in the 19th century &ndash; boycotted the Games in a dispute over the sham amateurs who starred for the USSR\.

Soviet ice hockey maestros make it four in a row

Bobsleighs were adapted from delivery boys’ sleds in the late 19th century by lashing together two toboggans to create a sport for the adventurous and wealthy, with the first club formed in the Swiss mountain resort of St Moritz\. They differ from luge sleds in that they have brakes –

East Germans dominate on the bobsleigh track

One of the best all\-round speed skaters in the world in the 1970s, Averina, then 25, arrived in Austria as the hot favourite in all four women’s events\.

Speed skater Averina bags four medals

Known as &ldquo;the Nureyev of the ice,&rdquo; the dance\-focused figure skater won the gold medal for Britain &ndash; and redefined the sport with his elegant balletic style and dexterity, which he employed to reinterpret the great composers through his routines\.

John CURRY

Red hot Curry rules supreme in the figure skating

The unfancied Kreiner took gold in the race in 1:29\.15 with an electrifying run that caused a huge upset – not least because it meant she denied her rival Rosi Mittermaier a clean sweep of women’s Alpine ski golds\.

Kreiner's teen spirit prevails in the giant slalom

Aged 25, she was the oldest athlete in the competition &ndash; her third Olympics &ndash; yet had never won a major downhill event\.

Golden oldie Mittermaier enjoys double Alpine triumph

The then\-American champion pulled off a controversial acrobatic backflip in the men’s competition freestyle round – leaving the crowd at the Olympiahalle in Innsbruck dumbstruck\.

Kubicka thrills Innsbruck with acrobatics on ice 

His heart\-stopping 1976 run in the Austrian Tyrol &ndash; his own back yard &ndash; earned him a gold medal and proved to be the defining moment of his career\.

Klammer Express storms to downhill gold

Innsbruck 1976 - Stories Mosaic

Little Josephine Becker was nervous as she took to the ice for her first ever figure skating competition. No matter how the youngster performed at the outdoor rink in New York, however, she was always going to look the part. Her mother is fashion designer and former figure skater, Vera

Musician Justin Bieber reacts during the 2017 NHL All-Star Celebrity Shootout as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend at STAPLES Center on January 28, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

Justin Bieber ice hockey pop star

Unexpected people who have a winter sports past

The 1976 Games had been awarded to Denver, but after the American city withdrew in November 1972, Innsbruck offered to step in and its offer was accepted by the IOC Executive Board. The city had previously hosted the Winter Games 12 years earlier.
Ice dancing debuted at the Games as a full medal discipline and was dominated by the Russians. In figure skating, American Terry Kubicka performed a back flip - the first time in the history of figure skating this dangerous move had been successfully performed.
This was the second time the Games had taken place in this city, the first being in 1964. For this reason, two Olympic cauldrons were lit.

The host city with two Olympic Games cauldrons_thumbnail.jpg

The host city with two Olympic Games cauldrons

1896-Athens_given_dimensions

Athens 1896

1900

Paris 1900

1904

St. Louis 1904

1908

London 1908

1912

Stockholm 1912

1920

Antwerp 1920

1924w

Chamonix 1924

1924 Paris

Paris 1924

1928w

St. Moritz 1928

1928

Amsterdam 1928

1932 Lake Placid

Lake Placid 1932

1932 Los Angeles

Los Angeles 1932

1936 Garamisch-Partenkirchen

Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936

1936

Berlin 1936

1948-St_width1474

St. Moritz 1948

1948-London_coloured-rings

London 1948

emblenoslo

Oslo 1952

1952 Helsinki

Helsinki 1952

1956 Cortina

Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956

1956

Melbourne 1956

1960 Squaw Valley

Squaw Valley 1960

1960 Rome

Rome 1960

1964 Innsbruck

Innsbruck 1964

1964 Tokyo

Tokyo 1964

1968w

Grenoble 1968

1968 Mexico

Mexico City 1968

1972 Sapporo

Sapporo 1972

1972 Munich

Munich 1972

1976 Montréal

Montreal 1976

1980 Lake Placid

Lake Placid 1980

1980E

Moscow 1980

1984 Sarajevo

Sarajevo 1984

1984 Los Angeles

Los Angeles 1984

1988 Calgary

Calgary 1988

1988 Seoul

Seoul 1988

1992 Albertville

Albertville 1992

1992 Barcelona

Barcelona 1992

1994 Lillehammer

Lillehammer 1994

Atlanta 1996

1998 Nagano

Nagano 1998

2000 Sydney

Sydney 2000

2002 Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City 2002

2004 Athens

Athens 2004

2006 Torino

Turin 2006

2008 Beijing

Beijing 2008

2010 Vancouver

Vancouver 2010

London 2012

2014 Sochi

Sochi 2014

Rio 2016

2018 POC

PyeongChang 2018

Tokyo 2020

beijing-2022_resize

Beijing 2022

paris-2024_resize

Paris 2024

mico_23072024

Milano Cortina 2026

la28_23072024

LA 2028

frenchalps_23072024

French Alps 2030

brisbane_23072024

Brisbane 2032

saltlake_23072024

Salt Lake City-Utah 2034

Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck 1976

Innsbruck 1976Stories

All Stories

Unexpected people who have a winter sports past

5 February 1976, Innsbruck – Franz Klammer writes the greatest page of his story

The host city with two Olympic Games cauldrons

Jan Egil Storholt's triumph over adversity

Flying Dutchman Kleine storms to speed skating glory