1932 Lake Placid

Lake Placid 1932

Bobsleigh

Cross-Country Skiing

Figure Skating

Ice Hockey

Nordic Combined

Short Track Speed Skating

Ski Jumping

Speed Skating

Austria

Canada

Finland

Norway

Sweden

United States

A soldier in the First World War; a brilliant student who studied at Yale, Harvard and Oxford and qualified as a lawyer; an Olympic boxer who won the light heavyweight competition in Antwerp in 1920; and the only athlete in history to secure a gold medal at both the Summer

On 15 February 1932, Eddie Eagan became the first and only person to win gold at the Summer and Winter Games

One of the most pressing questions at Lake Placid surrounded Johan Gr&oslash;ttumsbr&aring;ten, the Norwegian flag bearer\. Could anyone defeat him in the Nordic combined? The competition, which consisted of cross\-country skiing \(held over 18km\) and ski jumping, had already provided him with two out of his five Olympic medals\.

Grøttumsbråten proves unbeatable in Nordic combined

A sizeable field of 42 skiers, from eleven different countries, lined up for the start of the 18km cross\-country competition at 9\.30 on 10 February, but they did not all set off with the same ambitions\. There were those out for victory in the event itself, and those competing in

Utterström claims 18km triumph

As would be the case until 1956, Canada was represented in the ice hockey competition by the club that had earlier won the Allan Cup, the country&rsquo;s amateur championship\. After the successes of the Winnipeg Falcons at the 1920 Games in Antwerp, the Toronto Granites at Chamonix 1924&nbsp;and the Toronto

Canadians retain invincible ice hockey aura

Veli Saarinen was already a high\-profile figure in the world of cross\-country skiing when he was selected for the Finnish Olympic team that would compete at the Lake Placid Games in 1932\. He had previously won the 30km at the Nordic Games in Stockholm in 1928, finished fourth in the

Saarinen finishes first for Finnish first

Until 1928, there was no set ritual for awarding the prizes to the winning athletes at the Olympic Games\. During the first modern Games in Athens in 1896, the top three competitors in each event were awarded a medal, an olive branch and a certificate during the Closing Ceremony by

1932: the podium makes its Olympic debut

A lieutenant in the US army during the First World War, Eddie Eagan \(USA\) was a talented boxer, at one point one of the most feared light\-heavyweights in the world, as demonstrated by his defeat of Sverre S&oslash;rsdal \(NOR\) at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp \(BEL\), a result that

Edward Eagan’s historic summer-winter double

The Closing Ceremony of the Lake Placid Games was held at the Olympic Stadium on 13 February 1932, in the wake of the final piece of competitive action, the exciting and tightly contested de facto final between the Canadian and US ice hockey teams\.

Fans witness podium first as curtain draws on Lake Placid

As a native of Mount Vernon, in the state of New York, figure skater Beatrix Loughran did not have far to travel to compete in her third Olympic Winter Games\. Contrary to her first two appearances, when she participated in the ladies&rsquo; singles competition, this time she and her partner,

Loughran makes third podium appearance

The Ruud family, from the mining town of Kongsberg in south\-west Norway, developed a strong ski jumping pedigree in the 1920s that would see them dominate the discipline during the 1930s\. The eldest Ruud brother, Sigmund, earned a silver medal in the individual large hill event at the second\-ever Winter

Birger Ruud, the best of a talented bunch

In the years leading up to the 1932 Games, she collected every ISU World Championship singles title available to her, in 1928 \(London\), 1929 \(Budapest\), 1930 \(New York\) and 1931 \(Berlin\), and two European crowns, in 1931 \(St\. Moritz\) and 1932 \(Paris\), prevailing at the latter event just a month

Sonja HENIE

Henie soars to top of figure skating world

All three distances were included, giving the skaters, who were exclusively American and Canadian, various chances of glory\. The competition adopted the same North American rules used in the men&rsquo;s competition, where large groups of participants raced against each other from a common start, with the first person across the

Women’s speed skating makes Games debut

Karl Sch&auml;fer was born in Vienna \(AUT\), a stone&rsquo;s throw from the world&rsquo;s first artificial ice rink, built in 1909 by Eduard Engelmann\. At the age of 11, he was spotted by figure skating talent scouts\. A bronze medallist at the European and World Championships in 1927, he competed at

Schäfer lives up to favourite

The men&rsquo;s speed skating competition was organised differently at Lake Placid, using the format that was the norm in North American events at the time\. Instead of the traditional series of pairs setting off together against the clock, &ldquo;packstyle&rdquo; racing was introduced, where groups of six skaters all started together

Jack Shea, home-town hero

At the turn of the 20th century, Lake Placid \(population: 4,000\), a quiet village located in the Adirondack Mountains in New York State \(USA\), was gradually developing into one of the most popular winter sport resorts in the United States\. Consequently, its two frozen lakes, ideal for open\-air ice skating,

Lake Placid gets unanimous nod

After showing great promise in nationwide speed skating competitions, a 21\-year\-old Irving Jaffee \(USA\) was selected for the US Olympic team bound for the St\. Moritz Games in 1928, where he finished fourth in the 5,000m and posted the best time of the 10,000m heats, outstripping reigning world champion Bernt

Jaffee shines in the speed skating

Dewey promptly took up the role of President of the Olympic Organising Committee, ordering work to commence as quickly as possible\. The Olympic Stadium, with an ice rink at its centre, was built to host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the speed skating competition and half of

Welcoming the world at the Opening Ceremony

Lake Placid 1932 - Stories Mosaic

The concept of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) was first introduced in 1998, with the official debut of the multi-sport event taking place in 2010 with the Summer Youth Olympic Games of Singapore, followed by a Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck in 2012.
However, decades before the idea of

circa 1920:  Skaters using a bike as a tractor to pull them along the ice.  (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Fun on ice

Olympic History: The youngest athletes to shine at the Olympic Winter Games

From disciplines that made their debut at the Summer Olympics to animals taking part in competitions, the Winter Olympics has been full of strange and fantastic moments throughout its history.
Read on to discover five surprising facts about the Winter Olympics!

Figure skaters at the 1924 winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, 30th January 1924. Left to right: Herma Planck-Szabo of Hungary, Ethel Muckelt of Britain and Beatrix Loughran of the U.S.A. Planck-Szabo won gold, with Loughran and Muckelt taking silver and bronze respectively. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

copy of Figure skaters at the 1924 winter Olympics in Chamonix

Five things you didn't know about the Winter Olympics

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 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 Innsbruck

Innsbruck 1976

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

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2014 Sochi

Sochi 2014

Rio 2016

2018 POC

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Tokyo 2020

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Beijing 2022

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Paris 2024

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Milano Cortina 2026

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LA 2028

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French Alps 2030

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Brisbane 2032

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Salt Lake City-Utah 2034

Olympic Winter Games Lake Placid 1932

Lake Placid 1932Stories

All Stories

Olympic History: The youngest athletes to shine at the Olympic Winter Games

Five things you didn't know about the Winter Olympics

On 15 February 1932, Eddie Eagan became the first and only person to win gold at the Summer and Winter Games

1932: the podium makes its Olympic debut

Grøttumsbråten proves unbeatable in Nordic combined