1980 Lake Placid

Lake Placid 1980

Alpine Skiing

Bobsleigh

Cross-Country Skiing

Figure Skating

Ice Hockey

Luge

Nordic Combined

Ski Jumping

Snowboard

Speed Skating

Australia

Austria

Canada

Czechia

Germany

Great Britain

Hungary

Japan

Liechtenstein

Netherlands

Norway

Sweden

Switzerland

Ukraine

United States

USSR

&ldquo;Nobody thought we could win that game\. Heck, nobody thought we could win a medal,&rdquo; said Eruzione, a Boston University graduate chosen to lead a seemingly ragtag bunch of college players and amateurs into the 1980 Games\. &ldquo;We were supposed to come anywhere from seventh to 10th place\.&rdquo;

Snapped: the moment that proved miracles do happen

Don’t miss when Olympic Magazine talked to one of the legendary names of the Winter Olympics: speed skater Eric Heiden on the anniversary of Vancouver 2010.

Eric HEIDEN

Highlights

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Eric Heiden Reflects - Speed Skating | Vancouver 2010 Highlights

The legend of the “Crazy Canucks” lives on in the hearts of all Alpine skiing fans\. It’s the story of a daring group of Canadian downhill skiers \- Ken Read, Jim Hunter, Dave Irwin, Dave Murray and Steve Podborski \- who from the mid\-1970s started challenging the best European specialists

Steve PODBORSKI

Podborski revels in 'golden' downhill bronze

Zimyatov grew up in Rumyantsevo, a tiny village 70km from Moscow, where skiing was a popular pastime\. He took up the sport as a child and was talent\-spotted at the famed Spartak Sports Society by coach Alexei Kholostova, who developed his skill on the snow\. He later trained with the

Nikolai Zimyatov

Zimyatov crowned cross country king with three golds

According to James McKenna, CEO of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, hosting the Winter Games provided Lake Placid with a catalyst to initiate infrastructure improvements\.

Games catapult Lake Placid onto world stage

There's an underlying need for speed at the Olympic Winter Games.
Every event on snow and ice requires varying levels of velocity, from a precise shot to knock opposing stones away in curling to generating enough power to execute a triple Axel in figure skating.
But while there are a

Bobsleigh - Women's Bobsleigh

A history of the fastest performances at the Olympic Winter Games

Ice hockey is one of the signature sports in the Winter Olympic programme, and regardless of the Games, always seems to produce incredible moments of drama and action.
In fact, there have been so many great ice hockey moments at the Olympics that compiling a list of 10 was quite

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Crosby Ovie

10 of the most memorable moments in Olympic ice hockey history

As the tournament began, the USSR were firm favourites, having won gold in four consecutive previous Games and thumped America 10\-3 in an exhibition match just three days before the Opening Ceremony\.

LAKE PLACID, NY - FEB 22:  Team USA celebrates their 4-3 victory over the Soviet Union in the semi-final Men's Ice Hockey event at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York on February 22, 1980.   The game was dubbed "the Miracle on Ice".  The USA went on to win the gold medal by defeating Finland 4-2 in the gold medal game.  (Photo by Steve Powell /Getty Images)

Miracle on ice

US ice hockey rookies conjure up a Miracle on Ice

The Lake Placid Games in 1932 marked the first time that the Olympic Winter Games had been held in North America – and the first outside Europe – and helped bring worldwide recognition to Lake Placid, leading to increased tourism, which has since been the backbone of the economy in

Olympic tradition and legacy flourish in Lake Placid

In the individual competition, luge sleds – similar to toboggans – must weigh no more than 23kg, or 27kg for a team of two\. Competitors – known as sliders – hurtle down the course feet first and use only their legs and shoulders to guide the toboggan\.

Zozulya shocks Sollman to win women's luge

On ice and snow, be it artificial or real, a new generation of athletes reminded the people of Lake Placid that anything is possible, even miracles and unimaginable victories\.

Relive the Glories of past Olympic Winter Games: Lake Placid 1980

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?

Hans Rinn and Norbert Hahn rubber\-stamped the GDR’s dominance of the sport at the 1980 Games in Lake Placid by becoming the first pair ever to successfully defend an Olympic luge title\.

Rinn and Norbert complete unprecedented luge defence

Wehling, born in Halle, East Germany, took up skiing as a child\. He quickly discovered jumping was his forte and went on to win regional and national competitions\.

Wehling takes a huge leap into the history books

Stenmark grew up in the mountain resort of T&auml;rnaby, 60 miles from the Arctic Circle, and was on skis by the age of five\. Aged 10, he informed schoolteachers he wanted to be a ski racer, only to be told it was a foolishly unrealistic dream\.
His father disagreed, coaching

Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden skiing in the Men's Slalom event of the Alpine Skiing World Cup on 4 March 1979 in Lake Placid, New York, United States. (Photo by Tony Duffy/Getty Images) .

Stenmark

Legendary Stenmark hits peak form with double gold 

Kahr’s two main problems were that Klammer had lost some of his edge following a bad skiing accident that left his brother paralysed, and the sheer abundance of quality skiers at his disposal\. Throughout the 1970s a seemingly endless stream of daring and talented men and women graced the slopes

Franz KLAMMER

Underdog Stock causes a shock to take downhill crown

Like her fellow Austrian daredevil Franz Klammer, Pröll had built herself a fearsome reputation thanks to her fearlessness and strong physique, which gave her the strength to hold faster, more difficult lines while shooting down the mountains\.

Gold at last for snow queen Moser-Pröll

In 1980, Swiss bobsledder Erich Schärer had to take perhaps the most ruthless of all decisions two days ahead of the two\-man bobsleigh final at Lake Placid, by informing his own brother he was to be replaced\.
It was a tough call\. The relationship between the pilot, who steers the

Olympic obsession pays off for ruthless Schärer in the bob

After winning the 15km race at Lake Placid by the narrowest margin imaginable, the rules on timing in the competition were changed\. And the Swede’s rapid, power\-packed racing style lent its name to a technique still used to this day\.
Cross\-country skiing is a tough sport\. Races are run over

Thomas WASSBERG

Cross country star Wassberg opens his Olympic gold account

Wenzel, born in West Germany, moved to Liechtenstein when she was a year old\. After showing early promise on the slopes, she was granted citizenship of the Principality when she won the slalom competition at the 1974 World Championships in St Moritz\.
Two years later, at the Innsbruck Winter Olympic

Wenzel enjoys golden moment in the slalom

She proved to be the star of figure skating at the Lake Placid Games\. She and her husband Aleksandr Zaitsev defended their pairs title from Innsbruck four years earlier, earning first place points from all nine judges\.

Irina RODNINA

Ice queen Rodnina defends her pairs crown

The Netherlands was famed for its excellence in the sport, and since the 1960s the country’s training system had produced a string of gold and silver medallists such as Christina Baas\-Kaiser and Carolina Geijssen\. At the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo, Dutch skaters finished second, third and fourth in the

Speed skater Borckink springs a surprise in the women's 1,500m 

Cousins was the product of a sporting family &ndash; his footballer father played in goal for London team Millwall FC &ndash; and he took up figure skating as a child, going on to take his first national title in 1969 at the age of 12\. He was crowned British champion

Robin Cousins - Figure skating

Expectations were high\. And the man dubbed Mr Universe on account of his sculpted physique &ndash; he had to have a specially tailored Stars and Stripes suit made for the Opening Ceremony thanks to his 29\-inch thighs &ndash; didn&rsquo;t disappoint\. The modest, unassuming athlete won a clean sweep of every

Homegrown hero Heiden sweeps the board in the speed skating

Lake Placid 1980 - Stories Mosaic

Welcome to This Week in Olympic Sports History, where Olympics.com remembers the most significant sports events of the past. This week covers events from February 19 to 25.
During this week in history, we witnessed one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history - 'The Miracle on Ice' in Lake

Lake Placid 1980 | Olympic Winter games

Members of the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team that won the gold
medal in Lake Placid, wave as their former team captain, Mike Eruzione,
holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Salt Lake
2002 Olympic Winter Games, February 8, 2002. Athletes from 77 countries
will participate in the XIX winter games in Utah, February 8-24.
REUTERS/Shaun Best

RR/CRB

Members of the 1980 U.S. ice hockey team that won Olympic gold 

This week in Olympic sports history: 19-25 February

The new year is here and the Olympic Winter Games are just over 30 days away! Welcoming in the new year is all about celebrations - and we’ll see plenty of those just over a month from now when athletes begin winning medals at Beijing 2022. But before the stars

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 22:  Gold medalists Shaoang Liu, Shaolin Sandor Liu, Viktor Knoch and Csaba Burjan of Hungary celebrate during the victory ceremony after the Short Track Speed Skating Men's 5,000m Relay Final on day 13 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 22, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea.  (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

GettyImages-922945034

Some of the greatest celebrations in the history of the Olympic Winter Games 

Athletes from over 200 countries have taken part in the Olympic Games. Some of the nations are very populous, while others are not. Some cover wide geographical areas, while others may be smaller than the town or city in which many of you live. These are known as micro-states.
At

Hanni WENZEL

12 Feb 1980:  Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein in action in an alpine skiing event during the Winter Olympics Games in Lake Placid, NY, USA. Wenzel won two gold medals in the Giant and Special Slalom and one silver. \ Mandatory Credit: Tony Duffy /Allsport

Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein in action in an alpine skiing event during the Winter Olympics Games in Lake Placid, NY, USA. Wenzel won two gold medals in the Giant and Special Slalom and one silver.

Look to the past: The smallest nation to produce an Olympic champion 

Every edition of the Olympic Games seems to bring with it iconic moments without fail. So while the world eagerly anticipates which athletes will make history at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, let’s look back at some of the great athletes who blazed a trail and broke barriers at

PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 24: Ester Ledecka of Czech Republic takes 1st place during the Snowboarding Men's and Women's Parallel Giant Slalom Finals at Pheonix Snow Park on February 24, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Laurent Salino/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)

Olympic Winter Games Lake Placid 1980

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This week in Olympic sports history: 19-25 February

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10 of the most memorable moments in Olympic ice hockey history

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