Sporting highlights
The 1960 Olympic Winter Games saw a number of significant sporting achievements.
There was a ground-breaking win in the men’s downhill, as French skier Jean Vuarnet swapped traditional wooden skis for a riveted aluminium pair. Vuarnet’s victory changed the sport forever, with metal skis gaining widespread acceptance in the years that followed.
Women competed in the Olympic speed skating competition for the first time. Helga Haase of the United Team of Germany had the honour of winning the first women’s Olympic speed skating gold medal, in the 500 metres. Haase added a silver in the 1,000 metres, while Lidiya Skoblikova of the Soviet Union took gold in the 1,500 and 3,000 metres. The USSR skater posted a world record in the first of those two events, one of three world records to be set on the fast ice of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games.
Swedish cross-country legend Sixten Jernberg added a gold and a silver to the four medals he collected at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956. A lumberjack by trade, Jernberg won two more golds and a bronze at Innsbruck 1964, taking his medal tally to nine and making him the most decorated Winter Olympian at the time. Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjorgen holds the current record, with 15 Olympic medals in all.
In ski jumping, Helmut Recknagel of the German Democratic Republic became the first non-Norwegian or Finnish jumper to win Olympic gold. In recognition of his achievement, he was presented with the coveted Holmenkollen Medal, awarded annually to the best Nordic sportsperson. Recknagel was the first non-Scandinavian athlete to receive the accolade. A respected international ski jumping judge in later life, he joined the German National Olympic Committee following reunification in 1990.