1964 Winter Olympics

IX Olympic Winter Games

Emblem of the 1964 Winter Olympics[a]
Host city	Innsbruck, Austria
Nations	36
Athletes	1,091 (892 men, 199 women)
Events	34 in 6 sports (10 disciplines)
Opening	29 January 1964
Closing	9 February 1964
Opened by	President Adolf Schärf
Cauldron	Josl Rieder
Stadium	Bergisel
Winter ← Squaw Valley 1960 Grenoble 1968 → Summer ← Rome 1960 Tokyo 1964 →

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1964 Winter Olympics Bid process (bid details) Development (venues, torch relay) Marketing Broadcasters Opening ceremony (flag bearers) Chronological summary Medal table (medallists) Olympic records World records Controversies Closing ceremony (flag bearers) IOC ÖOC ICC

v t e

The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (

A month later, the Innsbruck authorities decided to enter a bid again for the 1964 Winter Games.[4] On 26 May 1959, during the 55th session of the (IOC) in Munich, West Germany, the Austrians were selected in a landslide for the Games with 49 votes in the first round, ahead of Calgary (Canada), which obtained 9 votes and Lahti (Finland), which did not receive a vote.^[2][5]

1964 Winter Olympics bidding result^[6]

City	Country	Round 1
Innsbruck	Austria	49
Calgary	Canada	9
Lahti	Finland	0

Political situation

Despite the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, which increased tensions between East and West and the fact that East Germany wanted to have its own team, the IOC managed to maintain the United Team of Germany for the third consecutive Olympiad.^[7] In the 1960s, the IOC also discussed the Olympic participation of South Africa, a country immersed in the apartheid regime. During the Games in Innbruck, the IOC President Avery Brundage announced that the country would not be able to participate in the 1964 Summer Olympics because of its policy of racial segregation in sport.^[8] On the other hand, several African countries which had become independent joined the Olympic movement: the national Olympic committees of Algeria, of Congo, from Nigeria and Sierra Leone were recognized by the IOC during the session held during the Innsbruck Games. The number of IOC member nations increased to 114.^[9] In addition, the Innsbruck Games were used for the dissemination of political messages. Five Iranian students are arrested after marching with banners hostile to the shah. Twenty other Iranians, who demonstrated for the release of prisoners in their country, were also imprisoned.^[10]

Organization

Organizing Committee

The Organizing Committee of the IX Winter Olympics in Innsbruck 1964 was formed on 2 June 1959.

The Games were held over twelve days, from January 29 to February 9. Thirty-four events were on the program, an increase from the twenty-seven at Squaw Valley four years earlier. Three luge events (individual men and women, doubles men) were included in the Olympic program. Bobsled, which was absent from the 1960 Games due to the cost of building the track, returned to the Games. Ski jumping was divided into two events (small and large hill) and the women's 5-kilometer was added in cross-country skiing.^[2] Ice stock sport (Eisstockschießen), a variant of curling popular in Alpine countries, was a demonstration sport as in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936.^[19] In total, 1,073,000 people attend the various events. The disciplines which attracted the most spectators were alpine skiing and ice hockey.^[20]

January 1964 February 1964	29 Wed	30 Thu	31 Fri	1 Sat	2 Sun	3 Mon	4 Tue	5 Wed	6 Thu	7 Fri	8 Sat	9 Sun	Events
Cérémonies	OC											CC	—
Biathlon							1						1
Bobsleigh			●	1					●	1			2
Nordic combined					●	1							1
Ice hockey	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	1
Luge		●	●			2		1					3
Figure skating	1	●	●		1	●	●		1				3
Speed skating		1	1	1	1		1	1	1	1			8
Ski jumping			1									1	2
Alpine skiing		1		1	1	1			1		1		6
Cross-country skiing		1		1	1			2		1	1		7
Eisstock[21]											●	●	—
Daily medal events	1	3	2	4	4	4	2	4	3	3	2	2	34
Total	1	4	6	10	14	18	20	24	27	30	32	34	34[22]

† The numeral indicates the number of event finals for each sport held that day.

Weather conditions before the Games

In the weeks leading up to the Games, temperatures often rose above zero degrees Celsius due to the

The Opening Ceremony took place on January 29 at the

The biathlon made its second Olympic appearance. As in 1960, the only event contested was a 20-kilometer cross-country ski race with four shooting ranges of 100 to 250 meters. Soviet athlete Vladimir Melanin, a heavy favorite, won the event. This was the first time he did not miss any of his twenty shots in a major competition. His compatriot Aleksandr Privalov, who also had a clean shoot, was second by more than three minutes and the Norwegian Olav Jordet, who missed a target, won the bronze medal. The Finn Veikko Hakulinen was the fastest, but missed six shots and finished 15th.^[28]

Bobsleigh

The

The Canadians surprised in the four-man bobsleigh event. As the country competed for the first time in the Olympic bobsleigh events,[31] the pilot's team Vic Emery won the first round, breaking the track record, and increased his lead in the following three rounds. Canada won gold by more than a second ahead of Erwin Thaler 's Austrian bobsleigh and Eugenio Monti' s Italian bobsleigh.^[32]

Nordic combined

The Nordic combined event took place in the village of Seefeld in Tirol. On the first day, the competitors did three jumps and the two best results are recorded. The next day, they did a 15-kilometer cross-country ski race. The final ranking was established with a new points system.^[33]

The reigning Olympic champion, the German Georg Thoma, was first ahead of the Norwegian Tormod Knutsen and the Soviet Nikolay Kiselyov after the jumps. Knutsen needed to beat Thoma by at least twelve seconds in the cross-country ski race to pass him, which he did, winning by 1.33 and becoming Olympic champion. Kisseliov wins the silver medal. Thoma, who had wax problems and fell twice during the race, was third, just 0.16 points behind Kisseliov after a tenth-place finish in cross-country skiing.^[34]

Ice hockey

The matches of

In Group A, the Soviet favorites won their seven matches and became Olympic champions. The tournament was actually very close since in the last game, the Soviets were losing 2–1 against Canada after two periods to finally win 3–2; if Canada had won they would have taken the gold medal. Behind the Soviet Union, three teams had five wins and two losses: Canada, Czechoslovakia and Sweden. These three teams were ranked by goal difference with Sweden receiving silver, Czechoslovakia bronze and Canada finishing fourth.[36] The Canadians, who were not satisfied with the method used to decide between Sweden and Czechoslovakia, boycotted the medal ceremony.^[10]

Luge

The luge events were dominated by the Germans, who took five out of six medals individually.^[37][38] During the men's individual event, a German trio dominated the competition: the 1962 world champion Thomas Köhler as well as Klaus Bonsack and Hans Plenk were the top three in each of the first three rounds, won respectively by Köhler, Bonsack and again Köhler. Bonsack also won the fourth round. Finally, Köhler was Olympic champion with 27 hundredths of a seconds ahead of Bonsack and 3.38 seconds ahead of Plenk.^[39]

The German Ilse Geisler, world champion in 1962 and 1963, was the favorite in the women's event. However, it was her compatriot Ortrun Enderlein who won the first three races. Geiser took a lot of risks in the last heat and made a big mistake, letting Enderlein win again. Enderlein became Olympic champion, almost three seconds ahead of Geisler. The Austrian Helene Thurner won the bronze medal.^[40]

The doubles event, which takes place over two rounds, was dominated by the Austrians. Indeed, Josef Feistmantl and Manfred Stengl won the first round ahead of Reinhold Senn and Helmut Thaler. The latter won the second round without worrying Feistmantl and Stengl, crowned Olympic champions. Italians Walter Aussendorfer and Sigisfredo Mair are bronze medalists.^[41]

Figure skating

The

In the men's event, the German Manfred Schnelldorfer became Olympic champion by winning each round. The Frenchman Alain Calmat, slightly favored before the Olympics, finished in second place.^[44] The American Scott Allen won the bronze medal, just two days before his fifteenth birthday. He thus became the youngest medalist in the history of the Winter Games.^[45]

The big favorite in the women's event, the Dutch Sjoukje Dijkstra, easily became Olympic champion. She is in fact placed in the first row by the nine judges. In front of the Dutch royal family, she won the first Dutch gold medal at the Winter Games. The Austrian Regine Heitzer was the silver medalist with a small lead over the Canadian Petra Burka.^[46][47]

The Soviets Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, a married couple, narrowly won the pair event ahead of the German Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler. The bronze medals went to Canadians Debbi Wilkes and Guy Revell. In 1966, Kilius and Bäumler had to return their medals because of a professional contract signed before the Games. The Canadians received the silver medal and the Americans Vivian and Ronald Joseph, initially fourth, received the bronze medal. In 1987, however, the IOC decided to restore the medals of the German couple. The results then plunged into confusion since the different rankings did not indicate the same information. In 2013, the IOC clarified that the Soviets had the gold medal, the Canadians and the Germans shared the silver medal and the Americans the bronze medal. These were the official results since 1987.^[48][49]

Speed skating

The speed skating events took place on an outdoor track set up around the Olympiaeisstadion. While the Soviets dominated the women's events, the men's podiums are more international.^[50]

The American Terry McDermott, who was not one of the favorites, won the men's 500 meters setting a new Olympic record. Taking part in his first international competition, he borrowed skates from his trainer Leo Freisinger. Three athletes, including the favorite of the event Yevgeny Grishin, shared second place.^[51] The Soviet Ants Antson won the gold medal in the 1,500 meters, ahead of the Dutch Kees Verkerk and the Norwegian Villy Haugen, after a very close race.^[52] The Norwegians score a hat-trick in the 5,000 meters. Knut Johannesen is a gold medalist beating the Olympic record just two tenths ahead of Per Ivar Moe.^[53] Finally, the Swede Jonny Nilsson won the 10,000 meters ahead of the Norwegians Fred Anton Maier and Knut Johannesen. This race was controversial because Nilsson was one of the few to skate before the wind picked up, and enjoyed better ice than most of the other competitors.^[47][54]

The Soviet

For the first time in 1964, two ski jumping events were contested at the Olympic Games: small hill, contested at Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze and big hill, which takes place at Bergisel Ski Jump. They have a construction point of 70 and 90 meters respectively. Athletes jump three times and their two best results count in each event.^[27][58]

The Czechoslovak Josef Matouš surprised many by winning the first round of the normal hill while the Finn Veikko Kankkonen, who was among the favorites, was only twenty-ninth. Kankkonen had the best jump of the competition in the second set, at 80 meters, and the Norwegian Toralf Engan took the lead. After the third round, Kankkonen who again produced a good jump, became Olympic champion. Toralf Engan was second while young Norwegian Torgeir Brandtzæg took third place.^[59] In the first round of the big hill, Veikko Kankkonen took the lead in front of Toralf Engan with a jump of 95.5 meters. Engan took the first place after the second jump, while Kankkonen and Brandtzæg followed closely behind. Brandtzæg finished with a good jump unlike his two rivals. The medalists are the same as for the normal hill, but this time Engan is Olympic champion ahead of Kankkonen.^[60]

Alpine skiing

Most

In the women's downhill, the Austrians achieved the second treble in the history of the Winter Games in alpine skiing. The favorite Christl Haas was Olympic champion, more than a second ahead of Edith Zimmermann and Traudl Hecher.^[66] The technical events were dominated by two French women, the Goitschel sisters. Marielle Goitschel, aged 18, won the first round of the slalom ahead of her sister Christine, one year her senior. Christine was the fastest, however, in the second run. She won gold, ahead of Marielle, while the bronze medal was awarded to the American Jean Saubert.^[67] Two days later, Christine Goitschel took the lead in the giant slalom. His time was then equaled by Jean Saubert. Marielle Goitschel, the fourteenth skier to set off, was almost a second ahead of them however. The eldest Goitschel finished first this time, while her sister shared second place with Saubert.^[68]

Cross-country skiing

The cross-country skiing events took place near the village of Seefeld in Tirol. The men competed as usual in individual over 15, 30 and 50 kilometer as well as in the 4 × 10 kilometer relay. On the other hand, women competed for the first time at the Olympic Games the 5 kilometer, introduced at the world championships in 1962, in addition to the 10 kilometer and the relay 3 × 5 kilometer.^[69]

Men's events started with the 30 kilometers. The Finn Eero Mäntyranta won the race ahead of the Norwegian Harald Grønningen and the Soviet Igor Voronchikhin. The Swede Sixten Jernberg, the favorite after his six Olympic medals obtained in 1956 and 1960, finished fifth. Eight of the top nine athletes were Scandinavian.^[70][71] In the 15 kilometer skied three days later, Eero Mäntyranta was once again crowned Olympic champion ahead of Harald Grønningen. Sixten Jernberg wins bronze, his seventh Olympic medal.^[72] Racing the day before his 35th birthday, Jernberg took the lead at the end of the 50 kilometer. He won gold, his eighth Olympic medal, finishing more than a minute ahead of his compatriot Assar Rönnlund.^[73] The end of the relay 4 × 10 kilometer was a duel between the Finnish Eero Mäntyranta and the Swede Assar Rönnlund, who overtook the Soviet Pavel Kolchin one kilometer from the finish. Sweden eventually won the event, eight seconds ahead of Finland and twelve over the Soviet Union. Jernberg ended his Olympic career with nine medals including four gold, which was a new record.^[74][75]

Soviet skiers dominated the women's events as they won six of the seven possible medals.^[69] In the 10 kilometer they achieved the treble as in 1960: Klavdiya Boyarskikh ahead Yevdokiya Mekshilo and Maria Gusakova. For the first time among women, non-European cross-country skiers took part in the Olympic Games. The two North Koreans and the two Mongols, however, finished in the last four places.^[76][77] Boyarskikh also won the very close Olympic 5 km, while Finland's Mirja Lehtonen surprised by taking second place. The Soviet Alevtina Kolchina was third.^[78] Finally, the Soviets won the relay 3 × 5 kilometer for the first time. They were well ahead of the Swedes by two minutes and the Finns by three.^[79] Klavdiya Boyarskikh wins his third gold medal at these Games.^[69]

Closing Ceremony

For the first time on games history, the Closing Ceremony was not held at the Olympic Stadium and in an indoor place, took place on February 9 at the Olympiaeisstadion.^[25] The flags of Greece, the founding nation of the Olympic Games, Austria, the host country, and France, the host country of the next Games, were raised to the sound of the national anthems. The President of the IOC Avery Brundage officially declared the Games closed before the extinction of the Olympic flame.^[80]

Games highlights

• The games were opened by a concert performed by
  Mozart's 40th Symphony
  were performed in the opening concert.
• Normally snowy, Innsbruck was threatened by a lack of snow. The Austrian army carved out 20,000 ice bricks from a mountain top and transported them to the bobsled and luge runs. They also carried 40,000 cubic meters of snow to the Alpine skiing courses. The army packed down the slopes by hand and foot.[81] (A heavy snowfall occurred immediately after the Games.)^[82]
• Lidia Skoblikova
  won all of the women's speed skating events.
• Italian bobsleigh pilot
  Robin Dixon to win the gold medals when he loaned them an axle bolt to replace one that was broken. The Italians took bronze, but Monti was honored as the first recipient of the Pierre de Coubertin medal
  for sportsmanship.
• Egon Zimmermann of Austria took the gold medal in the men's downhill alpine skiing event.
• In the 4 man bobsled, the Canadian team won the gold medal with a total winning time of 4:14.46.
• Norway's Knut Johannesen won the men's 5,000m speed skating event in an Olympic record time of 7:38.40.
• Klavdiya Boyarskikh of the USSR earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing and, on the men's side, Finnish Eero Mäntyranta won two and earned the nickname "Mr. Seefeld" after the venue because of his domination.
• In alpine skiing, French sisters Christine and Marielle Goitschel finished first and second in both the slalom and the giant slalom.
• Ski jumping gained a second event, and the sport of luge made its Olympic debut.
• Politically, the Games were notable because East and West Germany entered a combined team for the last time.
• For the first time the Closing Ceremonies were held at a different place than the Opening Ceremonies.This also the first time that an Olympic Ceremonies are held in an indoor venue.

Medals

Fourteen of the thirty-six nations which participated in these Games won at least one medal, as detailed in the table below. Already first in

The Soviets also dominated the ranking of the most medal-winning athletes as the speed skater

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:

  *   Host nation (Austria)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	11	8	6	25
2	Austria*	4	5	3	12
3	Norway	3	6	6	15
4	Finland	3	4	3	10
5	France	3	4	0	7
6	United Team of Germany	3	3	3	9
7	Sweden	3	3	1	7
8	United States	1	2	4	7
9	Canada	1	1	1	3
10	Netherlands	1	1	0	2
Totals (10 entries)		33	37	27	97

Podium sweeps

Date	Sport	Event	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze
30 January	Speed skating	Women's 500 metres	Soviet Union	Lidiya Skoblikova	Irina Yegorova	Tatyana Sidorova
1 February	Cross-country skiing	Women's 10 kilometre	Soviet Union	Klavdiya Boyarskikh	Yevdokiya Mekshilo	Mariya Gusakova
4 February	Luge	Men's singles	United Team of Germany	Thomas Köhler	Klaus-Michael Bonsack	Hans Plenk
5 February	Speed skating	Men's 5000 metres	Norway	Knut Johannesen	Per Ivar Moe	Fred Anton Maier
6 February	Alpine skiing	Women's downhill	Austria	Christl Haas	Edith Zimmermann	Traudl Hecher

Venues

Several sports venues were built especially for the Games. New slopes for

The ski jumping events were held on the Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze (normal hill) at Seefeld in Tirol and the Bergisel Ski Jump (big jump) in Innsbruck. The Bergisel ski jump, built in wood in 1920, was replaced by a concrete ski jump. The cross-country skiing and biathlon tracks were located in Seefeld, like the small hill.^[84][2] The opening ceremony was celebrated at the foot of the Bergisel ski jump while the closing ceremony took place at the Olympiaeisstadion.^[25] An Olympic Village consisting of eight eleven-storey buildings was built outside the city.^[12]

• Axamer Lizum – Alpine skiing (except the men's downhill)
• Bergiselschanze
  – opening ceremonies and ski jumping (large hill)
• Bob und Rodelbahn Igls – bobsleigh, luge
• Eisschnellaufbahn
  – speed skating
• Messehalle
  – ice hockey
• Olympiahalle – closing ceremonies, figure skating, ice hockey
• Patscherkofel – Alpine skiing (men's downhill)
• Seefeld
  – biathlon, cross-county skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping (normal hill)

Participating nations

A total of 36 nations sent athletes to Innsbruck, six more than in

The number indicated in brackets is the number of athletes entered in the official events for each country.[26]

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

IOC	Country	Athletes
EUA	United Team of Germany	96
USA	United States	89
AUT	Austria	83
SUI	Switzerland	72
URS	Soviet Union	69
ITA	Italy	61
NOR	Norway	58
SWE	Sweden	57
CAN	Canada	55
FIN	Finland	52
POL	Poland	51
JPN	Japan	47
TCH	Czechoslovakia	46
GBR	Great Britain	36
YUG	Yugoslavia	31
HUN	Hungary	28
ROM	Romania	27
FRA	France	24
PRK	North Korea	13
MGL	Mongolia	13
ARG	Argentina	12
BEL	Belgium	8
BUL	Bulgaria	7
KOR	South Korea	7
AUS	Australia	6
LIE	Liechtenstein	6
NED	Netherlands	6
ESP	Spain	6
CHI	Chile	5
ISL	Iceland	5
TUR	Turkey	5
IRN	Iran	4
LIB	Lebanon	4
GRE	Greece	3
DEN	Denmark	2
IND	India	1
Total	1091

Prior fatalities

Two fatal events before the 1964 Winter Olympics affected the outcome and mood of the Games:

• Kazimierz "Kay" Skrzypecki died during training shortly before the Games.^[86][87] The organizing committee said that Ross crashed into a tree during a training run. The IOC suggested that inexperience might have played a role in Ross's death. Manager John Wagner suggested that overcrowding played a role, saying that Milne had tried to slow down "on a spot which was not prepared for stopping or swinging" to avoid a crowd of contestants. His brother Malcolm Milne competed at the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics
  .
• On February 15, 1961, the entire United States figure skating team and several family members, coaches, and officials were killed when Sabena Flight 548 crashed in Brussels, Belgium, en route to the World Championships in Prague. The accident caused the cancellation of the 1961 World Championships and necessitated the building of a new American skating program.^[88][89]

There were also several injuries which occurred prior to the event.

• Liechtenstein Alpine skiers Wolfgang Ender broke his leg and Edmund Schaedler fractured his arm in a crash close to the same location as Australian Milne, only a few minutes after the fatality occurred.^[86][87]
• German tobogganer Josef Fleischmann crashed during practices.^[86][87]

After the Games

After the Games

In the 1970s, the American city of

• 1964 Summer Paralympics
• 1964 Summer Olympics
• Olympic Games celebrated in Austria
  • 1964 Winter Olympics – Innsbruck
  • 1976 Winter Olympics – Innsbruck
  • 2012 Winter Youth Olympics – Innsbruck

• List of IOC country codes

Notes

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• Adams, Carly (2004). "Innsbruck 1964". In Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberly D. (eds.). Encyclopedia of the modern Olympic movement. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
  ISBN 0-313-32278-3
  .
• Espy, Richard (1981). The politics of the Olympic Games, with an epilogue, 1976-1980. Berkeley, USA: University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-520-04395-4
  .
• Mogore, Christian (1989). La grande histoire des Jeux olympiques d'hiver (in French). Chambéry (France): Agraf.
  ISBN 2-908240-01-7
  .
• Monnin, Éric (2010). De Chamonix à Vancouver: Un siècle d'olympisme en hiver (in French). Méolans-Revel: éditions DésIris.
  ISBN 978-2-915418-38-5
  .
• Valle, Stéphanet (1988). Les Jeux olympiques d'hiver (in French). Lyon (France): La Manufacture.
  ISBN 2-7377-0057-4
  .
• Wallechinsky, David (2001). The complete book of the Winter Olympics (2002 ed.). Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press.
  ISBN 1-58567-195-9
  .
• Wolfgang, Friedl; Neumann, Bertl, eds. (1967). Offizieller Bericht der IX. Olympischen Winterspiele Innsbruck 1964 [Official Report of the 1964 Olympic Winter Games] (in German). Vienna: Herausgegeben vom Organisationskomitee.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1964 Winter Olympics.

• "Innsbruck 1964". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.
• Official Report of the 1964 Winter Olympics (PDF) (in German). Innsbruck Olympic Organising Committee. 1964. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
• The program of the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics
• Map of the surrounding area
• "Australia and the Olympic Games" by Harry Gordon.
  ISBN 0-7022-2627-0

Winter Olympics
Preceded by Squaw Valley	IX Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck 1964	Succeeded by Grenoble