1980 Winter Olympics

XIII Olympic Winter Games

Emblem of the 1980 Winter Olympics[a]
Location	Lake Placid, New York, United States
Nations	37
Athletes	1,072 (840 men, 232 women)
Events	38 in 6 sports (10 disciplines)
Opening	13 February 1980
Closing	24 February 1980
Opened by	Walter Mondale Vice President of the United States
Closed by	Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin President of the International Olympic Committee
Cauldron	Charles Morgan Kerr[1][2]
Stadium	Lake Placid Equestrian Stadium
Winter ← Innsbruck 1976 Sarajevo 1984 → Summer ← Montreal 1976 Moscow 1980 →

The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States.^[3]

Lake Placid was elected as the host city for the 1980 Winter Games at the 75th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Vienna, Austria in 1974. This marked the second time the Upstate New York village hosted the Winter Games, after 1932. The only other candidate city to bid for the 1980 games, Vancouver-Garibaldi withdrew before the final vote. This was the second of two consecutive Olympic games held in North America, following by the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.^[4]

Some venues from the 1932 Games were renovated for use in the 1980 Games, and events were held at the Olympic Center, Whiteface Mountain, Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run, the Olympic Ski Jumps, the Cascade Cross Country Ski Center, and the Lake Placid High School Speed Skating Oval. The Games were a success in terms of sport, but the organization was criticized because of numerous transport problems. The 1980 Games were the last to take place in a city of less than 15,000 inhabitants.

The Lake Placid Winter Olympics brought together 1,072 athletes from 37 countries to take part in six sports and 10 disciplines comprising a total of 38 official events (one more than in 1976). People's Republic of China, Cyprus and Costa Rica participated in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time. American speed skater Eric Heiden set the record for most medals for an athlete in one edition of the Winter Olympic Games after he medaled in all five speed skating events. The Olympic ice hockey tournament saw the young American team defeat the heavily favored Soviet professionals in what became known as the Miracle on Ice, on their way to the gold medal. In the other disciplines, Soviet Nikolaj Zimjatov won three gold medals in cross-country skiing and the Liechtenstein skier Hanni Wenzel won her country's first two gold medals in alpine skiing. The Soviet Union finished first in the medal standings, with ten gold medals, while East Germany won the most medals overall, 23. The United States was third on both counts.

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