• American company
Coca-Cola became the official provider of that games' soft drinks and would remain so for all subsequent winter Olympics (as of 2024). • The Games were opened by
Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the
Governor of New York. He would be elected
President of the United States nine months later. • The victory
podium was used for the first time at the winter games. Speed skater Jack Shea became the first Olympic champion to receive a gold medal on the podium. •
Billy Fiske (who would win his second gold medal at Lake Placid, having won his first at 16 in the
1928 Winter Olympics), carried the flag for the United States in the opening ceremonies. A planner of a winter resort in Aspen, Colorado, he was killed in 1940 flying in the
Battle of Britain. •
Sonja Henie won the second of three consecutive Olympic gold medals in
figure skating. She also won gold in 1928 and 1936. •
Irving Jaffee won the and the
speed skating gold medals, beating previous champion and world record holder
Ivar Ballangrud in the 10,000 m by . •
Eddie Eagan became the only Olympian to win gold medals at both the summer and winter games in different sports. He won gold in boxing in the
1920 Antwerp summer games and gold in bobsleigh at Lake Placid. The bobsleigh race was held two days after the games' closing ceremonies due to unseasonably warm weather in the region the week prior. •
Georg Gyssling, a member of the
Nazi Party, joined a newly created four man bobsledding team after half the German team was injured in several violent crashes on Mount Van Hoevenberg.
René Fonjallaz, a future Nazi propagandist on the Swiss team, was also injured and left unconscious for five minutes after a crash during a practice run. • The
United States topped the medal count with a total of 12 medals (6 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze). This was the only time the U.S. led the overall medal standings at the Winter Olympics until the
2010 Games in Vancouver, and the only time the United States won the most gold medals. • Seventeen countries participated. ==Events==