1980 Winter Olympics

Selection of the host city After Lake Placid hosted the 1932 Olympic Winter Games, the community continued to bid on upcoming editions of the Games, submitting seven total bid attempts, including 1948, 1952, and 1956. Three of these were supported by the United States Olympic Committee and presented to the International Olympic Committee: 1968, 1976, and 1980. The IOC selected Innsbruck, Austria, to host the 1976 Games in place of Denver, with Lake Placid finishing as the runner-up. IOC President Lord Killanin later stated that members of the IOC executive favored the Austrian bid as a way to "make peace with the people of Austria" over the decision in 1972 to declare Austrian skiing star Karl Schranz ineligible for the games as a professional athlete. Undeterred, Lake Placid re-sent the same campaign materials that were originally used for the 1976 bid to the United States Olympic Committee on November 20, 1973, and made the official bid in September 1974. Three other cities declared themselves candidates for the 1980 Winter Games: Vancouver—Garibaldi (Canada), Lahti (Finland), and Chamonix (France). In December 1979, the Soviet Union began the invasion of Afghanistan, which led to United States President Jimmy Carter calling for the international boycott of the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow. At that time, very few member governments expressed interest in the proposal. However, the idea gained popularity in early January 1980 when Soviet nuclear scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov called for a boycott. On January 14, 1980, the Carter Administration joined Sakharov's appeal and set a deadline by which the Soviet Union must pull out of Afghanistan or face the consequences, including an international boycott of the games. On January 26, 1980, Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark announced that Canada, like the US, would boycott the Olympic Games if Soviet forces did not leave Afghanistan by February 20, 1980. Carter also proposed moving the Olympics to Greece on a permanent basis to eliminate the issue of politicization of the Games' hosting, but the IOC rejected the idea. Ultimately, 66 nations boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics, but this did not impact the Lake Placid Games. Another ongoing international situation was the conflict between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan. Taiwan competed under the name of "Republic of China" and with its national flag until the 1976 Winter Games. In October 1979, the IOC recognized the Olympic Committee of the People's Republic of China after threats from China to withdraw from the Games, and forced Taiwan to take the name "Chinese Taipei" and to adopt a new flag for the 1980 Games. == Organization ==

Organizing Committee The Lake Placid Olympic Organizing Committee (LPOOC) was established as a not-for-profit corporation in December 1974. Its board of directors was made up of 48 people, with a 13-member executive board. Ron MacKenzie, who was instrumental in developing the region and securing the Games, was the chair of the organizing committee when it was founded. He died in December 1978, fourteen months before the start of the Games. J. Bernard Fell was the chairman of the board of directors and Art Devlin was the vice-chairman. The LPOOC's vision for the Games was a simple Games that would return to the basics of the Olympic movement. In the 2016 study of cost overruns at Olympic Games at Oxford University, researchers found the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games had the largest cost overruns of any Winter Games at 324 percent above the planned cost. The budget overruns were attributed to environmental protection measures, additional work undertaken to modernize existing facilities, overly optimistic cost estimates, and inflation. The Games ended with a deficit of $8.5 million. After a request for funds and the authorities' refusal, the organizing committee saw no other option but to declare bankruptcy, but in January 1981 the Governor of New York announced that the remaining deficit would be paid by New York State. including $22.7 million for the Olympic Village, $16.9 million for the Olympic Center, more than $15 million for the alpine ski center of Whiteface Mountain, $7.9 million for the facilities of Mount Van Hoevenberg (cross-country skiing, bobsleigh, and biathlon), $5.4 million for the ski jumps, and $5.3 million for the bobsled run. Additional costs included transport improvements totaling $4.8 million, the extension of the electricity and hydroelectric network at $2.7 million, and construction for the headquarters of the New York State Police at $3.8 million. In addition, $8 million was allocated for security costs. The expenses of the organizing committee were mainly administrative totaling $48.1 million. Further scrutiny came when another director was asked to resign when it became public that the individual had not filed income taxes for a number of years. Around 550,000 tickets were distributed for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. Ticket distribution to the public included different regions of the United States (65.8%), Canada (6%), and other countries (8.2%). The remainder was distributed among sponsors and suppliers (8.7%), the US Olympic Committee, the organizing committee, authorities, donors, and authorized companies (10.1%), or kept in reserve (1.2%). The public prices for tickets ranged from $15 to $70. Security Security for the Lake Placid Winter Games was provided by the New York State Police and 26 other agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The organizing committee also hired the private security company Pinkerton National Detective Agency. The security headquarters were located at Ray Brook, which also was the site of the Olympic Village. Police officers were trained in hostage negotiation techniques and various sensors were installed to detect any terrorist attack. A four-meter double barrier was erected surrounding the Olympic Village. Transportation The Lake Placid Winter Games were plagued with transportation problems complicating the planning and operations of the Games. The small mountain community did not have the accommodations or resources to handle the expected 50,000 spectators each day. The first evidence that the Games would be plagued with transportation issues came a year earlier, at the pre-Olympic ski jumping competition in February 1979, which saw spectators create an traffic jam. The LPOOC attributed the transportation challenges to, among other things, the lack of communication with transport companies and the state government. Visual identity The emblem of the 1980 Olympic Winter Games contained several symbols. The right part was reminiscent of the mountains surrounding Lake Placid and the left part was a stylized Ionic column that referred to the Ancient Olympics. The indentation at the top of the column represented two basins symbolizing the two editions of the Games organized in Lake Placid. On the Games poster, the Olympic rings overhung this emblem. == Highlights ==

Notable highlights included: • The United States men's ice hockey team, composed mostly of collegiate players and not predicted to advance beyond group play, won the gold medal. The United States team's 4–3 win over the veteran and professional Soviet team, which came into the 1980 Games having won four consecutive Olympic gold medals, became known as the "Miracle on Ice" in American popular culture. The win captured the hearts of Americans, even though it was the win against Finland that secured the gold medal. • Eric Heiden of the United States won gold in the 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 5000 m, and 10,000 m speed skating events, setting four Olympic records and one world record (10,000 m) in the process and delivering 83% of the American gold medals (the only other gold, as noted above, was won by the hockey team). Heiden became the first person to win all five speed skating events, the first of only three to win five gold medals in individual events at a single Games (either Summer or Winter), and was the most successful athlete at a single edition of any Winter Olympics until 2026, when cross-country skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won six golds, although two of his medals were in team events. Heiden's record of five individual Olympic gold medals at a single Winter Games remains unmatched. • Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark won both the giant slalom and the slalom. • Hanni Wenzel won the women's giant slalom and slalom, making Liechtenstein the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion. • Ulrich Wehling of East Germany and Irina Rodnina of the USSR won their respective events for the third time, Wehling in Nordic combined and Rodnina in pairs figure skating. • Aleksandr Tikhonov of the USSR earned his fourth straight gold medal as part of the 4 × 7.5 km biathlon relay team. • Nikolay Zimyatov of the USSR earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing. • Robin Cousins won gold for Great Britain in the men's singles figure skating. • East Germany won the most medals overall (23) but had fewer golds (9) than the USSR (10). • In possibly the most dramatic duel of the games, Sweden's Thomas Wassberg edged Finland's Juha Mieto in the 15 km cross-country skiing by 0.01 seconds, the closest margin of victory ever in Olympic cross-country skiing. • Although it did not get any medals, the People's Republic of China entered the Olympic Games for the first time after the IOC agreed to designate the Republic of China "Chinese Taipei". • Lake Placid 1980 marked the first use of artificial snow in Olympic competition. == Sports ==

There were 38 events contested in six sports (ten disciplines): == Venues ==

• Intervales Ski-Hill – Nordic combined (ski jumping), Ski jumping • Lake Placid Equestrian Stadium – Opening Ceremony • Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center – Biathlon, Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined (Cross-country skiing) • Mt. Van Hoevenberg Bob and Luge Run – Bobsleigh, Luge (separate tracks) • Olympic Center – Figure skating, Ice hockey, Closing ceremonies • James B. Sheffield Speed Skating Oval – Speed skating • Whiteface Mountain – Alpine skiing The former Will Rogers Memorial Hospital was briefly used as press headquarters. The site was considered ideal for the available infrastructure from the 1932 Winter Olympics, most notably the Bobsleigh run. The existing facilities meant the Olympics could be staged on a reasonable budget and with limited environmental impact. It was not just a matter of convenience, either, according to Lake Placid's congressman, Representative Robert McEwen. "It is no secret to us in America that the measure of federal support given to athletes in Communist countries (so that they win medals and improve the countries' image abroad) is on a level unknown to us here in America," he told Congress. "This would be a step in the right direction, a worthy investment in American winter athletes." The local Olympic committee needed congressional approval for funding to build the Olympic Village. Congress required an after-use contract for facilities, and it was agreed that the Olympic Village would be built in accordance to Federal Bureau of Prisons needs. Following the Olympic Games, it was repurposed for Federal Correctional Institution, Ray Brook. == Medal count ==

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1980 Winter Games. == Participating nations ==

37 NOCs participated. Cyprus made its Olympic debut at the games. The People's Republic of China and Costa Rica both made their Winter Olympic debut. The Republic of China refused to attend both the Summer Games in Montreal, the Winter Games in Lake Placid, and the Summer Games in Moscow over the IOC's recognition of the People's Republic of China as "China", and its request for the Republic of China to compete as "Chinese Taipei". The PRC, on the other hand, returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1952 and made its Winter Olympic debut, although it then boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees == Mascot ==

Roni was the Olympic mascot of the Games, created by Don Moss. The mascot was a raccoon, which is a familiar animal from the mountainous region of the Adirondacks where Lake Placid is situated. The name Roni came from the word raccoon in Iroquoian, the language of the native people from the region of the State of New York and Lake Placid, and was chosen by Lake Placid school children. == Theme song ==

The official theme song for the 1980 Winter Olympics was "Give It All You Got" by the American flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, who performed the song (along with the song "Piña Colada") live at the Closing Ceremony, with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (Canada). == See also ==