1980 Winter Olympics

XIII Olympic Winter Games
Image:1980 wolympics logo.png The emblem is a line that forms the Adirondacks, which turns into a column on the left, paying tribute the ancient Olympic games. On the top of the column it serrates to hold the Olympic rings. This represents a double cauldron, acknowledging that the Olympics were held in Lake Placid in 1932.
Host city	Lake Placid, New York, United States
Nations participating	37
Athletes participating	1072 (840 men, 232 women)
Events	38 in 6 sports
Opening ceremony	February 13, 1980
Closing ceremony	February 24, 1980
Officially opened by	Walter Mondale
Athlete's Oath	Eric Heiden
Judge's Oath	Terry McDermott
Olympic Torch	Charles Kerr
Stadium	Equestrian Stadium

The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1980 in Lake Placid, New York, United States of America. Another candidate city was Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia, Canada; they withdrew before the final vote.

[edit] Highlights

An upstart United States ice hockey team, made up primarily of collegiate players, won the gold medal, defeating the heavily favored Soviet team and then Finland in the medal round. Their defeat of the Soviet team in the medal round became known as the "Miracle on Ice" in the US press. A film about the event, called Miracle, was released in 2004.
This was the second time the Games were held in Lake Placid.
First use of artificial snow in Olympic competition.
Although they did not get any medals, the People's Republic of China returned to the Olympics Games after the IOC agreed to designate the ROC "Chinese Taipei".
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 the East Germany and Irina Rodnina won their respective events for the third time.
Aleksandr Tikhonov of the USSR earned his fourth straight gold medal.
Nikolay Zimyatov of the USSR earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing.
Eric Heiden won all 5 speedskating events (500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m) he also set 4 olympic records and 1 world record (10,000m).
Robin Cousins won gold for Great Britain in the men's ice skating
The winner of the games was the USSR who won 10 golds, 6 silvers and 6 bronze.

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

(Host nation highlighted)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Image:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg USSR	10	6	6	22
2	Image:Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany (GDR)	9	7	7	23
3	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States	6	4	2	12
4	Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria	3	2	2	7
5	Image:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden	3	0	1	4
6	Image:Flag of Liechtenstein.svg Liechtenstein	2	2	0	4
7	Image:Flag of Finland (bordered).svg Finland	1	5	3	9
8	Image:Flag of Norway.svg Norway	1	3	6	10
9	Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	1	2	1	4
10	Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Switzerland	1	1	3	5

Further information: 1980 Winter Olympics medal count

Olympic Games v • d • e</div>
Sports • Medal counts • NOCs Medalists • Symbols
Summer Games: 1896, 1900, 1904, 1906¹, 1908, 1912, (1916)², 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940)², (1944)², 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024
Winter Games: 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940)², (1944)², 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
Athens 2004 — Turin 2006 — Beijing 2008 — Vancouver 2010 — London 2012