1960 Winter Olympics

The VIII Olympic Winter Games were held in 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, USA.

Alexander Cushing, the creator of the resort, campaigned vigorously to win the Games. Then, there was a rush to construct roads, hotels, restaurants, and bridges, as well as the Ice Arena, the speed skating track, ski lifts, and the ski jumping hill.

The temporary parking lot was built on the frozen flood plain of the nearby stream, but was destroyed when unseasonable rains washed it out. The U.S. military was called in to repair the damage to the packed-snow and ice lot before the Games began.

Walt Disney was the Head of Pageantry for the Games. CBS paid $50,000 for the right to broadcast the games in the USA. [1]

The Olympic Village housed all the athletes.

An early IBM computer was used to calculate the results.

This Winter Olympics introduced Disney artist John Hench's Olympic torch design, which all further torches would be based on. The Olympic flame was lit in the cottage of Sondre Norheim in Morgedal, Norway, and was brought to Los Angeles by plane from Oslo. It is still burning in Squaw Valley.

There were 15 alpine and ski jumping events, eight speed skiing events, and three figure skating events. However, there was no bobsleigh run.

1960 was the first year for women's speed skating and the men's biathlon.

Medal winners

• Alpine skiing
• Biathlon
• Bobsleigh
• Figure skating
• Ice hockey
• Nordic skiing
• Speed skating

Medal count

Top medal-collecting nations:

1960 Winter Olympics medal count
Pos.	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	USSR	7	5	9	21
2	United Team of Germany¹	4	3	1	8
3	United States	3	4	3	10
4	Norway	3	3	0	6
5	Sweden	3	2	2	7
6	Finland	2	3	3	8
7	Canada	2	1	1	4
8	Switzerland	2	0	0	2
9	Austria	1	2	3	6
10	France	1	0	2	3

• Yevgeny Grishin , USSR, men's speed skating, 500m gold, 1500m gold
• Lidia Skoblikova, USSR, women's speed skating 1500m gold, 3000m gold
• Jean Vuarnet , FR, men's downhill, gold
• Ann Heggtveit, Canada, slalom gold medal
• Penny Pitou , USA, women's downhill, silver and women's giant slalom, silver
• United States men's ice-hockey team won gold.

(¹ Athletes from East and West Germany competed together as the "United Team of Germany," designated as the EUA. This combined team appeared in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Winter Olympics).