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99-489: The venue was used for the normal hill competitions during the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics , and for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 1985 and 2019 . It is also regularly used for FIS Nordic Combined World Cup . 47°19′15″N 11°10′39″E  /  47.32083°N 11.17750°E  / 47.32083; 11.17750 This article about an Austrian sports venue

198-455: A laser beam to re-light the flame. The torch, but not the flame, was taken into space by astronauts in 1996, 2000 and 2014. Other unique means of transportation include a Native American canoe , a camel , and Concorde . The torch has been carried across water; during the French leg of the 1968 Winter Olympics was carried across the port of Marseilles by a diver holding it aloft above

297-656: A 15-kilometer cross-country ski race. The final ranking was established with a new points system. The reigning Olympic champion, the German Georg Thoma , was first ahead of the Norwegian Tormod Knutsen and the Soviet Nikolay Kiselyov after the jumps. Knutsen needed to beat Thoma by at least twelve seconds in the cross-country ski race to pass him, which he did, winning by 1.33 and becoming Olympic champion. Kisseliov wins

396-646: A large bowl on top of a slender tower, named "the Marathon Tower", was to indicate for miles around where in Amsterdam the Olympic Games were being held. This tower was associated with the marathon race and all its elements, including the fire, were an idea of the architect Jan Wils who also had designed the stadium . The idea for the Olympic flame was derived from ancient Greek ceremonies where

495-548: A major competition. His compatriot Aleksandr Privalov , who also had a clean shoot, was second by more than three minutes and the Norwegian Olav Jordet , who missed a target, won the bronze medal. The Finn Veikko Hakulinen was the fastest, but missed six shots and finished 15th. The bobsleigh was not on the program for the 1960 Winter Olympic Games , at Squaw Valley in the United States, because of

594-598: A married couple, narrowly won the pair event ahead of the German Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler . The bronze medals went to Canadians Debbi Wilkes and Guy Revell . In 1966, Kilius and Bäumler had to return their medals because of a professional contract signed before the Games. The Canadians received the silver medal and the Americans Vivian and Ronald Joseph , initially fourth, received

693-409: A prior dress rehearsal. An actress plays the role of the temple's high priestess and presents the torch and an olive branch to the first relay bearer, usually a Greek athlete who has already qualified to compete in that edition of the Games. This is followed by a recitation of a poem by Pindar , and the release of a flock of doves to symbolize peace. At the beginning of the ceremony, the Olympic hymn

792-508: A sacred fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics on the altar of the sanctuary of Hestia . In Ancient Greek mythology , fire had divine connotations and it was thought to have been stolen from the gods by Prometheus . Sacred fires were present at many ancient Greek sanctuaries, including those at Olympia . Every four years, when Zeus was honoured at the Olympic Games, additional fires were lit at his temple and that of his wife, Hera . The modern Olympic flame

891-405: A safeguard built into it: There are two flames inside the torch. There is a highly visible (yellow flame) portion that burns cooler and is more prone to extinguish in wind and rain, but there is also a smaller hotter (blue in the candle's wick) flame akin to a pilot light hidden inside the torch which is protected from wind and rain and is capable of relighting the cooler, more visible portion if it

990-446: A second ahead of Bonsack and 3.38 seconds ahead of Plenk. The German Ilse Geisler , world champion in 1962 and 1963, was the favorite in the women's event. However, it was her compatriot Ortrun Enderlein who won the first three races. Geiser took a lot of risks in the last heat and made a big mistake, letting Enderlein win again. Enderlein became Olympic champion, almost three seconds ahead of Geisler. The Austrian Helene Thurner won

1089-418: A single Winter Olympics, with eleven and twenty five respectively, and finished first in the medal table . The USSR was followed by Austria , the host country, which won twelve medals, four of which were gold. Soviet athletes Lidia Skoblikova won all four women's races of speed skating and Klavdiya Boyarskikh won all three events of cross-country skiing . The Swedish cross-country skier Sixten Jernberg ,

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1188-604: A single tiny flame on the ground, igniting 204 copper petals before they converged to form the cauldron for the Games. The first well-known athlete to light the cauldron in the stadium was the ninefold Olympic Champion Paavo Nurmi , who excited the home crowd in Helsinki in 1952. In 1968, Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron at the Olympic Games in Mexico City . Perhaps one of

1287-596: A three-time medalist at these Games, became the first athlete to collect nine medals at the Winter Games. In alpine skiing , the French sisters Christine and Marielle Goitschel each obtained a gold and a silver medal. Before the Games, the Austrian army was mobilized to deal with the lack of snow. They brought thousands of cubic meters of it from Brenner Pass , close to the Italian border. The Olympic Winter Games

1386-434: A total of 29 million. The Olympic village, intended to become a leisure center, costs 174 million. A total of 225 million was invested to renovate and develop the road network in the region. The 1964 edition was the third time that the Winter Games were broadcast on television and the second time that exclusive broadcasting rights were sold. This was a substantial increase: where they were US$ 50,000 in 1960 ,

1485-659: A winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck , Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was already an Olympic candidate, unsuccessfully bidding to host the 1960 Games . Innsbruck won the 1964 Games bid, defeating the cities of Calgary in Canada and Lahti in Finland. The sports venues, many of which were built for the Games, were located within a radius of 20 km (12 mi) around Innsbruck. The Games included 1,091 athletes from 36 nations, which

1584-570: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a ski jumping venue is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a Winter Olympics venue is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics , officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games ( German : IX. Olympische Winterspiele ) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( Austro-Bavarian : Innschbruck 1964 ), were

1683-534: Is a symbol used in the Olympic movement . It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece , several months before the Olympic Games . This ceremony starts the Olympic torch relay , which formally ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Through 2022, the flame would continue to burn in

1782-430: Is extinguished. The fuel contained inside the torch is able to keep it lit for approximately 15 minutes before it would be extinguished. The flame is transported from Greece to the host country where the flame is transported by torch around the host nation to the main stadium. During the opening ceremony the final bearer of the torch runs towards the cauldron, often placed at the top of a grand staircase, and then uses

1881-733: Is ignited every two years in front of the ruins of the temple of Hera. When the idea of a symbolic fire was introduced during the 1928 Summer Olympics , an employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam lit the first symbolic flame in the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The Olympic flame and the Olympic torch relay was first introduced to the Summer Olympics at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin by Carl Diem . The first ever torch-lighting ceremony

1980-611: Is sent to a data center at University of Innsbruck from eleven other facilities. In the men's event, the German Manfred Schnelldorfer became Olympic champion by winning each round. The Frenchman Alain Calmat , slightly favored before the Olympics, finished in second place. The American Scott Allen won the bronze medal, just two days before his fifteenth birthday. He thus became the youngest medalist in

2079-574: Is sung first followed by the national anthem of the country hosting the Olympics and the national anthem of Greece along with the hoisting of the flags. After the ceremony at Olympia the Olympic flame first travels Greece. It first goes to the Coubertin Grove on the site of the International Olympic Academy , where it is used to light an altar beside the final resting place of Pierre de Coubertin 's heart. The flame

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2178-490: Is the only country highlighted; it was the host of the 1952 games. Prior to the 2002 Winter Olympics , professor Bob Barney co-authored the book Selling the Five Rings (2002), with Stephen Wenn and Scott Martyn, which discussed the history of corporate sponsorships and television rights for the Olympic Games. Barney argued that the Olympic torch had been commercialized since its inception in 1936, and that sponsors of

2277-528: Is the only time in history that the British have been Olympic bobsleigh champions. After the Games, Monti received the first International Fair Play Committee Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy for his sportsmanship towards the British team. The Canadians surprised in the four-man bobsleigh event. As the country competed for the first time in the Olympic bobsleigh events, the pilot's team Vic Emery won

2376-613: Is then transferred during a ceremony in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens from the Hellenic Olympic Committee to the current year's National Olympic Committee (NOC) and local Organizing Committee (OCOG) hosts. The Olympic torch relay , which transports the Olympic flame from Olympia , Greece to the various designated sites of the Games, had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem at

2475-732: The IOC managed to maintain the United Team of Germany for the third consecutive Olympiad. In the 1960s, the IOC also discussed the Olympic participation of South Africa , a country immersed in the apartheid regime. During the Games in Innbruck, the IOC President Avery Brundage announced that the country would not be able to participate in the 1964 Summer Olympics because of its policy of racial segregation in sport. On

2574-557: The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. At the first Olympic torch relay, the flame was transported from Olympia to Berlin over 3,187 kilometers (1,980 miles) by 3,331 runners in twelve days and eleven nights. Nazi Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels , commissioned filmmaker and propagandist, Leni Riefenstahl to film the event. In the 1956 Melbourne Games in Australia, local veterinary student Barry Larkin protested against

2673-561: The 2010 Winter Olympics , the organizers of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro chose to hold their torch relays only in their respective hosting countries of United Kingdom, Russia and Brazil (except for brief stops in the United States, Ireland and Switzerland respectively). In 2016, ten days before the beginning of

2772-520: The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro , citizens of Angra dos Reis , a city near Rio de Janeiro , managed to extinguish the Olympic flame during a protest against the city spending money on hosting the Olympics despite an economic crisis in Brazil . The Olympic torch relay in the host country ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony in the central host stadium of

2871-594: The Cresta Run of Saint-Moritz in Switzerland. Three events were contested at the Games: individual for men and women and two for men. Some commentators believed that luge was too dangerous a sport to enter the Olympic program. The death of Poland-born British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski during a test run two weeks before the start of the Games helped reinforce this position. The luge events were dominated by

2970-470: The Olympiaeisstadion . Individually, men and women performed a free skate and compulsory figures while, for the last time in an international competition, the couples only presented one program. Computers are used for refereeing, which is new to the Olympics. The data processing system provided by the company IBM allows scores to be announced instantly. In addition to figure skating, information

3069-521: The Olympiaeisstadion . While the Soviets dominated the women's events, the men's podiums are more international. The American Terry McDermott , who was not one of the favorites, won the men's 500 meters setting a new Olympic record. Taking part in his first international competition, he borrowed skates from his trainer Leo Freisinger . Three athletes, including the favorite of the event Yevgeny Grishin , shared second place. The Soviet Ants Antson won

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3168-595: The President of Austria Adolf Schärf . The bobsledder Paul Aste took the Olympic oath . Aste modified the oath slightly: instead of saying "for the glory of sport and the honor of our countries", he replaced the word "country" with "teams" to remove the nationalist elements of the oath. This was the first time that the Olympic flame of the Winter Games has been lit in front of the Temple of Hera in Olympia , Greece. In

3267-650: The Vestal Virgins (usually 11 in number) perform a celebration at the Temple of Hera , during which a fire is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror . The fire is used to light the first torch of the Olympic Torch Relay. Where cloudy weather prevents the use of the parabolic mirror on the day of the ceremony (as in 2024), a backup flame is used that has been lit during

3366-639: The shah . Twenty other Iranians, who demonstrated for the release of prisoners in their country, were also imprisoned. The Organizing Committee of the IX Winter Olympics in Innsbruck 1964 was formed on 2 June 1959. Heinrich Drimmel , President of the Austrian Olympic Committee and Federal Minister of Education , was elected as its president and Friedl Wolfgang was elected as its secretary-general. The organizing committee

3465-579: The 1950s to host the 1960 Winter Olympic Games . The Austrians had a convincing bid and were viewed as the favorites to host the games. However, in the second round of the vote the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected the American city of Squaw Valley due to its ambitious designs. A month later, the Innsbruck authorities decided to enter a bid again for the 1964 Winter Games. On 26 May 1959, during

3564-570: The 5,000 meters with almost four seconds. The North Korean Han Pil-hwa , unknown before the Games, created a surprise: tied with Skoblikova halfway through the course, she was ended up tied for second with the Soviet Valentina Stenina . North Korea participated in the Games for the first time; that was the country's first Olympic medal. Upon her return home, Skoblikova was made a member of the Communist Party and became

3663-675: The 55th session of the (IOC) in Munich , West Germany , the Austrians were selected in a landslide for the Games with 49 votes in the first round, ahead of Calgary ( Canada ), which obtained 9 votes and Lahti ( Finland ), which did not receive a vote. Despite the construction of the Berlin Wall by East Germany in 1961, which increased tensions between East and West and the fact that the East Germans wanted to have their own team,

3762-619: The French-speaking part of the country, one from the English-speaking part — symbolized the unity of Canada . At the 2012 Games in London , the torch was carried by Sir Steve Redgrave to a group of seven young British athletes (Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry , Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds and Adelle Tracey )  — each nominated by a British Olympic champion — who then each lit

3861-459: The Games closed before the extinction of the Olympic flame . Fourteen of the thirty-six nations which participated in these Games won at least one medal, as detailed in the table below. Already first in 1956 and 1960 , Soviet Union came far ahead of this table with twenty-five medals: eleven gold, eight silver and six bronze, a new record for both gold and total medals won at a single Wainter Olympics. The host country, ninth four years earlier,

3960-580: The Games, thousands of Austrian soldiers were mobilized to transport by truck 40,000m3 of snow from the Brenner Pass , close to the Italian border, and spread it by hand on the ski slopes. 20,000m3 of snow was built up and 20,000 blocks of ice were transported to the bobsleigh and toboggan run. The Opening Ceremony took place on January 29 at the Bergisel Ski Jump stadium in front of approximately 50,000 spectators. The Games were opened by

4059-531: The Games, until the closing ceremony , when it is finally put out symbolizing the official end of the Games. The Olympic flame has been used as a symbol and a main motif numerous times in different commemorative coins. A recent example was the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Olympic Games commemorative coin , minted in 2002. In the obverse, the Olympic flame above the Earth can be seen. Finland

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4158-600: The Games. Ski jumping was divided into two events (small and large hill) and the women's 5-kilometer was added in cross-country skiing . Ice stock sport (Eisstockschießen), a variant of curling popular in Alpine countries, was a demonstration sport as in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936 . In total, 1,073,000 people attend the various events. The disciplines which attracted the most spectators were alpine skiing and ice hockey. † The numeral indicates

4257-506: The Games. New slopes for alpine skiing were developed near the village of Axamer Lizum , about twenty kilometers from Innsbruck. There is a bobsleigh and luge track in Igls , seven kilometers south of Innsbruck. The runway, 1506 meters long, had 14 curves and a drop of 138 meters. For the first time at the Games, the bobsleigh track used artificial ice. The Olympiaeisstadion , an eleven thousand-seat ice rink completed in 1963 and located in

4356-441: The Games. The final carrier is often kept unannounced until the last moment. Over the years, it has become a tradition to let a famous athlete of the host nation, former athletes or athletes with significant achievements and milestones be the last runner in the Olympic torch relay. It is not uncommon for the Olympic flame to be accidentally or deliberately extinguished during the course of the torch relay (and on at least one occasion

4455-532: The Germans, who took five out of six medals individually. During the men's individual event, a German trio dominated the competition: the 1962 world champion Thomas Köhler as well as Klaus Bonsack and Hans Plenk were the top three in each of the first three rounds, won respectively by Köhler, Bonsack and again Köhler. Bonsack also won the fourth round. Finally, Köhler became an Olympic champion, 27 hundredths of

4554-566: The Italian Eugenio Monti , lent them an axle bolt. After two rounds, the British beat the two Italian teams. After the third set, the Italians Sergio Zardini and Romano Bonagura beat Dixon and Nash by just five hundredths of a second. Finally, Dixon and Nash become Olympic champions with 12 hundredths ahead of silver medalists Zardini and Bonagura and 73 over third, Eugenio Monti and Sergio Siorpaes . This

4653-590: The Olympic Games. The two North Koreans and the two Mongols, however, finished in the last four places. Boyarskikh also won the very close Olympic 5 km, while Finland's Mirja Lehtonen surprised by taking second place. The Soviet Alevtina Kolchina was third. Finally, the Soviets won the relay 3 × 5 kilometer for the first time. They were well ahead of the Swedes by two minutes and the Finns by three. Klavdiya Boyarskikh wins his third gold medal at these Games. For

4752-476: The Winter Games and the first, after her two titles in 1960, to accumulate six gold medals in several editions. Skoblikova first won the 500 meters ahead of her compatriots Irina Yegorova and Tatyana Sidorova . On 1,000 meters, she was ahead of Irina Iegorova and the Finn Kaija Mustonen . She dominated the 1,500 meters, with a time almost three seconds ahead of Mustonen. Finally, Skoblikova took

4851-675: The broadcast rights yielded US$ 937,000 in 1964, which was approximately 24 million schillings . Thirty countries broadcast the Games. The American channel ABC paid nearly 15.4 million schillings, or 64 per cent of the broadcast rights revenue. The Eurovision network spent around 7.6 million for 16 countries, the Soviet television 600,000  Rbls and the Intervision network US$ 550,000 for six countries in Western Europe. The CTV Television Network paid CA$ 5,000 for

4950-438: The bronze medal. The doubles event, which takes place over two rounds, was dominated by the Austrians. Indeed, Josef Feistmantl and Manfred Stengl won the first round ahead of Reinhold Senn and Helmut Thaler . The latter won the second round without worrying Feistmantl and Stengl, crowned Olympic champions. Italians Walter Aussendorfer and Sigisfredo Mair are bronze medalists. The figure skating events were held at

5049-649: The bronze medal. In 1987, however, the IOC decided to restore the medals of the German couple. The results then plunged into confusion since the different rankings did not indicate the same information. In 2013, the IOC clarified that the Soviets had the gold medal, the Canadians and the Germans shared the silver medal and the Americans the bronze medal. These were the official results since 1987. The speed skating events took place on an outdoor track set up around

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5148-410: The cauldron for the duration of the Games, until it was extinguished during the Olympic closing ceremony . In 2024 , electric lighting and mist were used to create a simulated flame for the Olympic cauldron, with the actual flame kept in a lantern exhibited at an adjacent location. That lantern was then taken by French swimmer Léon Marchand from Jardins des Tuileries (where the Olympic cauldron, that

5247-486: The cauldron itself has gone out during the Games). To guard against this eventuality, multiple copies of the flame are transported with the relay or maintained in backup locations. When a torch goes out, it is re-lit (or another torch is lit) from one of the backup sources. Thus, the fires contained in the torches and Olympic cauldrons all trace a common lineage back to the same Olympia lighting ceremony. The design of 2004 had

5346-464: The center of Innsbruck, hosted the competitions of figure skating and most games of ice hockey . The other hockey matches were played at the Messehalle . The speed skating ring, made of artificial ice, was installed outside the Olympiaeisstadion. The ski jumping events were held on the Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze (normal hill) at Seefeld in Tirol and the Bergisel Ski Jump (big jump) in Innsbruck. The Bergisel ski jump, built in wood in 1920,

5445-413: The ceremony. On other occasions, the people who lit the cauldron in the stadium are not famous but nevertheless symbolize Olympic ideals. Japanese runner Yoshinori Sakai was born on the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima . He was chosen for the role to symbolize Japan's postwar reconstruction and peace, opening the 1964 Tokyo Games . At the 1976 Games in Montreal , two teenagers — one from

5544-407: The day before his 35th birthday, Jernberg took the lead at the end of the 50 kilometer. He won gold, his eighth Olympic medal, finishing more than a minute ahead of his compatriot Assar Rönnlund . The end of the relay 4 × 10 kilometer was a duel between the Finnish Eero Mäntyranta and the Swede Assar Rönnlund, who overtook the Soviet Pavel Kolchin one kilometer from the finish. Sweden eventually won

5643-472: The event, eight seconds ahead of Finland and twelve over the Soviet Union. Jernberg ended his Olympic career with nine medals including four gold, which was a new record. Soviet skiers dominated the women's events as they won six of the seven possible medals. In the 10 kilometer they achieved the treble as in 1960: Klavdiya Boyarskikh ahead Yevdokiya Mekshilo and Maria Gusakova . For the first time among women, non-European cross-country skiers took part in

5742-420: The exclusive broadcast rights in Canada. The Games were held over twelve days, from January 29 to February 9. Thirty-four events were on the program, an increase from the twenty-seven at Squaw Valley four years earlier. Three luge events (individual men and women, doubles men) were included in the Olympic program. Bobsled , which was absent from the 1960 Games due to the cost of building the track, returned to

5841-502: The fastest, however, in the second run. She won gold, ahead of Marielle, while the bronze medal was awarded to the American Jean Saubert . Two days later, Christine Goitschel took the lead in the giant slalom. His time was then equaled by Jean Saubert. Marielle Goitschel, the fourteenth skier to set off, was almost a second ahead of them however. The eldest Goitschel finished first this time, while her sister shared second place with Saubert. The cross-country skiing events took place near

5940-456: The first round of the big hill, Veikko Kankkonen took the lead in front of Toralf Engan with a jump of 95.5 meters. Engan took the first place after the second jump, while Kankkonen and Brandtzæg followed closely behind. Brandtzæg finished with a good jump unlike his two rivals. The medalists are the same as for the normal hill, but this time Engan is Olympic champion ahead of Kankkonen. Most alpine skiing events were held at Axamer Lizum , with

6039-427: The first round of the normal hill while the Finn Veikko Kankkonen , who was among the favorites, was only twenty-ninth. Kankkonen had the best jump of the competition in the second set, at 80 meters, and the Norwegian Toralf Engan took the lead. After the third round, Kankkonen who again produced a good jump, became Olympic champion. Toralf Engan was second while young Norwegian Torgeir Brandtzæg took third place. In

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6138-413: The first round, breaking the track record, and increased his lead in the following three rounds. Canada won gold by more than a second ahead of Erwin Thaler 's Austrian bobsleigh and Eugenio Monti' s Italian bobsleigh. The Nordic combined event took place in the village of Seefeld in Tirol . On the first day, the competitors did three jumps and the two best results are recorded. The next day, they did

6237-422: The first time on games history, the Closing Ceremony was not held at the Olympic Stadium and in an indoor place, took place on February 9 at the Olympiaeisstadion . The flags of Greece, the founding nation of the Olympic Games, Austria, the host country, and France, the host country of the next Games, were raised to the sound of the national anthems. The President of the IOC Avery Brundage officially declared

6336-471: The first woman to win the title of Soviet Sportsman of the Year. For the first time in 1964, two ski jumping events were contested at the Olympic Games: small hill, contested at Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanze and big hill, which takes place at Bergisel Ski Jump . They have a construction point of 70 and 90 meters respectively. Athletes jump three times and their two best results count in each event. The Czechoslovak Josef Matouš surprised many by winning

6435-420: The gold medal in the 1,500 meters, ahead of the Dutch Kees Verkerk and the Norwegian Villy Haugen , after a very close race. The Norwegians score a hat-trick in the 5,000 meters. Knut Johannesen is a gold medalist beating the Olympic record just two-tenths ahead of Per Ivar Moe . Finally, the Swede Jonny Nilsson won the 10,000 meters ahead of the Norwegians Fred Anton Maier and Knut Johannesen. This race

6534-416: The hands of some 11,300 torchbearers, travelling to Africa and South America for the first time, visiting all previous and future Summer Olympic cities, and finally returning to Greece for the 2004 Summer Olympics . The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay spanned six continents before proceeding through China . However, there was protests against China's human rights record in London where a "ring of steel"

6633-451: The history of the Winter Games. The big favorite in the women's event, the Dutch Sjoukje Dijkstra , easily became Olympic champion. She is in fact placed in the first row by the nine judges. In front of the Dutch royal family, she won the first Dutch gold medal at the Winter Games. The Austrian Regine Heitzer was the silver medalist with a small lead over the Canadian Petra Burka . The Soviets Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov ,

6732-412: The low number of crews and the cost of building the track. In 1964, bobsleigh events made a comeback and were contested on the Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck . Neither of the two Olympic champion teams, Great Britain and Canada, has a track in their country During the first round of the two-man event, the bobsleigh of the British Robin Dixon and Tony Nash was damaged and the competition's favorite,

6831-411: The men's downhill being held at the Patscherkofel (above Igls ). Three events were on the program for men and women: downhill , giant slalom and slalom . For the first time at the Olympics, athletes were timed to the hundredth of a second. The competition was held in mourning for the death of Australian Ross Milne, who crashed into a tree during downhill training. Egon Zimmermann of Austria won

6930-451: The men's downhill, 74 hundredths of a second ahead of France's Léo Lacroix and 1.32 seconds over Wolfgang Bartels of Germany. For the last time at the Olympics, the men's giant slalom was held in a single round. The French François Bonlieu won the race ahead of the Austrian favorites: Karl Schranz was second, and Josef Stiegler was third. For the first time, the Olympic slalom had a two-round qualifying phase. The 25 best take part in

7029-410: The method used to decide between Sweden and Czechoslovakia, boycotted the medal ceremony. Luge was a popular sport in the Alpine countries, the first competition of which dates back to 1831. The first international event was organized in 1928. The IOC decided in 1954 to include luge in the program of the 1964 Games to replace the skeleton , because there was only one track adapted to this sport:

7128-399: The most spectacular of Olympic cauldron lighting ceremonies took place at the 1992 Summer Olympics opening ceremony , when Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the cauldron by shooting a burning arrow over it, which ignited gas rising from the cauldron, although there are theories that the cauldron was manually forced to ignite. Two years later , the Olympic fire was brought into

7227-452: The number of event finals for each sport held that day. In the weeks leading up to the Games, temperatures often rose above zero degrees Celsius due to the foehn , a hot, dry wind. There was no major snowfall for seven weeks, and the rain melted snow and ice at sports venues. This was the first time in around a century that the snowfall had been so low in Tyrol. Two weeks before the start of

7326-640: The organizing committee, the Austrian state, the Land of Tyrol and the city of Innsbruck. The organizers tried to reduce the expenses related to the provisional elements, and to invest more money for the facilities which would continue to be used after the Games. The Olympiaeisstadion costs 75 million schillings, the renovation of the Bergisel Ski Jump 15 million and the Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck 10 million. The development of ski slopes, cross-country skiing and biathlon required

7425-552: The other hand, several African countries which had become independent joined the Olympic movement: the national Olympic committees of Algeria , of Congo , from Nigeria and Sierra Leone were recognized by the IOC during the session held during the Innsbruck Games. The number of IOC member nations increased to 114. In addition, the Innsbruck Games were used for the dissemination of political messages. Five Iranian students were arrested after marching with banners hostile to

7524-656: The other seven of its group. In Group A, the Soviet favorites won their seven matches and became Olympic champions. The tournament was actually very close since in the last game, the Soviets were losing 2–1 against Canada after two periods to finally win 3–2; if Canada had won they would have taken the gold medal. Behind the Soviet Union, three teams had five wins and two losses: Canada, Czechoslovakia and Sweden. These three teams were ranked by goal difference with Sweden receiving silver, Czechoslovakia bronze and Canada finishing fourth. The Canadians, who were not satisfied with

7623-607: The race ahead of the Norwegian Harald Grønningen and the Soviet Igor Voronchikhin . The Swede Sixten Jernberg , the favorite after his six Olympic medals obtained in 1956 and 1960 , finished fifth. Eight of the top nine athletes were Scandinavian. In the 15 kilometer skied three days later, Eero Mäntyranta was once again crowned Olympic champion ahead of Harald Grønningen. Sixten Jernberg wins bronze, his seventh Olympic medal. Racing

7722-457: The relay when he tricked onlookers by carrying a fake flame, consisting of a pair of underpants set on fire in a plum pudding can, attached to a chair leg. He successfully managed to hand over the fake flame to the Mayor of Sydney , Pat Hills and escape without being noticed. The Olympic torch travels routes that symbolise human achievement or the history of the host country. Although most of

7821-555: The relay's last leg in the city. Demonstrations were also held in San Francisco and the route the torch would take was cut in half. As a result, in 2009, the International Olympic Committee announced that from the 2010 Winter Olympics , the future torch relays could be held only within the country hosting the Olympics after the initial Greek leg was finished. Although this rule took effect with

7920-459: The second treble in the history of the Winter Games in alpine skiing. The favorite Christl Haas was Olympic champion, more than a second ahead of Edith Zimmermann and Traudl Hecher . The technical events were dominated by two French women, the Goitschel sisters. Marielle Goitschel , aged 18, won the first round of the slalom ahead of her sister Christine , one year her senior. Christine was

8019-526: The silver medal. Thoma, who had wax problems and fell twice during the race, was third, just 0.16 points behind Kisseliov after a tenth-place finish in cross-country skiing. The matches of ice hockey were played in the Olympiaeisstadion and the Messehalle . The sixteen participating teams first played a match to determine their group for the rest of the competition: group A (which allocates places 1 to 8) or group B (places 9 to 16). Then, each team faced

8118-579: The stadium of Lillehammer by a ski jumper . In Beijing 2008, Li Ning "ran" on air around the interior edge of the Beijing National Stadium 's roof, and lit a cauldron attached to it. The cauldron and the pedestal are always the subjects of unique and often dramatic design. These also tie in with how the cauldron is lit during the Opening Ceremony. After being lit, the flame in the Olympic cauldron continues to burn during

8217-431: The stadium, the alpine skier Josef Rieder lit the cauldron. Tyrolean orchestras performed during the ceremony. The biathlon made its second Olympic appearance. As in 1960, the only event contested was a 20-kilometer cross-country ski race with four shooting ranges of 100 to 250 meters. Soviet athlete Vladimir Melanin , a heavy favorite, won the event. This was the first time he did not miss any of his twenty shots in

8316-575: The time the torch with the Olympic flame is still carried by runners, it has been transported in many different ways. The fire travelled by boat in 1948 and 2012 to cross the English Channel and was carried by rowers in Canberra as well as by dragon boat in Hong Kong in 2008. It was first transported by airplane in 1952 when the flame travelled to Helsinki . In 1956, all carriers in

8415-571: The torch relay to Stockholm , where the equestrian events were held instead of in Melbourne, travelled on horseback. Remarkable means of transportation were used in 1976, when the flame was transformed to a radio signal and transmitted from Europe to the New World : Heat sensors in Athens detected the flame, the signal was sent to Ottawa via satellite where it was received and used to trigger

8514-425: The torch to start the flame in the stadium. The climactic transfer of the Olympic flame from the final torch to the cauldron at the central host stadium marks the symbolic commencement of the Games. As with being the final runner of the Olympic torch relay, it is considered to be a great honor to light the Olympic cauldron, and in the same way it has become a tradition to select notable athletes to conduct this part of

8613-408: The two final rounds which determine the ranking of the event. Austrian officials tried to replace Josef Stiegler with Egon Zimmermann, but Stiegler competed in the slalom under public pressure. He finally won the event. The Americans Billy Kidd and Jimmy Heuga , second and third respectively, won their country's first Olympic medals in alpine skiing. In the women's downhill, the Austrians achieved

8712-477: The village of Seefeld in Tirol . The men competed as usual in individual over 15, 30 and 50 kilometer as well as in the 4 × 10 kilometer relay. On the other hand, women competed for the first time at the Olympic Games the 5 kilometer, introduced at the world championships in 1962, in addition to the 10 kilometer and the relay 3 × 5 kilometer. Men's events started with the 30 kilometers. The Finn Eero Mäntyranta won

8811-586: The water. In 2000, an underwater flare was used by a diver across the Great Barrier Reef en route to the Sydney Games. In 2012 it was carried by boat across Bristol Harbour in the UK and on the front of a London Underground train to Wimbledon. In 2004, the first global torch relay was undertaken, a journey that lasted 78 days. The Olympic flame covered a distance of more than 78,000 km in

8910-587: Was 1,091, up from 665 four years earlier. Mongolia , India and North Korea participated in the Winter Games for the first time. Belgium , Greece , Iran , Romania and Yugoslavia returned to this competition after missing it in 1960. On the other hand, South Africa and New Zealand, which took part in Squaw Valley, did not compete in Innsbruck. Athletes from West Germany (FRG) and East Germany (GDR) competed together as Unified Team Germany from 1956 to 1964. Olympic Flame The Olympic flame

9009-432: Was a record for the Winter Games at the time. Athletes participated in six sports and ten disciplines which bring together a total of thirty-four official events, seven more than the 1960 Winter Olympic Games . The luge made its debut on the Olympic program. Three Asian nations made their Winter Games debut: North Korea , India and Mongolia . The Soviet Union broke the record for the most gold and overall medals at

9108-428: Was controversial because Nilsson was one of the few to skate before the wind picked up, and enjoyed better ice than most of the other competitors. The Soviet Lidia Skoblikova won all four races at the 1963 world championships. A big favorite, she reproduced the same performance at the 1964 Olympic Games, breaking the Olympic record each time. She thus becomes the first athlete to win four gold medals in one edition of

9207-669: Was extinguished at that moment, was located) and ceremonially "transferred" to the Stade de France at the start of the Closing Ceremony ; there it was finally extinguished just after the IOC president declared officially closed the Games. The first time that a symbolic flame made its appearance in the Summer Olympic Games was for the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam . The main purpose of this fire, placed in

9306-412: Was formed around the flame to protect it, but one protester managed to grab hold of the torch while it was being held by television presenter Konnie Huq . In Paris the torch was extinguished at least twice by Chinese officials (five times according to French police ) so that it could be transported in a bus amid protests while it was being paraded through Paris. This eventually led to the cancellation of

9405-507: Was held for a second time at Innsbruck in 1976 . The Olympic Torch was carried by Joseph Rieder , a former alpine skier who had participated in the 1956 Winter Olympics . The Games were affected by the deaths of Australian alpine skier Ross Milne and British luge slider Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski , during training, and by the deaths, three years earlier , of the entire United States figure skating team and family members. The city of Innsbruck submitted its first Olympic bid in

9504-474: Was held in Olympia, Greece on July 20th, 1936. The torches used were made by Krupp , and the mirror used to light the flame was made by Zeiss Optics , both companies with links to the Nazi government of the time. The Olympic flame is ignited some weeks or months before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games at the main site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece . A group of women representing

9603-400: Was made up of the general assembly, the board of directors, and the executive committee, as well as eight sub-committees created to manage the different aspects of the Games: finance, construction, sports, transport, etc. accommodation and medical services, lodging, administration and checks. The Innsbruck Games cost around one billion schillings , or 40 million US dollars distributed among

9702-726: Was replaced by a concrete ski jump. The cross-country skiing and biathlon tracks were located in Seefeld, like the small hill. The opening ceremony was celebrated at the foot of the Bergisel ski jump while the closing ceremony took place at the Olympiaeisstadion. An Olympic Village consisting of eight eleven-storey buildings was built outside the city. A total of 36 nations sent athletes to Innsbruck, six more than in Squaw Valley in 1960 . The total number of athletes

9801-483: Was second with twelve medals, including seven in alpine skiing . Norway, fourth in 1964, came third with fifteen medals. The Soviets also dominated the ranking of the most medal-winning athletes as the speed skater Lidia Skoblikova and cross-country skier Klavdiya Boyarskikh came first and second. These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:   *    Host nation ( Austria ) Several sports venues were built especially for

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