Tip 1: Winter Olympics in 1976 in Innsbruck

Tip 1: Winter Olympics in 1976 in Innsbruck



During the confrontation of the Soviet Union andcountries of the West, competitions of the Olympians had not only sporting but also important political significance - two systems, socialist and capitalist, tried to prove whose development option was more correct. Was not an exception and the Olympics in the Austrian city of Innsbruck, where a desperate struggle for prizes took place.





Winter Olympics in 1976 in Innsbruck

















Originally, the Olympics was to be held in the US,in Denver. However, the city residents voted against the holding of the games in a referendum, so the Olympic Committee was in a difficult situation. As a result, the Olympic Games were accepted by Innsbruck, who had already held them in 1964. Participation in the Winter Olympics was attended by 1123 people from 37 countries. Competitions were held in ten sports disciplines: mountain skiing, bobsledding, speed skating, biathlon, jumping, toboggans, cross-country skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, hockey. As a result of the Olympics, unconditional victory was won by athletes from the Soviet Union who won 13 gold, 6 silver and 8 bronze medals. The second place was occupied by the GDR with 7 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze medals. Representatives of the United States got the third place - 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. One of the most spectacular competitions in the winter Olympic games is always hockey. Unfortunately, in Innsbruck, the Canadian team did not act, boycotted the games, so in the final for the right to be called the strongest team of the world fought eternal rivals - the teams of the USSR and Czechoslovakia. The beginning of the meeting was not in favor of hockey players from the USSR, already in the first half they lost with a score of 0: 2. In the second half, they managed to recoup, but in the third, eight minutes before the end, the Czechs again came forward. However, their expectations were not to come true - the goals of Alexander Yakushev and Valery Kharlamov allowed the team from the USSR to become champions for the fourth time in a row. Chekham got second place, the third was taken by athletes from Germany. The Soviet athletes also performed well in figure skating. Gold in pair skating was won by Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev, the victory in ice dancing was won by Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov. In men's single skating, silver was given to Vladimir Korolyov, who was second only to the brilliantly speaking British John Curry. Women's gold medal was deservedly won by American Dorothy Hamill. Sad games were also for Soviet skiers. In the race for 30 kilometers, Sergey Saveliev won the victory, in the 15-kilometer race the first two places were occupied by Nikolai Bazhukov and Yevgeny Belyaev. In the team race, the Soviet Union team managed to win bronze, gold was won by athletes from Finland. The women in the 10 km ski race were Raisa Smetanina, the Soviet girls won gold and in the relay race. The gold medal was taken to the USSR and the biathletes - in the individual race for 20 kilometers first was Nikolai Kruglov, there were no equal to Soviet athletes and in the relay race. The Winter Olympics of 1976 became one of the most successful for athletes from the USSR and became a history of Soviet and Russian sport forever.

























Tip 2: Where the 1976 Winter Olympics were held



Winter Olympic Games are one of the mostsignificant world sports events. Representatives of dozens of countries take part in them, sports competitions are broadcasted to the whole world. One of the brightest in the history of the sport was the 1976 Winter Olympics.





Where did the 1976 Winter Olympics take place?







Originally it was planned that the Olympiad 1976year will be held in the USA in the city of Denver. However, local residents opposed its holding, as a result, the Olympic Committee found itself in a very difficult situation, since the preparation of the Olympic Games takes more than one year of time. Austria helped, already hosted the Olympics in 1964 in Innsbruck. As a result of arrangements with the Olympic Committee, Innsbruck once again hosted the Winter Olympic Games. 1123 people from 37 countries took part in the competitions, ten sports disciplines were presented at the games: mountain skiing, bobsledding, biathlon, speed skating, ski jumping, Nordic combined, luge, figure skating, hockey. According to the results of the Olympiad, the winner countries are always determined. At the Olympiad in Innsbruck a convincing victory was won by athletes from the Soviet Union, who won 13 gold, 6 silver and 8 bronze medals in a bitter struggle. An honorable second place was occupied by the GDR - 7 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze medals. Third place went to athletes from the United States, they received 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. The Olympics in Innsbruck was remembered by the fans for the high intensity of the fight. Especially dramatic was the final of the hockey competitions, it met long-standing rivals - the national teams of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Despite the fact that the team from the USSR was considered the favorite, by the end of the first half, the opponent won with a score of 0: 2. In the second half, Soviet hockey players were able to level the score, but eight minutes before the end of the third half, athletes from Czechoslovakia again came forward. And only the goals of Alexander Yakushev and Valery Kharlamov set the final score in the match - 4: 3 in favor of the USSR team. Soviet figure skaters also performed well. Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev won gold in pair skating, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov were the first to dance in ice dancing. Sergei Savelyev won skiers in the race for 30 kilometers. At the 15-kilometer distance, the first two places went to Nikolai Bazhukov and Yevgeny Belyaev. Another medal, bronze, was won in the team race. Gold deservedly won by athletes from Finland. Women also distinguished themselves - Raisa Smetanina defeated 10 km in the ski race, Soviet girls won gold in the relay race. Success and biathlonists were won by Nikolai Kruglov in the individual race for 20 kilometers. Soviet sportsmen won in the relay race. Winter games in 1976 in Innsbruck became one of the most intense and exciting among the Olympiads and forever entered the history of sports.










Tip 3: How the 1976 Olympics was held in Innsbruck



The twelfth winter Olympic Gameswere held in Austrian Innsbruck from 4 to 15 February 1976. It is noteworthy that they were originally planned to be held in Denver, but the results of a survey of residents of the state of Colorado showed that they do not want the Olympics to be held with them. Therefore, Denver withdrew his candidacy. In Innsbruck, the second OI was already held, so that two Olympic fires were lit.





How the 1976 Olympics was held in Innsbruck







Participated in the Olympics in 1976 1,123 athletes, includingincluding 231 women, from 37 countries. Of the new sports, the program included sports dances on ice. Also, a new distance was added in speed skating - 1000 m. Men fought for "gold" in 8 kinds of sport - biathlon, ski, ski and speed skating, hockey, bobsled, figure skating and sled competitions. Women competed in skiing, skiing, tobogganing and speed skating, as well as figure skating - only 5 species. Most of the athletes sent the US NOC - 94, the Soviet Union - 79, Austria - 74. A total of 2 people for the Olympics were sent to the NOC San Marino , The Republic of Korea and Hungary. Most of the athletes participated in ski races - 106 men and 51 women. The opening ceremony of the XII Winter Olympics in Innsbruck was held at the same stadium as 12 years ago. The Austrian Franz Klammer, who performed in the downhill, made a great impression on the audience. It passed the track at an average speed of about 103 km / h. For the entire Olympics, he broke more than one speed record, became famous for his courage and fearlessness. Nearly to his third Olympic "gold" in these Games was the alpine skier from Germany Rosie Mittermaier. In speed descent and slalom it was the best, but in slalom-giant vanished Canadian Kathy Krayner, just 0.12 seconds. Two pairs of the highest test was won by a couple from the GDR - Bernhard Hermeshausen and Meinhard Nemer. First they were the first among the crews of the deuces, and then in the foursome. It is worth noting that the sleigh and bobsledder from the GDR won all the highest awards in Innsbruck (5 pieces). In the figure skating the Olympic champion was the British John Curry. The sportsmen from the USSR at the XII ZOI performed best. In the ski races alone, they won 4 "gold" (2 men and women each). Biathlonist Nikolai Kruglov in the "piggy bank" of the Russian team brought 2 gold medals. Speed ​​skater Tatiana Averina, in addition to 2 gold awards, also earned 2 "bronze". And Raisa Smetanina twice this time became the Olympic champion and again - a silver medalist. The first in the history of Olympic champions in the dance on ice were Alexander Gorshkov and Lyudmila Pakhomova. Irina Rodnina also marked a gold medal in Innsbruck, performing in conjunction with Alexander Zaitsev. In speed skating, Soviet athletes were also on top, winning 4 "gold" out of 9 (3 - women, 1 - men). In hockey, the USSR national team was also stronger than all. As a result, the Soviet Union's team earned a record in the history of the ZRO the sum of points (192) and medals (27). Gold of them was 13, silver - 6, bronze - 8. The second place was taken by the GDR team with 135 points and 19 medals (7 + 5 + 7), the third - the USA with 73 points and 10 medals (3 + 3 + 4).









Tip 4: Winter Olympics in 1964 in Innsbruck



For the right to host the 1964 White OlympicsThe Austrian city of Innsbruck had to compete with the Canadian rival of Calgary and Finnish Lahti. The decision to hold the 9th Winter Olympic Games in Austria was taken by the International Olympic Committee in 1955 with an absolute majority. For Innsbruck 49 participants of the session voted, while none of the other two candidates received 10 votes.





Winter Olympics in 1964 in Innsbruck







Preparation for the Olympics was not easy. Alpine winter that year was soft and little snow. Snow on the tracks of skiers, sleigh and bobsledder had to be delivered and laid by hand. Servicemen engaged in this. Not all competitions were held in Innsbruck. Cross-country skiing took place in Seefeld, tracks for bobsleigh and tobogganing were laid in Igls, and the slalomists held their competitions in Litsums. Competitions were held from January 29 to February 9. 34 sets of awards were played. The Olympiad in Innsbruck went down in history primarily due to the participation in it of teams from Asian countries, where winter sports did not enjoy such popularity before. Representative of the DPRK Khan Pil Hva even became a silver medalist in speed skating. On the tracks of Innsbruck came out athletes of India and Mongolia. In the Olympic program in 1964, some new disciplines appeared. So, three sets of medals in luge sport were played - in singles among men and women and in men's doubles. The "flying skiers" have a second springboard. The bobsleighs returned to the Olympic tracks after an eight-year hiatus. In total, 1091 athletes from 36 countries participated in the competitions, of which 892 in the male program types and 199 in the women's events. The Soviet athlete Lydia Skoblikova became the heroine of the 9th Winter Olympics. She was unrivaled in speed skating, she won 4 gold medals at all women's distances - 500, 1000, 1500 and 3000m. The Soviet skier Claudia Boyarski brilliantly performed. She took away 3 gold medals - in individual races at 5 and 10 km and in the women's ski relay race 3X5km. Forever remained in the history of sports and the French skiing duo - Christine and Mariel Gorchel. The French women played each other gold and silver medals in all ski disciplines. "The Olympic records" in Innsbruck in 1964 was recorded a lot. This was the first Olympiad, which caused an unprecedented interest of spectators. More than one million people visited the stands. Unfortunately, among the records there were also sad. Never before at the Olympic Games there were so many injuries, and on the toboggan track in preliminary arrivals killed the English athlete Kazimierz Skrzipiecki. The tragedy was caused by a complex route and severe weather conditions. One of the main Olympic principles is mutual respect. In the Olympic Innsbruck for the first time was awarded a medal for nobility. Got her Italian bobsledder Eugenio Monti. During the paired bobsled competition, one of the spare parts disappeared from his rivals from the UK. The Italian athlete gave them his. The English won the race, and Monti's act went down for ever into the history of sport as an example of a truly Olympic attitude to rivals. At the 9th Winter Olympics the athletes of the Soviet Union performed brilliantly. They won 25 awards, 11 of them - the highest test. Eight times Soviet athletes went up to the second step of the podium and six times to the third. The competition of the Soviet national team in the unofficial team competition was made by the teams of Austria and Norway. The Austrians won 4 gold awards, the Norwegians won 3.









Tip 5: The 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid



In 1980, two Olympics took place - the summer wasis organized in the Soviet Union, and the Winter one in the United States. Lake Placid was chosen as the capital of the games, which already hosted such competitions in 1932.





Winter Olympics in 1980 in Lake Placid







The 1980 Winter Olympics were held at a good time- it managed to end before the scandal broke out about the boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow. Therefore, all the states that were going to participate in the competitions sent their teams to the games, temporarily turning a blind eye to the political opposition. Some states, for example, Cyprus and Costa Rica, were first represented at the Winter Olympics. Also at the games was the team of the Chinese People's Republic, for the first time for its communist history. Prior to that, only the delegation of Taiwan participated in the games, and China considered it impossible for itself to compete with the unrecognized state, which in turn did not consider the Communist regime in China legitimate. In the unofficial team event, the USSR team took first place. The most successful was the performance of Soviet biathlonists, as well as skiers. Gold brought and skaters. Irina Rodnina, Olympiad star of 1972 and 1976, confirmed her status by winning the third Olympic gold with Alexander Zaitsev. In dances on ice, the Soviet couple - Natalia Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov - was also the leader. In a difficult struggle, it was possible to get silver and Soviet hockey players. Second place with a slight lag from the Soviet Union was the GDR. Traditionally, a high level was shown by German bobsleighs and skiers. The United States became only the third. Athletes of this country received 12 medals, almost 2 times less than athletes of the USSR and the GDR. And 5 of 6 gold medals for Americans won the skater Eric Hayden. He set a record - no one before him won the first place at all speed skating. The sixth gold was brought to America by a hockey team, traditionally strong in this country.