Squaw Valley Olympics 1960

The 1960 Squaw Valley Olympic Games, officially known as the VIII Olympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event held in Squaw Valley, in the state of California in United States, between February 18 and 28, 1960. It was elected at the 1955 IOC Session. Given the lack of infrastructure, the city was subjected to a great transformation with the construction of roads, hotels, restaurants, bridges and sports facilities such as the ice palace, speed skating rink and diving trampoline.

The opening and closing ceremonies were produced by Walt Disney. These Games were the first in which athletes had an Olympic village at their disposal, as well as the first in which computers were used to control the results. (Courtesy of IBM). The bobsleigh events were not held for the first and only time since the organizing committee considered that the facilities for such an event were too expensive. The women made their debut in the speed skating events.

Olympic Torch

From January 31 to February 18, 700 relays carried the Olympic torch on a 960-kilometer journey that began in Norway (Morgedal - Oslo) and then crossed the US state of California (Los Angeles - Fresno - Squaw Valley). It would be the last time that the Winter Olympic torch was lit in Norway (Until the unofficial Lillehammer 1994 torch).

Sports

Participating countries

Germany, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Chile, South Korea, Denmark, Spain, United States, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the Soviet Union.

It would be the only winter Olympics in South Africa during Apartheid.

Medals

1960 Winter Olympics
Pos.	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	7	5	9	21
2	Unified Team of GermanyUnified Team of Germany1	4	3	1	8
3	United States	3	4	3	10
4	Norway Norway	3	3	0	6
5	Sweden Sweden	3	2	2	7
6	FinlandFinland	2	3	3	8
7	Canada	2	1	1	4
8	SwitzerlandSwitzerland	2	0	0	2
9	AustriaAustria	1	2	3	6
10	France	1	0	2	3

(¹) Athletes from the GDR and the FRG competed together as the "Unified Team Germany". This combined team appeared at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics.