Lake Placid 1980 - Olympic Games Winners

Start:

13 Feb 1980

End:

24 Feb 1980

Countries:

Athletes:

1072

Sports:

Events:

City:

Lake Placid, USA

In the summer of 1974, four candidate cities for Winter Olympics 1980 - Banff, Canada; Chamonix, France; Oslo, Norway and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, FRG had withdrawn their bids.
In October 1974, at the 74th IOC session in Vienna, Lake Placid, USA, the only contender, was awarded to host 13 Winter Olympic games.

Vice-President of the USA, Walter Mondale, officially opened the 13 Winter Olympic games 1980.
China and Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) sent two different teams to Lake Placid with the same flag, the same anthem, and even the same uniforms. The IOC did not allow Taiwan to compete under the name of China, and Taiwan withdrew from the 1980 Winter Olympics in protest.
For the first time in Olympic history, American speedskater Eric HEIDEN won all five gold medals in individual events at a single Olympics.
In Figure skating, Irina RODNINA from USSR won a gold medal in her event for the third time, and Ulrich WEHLING of GDR did the same in Nordic combined.