1980 Winter Olympics

The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, was a multi-sport event which was celebrated from February 13 to February 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. This was the second time the Upstate New York village hosted the Games, after 1932. The only other candidate city to bid for the Games was Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia, Canada, which withdrew before the final vote (though Vancouver would eventually win the bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.)

The mascot of the Games was "Roni", a raccoon. The mask-like rings on a raccoon's face recall the goggles and hats worn by many athletes in winter sports. The sports were played at the Olympic Center, Whiteface Mountain, Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run, the Olympic Ski Jumps, the Cascade Cross Country Ski Center, and the Lake Placid High School Speed Skating Oval.

Host selection
The selection process for the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of one bid, from Lake Placid, United States. It was selected at the 75th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Vienna on October 23, 1974.

Highlights
Notable highlights included:
 * The United States men's ice hockey team, composed mostly of collegiate players and not predicted to advance beyond group play, won the gold medal. The United States team's 4–3 win over the veteran Soviet team, which came into the 1980 Games having won four consecutive Olympic gold medals, became known as the "Miracle on Ice" in US culture. The win captured the hearts of Americans, even though it was the win against Finland that secured the gold medal.
 * Eric Heiden of the United States won gold in the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m, and 10,000m speed skating events, setting four Olympic records and one world record (10,000m) in the process and delivering 83% of the American gold medals (the only other gold, as noted above, was won by the hockey team). Heiden became the first person to win all five speed skating events, the first of only three to win five gold medals in individual events at a single Games (either Summer or Winter), and is still the only athlete to win five gold medals at one Winter Games.
 * Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark won both the giant slalom and the slalom.
 * Hanni Wenzel won the women's giant slalom and slalom, making Liechtenstein the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion.
 * Ulrich Wehling of East Germany and Irina Rodnina of the USSR won their respective events for the third time, Wehling in Nordic combined and Rodnina in pairs figure skating.
 * Aleksandr Tikhonov of the USSR earned his fourth straight gold medal as part of the 4 x 7.5m biathlon relay team.
 * Nikolay Zimyatov of the USSR earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing.
 * Robin Cousins won gold for Great Britain in the men's singles figure skating.
 * East Germany won the most medals overall (23) but had fewer golds (9) than the USSR (10).
 * In possibly the most dramatic duel of the games, Sweden's Thomas Wassberg edged Finland's Juha Mieto in the 15 km cross-country skiing by 0.01 seconds, the closest margin of victory ever in Olympic cross-country skiing.
 * Although they did not get any medals, the People's Republic of China entered the Olympic Games for the first time after the IOC agreed to designate the Republic of China "Chinese Taipei".
 * Lake Placid 1980 marked the first use of artificial snow in Olympic competition.
 * Lake Placid 1980 was the last Olympics to be opened by the Vice President of the United States, as 1980 was a Presidential election year.

Sports
There were 38 events contested in 6 sports (10 disciplines). See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Venues



 * Intervales Ski-Hill – Nordic combined (ski jumping), Ski jumping
 * Lake Placid Equestrian Stadium – Opening Ceremony
 * Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center – Biathlon, Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined (Cross-country skiing)
 * Mt. Van Hoevenberg Bob and Luge Run – Bobsleigh, Luge (separate tracks)
 * Olympic Center – Figure skating, Ice hockey, Closing ceremonies
 * James B. Sheffield Speed Skating Oval – Speed skating
 * Whiteface Mountain – Alpine skiing

The former Will Rogers Memorial Hospital was briefly used as press headquarters.

Medal count


These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1980 Winter Games.

Participating nations
37 NOCs participated.

Cyprus made their Olympic debut at the games. The People's Republic of China and Costa Rica both made their Winter Olympic debut. The Republic of China had boycotted the Games over the IOC's recognition of the PRC as "China", and its request for the Republic of China to compete as "Chinese Taipei".

Mascot
Roni is the Olympic mascot of these Games, created by Don Moss. The mascot is a racoon, which is a familiar animal from the mountainous region of the Adirondacks where Lake Placid is situated. The name Roni comes from the word racoon in Iroquoian, the language of the native people from the region of the State of New York and Lake Placid and was chosen by Lake Placid school children.

Theme song
The official theme song for the 1980 Winter Olympics was "Give It All You Got" by the American flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, who performed the song (along with the song "Pina Colada") live at the Closing Ceremony, with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (Canada).