Wednesday, November 11, 2009

1964 Innsbruck,Austria -- Winter Olympics




The above 7 Stamps issued by Austria to commemorate their hosting of 1964 Winter Olympics,the IX Winter Olympics beating  Lahti (Finland) and Calgary (Canada). The games opened on 29-01-64 and finished on 9-2-1964.( Officially by Dr.Adolf Scharf) 

Computers were also present for the first time at an Olympics, as the electronic age came to Olympia.

Soviet Union being the leader in Medal Tally with 11 Gold Medals and in total 25 Medals.

Highlights of  IXth  Winter Olympics

>>   Normally snowy Innsbruck was threatened by a lack of snow. The Austrian army carved out 20,000 ice bricks from a mountain top and transported them to the bobsled and luge runs. They also carried
40,000 cubic meters of snow to the Alpine skiing courses. The army packed down the slopes by hand and foot.

>>   Lidia Skoblikova achieved a "clean sweep" in the women's speed skating events, an achievement not matched by a man until Eric Heiden in the 1980 Lake Placid Games.

>>   Italian bobsleigh pilot Eugenio Monti distinguished himself by helping Britain's Tony Nash and Robin Dixon to win the gold medals when he loaned them an axle bolt to replace one that was broken. The
Italians took bronze, but Monti was honored as the first recipient of the Pierre de Coubertin
medal for sportsmanship.

>>   Egon Zimmermann of Austria took the gold medal in the men's  downhill alpine skiing event.

>>   In the 4 man bobsled, the Canadian team won the gold medal with a total winning time of 4:14.46.

>>   Norway's Knut Johannesen won the men's 5,000m speed skating event in an Olympic record
time of 7:38.40.

>>    Klavdiya Boyarskikh of the USSR earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing and, on
the men’s side, Finnish Eero Mäntyranta won two and earned the nickname "Mr. Seefeld" after the venue because of his domination.

>>  In alpine skiing, French sisters Christine and Marielle Goitschel finished first and second in both the slalom and the giant slalom.

>>   Ski jumping gained a second event, and the sport of luge made its Olympic debut.

>>   Politically, the Games were notable because East and WestGermany entered a combined team.

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