The 8th Winter Olympics were held in Squaw Valley, California, February 18-28, 1960. Athletes from 30 nations competed in 27 events. Women's speed skating and biathlon made their Olympic debuts, but the cost of building a special venue kept bobsledding off the program for the first (and to date only) time in Winter Olympics history. The Soviet Union, dominated the medal count, winning 21 medals, 7 of which were gold; 6 of the gold medals were won in speed skating events. The host team won three events.

General view of the facilities at Squaw Valley, in Tahoe National Forest, where the 1960 Winter Games were held. The outdoor skating rink is at center left. The mountain in the background is Squaw Peak, site of the men's downhill race.

Winners by Event *Olympic and world record #ties world record
Figure Skating
Men	David Jenkins, United States	1,440.2 points
Women	Carol Heiss, United States	1,490.1 points
Pairs	Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul, Canada	80.4 points
Skiing, Men
Jumping	Helmut Recknagel, Germany	227.2 points
Slalom	Ernst Hinterseer, Austria	2 minutes 8.9 seconds
Giant Slalom	Roger Staub, Switzerland	1 minute 48.3 seconds
Downhill	Jean Vuarnet, France	2 minutes 6 seconds
15-km Cross-Country	Haakon Brusveen, Norway	51 minutes 55.3 seconds
30-km Cross-Country	Sixten Jernberg, Sweden	1 hour 51 minutes 3.9 seconds
50-km Cross-Country	Kalevi Hamalainen, Finland	2 hours 59 minutes 6.3 seconds
Nordic Combined	George Thoma, Germany	457.952 points
Biathlon	Klas Lestander, Sweden	1 hour 33 minutes 21.6 seconds
40-km Relay	Finland (Alatalo Toimi, Eoro Mantyrants, Valno Huhtala, Voikka Hakulinen)	2 hours 18 minutes 45.6 seconds
Skiing, Women
Slalom	Anne Heggtveit, Canada	1 minute 49.8 seconds
Giant Slalom	Yvonne Ruegg, Switzerland	1 minute 39.9 seconds
Downhill	Heidi Biebl, Germany	1 minute 37.6 seconds
10-km Cross-Country	Maria Gusakova, U.S.S.R.	39 minutes 46.6 seconds
15-km Relay	Sweden (Irma Hohannsson, Britt Strandberg, Sonja Ruthstrom)	1 hour 4 minutes 21.4 seconds
Speed Skating, Men
500-meter	Yevgeny Grishin, U.S.S.R.	40.2 seconds#
1,500-meter	(tie) Roald Aas, Norway, and Yevgeny Grishin, U.S.S.R.	2 minutes 10.4 seconds
5,000-meter	Viktor Kosichkin, U.S.S.R.	7 minutes 51.3 seconds
10,000-meter	Knut Johannessen, Norway	15 minutes 46.6 seconds*
Speed Skating, Women
500-meter	Helga Haase, Germany	45.9 seconds
1,000-meter	Klara Guseva, U.S.S.R.	1 minute 34.1 seconds
1,500-meter	Lydia Skoblikova, U.S.S.R.	2 minutes 25.2 seconds*
3,000-meter	Lydia Skoblikova, U.S.S.R.	5 minutes 14.3 seconds
Ice Hockey
	United States

PRINT SOURCE
Britannica Book of the Year Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1961

WEB SOURCE
International Olympic Committee http://www.olympic.org/squaw-valley-1960-winter-olympics

SEE ALSO
In the Year 1960

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This page was last updated on May 11, 2017.