The VIII Olympic Winter Games were held in 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, USA.
| VIII Olympic Winter Games | |
|
| |
| Nations participating | 30 |
| Athletes participating | 665 (521 men, 144 women) |
| Events | 27 in four sports |
| Opening ceremony | February 18, 1960 |
| Closing ceremony | February 28, 1960 |
| Officially opened by | Richard Nixon |
| Athlete's Oath | Carol Heiss |
| Official's Oath | n/a |
| Olympic Torch | Ken Henry |
Alexander Cushing, the creator of the resort, campaigned vigorously to win the Games. Then, there was a rush to construct roads, hotels, restaurants, and bridges, as well as the Ice Arena, the speed skating track, ski lifts, and the ski jumping hill.
The temporary parking lot was built on the frozen flood plain of the nearby stream, but was destroyed when unseasonable rains washed it out. The U.S. military was called in to repair the damage to the packed-snow and ice lot before the Games began.
Walt Disney was the Head of Pageantry for the Games. CBS paid $50,000 for the right to broadcast the games in the USA. [1]
The Olympic Village housed all the athletes.
An early IBM computer was used to calculate the results.
This Winter Olympics introduced Disney artist John Hench's Olympic torch design, which all further torches would be based on. The Olympic flame was lit in the cottage of Sondre Norheim in Morgedal, Norway, and was brought to Los Angeles by plane from Oslo. It is still burning in Squaw Valley.
There were 15 alpine and ski jumping events, eight speed skiing events, and three figure skating events.
1960 was the first year for women's speed skating and the men's biathlon.
Medal winners
Medal count
Top medal-collecting nations:
| 1960 Winter Olympics medal count | File:Olympic-rings.png | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | File:Sovetunio.gif Soviet Union | 7 | 5 | 9 | 21 |
| 2 | File:Unified German Olympic Flag.png United Team of Germany¹ | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | File:Wikipedia flag united states large.png United States | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 | File:Norway flag large.png Norway | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | File:Sweden flag large.png Sweden | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 6 | File:Finland flag large.png Finland | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 | File:Redensign.png Canada | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | File:Switzerland flag large.png Switzerland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | File:Austria flag large.png Austria | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 10 |  France |
1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
- Jean Vuarnet, FR, men's downhill, gold
- Ann Heggtveit, Canada, slalom gold medal
- Penny Pitou, USA, women's downhill, silver and women's giant slalom, silver
- United States men's ice-hockey team won gold.
(¹ East Germany and West Germany competed as a single team; team appeared in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Winter Olympics)