Olympic GamesOlympics - Sochi 2014
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The ninth episode of the novel the Olympic winter, this year the "red wheel" of the bob is still fasting Olympic golds but has starred in an episode known to history.
Tuesday 14 January 2014 14 minutes reading time
After being beaten by narrow measure from Squaw Valley for the Winter Games in 1960 in Innsbruck will try again for 1964. Faces at the 55th Meeting of the IOC in Monaco the other two candidates, the Canadian Calgary and the Finnish Lahti,'' last quest has just hosted the 1958 Nordic World Ski Championships. But it is the clear favorite and the Tyrolean town predictions of the vigil are fully respected: May 26, 1959 Innsbruck imposes a large majority with 49 votes against 9 of Calgary while Lahti does not get even a preference. And that'' natural'' the greatest experience in the organization of international events and the'' existence of numerous plants have played a decisive role in choosing the Austrian city that is given immediately to do to make us forget the flop means of Squaw Valley .
The characteristic of these games, which then will be repeated in virtually all subsequent Olympic white, will be the decentralization of many races compared to the host city: some away as 30 km from the city. The events that award medals in five circles increased from 27 to 34: back to the bob in fact, absent in Squaw Valley, sledding and debuted with three races, but these two sports happening on two different tracks in Igls, 6km south of Innsbruck, also add a third cross country race of women, 5 km, also the leap to become two, both individual two jumps of different sizes and in different locations. For the first time the timing is electronic and is controlled by the computer, also TV coverage is complete. Finally, after twelve years back a demo discipline'' s ice stock, which had already been present in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936.
But none of these Winter Olympics seem to be born under an unlucky star. First, the'' winter was exceptionally mild and low altitude the snow c'' is not, therefore, be mobilized'' Austrian army which carries the 20000 block of ice to prepare the guts of the bobsled and luge and 40000 meters cubes of snow to prepare the best possible tracks of downhill skiing who'' s arrival at fairly low altitude (the same Innsbruck is 574 meters above sea level) tenendosene 20000 other reserves. Second, two tragedies marred the Olympic atmosphere'' a few days'' s opening ceremony: two athletes die in two accidents during the training session ahead of the competition. On January 23, the 54-year old naturalized British Polish Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski, a former RAF pilot, you flip on the gut of Igls luge. On January 26, the 19 year old Australian Ross Milne crashing into a tree at the edge of the runway PATSCHERKOFEL the men's downhill, the rupture of the aorta'' is fatal. As always happens in these cases accidents are attributed to the lack of experience of the athletes doing overshadow the problems of preparation of the gut and the track due to the aforementioned transport of ice and snow.
The queen of these games is undoubtedly Skoblikova Lidiya, 24-year old Soviet coming from the Urals that had been gold on the two longer distances at Squaw Valley and Innsbruck winning all four titles in the women's speed skating, 500, 1000, 1500 and 3000 meters, setting a record for total gold at the Winter Olympics in individual races, six of them white in the Games will be matched only by the Norwegian cross-country skier Bjørn Dæhlie in the nineties. The men's races instead go to four different winners: Terry McDermott to U.S. 500, the Soviet Ants Antson 1500, the Norwegian Knut Johannesen 5000 and the Swedish Jonny Nilsson 10000. In this edition, the Soviet Union will take home as many as 11 gold medals are to be added to ice hockey with seven wins from seven games, 54 goals scored and 10 conceded, that in the individual biathlon with Vladimir Melanin , that in the artistic couples, the first title for the USSR in figure skating, with two legendary characters such as Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, and finally the hat-trick in the female bottom with Klavdiya Boyarskikh winning 5 and 10 km and contributes to the long-awaited success in the relay.
Also in the background there are two male and individual successes are those of the Finnish Eero Mäntyranta, who won the 15 and the 30 km imposing itself as the heir of Veikko Hakulinen, gave himself to the biathlon with little success, while the 50 km and relay talk about Sweden thanks to Sixten Jernberg which comes to a total of 4 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals in three Olympics. The two jump races are the prerogative of the Finnish Veikko Kankkonen that the small trampoline and the Norwegian Toralf Engan that the large trampoline, the famous Bergiselstadium Nordic combined goes to another Norwegian Tormod Knutsen. In alpine skiing dominate France and Austria with three titles apiece. The sisters Christine and Marielle Goitschel, grew up in Val d'Isère, respectively gold and silver in giant slalom and then exchange the top two positions on the podium, their compatriot François Bonlieu, eternal promise by the turbulent character that eventually killed on the Croisette in Cannes during a brawl in 1973 at the age of 36, triumphed in the giant when almost no one believed in him. Regarding the Wunderteam, Egon Zimmermann won the men's downhill and Josef Stiegler, the father of Resi, slalom, downhill Christl Haas female.
Austria wins with Josef Feistmantl and Manfred Stengel also doubles event of the sled, the only one that goes to the team unified Germany: the single male is the prerogative of Thomas Köhler, the female of Ortrun Enderlein, both from from the east. From the west is the winner of the artistic men's figure skating, Manfred Schnelldorfer, won the women's race if the Dutchman, Sjoukje Dijkstra. Italy, which in alpine skiing does not get results from the top ten and in the Nordic combined square eighth Ezio Damolin, get the usual fifth place in the bottom of the relay with two potential champions as Marcello De Dorigo (which will unfortunately career break in the winter because of the amputation of the phalanges of the toes, frozen for having walked many miles on narrow skis in an attempt to regain lost companions during a training session in Sweden) and Franco Nones, the latter in the tenth 15 km, won the first of his many medals in luge and Sigisfredo Aussendorfer with Walter Mair, bronze in doubles.
The other three precious metals shipment arriving from blue bob two with our standard-bearer in Innsbruck Eugenio Monti, who after two silvers in Cortina in 1956 can claim up to that moment you are in the race to two world titles and two in the four but you have to settle for two bronze medals, two also preceded in the test by Sergio Zardini who wins the silver along with brakeman Roman Bonagura. But it is precisely in this race is going on an episode to history: after the first run the Tony Nash realizes that he can not continue because his fireball but it is missing a bolt Monti, a bad start with his brakeman Sergio Siorpaes with a fifth fastest time in the first round (instead Nash is second) to give the British the bolt you need them to continue. Moral of the story, Monti, as mentioned, is bronze and Nash, along with Robin Dixon, Wins Gold. A huge gesture of fair play that enters into legend as Monti and most of all the victories he achieved so far and to those who will get it again and that earned him the "Pierre de Coubertin medal." A gesture which, moreover, is repeated in race four when the blue mechanical repairs damaged the rear axle of the one who will win the gold, the Canadian Vic Emery, a great friend of the "red wheel".
Summary
9th edition of the Olympic Winter Games
Host city and date of the event: Innsbruck (Austria), January 29-February 9, 1964
Athletes participating: 1091 (892 men, 199 women)
Participating countries: 36
Italian participants: 61 (53 men, 8 women)
Standard Bearer Italian Eugenio Monti (bob)
Securities allotted: 34 in 10 sports
Official opening: President Adolf SchÓ“rf
Oath Olympic athletes: Paul Auctions (bob)
Last torchbearer: Josl Rieder
The medal
Soviet Union: 11 gold 8 silver 6 bronze
Austria: 4 gold 5 silver 3 bronze
Norway: 3 gold 6 silver 6 bronze
Finland: 3 gold 4 silver 3 bronze
France: 3 gold 4 silver
Unified Germany: 3 gold 3 silver 3 bronze
Sweden: 3 gold 3 silver 1 bronze
United States: 1 gold 2 silver 3 bronze
Netherlands: 1 gold 1 silver
Canada: 1 gold 2 bronze
Great Britain: 1 gold
Italy: 1 silver 3 bronze
North Korea: 1 silver
Czechoslovakia: 1 bronze
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