In 1980, two Olympics were held - the summer one was organized in the Soviet Union, and the winter one - in the USA. Lake Placid, which had already hosted similar competitions in 1932, was chosen as the capital of the games.
The 1980 Winter Olympics took place at a good time - it managed to end before the scandal about the boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow erupted. Therefore, all states that were going to take part in the competition sent their teams to the games, temporarily closing their eyes to political confrontation.
Some states, such as Cyprus and Costa Rica, were first represented at the Winter Olympics. The team of the People's Republic of China was also present at the games, for the first time in its communist history. Before that, only the delegation of Taiwan took part in the games, and China considered it impossible for itself to compete with the unrecognized state, which, in turn, did not consider the communist regime in China to be legitimate.
In the unofficial team competition, the USSR national team took the first place. The most successful was the performance of Soviet biathletes and skiers. The skaters also brought gold. Irina Rodnina, the star of the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, confirmed her status by winning the third Olympic gold in tandem with Alexander Zaitsev. In ice dancing, the Soviet pair, Natalya Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov, was also in the lead. In a hard struggle, Soviet hockey players also managed to get silver.
The GDR team won the second place with a slight lag behind the Soviet Union. The traditionally high level was shown by German bobsledders and skiers.
The United States came in only third. The athletes of this country received 12 medals, almost 2 times less than the athletes of the USSR and the GDR. And 5 out of 6 gold medals for the Americans were won by skater Eric Hayden. He set a record - no one before him won first place at all speed skating distances. America's sixth gold was brought by the hockey team, traditionally strong in this country.
