For the right to host the 1964 White Olympics, the Austrian city of Innsbruck had to compete with the Canadian competitor Calgary and the Finnish Lahti. The decision to host the IX Winter Olympic Games in Austria was made by the International Olympic Committee in 1955 with an absolute majority of votes. 49 participants in the session voted for Innsbruck, while none of the other two candidates received even ten votes.
The preparation for the Olympics was not easy. Alpine winter that year was mild and little snow. Snow on the slopes of skiers, toboggans and bobsledders had to be delivered and laid by hand. The servicemen were engaged in this. Not all competitions were held in Innsbruck. Cross-country skiing took place in Seefeld, bobsleigh and luge tracks were laid in Igls, and slalomists held their competitions in Lizum. Competitions were held from January 29 to February 9. 34 sets of awards were played.
The Olympics in Innsbruck went down in history primarily due to the participation in it of teams from Asian countries, where winter sports were not particularly popular before. The representative of the DPRK, Han Pil Hwa, even became a silver medalist in speed skating. Athletes from India and Mongolia also entered the tracks of Innsbruck.
Some new disciplines appeared in the 1964 Olympic program. So, three sets of medals were played in luge sports - in singles among men and women and in men's doubles. The "flying skiers" now have a second springboard. Bobsledders returned to the Olympic tracks - after an eight-year break. In total, 1,091 athletes from 36 countries took part in the competition, of which 892 were in the men's program, and 199 were in the women's.
Soviet athlete Lydia Skoblikova became the heroine of the IX Winter Olympics. In speed skating she had no equal, she won 4 gold medals at all women's distances - 500, 1000, 1500 and 3000m. The Soviet skier Klavdia Boyarskikh performed brilliantly. She took away 3 gold medals - in the individual races of 5 and 10 km and in the women's ski relay 3X5 km. The French alpine skiing duo - Christine and Mariel Gorchel - has forever remained in the history of sports. The French women competed for gold and silver medals in all alpine skiing disciplines.
Many "Olympic records" were registered in Innsbruck in 1964. This was the first Olympics that aroused unprecedented audience interest. More than a million people attended the stands. Unfortunately, there were some sad ones among the records. Never before have there been so many injuries at the Olympic Games, and English athlete Kazimierz Sksipiecki died on the toboggan track in preliminary races. The tragedy was caused by a difficult track and difficult weather conditions.
One of the main Olympic principles is mutual respect. In Olympic Innsbruck, a medal for nobility was awarded for the first time. It was received by the Italian bobsledder Eugenio Monti. During the doubles bobsleigh competition, one of the parts disappeared from his rivals in the UK. The Italian athlete gave them his. The British won on the track, and Monty's act forever entered the history of sports as an example of a truly Olympic attitude towards rivals.
Athletes from the Soviet Union performed brilliantly at the IX Winter Olympics. They won 25 awards, of which 11 were of the highest standard. Eight times Soviet athletes climbed to the second step of the podium and six times to the third. Competition of the Soviet national team in the unofficial team event was made by the teams of Austria and Norway. The Austrians won 4 gold medals, the Norwegians 3.
