1980 in the history of the modern Olympic movement is best known for the boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympics, but the Winter Games were also held in the same year. They took place at the beginning of the year in the American city of Lake Placid and were not accompanied by any political collisions.
The opening ceremony of the games with the participation of the then US Vice President Walter Mondale took place on February 14, 1980 at the city racetrack, which can accommodate 30 thousand spectators. And the closing ceremony 11 days later was held at the Herb Brooks Arena ice skating rink specially built for the Olympics. A week and a half between these two events passed under the sign of the dominance of athletes from two countries - the GDR and the USSR.
The German Olympians won the largest number of medals - 23. In biathlon, they received five awards, and the remaining four went to Soviet athletes. In bobsleigh, two GDR teams won four awards out of six, in luge - three out of nine.
Representatives of the USSR received seven awards in cross-country skiing, and four of them were gold. According to the already established tradition, Soviet figure skaters were also strong, bringing two gold, silver and bronze medals to the common piggy bank. But hockey players, who had previously become Olympic champions five times in a row, sensationally lost to the US team made up of college students and students. In total, the athletes of the Soviet Union won one medal less than the GDR team, but the USSR had more gold medals.
The Americans were third in the number of awards. In addition to the unexpected gold of hockey players, all other medals of the highest standard for the US Olympians at the XIII Winter Olympics belonged to skater Eric Hayden. At these games, he went to the start five times and each time he was faster than his rivals. With this achievement, the 21-year-old American could single-handedly lead the United States to third place in the medal standings. In addition to him, the Hayden family was also represented on the speed skating track by Eric's younger sister, who also did not remain without an award - she received bronze in the three-kilometer speed skating.
In total, 38 sets of awards were played at the 1980 Winter Olympics, for which almost 1,100 athletes from 37 countries competed.
