For the right to host the Olympic Games between the countries that have submitted applications, there is always a stubborn struggle. The 1980 Winter Olympics were no exception. The venue was the quiet American town of Lake Placid, which already hosted the 1932 Winter Games.
The choice of Lake Placid to host the Thirteenth Winter Olympic Games was announced in October 1974 at the 74th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Initially, in addition to the United States, four other countries fought for the right to host the next Winter Olympics: Canada, France, Norway and the Federal Republic of Germany. Against the background of their proposals, the chances of a small Lake Placid with a population of about two thousand people, moreover, already hosting the Olympians in 1932, seemed almost zero. However, four other applicants withdrew their applications, so the IOC had no choice but to delegate the right to host the Winter Olympics to Lake Placid.
Why did other applicants suddenly abandon the fight for the right to host the games and withdraw their candidatures? Their decision should be considered in the light of the political situation of the time. The USSR and the United States fought for the right to host the 1980 Summer Olympics, while there were clearly more supporters of these games in Moscow. If the United States did not receive the right to host neither the summer nor the winter games, this would be regarded as a major failure in the political arena. Therefore, there is hardly any doubt that Canada, France, Norway and the Federal Republic of Germany withdrew their candidacies precisely by agreement with the United States. The result was the choice at the 74th IOC session of Lake Placid as the venue for the Winter Olympic Games, and already at the next IOC session on October 23 of the same year, Moscow was approved as the venue for the 1980 Summer Olympics. As a result, the parity between the superpowers was preserved, which the Olympic Committee, which never wanted to be the extreme in the disputes between the USSR and the United States, was certainly happy.
This is not the first time that the IOC has found itself in a difficult situation. So, in 1970, he made a truly Solomon decision when determining the venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics. The contenders were Moscow, Los Angeles and Montreal. Realizing that the choice of one superpower would inevitably complicate relations with another, the IOC chose Montreal as the venue for the Olympics. Interestingly, at the beginning of 1980, the United States demanded that the Olympic Committee cancel the holding of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow as one of the sanctions for the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, but the IOC did not make such a decision.
The winners of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in the overall medal standings were Soviet athletes, who won 10 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze medals. The second place was taken by the Olympians from the GDR with 9 gold medals, 7 silver and 7 bronze medals. The third place went to athletes from the United States, who received 6 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals.
