Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 Winter Olympic Games

In 1956, the best winter athletes gathered together in Italy for the first time. Athletes from 32 countries were hosted by Cortina d'Ampezzo and its picturesque surroundings.

Number of sports: 6
Number of events: 24
Number of participants: 821 from 32 countries
Slovenian athletes: 15
Most successful participant: Toni Sailer/AUT, alpine skiing, 3 medals (3 G, 0 S, 0 B)
Most successful country: Soviet Union - 16 medals (7 G, 3 S, 6 B)
Games opened by: Giovanni Grochi
Olympic Oath: Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo

http://www.olympic.org/cortina-d-ampezzo-1956-winter-olympics

Trivia from the Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 Winter Olympic Games

After two unsuccessful bids, the famous winter sports centre in the Italian Dolomites finally managed to persuade the IOC. The Italians grabbed hold of their opportunity with both hands and begun preparing the venues with the generous aid of the state and numerous companies. The weather did not exactly help the organizers out. At first, there was barely any snow, but after massive snowfall the situation turned - there was too much. Nevertheless, the organizers managed to carry out all the planned events and also set a new milestone in Olympic history with their television coverage. The images were seen throughout most of Europe.

Olympic heights

As many as 32 countries took part in the Games and athletes from the Soviet Union made their debut in the Olympic arena. Already in their first appearance they rose to the top of the list of most successful countries, winning seven gold medals in a total of 16 medals, beating Austria and Finland. The Soviets also won the ice hockey tournament, giving rise to a great battle between the USSR, Canada and the USA that goes on to this day. The most prolific contributors to the medal collection of the USSR were skater Yevgeny Grishin and cross country skier Lyubov Kozyreva.

Nevertheless, the title of King of the Games went to an Austrian. The legendary alpine skier Anton Sailer knew no mercy. Toni swept away the competition in all three ski events (slalom, giant slalom and downhill) and contributed three of the four gold medals won by Austria. The International Ski Federation counted the Olympic races as part of the World Championships and the man from Tirol also won a World Championship gold medal in combined competition which was not part of the Olympics at the time.