1932 Winter Olympics

Highlights

• American company Coca-Cola became the official provider of that games' soft drinks and would remain so for all subsequent winter Olympics (as of 2024).
• The Games were opened by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the Governor of New York. He would be elected President of the United States nine months later.
• The victory podium was used for the first time at the winter games. Speed skater Jack Shea became the first Olympic champion to receive a gold medal on the podium.
• Billy Fiske (who would win his second gold medal at Lake Placid, having won his first at 16 in the 1928 Winter Olympics), carried the flag for the United States in the opening ceremonies. A planner of a winter resort in Aspen, Colorado, he was killed in 1940 flying in the Battle of Britain.
• Sonja Henie won the second of three consecutive Olympic gold medals in figure skating. She also won gold in 1928 and 1936.
• Irving Jaffee won the 5000 m and the 10000 m speed skating gold medals, beating previous champion and world record holder Ivar Ballangrud in the 10,000 m by 4.5 m.
• Eddie Eagan became the only Olympian to win gold medals at both the summer and winter games in different sports. He won gold in boxing in the 1920 Antwerp summer games and gold in bobsleigh at Lake Placid. The bobsleigh race was held two days after the games' closing ceremonies due to unseasonably warm weather in the region the week prior.
• Georg Gyssling, a member of the Nazi Party, joined a newly created four man bobsledding team after half the German team was injured in several violent crashes on Mount Van Hoevenberg. René Fonjallaz, a future Nazi propagandist on the Swiss team, was also injured and left unconscious for five minutes after a crash during a practice run.
• The United States topped the medal count with a total of 12 medals (6 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze). This was the only time the U.S. led the overall medal standings at the Winter Olympics until the 2010 Games in Vancouver, and the only time the United States won the most gold medals.
• Seventeen countries participated.

Events

Medals were awarded in 14 events contested in 4 sports (7 disciplines).

Skating

Demonstration sports

The Games also included events in three demonstration sports.

• Curling
• Sled dog race
• Speed skating (women)

Venues

Main article: Venues of the 1932 Winter Olympics

Participating nations

Athletes from 17 nations competed in these Games, down from 25 nations at the previous Games in 1928. Argentina, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Yugoslavia did not send athletes to Lake Placid.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Medal count

Main article: 1932 Winter Olympics medal table

Podium sweeps

References

References

1. Hines, James R.. (2011). "Historical Dictionary of Figure Skating". Scarecrow Press.
2. Lund, Morten. (January 21, 2014). "How the Olympics Came to a Sleepy Adirondack Village". International Skiing History Association.
3. Strege, Dave. (August 21, 2013). "Mountain High makeover". [[Orange County Register]].
4. Ogilvie, Claire. (October 18, 2006). "Prof says Olympic podiums have Canadian connection". [[The Province]].
5. Martin, D. E., Martin, D. A., & Gynn, R. W. (2000). The olympic marathon. Human Kinetics. p. 146.
6. In a letter dated May 1931, the IOC president, Count Henri de Baillet-Latour, advised the organizing committees of both summer and winter games that athletes should "stand on three pedestals, with the centre one higher than the two others." See Martin (2000) and Olympic.org article "1932: THE PODIUM MAKES ITS OLYMPIC DEBUT".
7. IOC. (October 20, 2017). "1932: THE PODIUM MAKES ITS OLYMPIC DEBUT".
8. Greenspan, Bud, ''100 Greatest Moments in Olympic History,'' General Publishing Group, Inc., 1995, pp. 88
9. Johnson, William Oscar, ''The Olympics: A History of the Games,'' Oxmoor House, Inc., 1993, pp. 60-61.
10. King, D. (2015). Speed Kings: The 1932 Winter Olympics and the Fastest Men in the World.
11. [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1932/1932w.pdf 1932 Winter Olympics official report.] {{webarchive. link. (April 10, 2008 pp. 141-4. Accessed 12 October 2010.)
12. [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1932/1932w.pdf 1932 Winter Olympics official report.] {{webarchive. link. (April 10, 2008 pp. 145-6, 199. Accessed 12 October 2010.)
13. [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1932/1932w.pdf 1932 Winter Olympic Games official report.] {{webarchive. link. (April 10, 2008 pp. 30, 39-41, 50-1, 141, 157-66. Accessed 12 October 2010.)
14. [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1932/1932w.pdf 1932 Winter Olympics official report.] {{webarchive. link. (April 10, 2008 pp. 141, 150-57. Accessed 12 October 2010.)
15. [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1932/1932w.pdf 1932 Winter Olympics official report.] {{webarchive. link. (April 10, 2008 pp. 141, 147-50. Accessed 12 October 2010.)