1932 Winter Olympics
The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York. The games opened on February 4 and closed on February 15. It was the first of four Winter Olympics held in the United States; Lake Placid hosted again in 1980.
The games were awarded to Lake Placid in part by the efforts of Godfrey Dewey, head of the Lake Placid Club and son of Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System. California also had a bid for the 1932 Winter Games. William May Garland, president of the California X Olympiad Association, wanted the games to take place in Wrightwood and Big Pines, California. The world's largest ski jump at the time was constructed in Big Pines for the event, but the games were ultimately awarded to Lake Placid.
Highlights
- Coca-Cola would be their permanent soft drink provider for this Winter Games hereafter.
- 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.
- Billy Fiske, carried the flag for the United States in the opening ceremonies. A founder of Aspen winter resort in 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 and the speedskating gold medals, beating previous champion and world record holder Ivar Ballangrud in the 10,000 m by.
- 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 card-carrying 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 USA won the medal tally with a total of 12 medals. This was the only time the US topped the medal tally at the Winter Olympics until the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
- Seventeen countries participated.
Events
- Skating
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Demonstration sports
| Venue | Sports | Capacity | Ref. |
| Intervales Ski-Hill | Nordic combined, Ski jumping | 9,200 | |
| Lake Placid | Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined | Not listed. | |
| Mt. Van Hoevenberg Bob-Run | Bobsleigh | 12,500 | |
| Olympic Arena | Figure skating, Ice hockey | 3,360 | |
| Olympic Stadium | Ice hockey, Speed skating | 7,475 |
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.| Participating :Category:Nations at the 1932 Winter Olympics|National Olympic Committees |