A History of the Winter Olympics

click A History of the Winter Olympics Gwen Sinnamon Sarah Holmes EDTEC 400 Learning Objective  Given a presentation on the History of the Winter Olympics, the EDTEC 400 class will answer all review questions at the end of the presentation accurately. Why Winter Olympics?  Winter sports such as ice hockey, figure skating, skiing and bobsledding were becoming more popular.  Accommodations for bobsledding and skiing could not be made during the Summer Olympics  1920: Began discussing the need for the Winter Olympics Chamonix, France  1924: First Winter Olympics take place  Included 5 sports: bobsledding, ice hockey, figure skating, speed-skaing, Nordic skiing.  293 athletes from 16 countries Charles Jewtraw won the first U.S Winter Olympic gold medal in speed-skating washingtonpost.com The First U.S. Winter Olympics  1932: Lake Placid, NY  Great Depression cut participation to 330 athletes from 16 countries  80,000 spectators turned out  U.S. had victories in all four speed-skating events and both bobsledding events http://www.kiat.net/olympics/history/images/lakeplacid1932.jpg The Return of the Olympics  After 1936 Olympics, WWII caused a twelve-year hiatus  Returned in 1948 at St. Moritz, Switzerland  U.S. bobsleds were sabotaged, no culprit was ever found.  Still won 4 medals, including a gold Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy  1956: Lack of snow required the Italian army to bring in snow  Soviet Union enters the Winter games for the first time, winning 6 of the 24 gold medals. Squaw Valley, California  1960: Again, the issue of lack of snow was a problem.  Native Americans hired to do a snow dance.  Finally got snow few days before the opening ceremonies  Games were televised for the first time. Innsbruck, Austria  1964: Lack of snow caused two deaths.  Spectator attendance hit a new record of over one million  1961: Entire U.S. figure skating team killed in plane crash  15-year-old Scott Ethan Allen took the Bronze, which gave many people hope click Back to Lake Placid  1980: 7th-seeded U.S. hockey team, comprised of amateurs, made history by defeating the Soviet Union in a major upset.  Fell behind in 6 out of 7 games, but still won all 7.  Defeated Finland to secure the gold medal. 1980 US Hockey Team Albertville, France  1992: Unified Germany sent a team for the first time since WWII.  First Olympics USSR was no longer unified.  Created problems with national anthem, flag and name of country  Became the “UT,” for “Unified Team”  New events: short track speed-skating, freestyle skiing usspeedskating.org Lillehammer, Norway  1994: Figure skater, Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed in the knee.  Tonya Harding, fellow competitor, conspired with her ex-husband to sabotage Kerrigan’s chances.  Kerrigan won silver anyway; Harding placed 8th. Salt Lake City, Utah  2002: 18 nations, 2399 athletes  78 events  Women’s bobsledding added for the first time  1st Chinese athlete, Yang Yang, won gold in speed-skating. Review  Where did the first Winter Olympics take place?  Who was the first U.S. athlete to win a gold medal in speed-skating?  Which historical event caused a drop in the number of athletes at the 1932 Lake Placid games?  What was the biggest problem that often plagued the locations of the Winter games?  Who was Scott Ethan Allen and why was he special?  In which sport did the U.S. underdogs defeat the Soviet Union in a major upset in 1980?  What does “UT” stand for?  Describe the 1994 figure skating scandal. Additional Resources  http://www.hickoksports.com/history/winterol.shtml  http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/sports/longterm/olympics1998/history.htm