1960 Squaw Valley, U.S.A.

Only the second time the Winter Games left Europe

Last Updated: Monday, February 1, 2010 | 2:53 PM ET

CBC Sports

Athletes, officials and fans from all over the world watch as the Olympic flame is lit during the opening ceremony of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley. (Staff/AFP/Getty Images)

Squaw Valley seemed an unlikely host for the 1960 Olympics. Situated near Lake Tahoe in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, the town had a ski resort with only one chairlift, two rope tows and a lodge for 50 guests. Yet it was bidding against highly favoured Innsbruck, Austria, to become the first North American host of the Winter Games since 1932 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Heading into the bid process, New York lawyer Alex Cushing faced a formidable task. He had to convince the International Olympic Committee that the beautiful California region, which did not even have a mayor, could be transformed into a world-class facility.

Cushing had a personal interest in selling the IOC on Squaw Valley. He owned land there and headed a development company that aimed to promote and sell the area. Cushing assembled a compelling and polished bid that left little to chance.

He lobbied countries around the world for support and visited with 42 IOC delegates. Cushing and his team presented a 3,000-pound model of Squaw Valley. His proposal, written in French, English and Spanish, argued that the Olympics belonged to the world and not simply one continent. The argument resonated with the IOC and the American bid won by a 32-30 margin over Innsbruck. For only the second time in Olympic history, the Winter Games would be leaving Europe.

Organizers spent $15 million to build an ultra-modern sports complex in Squaw Valley. The Games were underwritten by the states of California and Nevada along with federal government subsidies. Funding was tight, however, and the organizing committee decided to save money by not building bobsleigh track. Only five countries had confirmed they would be sending teams to compete in the bobsleigh competition, so the Squaw Valley organizers felt there wasn’t enough interest in the sport to justify spending $750,000 on a bobsleigh track. For the first time since the first Winter Games began, the bobsleigh competition would not be held, which elicited a bitter wave of international criticism.

Even so, interest in the upcoming Games centred on the construction project. In the summer before the Olympics, more than 2,000 people a day went on site tours of the developing facilities. By the time the Olympics actually kicked off in February, more than 15,000 spectators had flooded into town for the Opening Ceremony.

Extravagant and flashy, the Opening Ceremony was headed by Walt Disney,the Hollywood legend who was chairman of the Pageantry Committee. Disney coordinated a spectacular show involving 1,300 musicians, a chorus of 3,000 singers, a 25-metre Tower of Nations made of open steelwork, as well as ice sculptures, a fireworks spectacle and the release of 2,000 carrier pigeons followed by 20,000 balloons.

It wasn't a record gathering of athletes, but 665 competitors arrived from 30 countries. South Africa made its Winter Olympics debut in Squaw Valley, but as a result of its policy of apartheid, South African athletes would not be allowed to compete in another Olympics until the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

For the first time, computers tabulated and posted results. In another first, which would later become a tradition that would greatly enrich the IOC's coffers, CBS paid $50,000 for the American broadcast rights for the Games.

Women continued to make inroads in formerly male-dominated sports, as speed skating and the biathlon were included for the first time in competition. It didn’t take long for women's speed skating to produce one of the biggest stars in Olympic history. The Soviet Union's Lydia Skoblikova, who still owns the record for most gold medals ever by a speed skater with six, won the 1,500m and 3,000m events in Squaw Valley.

But for the host nation, the big news was the hockey match-up with the Soviet Union. Twenty years before the memorable "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Lake Placid Games, there was the upstart 1960 American Olympic hockey team. Mirroring the Cold War tensions between the two superpowers, their final game drew mass attention and produced one of the greatest moments in American hockey history, as the U.S. defeated the Soviets 3-2 to win the gold. Canada won silver and the Soviets took bronze.

Canada's performance

Anne Heggtveit became Canada's first Olympic gold medallist in skiing. The 21-year-old Ottawa native had a disappointing start and finished 12th in both the downhill and giant slalom races. Determined and focused, Heggtveit regrouped to defeat American Betsy Snite by a whopping margin of more than three seconds to win gold in the slalom race – still the only medal a Canadian has ever won in this event.

In figure skating, Canada added two more medals to their Olympic haul. With a silver medal from the world championship, Donald Jackson seemed poised to claim a medal at the Olympics. He placed fourth after the compulsory figures and came from behind to win bronze in the free skate. Jackson also became the first figure skater to land a triple lutz in competition. He landed the jump at the 1962 world championships in Prague. The jump was so innovative that it would be 12 years before another skater matched his feat.

Pairs figure skaters Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul became the first North Amer icans to win gold in their event. Following the Olympics, the couple went on to win their fourth consecutive World Championship. Paul later settled into a successful career as the choreographer for future American Olympic champions Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill.