This is: Olympics 1956 - Cortina d'Ampezzo
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Olympics 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, January 26 - February 5
No. of countries: 32
No. of athletes: 820 (688 m + 132 w)
No. of events: 24 in 6 sports
Cortina d'Ampezza was compensated for the cancelled games in 1944. For the
first time the Soviet Union entered the Olympic Games, and became the leading
winter sports nation immediately. The divided Germany still competed under the
same flag. These games were also the first television broadcasted Olympics. Continuing
the tradition from Oslo four years earlier, there was an Olympic torch relay,
this time from Rome.
Austrian Toni Sailer won all three gold medals in alpine skiing,
crushing the opposition. His smallest victory margin was 3,5 seconds in the
downhill event. The Soviet Union beat Canada for the gold in the ice hockey
tournament. The Russian team went undefeated and only allowed 5 goals, non
against the 7 times Olympic champions Canada. For the first time, the ski jump
gold medal did not go to Norway, but to Finland instead.