www.olympic.org - Site Officiel du Mouvement Olympique

The 1956 Winter Olympics, held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, were most notable for the first appearance by a team from the USSR. The Soviets immediately won more medals than any other nation. Their speed skaters won three of the four events, while their ice hockey team ended Canada’s domination. Pavel Kolchin became the first non-Scandinavian to earn a medal in cross-country skiing. Anton Sailer won all three men’s races in Alpine skiing - the first clean sweep in Olympic history. Madeleine Berthod celebrated her birthday by winning the downhill by an amazing 4.7 seconds. The United States began to emerge as a definite power in figure skating as Tenley Albright won the women’s title and Hayes Alan Jenkins led an American medal sweep on the men’s side. The Cortina Games were the first to be televised and the last at which the figure skating competitions were held outdoors.







32 NOCs (Nations)

821 athletes (134 women, 687 men)

24 events

Cortina 26 January 1956. Opening Ceremony : Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo pronounces the Olympic Oath.

Official opening of the Games by: President Giovanni Gronchi

Lighting the Olympic Flame by: Guido Caroli (speed skating)

Olympic Oath by: Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo (skiing)

Official Oath by: The first officials' oath was sworn at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

Relive the opening ceremony

Toni Sailer (AUT-Alpine skiing) was the first Alpine skier to win three gold medals. He began by winning the giant slalom by 6.2 seconds, the largest margin of victory in the history of Olympic Alpine skiing. He then won the slalom, recording the fastest time in both runs, and the downhill by 3.5 seconds.


Discover Anton Sailer's biography

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In the ski jumping competition, the Finnish team inaugurated a new aerodynamic style, which consisted of holding the arms flat against the body rather than over the head in a diving position.

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