DESCRIPTION

The obverse has a spectacular-looking collage of athletes representing the nine winter sports in detailed relief. The reverse has the Lake Placid emblem in its center circled by the Olympic oath. The medal was presented in a white paper sleeve that enclosed a blue, hinged box.

THE GAMES

The 1980 Winter Games, held in Lake Placid, New York, were filled with impressive performances. The great Swedish skier, Ingemar Stenmark, won both the giant slalom and the slalom. Hanni Wenzel did the same in the women’s races and her nation, Liechtenstein, became the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion. Ulrich Wehling won the Nordic combined for the third time and pairs skater Irina Rodnina did the same in her event. In the biathlon relay, Aleksandr Tikhonov earned his fourth straight gold medal. Nikolay Zimyatov earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing. In an unprecedented achievement, Eric Heiden of the United States won all five speed skating races, from 500m all the way up to 10 000m. Nonetheless, for the home crowd, the highlight was the unexpected victory of the US ice hockey team known as “the miracle on ice”.