Winter Olympic Games

Events > Olympics > Winter > Hosts > Cortina d'Ampezzo

Host City: Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956

The Winter Olympic Games were held in Corina d'Ampezzo, Italy, in 1956, between Jan 26-Feb 5. 32 Nations with 820 participants competed in 24 events.

These were the first Winter Games to be televised.
At these Games the Soviet Union (USSR) participated in its first ever Winter Olympics, and were able to take home the most medals, including the gold medal in ice hockey.
Toni Sailer of Austria became the first skier to sweep all three Alpine events.
The U.S. made a near clean sweep five of the six medals in individual figure skating, the lone exception being Austria's Ingrid Wendl's who won a bronze.