1952 Winter Olympics

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From the opening ceremony at Bislett Stadium

The opening ceremonies were held in Bislett Stadium on 15 February.[14] King George VI of Great Britain had died on 6 February 1952 with his daughter Elizabeth II took the throne as queen, eight days before the start of the Games.[24] As a result, all national flags were flown at half-mast, and Princess Ragnhild opened the Games in place of her grandfather, King Haakon VII, who was in London attending the funeral.[25] This was the first time an Olympic Games had been declared open by a female official.[1] The parade of nations was held according to tradition, with Greece first, the rest of the nations proceeding by Norwegian alphabetical order, with the host nation last.[26] The British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand teams all wore black arm bands at the opening ceremonies in memory of their monarch.[27] After the parade of nations the Olympic flame was lit.[14] On 13 February, at the start of the inaugural Winter Olympics torch relay, the torch was lit in the hearth of the Morgedal House, birthplace of skiing pioneer Sondre Norheim.[1] The torch relay lasted two days and took place entirely on skis.[1][26] At the opening ceremonies the final torch bearer, Eigil Nansen, received the Olympic torch and skied to a flight of stairs where he removed his skis, ascended, and ignited the flame.[28]

The bobsleigh and alpine skiing events were held the day before the opening ceremonies.[29] Competitors in these events were unable to attend the festivities in Oslo; consequently simple opening ceremonies were held at Frognerseteren, site of the bobsleigh events, and Norefjell, site of the alpine skiing events.[30]

The gold medal-winning four-man bobsleigh from Germany

After a 16-year hiatus from the Olympics Germany made a triumphant return to the bobsleigh competition, winning the two- and four-man events.[31] The results for both bobsleigh events were the same, with the United States and Switzerland taking silver and bronze respectively.[31] Fritz Feierabend from Switzerland competed in both the two- and four-man competitions. His two bronze medals were the fourth and fifth in an Olympic career that spanned 16 years and three Olympics.[32] There were no weight restrictions on the bobsleigh athletes, and the average weight for each member of the winning German four-man team was 117 kg (258 lb), which was more than the Olympic heavyweight boxing champion in 1952.[31] Seeing the undue advantage overweight athletes brought to their teams, the International Federation for Bobsleigh and Toboganning instituted a weight limit for future Olympics.[33]

All of the speed skating events were held at Bislett Stadium.[34] Americans Ken Henry and Don McDermott placed first and second in the 500-meter race, but Norwegian truck driver Hjalmar Andersen electrified the partisan crowd by winning the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000-meter events;[34][35] his margins of victory were the largest in Olympic history.[1] Dutchman Wim van der Voort placed second in the 1,500 meters and his countryman Kees Broekman placed second to Andersen in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races, becoming the first Olympic speed skating medalists from the Netherlands.[34] Absent from the competition was former world champion Kornél Pajor. The Hungarian-born speed skater had won both long-distance races at the World Championships held in Oslo in 1949 and then defected to Sweden,[34] but was unable to obtain Swedish citizenship in time to compete in 1952.[34]

Stein Eriksen in the alpine skiing during the Olympics

There were three alpine skiing events on the Olympic program: the slalom, giant slalom and downhill. Both men and women competed in all three events, held at Norefjell and Rødkleiva.[36] The giant slalom made its Olympic debut at the 1952 Games.[37] Austrian skiers dominated the competition, winning seven out of a possible 18 medals, including Othmar Schneider who won gold and silver in the men's slalom and downhill. Norwegian Stein Eriksen won gold in the men's giant slalom and silver in the slalom.[36] Greek slalom skier Antoin Miliordos fell 18 times on his run and crossed the finish line backwards.[38][39][40] American skier Andrea Mead Lawrence was the only double gold medalist, winning the giant slalom and the slalom. She was the first skier from the United States to win two alpine skiing gold medals.[41]

All the cross-country events were held next to the ski jump hill at Holmenkollbakken. As had been the case in 1948 there were three men's events: 18 kilometers, 50 kilometers, and a relay.[42] Added to the Olympic program for the first time was a ten-kilometer race for women.[43] All the cross-country medals were won by Nordic countries, and Finnish skiers won eight of the twelve possible.[42] Lydia Wideman of Finland became the first female Olympic champion in cross-country skiing; her teammates Mirja Hietamies and Siiri Rantanen won silver and bronze respectively. Veikko Hakulinen won the 50-kilometer men's race to begin an Olympic career that would culminate in seven medals, three of them gold.[43] Hallgeir Brenden won the 18-kilometer race and helped Norway take the silver in the 4 × 10-kilometer relay. Brenden went on to win another gold in the men's 15-kilometer race in 1956, and a silver in the relay in 1960.[44]

The nordic combined event was held at the cross-country and ski jump venues. For the first time, the ski jump part took place first with competitors taking three jumps from the Holmenkollbakken. The 18-km cross country skiing event took place the next day. Results were tallied by the best two marks were scored, along with the results of the cross-country race, to determine a winner.[45] Norwegians Simon Slåttvik and Sverre Stenersen won the gold and bronze respectively.[46] Stenersen went on to win the gold at the 1956 Games in the same event.[47] Heikki Hasu from Finland won the silver, preventing a Norwegian sweep of the medals.[46]

Crowds in excess of 100,000 greeted the ski jumpers as they competed at Holmenkollbakken.[48] In 1952 there was only one event, the men's normal hill, which was held on 24 February.[49] The King, Prince Harald, and Princess Ragnhild were in attendance.[48] The Norwegian athletes did not disappoint the crowd, as Arnfinn Bergmann and Torbjørn Falkanger placed first and second; Swedish jumper Karl Holmström took the bronze.[50] Norwegian athletes won the ski jumping gold medal in every Winter Olympics from 1924 to 1952.[51]

There were three events in the Olympic figure skating competition: men's singles, women's singles and mixed pairs. The events were held at Bislett Stadium on a rink constructed inside the speed skating track.[52]

Dick Button of the United States won the men's singles event. Helmut Seibt of Austria took silver and James Grogan of the United States won bronze.[53] Button became the first figure-skater to land a triple jump in competition when he performed the triple loop in the men's free skate.[54][55] British skater Jeannette Altwegg won the gold medal in the women's singles, the silver was won by American Tenley Albright, who went on to win gold at the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo,[56] and Jacqueline du Bief of France won the bronze.[57] The German husband and wife pair of Ria and Paul Falk won the mixed pairs competition.[58] They defeated Americans Karol and Peter Kennedy, who placed second,[59] and Hungarian siblings Marianna and László Nagy, who won the bronze medal.[60]

The jersey of Canada's Edmonton Mercurys, the ice hockey gold medal winners

A majority of the ice hockey matches took place at Jordal Amfi, a new hockey stadium built for the Olympics.[61] Nine teams played in the tournament and Canada again won the gold medal.[62] Canada had won all but one Olympic hockey tournament thus far, but in 1956 the Soviet team began to compete and ended Canadian dominance.[63] Canada was represented by the Edmonton Mercurys, an amateur hockey team sponsored by the owner of a Mercury automobile dealership.[63] Canada played the United States to a three all tie on the final day to clinch the gold, and the Americans won silver.[64] The official report of the USOC for the 1952 Olympics covers the game in great detail. According to the report, by the end of the game against Canada, the Americans were mentally and physically exhausted and after scoring the third goal and tying the game they decided to focus on defense in order not to lose silver. It is important to note that Canadians at the time were considered unbeatable and even tying that team was almost impossible.[65] Sweden and Czechoslovakia ended up tied for third (Czechoslovakia defeated the Swedes in the head-to-head game, but according to the rules at the time they had to play a tiebreaker game because they were tied in points). Sweden won that game and avenged the loss in the round-robin.[62] The Czechs believed they had already won the bronze when they defeated the Swedes in the round-robin, calling the decision to play a tie-breaking game a "plot of the capitalist countries".[64] Canadian team was criticized for its rough play; although body checking was legal, it was not often used by European teams, and opponents and spectators alike took a dim view of that style of play.[15][62]

The IOC lobbied the organizing committee to host either military patrol or curling as a demonstration sport.[23] The committee instead selected bandy, which had never been included in the Winter Games.[66] Bandy, which is popular in Nordic countries, is played by teams of eleven on an outdoor soccer field-sized ice rink, using a small ball and sticks about 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long.[67] As it was a demonstration sport, the players were ineligible for medals. Three nations participated: Finland, Norway and Sweden.[68] Each of the three teams won one game and lost one game; with Sweden winning the competition based on number of goals scored, followed by Norway in second place, and Finland in third place. Two of the games were played at Dæhlenenga Stadium and one at Bislett Stadium.[69]

The "Oslo flag"

At the 1952 Winter Games, the closing ceremonies were a distinct program listing, unlike previous Winter Games when the closing ceremonies were held directly after the final event. The closing ceremonies were held in Bislett Stadium, on Monday evening, 25 February.[70] The flag bearers entered the stadium in the same order they followed for the opening ceremonies. That evening four medal ceremonies were also held for the women's cross-country race, the men's cross-country relay, the ski jumping competition, and the ice hockey tournament.[70]

Since 1920, the "Antwerp flag" has been passed from host city to host city during closing ceremonies for the Summer Games.[71] The city of Oslo gave an Olympic flag to establish the same tradition for the Winter Games. Brynjulf Bull, Oslo's mayor, passed the flag to the president of the IOC, Sigfrid Edström, who declared the flag was to pass from host city to host city for future Winter Games. The flag, which came to be known as the "Oslo Flag", has since been preserved in a display case, with the name of every Winter Olympics host city engraved on brass plaques, and is brought to each Winter Games to be displayed. A replica is used during the closing ceremonies.[72]

After the flag ceremony the Olympic flame was extinguished, a special speed skating race was held, and the figure skating competitors gave an exhibition, followed by 40 children dressed in national costumes performing an ice dance.[73] For a finale, to the close the Games, the lights were extinguished and a 20-minute fireworks display lit up the night sky.[73]