Volta
Culture18–28 February 1960

1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics

Also called: VIII Olympic Winter Games, 1960 Winter Olympics, Palisades Tahoe 1960

Games at Squaw Valley in California’s Sierra Nevada, with the first athletes’ village and the first use of a computer to process results.

Ski-jumping medallists on the podium at Squaw Valley, 28 February 1960
Ski-jumping medallists on the podium at Squaw Valley, 28 February 1960

Unknown author · Public domain · Source

Thirty nations took part from 18 to 28 February. When it won the Games, Squaw Valley was a valley with a single resort. Walt Disney staged the opening and closing ceremonies, the athletes were housed together in an Olympic village for the first time, and an IBM computer processed the results. Biathlon and women’s speed skating were added, but with few nations entering, no bobsleigh track was built, making these the only Winter Games without bobsleigh. The United States won ice hockey for the first time.

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States and rulers at the time
United States · host — President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Before and after

Earlier
1955 Vietnam War
Later
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

Themes that include this event

  • Winter Olympics1924 – 2026

    From the “International Winter Sports Week” at Chamonix to PyeongChang and Milano Cortina — a century on snow and ice, with Korea’s first appearance and first gold