The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games (Italian: VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 (Ladin: Anpezo 1956 or Ampëz 1956), were a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956.

Cortina, which had originally been awarded the 1944 Winter Olympics, beat out Montreal, Colorado Springs and Lake Placid for the right to host the 1956 Games.

The organising committee received financial support from the Italian government for infrastructure improvements, but the rest of the costs for the Games had to be privately financed.

[2] Cortina d'Ampezzo is a ski resort village situated in the Dolomite Alps in the north-eastern corner of Italy.

During the 38th IOC Congress held in London in 1939, Cortina d'Ampezzo was awarded the 1944 Winter Olympics, but the Games were canceled due to the outbreak of World War II.

A delegation, led by Count Bonacossa, presented Cortina's bid to host the 1952 Winter Olympics at the 40th IOC Session in Stockholm, Sweden.

They were backed by the city's council and the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano).

Korea, Liechtenstein, and Turkey returned after having missed the 1952 Winter Olympics, while Argentina, Denmark, New Zealand, and Portugal did not compete at these Games,[9] after having participated in the previous edition.

They did this by setting aside monies from their own budget, ticket sales, and even culling funds from local football betting pools.

[1] For example, Fiat was designated the official car of the 1956 Winter Olympics, and Olivetti supplied typewriters for the 400 journalists attending the Games.

According to many experts, that gave the Soviet Union a huge advantage over the United States and other Western countries, whose athletes were students or real amateurs.

In the midst of the Cold War, Europe was a propaganda battlefield as countries relayed television signals across the Iron Curtain.

[25] By 1956, countries in the Soviet sphere of influence had achieved a technological advantage and were able to broadcast communist television programmes into Finland, the eastern border regions and more isolated geographic areas of West Germany and Austria, where residents had coverage from an East German broadcast with a pro-communist point-of-view.

For example, the grand stand at the cross-country ski venue (Lo Stadio della neve) was built facing south so that the television cameras would not be adversely affected by the rising or setting sun.

Athletes representing 32 nations marched in the ceremony and Mr Giovanni Gronchi, President of the Italian Republic, declared the Games open.

While he was entered on a circuit of the Ice Stadium he tripped and fell over a television cable; he regained his feet and lit the cauldron.

[36][37] Italians Renzo Alverà and Eugenio Monti won the silver in the two-man competition and were also on the silver-winning four-man sleigh.

The Russian team was leading only 1–0 late into the third period but then scored three in quick succession, overwhelming the underdogs and winning the match 4–0.

The USSR then played Canada, who still had a chance to win the gold if they defeated the Soviets, and won 2–0 despite being dramatically outshot in the first and second periods.

The USSR won gold, the United States surprisingly took silver and Canada, with their two losses, earned bronze, their worst result to date in Olympic play.

[48] Sigvard Ericsson of Sweden earned gold and silver medals and set an Olympic record in the 10,000 metre event.

[1] Led by Sailer, the Austrians dominated the alpine skiing events for both men and women, winning nine out of a possible eighteen medals.

[57] At the Cortina Games, the format was altered to allow the Nordic combined athletes to compete in a dedicated 15 kilometre cross-country race.

Finnish jumpers Antti Hyvärinen and Aulis Källakorpi took first and second place;[32] Harry Glass of Germany won the bronze medal.

[66] The Olympic Ice Stadium (Stadio Olimpico Del Ghiaccio)[67] was intended to be the focal point of the Games.

The stadium was used for the opening and closing ceremonies, all of the figure skating competitions and main ice hockey games.

After the Games, the organising committee made the Ice Stadium a gift to the city of Cortina and turned it on a permanent installation.

Two grandstands, each with a capacity for 3,000 people, were placed on either side of the landing slope; a natural amphitheatre at the bottom of the hill could hold up to 40,000 standing spectators.

[72] The Snow Stadium (Stadio della neve) was constructed 2 km (1.2 mi) from Cortina, and hosted all of the cross-country events.

In previous years, lack of snow was never an issue, but in the winter of 1956 there was insufficient snowfall for skiers to safely navigate the runs.