Lake Placid
Back in 1928, American Irving Jaffee had the fastest time in the 10,000–meter speed skating race at St. Moritz only to lose his gold medal when thawing ice made it necessary to call the event off with no official winner.
Four years later, Jaffee won the 10,000 and the 5,000–meter races and local hero Jack Shea won at 500 and 1,500 meters as the U.S. swept all four speed skating events—which were run as actual races (not timed heats) for the first time in Olympic history.
Billy Fiske, who had driven the 5–man U.S. bobsled to a gold medal at St. Moritz when he was only 16, steered the 4–man sled to victory in 1932. On board was Eddie Eagan, the 1920 Olympic light heavyweight champion, who remains the only athlete ever to win gold medals in both the Winter and Summer Games.
Canada won its fourth consecutive hockey gold medal, but 38–year-old Gillis Grafstrom of Sweden missed in his bid for a fourth straight men's figure skating title, placing second to 22–year-old Austrian Karl Schafer.
Top 5 Standings
National medal standings are not recognized by the IOC. The unofficial point totals are based on 3 points for a gold medal, 2 for a silver and 1 for a bronze. Total medals are in parentheses.
| | | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Points |
|---|
| 1 | USA (12) | 6 | 4 | 2 | 28 |
| 2 | Norway (10) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 20 |
| 3 | Canada (7) | 1 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| 4 | Sweden (3) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| 5 | Finland (3) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Leading Medal Winners
Number of individual medals won on the left; gold, silver and bronze breakdown to the right.
| No | | Sport | G-S-B |
|---|
| 2 | Irving Jaffee, USA | Sp. Skate | 2-0-0 |
| 2 | Jack Shea, USA | Sp. Skate | 2-0-0 |
| 2 | Veli Saarinen, FIN | X-country | 1-0-1 |
| 2 | Alex Hurd, CAN | Sp. Skate | 0-1-1 |
| 2 | William Logan, CAN | Sp. Skate | 0-0-2 |
Bobsled
| Event | | Time |
|---|
| 2-Man | USA (J.Hubert Stevens & Curtis Stevens) | 8:14.74 |
| 4-Man | USA (Billy Fiske, Eddie Eagan,
Clifford Gray, Jay O'Brien) | 7:53.68 |
Figure Skating
| Event | | Points |
|---|
| Men | Karl Schäfer, AUT | 2602.0 |
| Women | Sonja Henie, NOR | 2302.5 |
| Pairs | Andrée Joly Brunet & Pierre Brunet, FRA | 76.7 |
Ice Hockey
| | | Gm | W-L-T | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|
| 1 | Canada | 6 | 5-0-1 | 11 | 32 | 4 |
| 2 | USA | 6 | 4-1-1 | 9 | 27 | 5 |
| 3 | Germany | 6 | 2-4-0 | 4 | 7 | 26 |
| 4 | Poland | 6 | 0-6-0 | 0 | 3 | 34 |
Note: Due to the worldwide Depression, only four teams competed. Each side played the other teams twice. Canada beat the U.S., 2–1, in their first game and tied the Americans, 2–2, in triple overtime in the second. A win by the U.S. in Game 2 would have resulted in a third contest to decide the gold medal.
Nordic Skiing
Cross Country
| Event | | Time | |
|---|
| 18km | Sven Utterström, SWE | 1:23.07 | |
| 50km | Veli Saarinen, FIN | 4:28.00 | |
Ski Jumping
| Event | | Points | |
|---|
| 90m | Birger Rudd, NOR | 228.1 | |
Nordic Combined
| Event | | Points |
|---|
| 18km/Jump | Johan Gröttumsbråten, NOR | 446.00 |
Speed Skating
| Event | | Time | |
|---|
| 500m | Jack Shea, USA | 43.4 | OR |
| 1500m | Jack Shea, USA | 2:57.5 | |
| 5000m | Irving Jaffee, USA | 9:40.8 | |
| 10,000m | Irving Jaffee, USA | 19:13.6 | |
Note: For the only time in the history of the Winter Games, all events were staged as races rather than two-man heats against the clock.
