Winter Olympics Through the Years: 1964

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff

Innsbruck

Death and unseasonably mild weather hung over the ninth Winter Games in the Tyrolean Alps.

Two athletes, 50–year-old British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skyszpeski and 19–year-old Australian downhill skier Ross Milne, were killed taking practice runs less than a week before the Games began. And three years before, on Feb. 15, 1961, a plane crash in Belgium had killed 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team—including America's top female skater, 16–year-old Laurence Owen.

Springlike temperatures plagued Innsbruck both before and during the Games, forcing the Austrian military to carry in over 50,000 cubic meters of snow from higher elevations.

The USSR won 11 gold medals—a combined seven by speed skater Lydia Skoblikova (4) and cross-country skier Claudia Boyarskikh (3). Other stars included the skiing Goitschel sisters, Christine and Marielle, of France; and cross-country skiers Eero Mäntyranta of Finland and 34–year-old Sixten Jernberg of Sweden.

The lone U.S. gold medal was won by 23–year-old barber Terry McDermott in speed skating.

Top 10 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.

  GoldSilverBronzePts
1USSR (25)118655
2Norway (15)36627
3Austria (12)45325
4Finland (10)34320
5France (7)34017
6Sweden (7)33116
 Germany (8)32316
8USA (6)12310
9Holland (2)1105
 Canada (3)1025
 Italy (4)0135

Leading Medal Winners

Number of individual medals won on the left; gold, silver and bronze breakdown to the right.

Men

No SportG-S-B
3Eero Mäntyranta, FINX-country2-1-0
3Sixten Jernberg, SWEX-country2-0-1
2Toralf Engan, NORSki Jump1-1-0
2Veikko Kankkonen, FINSki Jump1-1-0
2Assar Rönnlund, SWEX-country1-1-0
2Knut Johannesen, NORSp. Skate1-0-1
2Pepi Stiegler, AUTAlpine1-0-1
2Harald Grönningen, NORX-country0-2-0
2Fred Maier, NORSp. Skate0-1-1
2Arto Tiainen, FINX-country0-1-1
2Torgeir Brandtzaeg, NORSki jump0-0-2
2Eugenio Monti, ITABobsled0-0-2
2Sergio Siorpaes, ITABobsled0-0-2
2Igor Voronchikin, USSRX-country0-0-2

Women

No SportG-S-B
4Lydia Skoblikova, USSRSp. Skate4-0-0
3Claudia Boyarskikh, USSRX-country3-0-0
2Christine Goitschel, FRAAlpine1-1-0
2Marielle Goitschel, FRAAlpine1-1-0
2Eudokia Mekshilo, USSRX-country1-1-0
2Alevtina Kolchina, USSRX-country1-0-1
2Mirja Lehtonen, FINX-country0-1-1
2Kaija Mustonen, FINSp. Skate0-1-1
2Jean Saubert, USAAlpine0-1-1
2Irina Yegorova, USSRSp. Skate0-2-0

Alpine Skiing

Men

Event  Time
DownhillEgon Zimmermann, AUT2:18.16
SlalomPepi Stiegler, AUT2:11.13
G.SlalomFrancois Bonlieu, FRA1:46.71
Note: In the Slalom, Billy Kidd (2nd) and Jimmy Heuga (3rd) won the first U.S. men's Alpine medals ever.

Women

Event  Time
DownhillChristl Haas, AUT1:55.39
SlalomChristine Goitschel, FRA1:29.86
G.SlalomMarielle Goitschel, FRA1:52.24

Biathlon

Event MTAdj.Time
20 kmVladimir Melanin, USSR01:20:26.8

Bobsled

Event  Time
2-ManGBR (Tony Nash & Robin Dixon)4:21.90
4-ManCAN (Victor Emery, Peter Kirby, 
 Doug Anakin, John Emery)4:14.46

Figure Skating

Event  Points
MenManfred Schnelldorfer, GER1916.9
WomenSjoukje Dijkstra, NED2018.5
PairsLyudmila Belousova  
 & Oleg Protopopov, USSR104.4

Ice Hockey

Championship Round

(Overall records in parentheses)

  GmW-L-TPtsGFGA
1USSR (8-0-0)77-0-0145410
2Sweden (6-2-0)75-2-0104716
3Czechoslovakia (6-2-0)75-2-0103819
4Canada (6-2-0)75-2-0103217
5USA (3-5-0)72-5-042933
6Finland (3-5-0)72-5-041031
7Germany (3-5-0)72-5-041349
8Switzerland (1-7-0)70-7-00957

Luge

3

Event  Time
1-SeatThomas Köhler, GER3:26.77
2-SeatJosef Feistmantl &
Manfred Stengl, AUT
1:41.62

Women

Event  Time
1-SeatOrtrun Enderlein, GER3:24.67

Nordic Skiing

Men

Cross Country

Event  Time
15kmEero Mäntyranta, FIN50:54.1
30kmEero Mäntyranta, FIN1:30:50.7
50kmSixten Jernberg, SWE2:43:52.6
4x10kmSWE (Karl-Åke Asph, Sixten Jernberg
 Janne Stefansson, Assar Rönnlund)2:18:34.6

Ski Jumping

Event  Points
70mVeikko Kankkonen, FIN229.9
80mToralf Engan, NOR230.7

Nordic Combined

Event Points
15km/JumpTormod Knutsen, NOR469.28

Women

Cross Country

Event  Time
5kmClaudia Boyarskikh, USSR17:50.5
10kmClaudia Boyarskikh, USSR40:24.3
3x5kmUSSR (Alevtina Kolchina, Eudokia
 Mekshilo, Claudia Boyarskikh)59:20.2

Speed Skating

Men

Event  Time  
500mTerry McDermott, USA40.1OR
1500mAnts Antson, USSR2:10.3 
5000mKnut Johannesen, NOR7:38.4OR
10,000mJonny Nilsson, SWE15:50.1 

Women

Event  Time  
500mLydia Skoblikova, USSR45.0OR
1000mLydia Skoblikova, USSR1:33.2OR
1500mLydia Skoblikova, USSR2:22.6OR
3000mLydia Skoblikova, USSR5:14.9 
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