Did you know?

Lack of snow

The organizers had to cope with serious problems concerning snow conditions. The Austrian Army had to remove 20,000 blocks of ice from the mountain side and transport them down to the luge and bobsleigh tracks. They also had to transport 40,000m3 of snow to the Alpine skiing slopes and leave 20,000m3 of spare snow as a back-up.

The flame was lit in Olympia

For the first time in the Winter Games, the flame was lit in Olympia. Since then, it has always been lit there.

Precision timing

Introduction of timing to a hundredth of a second in Alpine skiing.

(Credit: IOC. Click here for further information.)