1956 winter Olympics

 Cortina D'Ampezzo was host of the 7th winter Olympics. The games ran from January 26 - February 5. 32 nations and 821 athletes participated. 

1. Soviet Union, Bolivia and Iran debuted here, while Korea, Liechtenstein and Turkey returned.

2. Many venues were within walking distance of each other.

3. First winter games to be televised multi nationally.

4. First female to give Olympic oath.  Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo had the honor.

5. USA beats Canada in hockey for the first time. With the USSR beating Canada on the final day of hockey, the Soviet Union wins first gold, beginning it's own dominance. Canada finished with bronze. USA got the silver.

6. Figure skating was held outdoors for the last time.

7. Italy gets on the bobsled podium for the first time. Finished with gold and silver in two man, and silver in four man.

8. Two new cross country skiing events.  Men's 30k (won by Veikko Hakulinen of Finland) and women's 3x5k (Sirka Polkunen, Mirja Hietamies and Siiri Rantanen of Finland won for Finland.

9. At the closing ceremonies, instead of having the athletes march in order like the opening ceremonies, the organizers had the athletes come in en masse. John Ian Wing of Australia had written the IOC and suggested the idea and the IOC liked it.

10. Two podium sweeps.  January 29 in the giant slalom event, Toni Sailer, Anderl Molterer and Walter Schuster of Austria swept the podium. 

Second sweep was in men's figure skating on February 1. Hayes Alan Jenkins, Ronald Robertson and David Jenkins of the USA owned the podium.

11. Soviet Union finished atop the medal standings with 7g, 3s 6b for 16 total. Host Italy had 1g and 2s for three total. Canada had 1 s and 2b for 3 total. Tomorrow - the 1960 winter Olympics in Squaw Valley CA.