The Closing Ceremony took place on 28 February 1960, following the ski jumping competition and the final match of the ice hockey tournament. It played out in front of a capacity crowd at the Blyth Memorial Arena, with many more spectators having gathered outside.

Ski jumping pioneer Helmut Recknagel was born in 1937 in Steinbach-Hallenberg, in what later became the German Democratic Republic.

There were not many who believed that the USA had much chance of winning Olympic ice hockey gold in Squaw Valley, despite the advantage of a fervent home crowd behind them.

Soviet speed skater Lidiya Skoblikova had very good reason to remember her maiden Winter Games at Squaw Valley. Aged just 20, she posted a world record in winning the 1,500m and an Olympic record in landing 3,000m gold. She would follow that double up in emphatic style four years later in Innsbruck 1964, claiming four more golds to cement her place as the most successful Olympic speed skater of all time.

Women’s speed skating had made its Olympic debut as a demonstration sport at Lake Placid 1932, with the first world championships being held in Stockholm (SWE) four years later. It was finally included on the official Games programme at Squaw Valley 1960, where medals were up for grabs in the 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m and 3,000m.

The Soviet Union had dominated the international women’s cross country scene since the inclusion of women’s events on the FIS World Championship programme in Falun (SWE) in 1954.

Sweden’s Sixten Jernberg had been the most successful athlete at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956, featuring on every single one of the men’s cross country podiums. As well as gold in the 50km, he had taken silvers in the 30km and 15km and bronze in the 4x10km relay.