Selection of the host city

After Lake Placid hosted the 1932 Olympic Winter Games, the community continued to bid on upcoming editions of the Games, submitting seven total bid attempts, including 1948, 1952, 1956. Three of these were supported by the United States Olympic Committee^[4] and presented to the International Olympic Committee: 1968, 1976 and 1980.^[4] Until 1980, each of the bid attempts failed, either due to falling short of gaining support at the national level, or during the IOC vote. When Denver withdrew after being selected to host the 1976 Winter Games, the USOC initially supported Salt Lake City to replace Denver. But on January 26, 1973, the Salt Lake City bid collapsed due to unsecured financial backing and discontent by Utah residents.^[5] Lake Placid organizers submitted a late bid to host the 1976 Games to the IOC in February 1973, with the support of the USOC.^[5][6] The IOC selected Innsbruck, Austria to host the 1976 Games in place of Denver, with Lake Placid finishing as the runner-up.^[7][8] IOC President Lord Killanin later stated that members of the IOC executive favored the Austrian bid as a way to "make peace with the people of Austria" over the decision in 1972 to declare Austrian skiing star Karl Schranz ineligible for the games as a professional athlete.^[5]

Undeterred, Lake Placid re-submitted the materials for the 1976 bid for the 1980 Winter Games, secured the support of the United States Olympic Committee on November 20, 1973,^[9] and made the official bid in September 1974.^[4] The United States Olympic Committee, embarrassed by Denver's 1976 withdrawal, required Lake Placid's bid to be widely supported by residents and government. Lake Placid satisfied the USOC requirements, with a referendum held in October 1973 garnering 75 per cent support for hosting the games, a joint resolution of the New York Legislature, a joint resolution from the Congress of the United States, a letter of support from the Governor of New York and the President of the United States.^[4] Lake Placid also secured the support of the environmental groups Sierra Club and Adirondack Mountain Club.^[10]

Three other cities declared themselves candidates for the 1980 Winter Games: Vancouver—Garibaldi (Canada), Lahti (Finland) and Chamonix (France).^[9] The bids for Lahti and Chamonix were withdrawn early in the bid process, and Vancouver, which was unable obtain the support of the Government of British Columbia, withdrew its candidacy on October 4, 1974.^[9] The members of the IOC awarded the 1980 Winter Games to Lake Placid on October 23, 1974 during the 75th IOC Session in Vienna.^{[9][11][12][13][14][10]}

International political context

The Lake Placid Games took place in the shadow of the Cold War with a number of other complex international events occurring in the lead up to the games. In November 1979, Sixty-two Americans were taken hostage at the United States Embassy in Tehran by Iranian militants, a situation that would not resolve until after the Games.^[15] In December 1979, the Soviet Union began the invasion of Afghanistan, which led to United States President Jimmy Carter calling for the international boycott of the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow.^[15] The Western governments first considered the idea of boycotting the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics in response to the situation in Afghanistan at the 20 December 1979 meeting of NATO representatives. The idea was not completely new to the world: in the mid 1970s, proposals for an Olympic boycott circulated widely among human rights activists and groups as a sanction for Soviet violations of human rights.^[16] At that time, very few member governments expressed interest in the proposal. However, this idea gained popularity in early January 1980 when Soviet nuclear scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov called for a boycott. On 14 January 1980, the Carter Administration joined Sakharov's appeal and set a deadline by which the Soviet Union must pull out of Afghanistan or face the consequences, including an international boycott of the games. On 26 January 1980, Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark announced that Canada, like the US, would boycott the Olympic Games if Soviet forces did not leave Afghanistan by 20 February 1980.^[17] Carter also proposed moving the Olympics to Greece on a permanent basis to eliminate the issue of politicisation of the Games' hosting, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rejected this idea.^[18] Ultimately, 66 nations would boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics, but this did not impact the Lake Placid Games.

Another ongoing international situation was the conflict between People's Republic of China and Taiwan. Taiwan competed under the name of "Republic of China" and with its national flag until the 1976 Winter Games. In October 1979, the International Olympic Committee recognized the Olympic Committee of the People's Republic of China after threats from China to withdraw from the Games, and forced Taiwan to take the name "Chinese Taipei" and to adopt a new flag for the 1980 Games.^[15] The decision was appealed to Swiss court, and was upheld on January 15, 1980.^[15] The Taiwanese delegation refused to comply with the IOC's decision and arrived at the Olympic Village with the same flag and the same name as before. After being refused entry, the Taiwan team canceled their participation in the Games.^[15] The People's Republic of China, which threatened to withdraw if Taiwan participated under the name of "Republic of China", took part in its first Olympic Games since 1952 and the first Winter Games in its history.^[15][19][20]

Organizing Committee

The Lake Placid Olympic Organizing Committee (LPOOC) was established as a not-for-profit corporation in December 1974. Its board of directors was made up of 48 people, with a 13 member executive board. Ron MacKenzie, who was instrumental in developing the region and securing the Games, was the chair of the organizing committee when it was founded. He died in December 1978, fourteen months before the start of the Games.^[21] J. Bernard Fell was the chairman of the board of directors and Art Devlin was the vice-chairman.^[22][23] The LPOOC's vision for the Games was a simple Games that would return to the basics of the Olympic movement.^[9]

Finances

The budget for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games grew from an initial projection of US$30 million,^[9] to a total of US$168.7 million. The cost of the games was financed by three parties, the Federal government ($82.7 million), the State of New York ($32.4 million), and the organizing committee ($53.6 million).^[24] In the 2016 study of cost overruns at Olympic Games at Oxford University, researchers found the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games had the largest cost overruns of any Winter Games at 324 per cent above the planned cost.^[25] The budget overruns were attributed to environmental protection measures, additional work undertaken to modernize existing facilities, overly optimistic cost estimates, and inflation.^[26] The Games ended with a deficit of $8.5 million. After a request for funds and the authorities' refusal, the organizing committee saw no other option but to declare bankruptcy, but in January 1981 the Governor of New York announced that the remaining deficit would be paid by New York State.^[27]

The construction was financed by the Federal government and the State of New York at a total cost of $92 million^[28] including $22.7 million for the Olympic Village, $16.9 million for the Olympic Center, more than $15 million for the alpine ski center of Whiteface Mountain, $7.9 million for the facilities of Mont Van Hoevenberg (cross-country skiing, bobsleigh and biathlon), $5.4 million for the ski jumps and $5.3 million for the bobsled run. Additional costs included transport improvements totaling $4.8 million, the extension of the electricity and hydroelectric network at $2.7 million, and construction for the headquarters of the New York State Police at $3.8 million. In addition, $8 million was allocated for security costs. The expenses of the organizing committee were mainly administrative totaling $48.1 million, and for press and broadcasting centers.^[29][30][27]

The increasing costs for the Games and charges of nepotism and mismanagement resulted in a federal auditor investigating the LPOOC.^[9] Public questions regarding accounting practices and contract awards resulted in the LPOOC's marketing director to be replaced.^[31] Further scrutiny came when another director was asked to resign when it became public they had not filed income taxes for a number of years.^[31] The company awarded the food management contract for the Games came under federal investigation for associations with organized crime.^[31]

Revenue for the LPOOC came primarily from sponsorship contracts signed with more than 200 companies totaling around $30 million in cash, goods or services, and from the sale of broadcasting rights totaling $21 million and included $8 million donated to the IOC.^[32]

Around 550,000 tickets were distributed for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. Ticket distribution to the public included different regions of the United States (65.8%), Canada (6%) and other countries (8.2%). The remainder was distributed among sponsors and suppliers (8.7%), the US Olympic committee, the organizing committee, authorities, donors and authorized companies (10.1%) or kept in reserve (1.2 %). The public prices for tickets ranged from $15 to $70.^[33]

Security

Security for the Lake Placid Winter Games was provided by the New York State Police and 26 other agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The organizing committee also hired the private security company Pinkerton National Detective Agency. The security headquarters were located at Ray Brook, which also was the site of the Olympic Village. Police officers were trained in hostage negotiation techniques and various sensors were installed to detect any terrorist attack. A four meter double barrier was erected surrounding the Olympic Village.^[30]

Transportation

The Lake Placid Winter Games were plagued with transportation problems complicating the planning and operations of the Games. The small mountain community did not have the accommodations or resources to handle the expected 50,000 spectators each day.^[9] Most of the accommodations within the community were reserved for Games officials, athletes' families, meaning spectators commuted as much as 90 miles daily to attend events.^[9] Anticipating these challenges, the LPOOC prohibited private cars from entering Lake Placid for the duration of the Games. Instead the LPOOC provided car parks and a shuttle system to transport spectators to the competition venues, and hired 60 taxis and 300 coaches, instead of the 450 initially planned, to be available to athletes, coaches, officials and VIPs.^[34]

The first evidence that the Games would be plagued with transportation issues came with the February 1979 pre-Olympic ski jumping competition which saw spectators create an 11 mile traffic jam.^[9] Once the Games started, the inadequate transportation planning was evident quickly as American and Soviet athletes arrived late for the opening ceremony.^[9] Throughout the Games the main street of Lake Placid was often blocked by traffic jams, and journalists, spectators and athletes found long waits at bus stops. Spectators were often left stranded either missing events or unable to return home from events.^[9] After five days, the Governor of New York Hugh Carey declared a partial state of emergency to address the issues.^[9]

The LPOOC attributed the transportation challenges, among other things, to the lack of communication with transport companies and the State.^[34][35]

Visual identity

The Emblem of the 1980 Olympic Winter Games contains several symbols. The right part is reminiscent of the mountains surrounding Lake Placid and the left part is a stylized Ionic Column that refers to Ancient Olympics. The indentation at the top of the column represents two basins which symbolize the two editions of the Games organized in Lake Placid. On the Games poster, the Olympic rings overhang this emblem.