Overview:

Officially called “VI Olympic Winter Games”, the 1952 Winter Olympics was a winter sports event held in the capital city of Norway, Oslo. The prospect of Oslo hosting the Winter Olympics was persistent from the year 1935. It was supposed to host the 1948 games, but the aftermath of the Second World War deemed this unfeasible.

It got the opportunity to host the 1952 games instead, beating Lake Placid and Cortina d’Ampezzo in the bidding process. The financial burden for hosting these games was accepted by the city of Oslo and most of the events were held in Oslo’s metropolitan areas. The alpine events were held in Norefjell, which is 70 miles away from Oslo.

The games witnessed the participation of 30 countries competing in 22 different events. Germany and Japan, who were banned from taking part in the previous Olympics, made a comeback in these games. New Zealand and Portugal participated in the Winter Olympics for the first time. The opening ceremony witnessed King George VI being honored as he passed away 8 days before the games commenced. The Winter Olympics of 1952 also marked the beginning of a new tradition; the use of the Winter Olympics flag. This flag is passed from one host-city to another and is popularly called the “Oslo Flag”.

Notable Highlights:

The 1952 Winter Olympics witnessed a Norwegian truck driver by the name of Hjalmar Andersen winning 3 out of the 4 speed skating events. The three gold medals won by him made him the player to win the maximum number of gold medals in the games. Dick Button of the USA became the first person who performed the triple jump in figure skating. This feat won him the gold medal in the event. The total medal count was dominated by the home country, Norway, which won 16 medals, out of which 7 were gold.