text: 1948 winter olympics the 1948 winter olympics , officially known as the v olympic winter games ( french : les ves jeux olympiques d 'hiver ) ( german : 1948 ) ( italian : v giochi ) ( romansh : d 1948 ) , was a winter multi - sport event celebrated in 1948 in st. moritz , switzerland . the games were the first to be celebrated after world war ii ; it had been 12 years since the last winter games in 1936 . from the selection of a host city in a neutral country to the exclusion of japan and germany , the political atmosphere of the post - war world was inescapable during the games . the organizing committee faced several challenges due to the lack of financial and human resources consumed by the war . these were the first of two winter olympic games under the ioc presidency of sigfrid edström . there were 28 nations that marched in the opening ceremonies on january 30 , 1948 . nearly 670 athletes competed in 22 events in four sports . the games also featured two demonstration sports : military patrol , which later became the biathlon , and winter pentathlon , which was discontinued after these games . notable performances were turned in by figure skaters dick button and barbara ann scott and skier henri . most of the athletic venues were already in existence from the first time st. moritz hosted the winter games in 1928 . all of the venues were outdoors , which meant the games were heavily dependent on favorable weather conditions . host city selection the ioc selected st. moritz to host the 1948 games at the 39th general session in lausanne , switzerland , in september 1946 . the selection process consisted of two bids , and saw st. moritz be selected ahead of lake placid , united states . st. moritz was selected because it was located in switzerland , which had remained neutral during the war , and also because it had already hosted a winter games in 1928 . this made the organization of the games simpler and more economical . despite the existence of many of the venues , it was still a difficult task to organize a winter olympic games in less than 18 months . organizing the comite olympique ( co ) was composed of local dignitaries and members of the swiss national olympic committee ( cos ) . they decided to separate into several sub - committees responsible for various aspects of the games . these committees included housing and maintenance , venue construction , finances , and media and advertising . the local committees worked very closely with the swiss federal government and the ioc to ensure that the organization of the games proceeded without hindrance . since no athletes ' village existed from the previous games , the athletes and officials were housed in hotels around the city . it was very important for the committees to draw upon their experiences from the 1928 olympics . their selection of locations for the various events was contingent on the weather conditions as all the events were held outdoors . over 800 people were involved in reporting the news of the games to the world . nearly 500 press credentials were issued by the press commission for the games . television would not make its olympic debut until 1956 . the coverage of the 1948 games was split between newspapers and radio broadcasts . the organizing committee had to provide technology , such as long distance telephone lines and telegraph services , to assist the press in communicating with their constituents . over 2 , 200 people were needed to provide all the services for the press , officials and athletes at the games . these services included sanitation , security , and care of the venues . accommodating the influx of people into st. moritz was a difficult task for the organizing committee . it was complicated by the mountainous region in which the community was situated . a massive project to improve the village 's transportation infrastructure had to be completed prior to the games . this included building and widening roads for vehicular traffic . several train stations were built to accommodate the increased demands for public transit . they also had to increase the capacity of the city 's sewers . all of the projects had to be approved by the swiss government , and justified by its impact on the success of the games . to aid the organizing committee the ioc demanded that all participating nations provide lists of their athletes several months prior to the games . consequently , the swiss knew exactly how many athletes and officials to plan for . politics since these games were the first since world war ii they were given the name " the games of renewal . " japan and germany were not invited to these games because they were still ostracized by the international community for their role in world war ii . their absence was short - lived though , as they returned to olympic competition in 1952 . the soviet union did not send athletes to the st. moritz games of 1948 , but they did send ten delegates as observers of the games to determine how successful the soviet athletes would have been had they competed . impact of world war ii sapporo , japan had been the choice for the 1940 winter games . in 1938 the japanese decided to decline the invitation to host the games claiming that preparations for the olympic games were draining the country 's resources . the ioc turned to the host of the 1936 games , garmisch - partenkirchen , which would make it the only city to host consecutive games . this became impractical when germany invaded poland on september 1 , 1939 ; subsequently germany withdrew its bid to host the games . finland believed it could host the games and extended an invitation to the ioc , but the soviet union 's invasion of finland ended all hope of an olympic games in 1940 . the 1944 winter olympics had been awarded to cortina d 'ampezzo , italy in 1939 . as the war continued , this proved to be impractical and the second consecutive passed without a celebration of the games . the ioc was presented with two possible host cities for the first post - war games : lake placid , united states and st. moritz , switzerland . the ioc decided to award the games to switzerland , a neutral country , immediately following world war ii , in order to avoid political posturing on the part of former combatants . the impact of world war ii was still being felt in 1948 . the lack of financial resources and human energy made the organization of the games challenging . athletes were also affected by a lack of resources . many competitors arrived with little or no equipment . in one notable case , norwegian skiers had to borrow skis from the american team in order to compete . there was also a lack of spectators due to travel restrictions and a shortage of finances in a european economy that was still recovering under the marshall plan . events medals were awarded in 22 events contested in 4 sports ( 9 disciplines ) . bobsleigh bobsleigh ( 2 ) ( ) skeleton ( 1 ) ( ) ice hockey ( 1 ) ( ) skating figure skating ( 3 ) ( ) speed skating ( 4 ) ( ) skiing alpine skiing ( 6 ) ( ) nordic skiing ( ) cross - country skiing ( 3 ) ( ) nordic combined ( 1 ) ( ) ski jumping ( 1 ) ( ) there were also two demonstration sports , military patrol and the winter pentathlon . bobsled two sliding sports were contested at the 1948 winter games , the first was bobsled . a controversy erupted when it was alleged that the sleds of the united states team had been sabotaged . it was discovered that the steering wheels had been damaged . after news broke of the apparent improprieties a truck driver stepped forward and admitted to having accidentally backed into the shed housing the bobsleds . the accident however did not hinder the united states teams who won a bronze in the two - man event and a gold and a bronze in the four - man event . the swiss two - man teams placed first and second , which is the best possible results for the event since only two teams were allowed to enter . the driver of the first place team , felix , beat his coach , the driver of the second place team , fritz . ice hockey the ice hockey tournament was won by canada , with czechoslovakia second and switzerland third . this was the fifth olympic gold medal for canada in hockey . the only team to beat canada since hockey was introduced at the 1920 summer olympics was great britain at the 1936 winter olympics . the tournament was almost cancelled when rival teams representing the united states arrived . an amateur athletic union ( aau ) team was supported by the united states olympic committee ( usoc ) , and an amateur hockey association ( aha ) team was supported by the ligue internationale de hockey sur glace ( ) . the international olympic committee ruled that neither team could compete , but the swiss organizing committee allowed the aau team to march in the opening ceremony , and the aha team to play unofficially , without being eligible for medals . figure skating barbara ann scott became the first and only canadian woman to win an olympic gold medal in figure skating , when she won the competition at st. moritz . despite the distraction caused by a low - flying airplane during her compulsory routine , she was able to muster the focus to place first entering the free skate . the ice had been shredded the night before the free skate by two ice hockey games ( the ice had not yet been invented ) ; nonetheless she was able to adjust her routine to avoid the potholes and emerge victorious . eighteen - year - old american dick button completed the unprecedented north american sweep of the figure skating gold medals . he led the field after the compulsory skate and then won the gold medal by becoming the first person to ever complete a double axel in competition . later in the 1952 olympics , dick button would win gold a second time . his victory came at the expense of swiss world champion hans who fell during the free skate . despite the mishap would win the silver medal . speed skating the speed skating competition was held on the same rink that had hosted the events in 1928 . at 1 , 856 metres ( 6 , 089 ft ) above sea level , the speed skating competition was held at the second highest altitude in olympic history , only squaw valley in 1960 was higher . the competition was dominated by the scandinavian countries of norway and sweden who won nine out of the twelve possible medals . scandinavians had done poor in speed skating events up until the 1948 games . the reason for their success was that speed skating in europe had come to a stand still during world war ii . only countries that were ancillary to the conflict had the resources to keep their speed skating programs intact . the 500 meter race was won by finn of norway . there was a three - way tie for second place between norwegian thomas and americans robert fitzgerald and kenneth bartholomew . all three had finished in exactly 43 . 2 seconds . swede åke won a gold medal in the 10 , 000 meter race and a silver medal in the 1 , 500 meter race . the 5 , 000 meter event was affected by weather . the twenty racers encountered both wind , sun , and snow in the course of the day 's competition . finally long - distance specialist reidar from norway prevailed . alpine skiing alpine skiing made its olympic debut at these games . a few events had been held at the 1936 games but the st. moritz games featured a full slate of three men 's and three women 's alpine events . frenchman henri won a medal in all three alpine events ; gold in the downhill and combined , and bronze in the slalom . he was one of only two athletes to win two gold medals at the 1948 games , and he was also the only athlete to win three or more medals . austria dominated the women 's alpine events , winning five out of a possible nine medals . trude beiser was a double - medal winner , earning gold in the combined event and silver in the downhill . she was not the only female skier to win two medals though , united states skier gretchen fraser won gold in the slalom and took silver behind beiser in the combined . austrian erika earned two medals by winning bronze medals in both the slalom and the combined . cross - country skiing in cross - country skiing a total of 106 skiers from 15 nations competed in three events . the events were the 50 kilometer race , the 18 kilometer race and the 4 x 10 kilometer relay . there were no women 's events at the 1948 games . martin lundström of sweden was the other athlete to win two gold medals when he won the 18 kilometer race and participated on the winning cross - country relay team . overall sweden won seven out of a possible fifteen medals in the nordic events , including all three gold medals and a sweep of the 18 kilometer race . all fifteen medals were won by either sweden , norway , or finland . skeleton skeleton made its second appearance at the olympics during these games . it debuted at the 1928 winter olympics also held in st. moritz . skeleton was a form of luge , which had originally appeared in the st. moritz region at the end of the 19th century . american john heaton won his second olympic medal in the skeleton , he won his first 20 years earlier when he was 19 years old . italian slider nino bibbia won the gold medal . it was the first of his 231 career wins on the cresta track . one of the curves at cesana pariol , where the bobsled , luge , and skeleton events took place at the 2006 winter olympics in turin , was named after bibbia . nordic combined the nordic combined event had been contested at each winter olympics since 1924 . nordic combined required athletes to first compete in the open 18 kilometer cross - country ski race alongside the other cross - country competitors . their times would be assigned a point value . two days later the athletes would take two jumps off the ski jump hill . the jumps would be given a point value and the longest jump would be combined with their cross - country time to create a score . traditional nordic combined power norway was stunned at the 1948 games when finland 's heikki hasu became the first non - norwegian to win the event . in fact norway did not even make the podium . hasu 's teammate martti huhtala took the silver and sven from sweden won the bronze . ski jumping the norwegians swept the ski jumping event . birger ruud had won the gold medal in the ski jumping event at both the 1932 and 1936 winter games . the twelve - year hiatus due to world war ii meant that ruud was 36 years old in 1948 . he had retired from competition and was coaching the norwegian team . however , when he arrived at the games he decided to come out of retirement and compete one last time . despite not having competed for several years he earned a silver medal . norwegian petter won the gold and teammate won the bronze . demonstration sports two demonstration sports were held at the 1948 games . military patrol had been a demonstration sport at the 1924 , 1928 , and 1936 winter olympic games . it entailed a combination of cross - country skiing and shooting at targets . eventually the competition would be renamed biathlon and was made an official olympic medal sport at the 1960 games in squaw valley , united states . winter pentathlon involved five competitions : 10 kilometer cross - country ski race , shooting , downhill skiing , fencing and horseback riding . this was the first and last time the event was held . fourteen competitors took part in the event . calendar all dates are in central european time ( utc + 1 ) the opening ceremonies were held at 10 : 00 am on january 30 along with the initial hockey games and the first two runs of the two - man bobsled . the closing ceremonies were held at 4 : 00 pm on february 8 . all of the medals were awarded at the closing ceremonies rather than immediately after the event as current tradition dictates . venues the stad olympique ( olympic stadium ) hosted the opening and closing ceremonies . the stadium was also used for speed skating , the figure skating competition and the medal games for ice hockey . most of the ice hockey games were held at the and kulm stadiums in st. moritz . bobsled was held at the st. moritz - olympic . skeleton was contested on the cresta run track . olympia bob run was built in 1897 and modernized for the 1948 games while the cresta run was first constructed in 1885 . the ski jump competitions were held at olympiaschanze ski jump hill in st. moritz . it was built in 1927 for the 1928 games , and remained in use until 2006 . the alpine events were held on ski - runs in and around piz nair . participating nations 28 nations competed in st. moritz , the same number as the previous winter games in 1936 . chile , denmark , iceland , korea , and lebanon all made their winter olympic debut at these games . germany and japan were not invited because of their involvement in world war ii . italy , despite being an axis power originally , was allowed to send athletes after their defection to the allies in 1943 . estonia , latvia and lithuania had been annexed by the soviet union in 1940 , and would not compete again as independent nations until 1992 . argentina returned to the winter games after missing the 1932 and 1936 games , and australia and luxembourg did not compete in 1948 , even though they had participated in 1936 . medal count these are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1948 winter games .