Biathlon at the 1960 Winter Olympics competing nations; in parentheses are the number of national competitors. Biathlon at the 1960 Winter Olympics Biathlon at the 1960 Winter Olympics consisted of one biathlon event, held at McKinney Creek Stadium, Tahoma, California. The event occurred on 21 February 1960. This was the first appearance of modern biathlon in the Olympic Games. In 1924, a military patrol event was held. Some sources do not include this military patrol race as an Olympic event, but the IOC considers it an event within biathlon. Klas Lestander of Sweden won the first modern biathlon Olympic gold medal. Nine nations sent biathletes to
Winter Olympic Games war, the 1944 Games, originally scheduled for Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, were cancelled. St. Moritz was selected to host the first post-war Games in 1948. Switzerland's neutrality had protected the town during World War II, and most of the venues were in place from the 1928 Games, which made St. Moritz a logical choice. It became the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice. Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland, but athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited. Controversy erupted when two hockey teams from the United States arrived, both claiming to be the legitimate U.S. Olympic hockey representative. The