1960 Winter Olympics 1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event held between February 18–28, 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, United States. Squaw Valley was chosen to host the Games at the 1956 meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was an undeveloped resort in 1955, so from 1956 to 1960 the infrastructure and all of the venues were built at a cost of US$80,000,000. It was designed to be intimate, allowing spectators and competitors to walk to nearly all the venues. Squaw Valley hosted athletes from thirty nations who
1960 Winter Olympics only time in Winter Olympic history that the bobsled events were not held. The chairman of the Pageantry Committee was Walt Disney, who was responsible for producing both the opening and closing ceremonies. He organized an opening that included 5,000 entertainers, the release of 2,000 pigeons, and a military gun salute of eight shots, one for each of the previous Winter Olympic Games. The opening ceremonies were held on February 18, 1960, at Blyth Arena in the midst of a blizzard. The heavy snow fall caused traffic problems that delayed the ceremony by an hour. The festivities began with a