Remembering The Olympic Athletes Who Dominated Cortina 70 Years Ago

Team USA, Cortina 1956

Cortina’s 1956 Olympic Winter Games showcased a remarkable group of U.S. Ski Team influencers of that era, athletes who not only competed and won Olympic medals before and after, but also significantly impacted the sport and beyond during a golden era of nationwide growth.

Team members included Buddy Werner, Brooks Dodge Jr., Andrea Mead-Lawrence, Penny Pitou, and Gladys “Skeeter” Werner, Buddy’s sister.

Werner, America’s first elite alpine ski racer who challenged the rival Europeans on their home mountains, finished a respectable 11th in the men’s downhill. A two-time Olympian who paved the way for future generations of U.S. racers, Werner was the first American to win the prestigious Hahnenkamm Downhill in 1959, in Kitzbühel, Austria.

The Steamboat Springs, Colorado, skier was known for pushing the boundaries of American skiing, often at great personal risk, becoming a hero for his fearless attitude, even if it meant never winning Olympic medals. 

Werner famously advised fellow skier Loris Ferries: "Just follow me and run like your life depends on it. Because it does." 

Sadly, a few weeks after competing at the Innsbruck 1964 Games, Werner was skiing in a Willy Bogner film alongside German Barbi Henneberger, and both were caught in an avalanche near St. Moritz. They tragically died from suffocation.

Similar to Werner, Mead-Lawrence was a true pioneer in U.S. women’s ski racing who dominated events in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and struck double gold at the Oslo 1952 Olympics. She narrowly missed a bronze medal in the GS in Cortina by one-tenth of a second and then retired. The Vermont skier is one of only three American racers who have garnered two Olympic gold medals, along with Mikaela Shiffrin and Ted Ligety.

Mead-Lawrence later became known as an environmental activist, fighting against unchecked slopeside development in her native Vermont. In honor of her environmental work, and in her memory, a 12,240-foot Eastern Sierra peak just east of Yosemite National Park was named after her.

New Hampshire’s Brooks Dodge Junior finished fourth in the Cortina slalom, 1.6 seconds out of the medals. The Dartmouth student, who grew up near Tuckerman’s Ravine in the White Mountains, enjoyed an accomplished racing career, but perhaps more notably was recognized as one of the pioneers of extreme skiing in the U.S. The two-time Olympian and Harvard MBA ambitiously helped develop heliskiing adventures in the Canadian Rockies.

Pitou was far from her best in Cortina, but quickly earned a reputation as one of the world’s elite skiers thereafter, proceeding to win a pair of silver medals at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics. Her long list of career accomplishments included climbing the Matterhorn without a guide, opening and operating ski schools across New England, becoming an esteemed fashion consultant to the ski industry, and developing a prominent travel agency specializing in ski tours across Europe.

Gladys “Skeeter” Werner led the U.S. ladies in the downhill, finishing 10th. She retired from racing and later founded the Steamboat Ski School in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Athletes Who Defined the 1956 Olympics

Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 proved to be an overwhelming success. The threat of insufficient snow proved to be a needless worry as heavy snowfall blanketed the region on the opening day of the Games.

However, the Cortina Olympics began ominously as the main torchbearer at the opening ceremony, Italian speed skater Guida Tripoi, tripped over a microphone wire and plunged to the ice. However, he skillfully and impressively managed to keep the flame from going out.

Over 11 memorable cold and sunny days, athletes from 13 of 32 nations won medals. An Italian television network brought live coverage into homes, a first for the Winter Olympics.

The United States finished tied for fourth in the medal count with Finland, bringing home seven medals: two gold, three silver, and two bronze. The U.S. athlete delegation was comprised of 57 men and 10 women.

Austrian ski racer Anton “Toni” Sailer delivered the most impressive performance, winning all three alpine skiing events, establishing himself as the biggest star of the Italian Games. Nicknamed “The Blitz from Kitz” (Kitzbühel), Sailer began by winning the giant slalom by 6.2 seconds, the most significant margin of victory in Olympic history. He then blazed to a slalom victory, recording the fastest time in both runs, and captured the downhill by 3.5 seconds.

Slalom runner-up to Sailer was Japanese racer Chiharu Igaya. Igaya’s silver was Japan’s first Winter Olympic medal. Igaya, who later became an influential International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, stands as the only Japanese alpine skier to have won an Olympic medal.

The Italian two-man bobsleigh duo of driver Lamberto Dalla Costa and brakeman Giacomo Conti captured the host country’s lone gold medal. Their countryman and Cortina bobsleigh legend Eugenio Monti won silver medals in both the two- and four-man events. The proud Italian hosts finished tied for 8th with their three medals.

For the first time, a female recited the Olympic Oath as Italian Alpine skier Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo, was bestowed the honor and responsibility. She narrowly missed Italy’s fourth medal of the Games, finishing fourth in the women’s slalom.

Cortina 1956 also marked the debut of the powerful Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics. The large Soviet contingent of 145 athletes excelled at speed skating and upset the Canadians for gold in ice hockey. The USSR topped the medals table, winning 16 medals, including seven gold.

The U.S. hockey team also defeated Canada in the medal round, 4-1, but fell to the Soviets three days later, 4-0, salvaging a silver medal.

Figure skating competitions at the Olympic Ice Stadium were tense and dramatic, with Americans sweeping the individual events. In men’s singles, Hayes Alan Jenkins exquisitely skated to gold. U.S. skaters also claimed top honors in ladies' singles as Tenley Albright overcame a painful leg injury to edge her teammate Carol Heiss for gold. 

One might even say ‘That’s Amore’ emerged in the brisk Italian winter air as Jenkins and Heiss fell in love and later tied the knot. It was yet another celebrated legacy from Italy’s indelible and inspiring Winter Games of seven decades ago.