Editing 1960 Winter Olympics (section)

== Organization ==
[[Image:SquawValley-Olympic-sign.jpg|thumb|220px|Sign outside the Olympic Village at Squaw Valley in 2007]]
[[File:Squaw Valley Gondola.jpg|thumb|220px|Aerial tram to High Camp]]
[[File:Palisades Tahoe Village Elevated.jpg|thumb|220px|An elevated view of the village and some of the lifts at Palisades Tahoe]]

Squaw Valley in 1956 consisted of one chair lift, two rope tows, and a fifty-room lodge. Cushing presented the site as a blank canvas of unspoiled environment, where a world-class ski resort could be constructed.{{sfn|Findling|Pelle|2004|p=338}}  The obscurity of the location was underscored at the closing ceremonies of the [[1956 Winter Olympics]]. Traditionally the mayor of the current host city passes a flag to the mayor of the next host city signalling the transfer of the Games. Since Squaw Valley was an unincorporated village it had no city government. John Garland, an IOC member from California, was asked to stand in and received the flag from the mayor of [[Cortina d'Ampezzo]].{{sfn|Findling|Pelle|2004|p=338}}

After winning the right to host the Games, the California Olympic Commission was formed.{{sfn|Findling|Pelle|2004|p=339}}  They were given four years to build venues, an Olympic Village, and expand infrastructure. With the expansion of roads, bridges, water and electrical capacity the resort of Squaw Valley was developed. Hotels, restaurants, administration buildings, a Sheriff's office and a sewage pumping and treatment plant were all constructed to support the influx of visitors for the Games.{{sfn|Squaw Valley Organizing Committee|1960|pp=27–28}} Organizers wanted the Olympics to be intimate with the venues close to one another.<ref name=sroverview/>  The [[Blyth Arena|Blyth Memorial Ice Arena]] was built along with three outdoor skating rinks, a 400-meter speed skating oval and four dormitories to house athletes. One venue deemed impractical to build was the bobsled run. Organizers felt the lack of possible entrants (a pre-Olympic poll indicated that only nine countries were planning to participate) and the high cost of building the run were sufficient deterrents to leave the bobsled events off the 1960 Olympic program.{{sfn|Findling|Pelle|2004|p=339}}<ref name=bobsled>{{cite news|title=Everything you need to know about bobsled|work=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longterm/olympics1998/sport/bobsled/articles/bobsled.htm|access-date=July 29, 2011|date=February 28, 1999}}</ref>

Several design innovations and new technologies were used for the 1960 Games. The speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey events were held on artificial ice for the first time in Olympic history. A refrigeration plant capable of heating 4,800 homes had to be built to generate and maintain the ice. The heat generated from the refrigeration plant was used to warm spectators, provide hot water, and melt the snow off of roofs. New timing equipment provided by [[Longines]] was installed that used a [[quartz clock]] to measure to the hundredths of a second. [[IBM]] provided a computer that was capable of tabulating results and printing them in English and French. Blyth Arena, site of the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the figure skating and ice hockey competitions, was built with a {{convert|22|in|cm|abbr=on}} gap in the roof, which would slide closed as the cables supporting the roof contracted during cold weather.<ref name=ps138>{{cite journal|title=Backstage at Winter Olympics|last=Shipler|first=Guy|journal=Popular Science|date=February 1960|pages=137–138|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyoDAAAAMBAJ&q=ibm%201960%20winter%20olympics&pg=PA136|access-date=August 12, 2011}}</ref>

Funding for Cushing's initial bid to the IOC came from the California Legislature and investors in the "Squaw Valley Development Company", who were owners of the existing resort.{{sfn|Findling|Pelle|2004|p=338}} To fund the construction, organizers turned to the federal government, which provided about a quarter of the $80 million required to host the Games. The monies were used to build sports arenas and provide military support for security during the Games.<ref name=ungar>{{cite book|title=Olympic Games: Federal Government Provides Significant Funding and Support|last=Ungar|first=Bernard L.|publisher=United States General Accounting Office|location=Washington D.C.|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5g2gPLrnPpAC|quote=squaw.|year=2000|page=19|isbn=0-7567-1501-6|access-date=July 29, 2011}}</ref> Further funding was secured from private sponsorships and from the State of California. Governor Knight and his successor [[Edmund "Pat" Brown]] remained behind the project, seeing it as a means to showcase the state of California to the world.{{sfn|Findling|Pelle|2004|p=339}} 

=== Television ===
Prior to the 1960 Winter Olympics only the [[Cold War]] standoff had been televised, notably at the [[1952 Summer Olympics]] and the [[1956 Summer Olympics]]. Other than that, 24 hours or so after the events the United States televised brief news updates on the sporting competition. The 1960 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic games that were broadcast live on US television with anchorman [[Walter Cronkite]] talking the audience through a limited coverage.<ref>{{cite book|author1= Richard O. Davies|title=Sports in American Life: A History |publisher=Wiley|year=2016|isbn=9781118912379|page=316}}</ref> Broadcasts of events to European audiences had begun in 1956.{{sfn|Toohey|Veal|2008|p=71}} What was unprecedented was the sale of exclusive United States television rights to broadcast the games. The Organizing Committee decided to sell the television broadcast rights to [[CBS]] for $50,000.<ref name=worth>{{cite news|title=Are Olympic TV rights worth the price?|last=Spence|first=Jim|date=November 20, 1988|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/20/sports/views-of-sport-are-olympic-tv-rights-worth-the-price.html|access-date=July 29, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Olympics and Television |publisher=Museum of Broadcast Communications |url=http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=olympicsand |access-date=July 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628200608/http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=olympicsand |archive-date=June 28, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Unknown at the time was how lucrative the sale of broadcast rights would become. For example, CBS purchased the rights to broadcast the [[1960 Summer Olympics]] for $550,000.<ref name=worth/> During the games, CBS broadcast 15 and a quarter hours of television focusing on ice hockey, speed skating, figure skating, alpine skiing and ski jumping.{{sfn|Squaw Valley Organizing Committee|1960|p=73}} The impact of television was felt during the games. In the men's slalom event, officials who were unsure if a skier had missed a gate asked CBS if they could review tape of the event. This request gave CBS the idea for what is now known as [[instant replay]].<ref name=squawioc/>