60 Days

Wow, 60 days left in the countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. That's just two months. It's hard to believe I've been writing this blog for over a month already, but it's been great fun, and I expect the next 60 days to be the same.

Per the Miriam L. official "countdown to Vancouver" blog rules, years may not be used as a stat. However, the 1960 Winter Olympics played an important part in Olympic history, and I thought it would be fitting to discuss it today. Don't worry, you'll get the official countdown stats below.

The Olympics saw many firsts occur in Squaw Valley, California in 1960. For the first time, a television network (CBS) paid ($50,000) for exclusive rights to televise the Olympics in the U.S. which was hosted by Walter Cronkite. It was the first time an athletes village was created to house all of the athletes in one area. It was the first and only time that all skiing and skating events were all in close proximity to each other. Biathlon debuted as an Olympic event in Squaw Valley, as did women's speed skating. (Bobsled competition was skipped, as it was too expensive to build a bobsled run and there were not enough countries with athletes to compete.) It was also the first time South Africa competed in a Winter Olympic Games. And for the first time, scores were tallied electronically by IBM.

Another Olympic first to affect the entire sports world: instant replay. When officials were unsure of whether or not a skier had missed a gate during the men's slalom, they asked CBS to see the tapes. This gave CBS the idea to develop the first instant replay system, which debuted in 1963 at an Army-Navy football game.

Freestyle aerial skiers regularly fly about 60 feet above the ground in competition. This makes the event the highest event in the Olympics.

The maximum number of gates on an Olympic slalom course for female skiers is 60.

The Integrated Security Unit will be operating for 60 days over the course of the Vancouver Olympics, including setup time at the beginning of January and throughout the Olympic Games, and the Paralympic Games, which end in March.