February 7th: One Year to Go!

February 7th marks the one-year-to-go mark until Sochi 2014! Are you as excited as I am?! (I mean, probably not. :P) In honor of this momentous occasion, I decided to have a look back through history for other Olympic moments that took place on this day. Why post on February 6th, you ask? Because, while Sochi's opening ceremony will take place on the 7th, competition and coverage begins on the 6th. So I'm just covering all my bases!

February 7th, 1998 - Nagano, Japan - Opening Ceremony.



February 7th, 1976 - Innsbruck, Austria - Women's 1,000m speed skating finals, women's 5 km cross country skiing finals, men's special hill 70m ski jumping finals.

Sheila Young, USA, bronze medalist in the 1000m.
February 7th, 1972 - Sapporo, Japan - Men's 10,000m speed skating finals, men's downhill skiing finals, men's 15 km cross country skiing finals, USA vs. Czechoslovakia in men's ice hockey.

Ard Schenk, NED, gold medalist in the 10,000m.
February 7th, 1968 - Grenoble, France - Men's 30 km cross country skiing finals, USA vs. Sweden in men's ice hockey.

Herb Brooks may have been the last player cut from the 1960 Olympic team, but he played in 1964 and was the captain in 1968.
February 7th, 1964 - Innsbruck, Austria - Men's 10,000m speed skating finals, women's cross country skiing 3x5 km relay finals, USA vs. Finland in men's ice hockey, men's slalom finals.

Medalists in the men's slalom, including Americans Billy Kidd (silver) and Jimmie Heuga (bronze).
February 7th, 1948 - St. Moritz, Switzerland - Bobsledding, ice hockey, ski jumping.

(One of) the US ice hockey team(s). They didn't play on the 7th, but fun story: America accidentally sent two teams and was disqualified from the tournament. Oops?
February 7th, 1936 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany - USA vs. Switzerland in men's ice hockey, men's and women's combined downhill skiing.

The US Olympic hockey team, 1936.
February 7th, 1932 - Lake Placid, New York, USA - USA vs. Germany in men's ice hockey, men's sled dog racing demonstration.

Because apparently this was a thing!
So, nothing too earth-shattering, but fun nonetheless! Thanks to marcolympics.org for the info -- it makes me happy that there are people as crazy as I am out there who are willing to compile competition info for every day of every Olympics. I might have to do a retrospective like this for my birthday date. ;)

Happy one year to go!

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