Lake Placid Sports: 1932 Winter Olympics

United States-hosted international multi-sport event, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games, held in Lake Placid, New York. The games opened on 4 February and closed on 15 February. Lake Placid hosted again in 1980.

The games were awarded to Lake Placid in part by the efforts of Godfrey Dewey, head of the Lake Placid Club and son of Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System.

The Games were opened at 10 AM on 4 February by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the Governor of New York. He would be elected President of the United States nine months later.

The victory podium was used for the first time at the winter games. Speed skater Jack Shea became the first Olympic champion to receive a gold medal on the podium.

Billy Fiske (who would win his second gold medal at Lake Placid, having won his first at age 16 in the 1928 Winter Olympics), carried the flag for the United States in the opening ceremonies.

Seventeen countries participated. The USA won the medal tally with a total of 12 medals (6 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze). This was the only time the USA topped the medal tally at the Winter Olympics until the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.