The Best of Winter - Bronze Medal: Oslo 1952

Norway was, is and always will be the home of winter sports. In no other country are people so enthusiastic and respectful about it, especially when it comes to endurance sports. It is a little surprising that it took the IOC 28 years since the inaugural Winter Games to come "home" to Oslo. The main reason: In the pre-war years, the Winter Games were always linked to the host nation of the Summer event (except for 1928).

The 1952 Games were by far the biggest in Winter Games history, concerning the number of spectators, the atmosphere and also the number of participants. Germany (West) and Japan were allowed to take part for the first time after the war. The "Olympic family" was reunited and almost complete, except for the USSR, that appeared a few months later at the Helsinki Summer Games.

To Norwegians, the undisputed hero of Oslo was hometown boy Hjalmar Andersen, winning the three long distance speed skating events.

When Andersen won his final Gold medal in the 10,000 meter event, a Norwegian newspaper heralded him by simply putting his winning time in the headline: "16:45,8". The scene of his triumph, Oslo's famous Bislett Stadium, is now decorated with a statue of "Hjallis" - like Paavo Nurmi greeting in front of Helsinki's Olympic Stadium (photo: NRK).

Germany re-entered the Olympic arena with a big, fat boom. Putting together a bunch of Bavarian super-heavyweights, the won both gold medals in the bobsleigh.

No wonder, the sports authorities "invented" a weight limit after this experience...