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Cross Country Skiing at the 1972 Winter Olympics

Dates 4 – 13 February 1972
Medal Events 7

The program was precisely the same as it had been in 1964 and 1968, with four events for men (15 km, 30 km, 50 km, relay), and three for women (5 km, 10 km, and relay). The events were held on the perimeter of Sapporo, with all events starting and finishing in the Makomanai Ski Stadium. Several interesting things occurred in 1972 cross-country. The women’s events were dominated by Galina Kulakova of the Soviet Union, who won both individual events and helped the USSR to a relay victory, matching the three gold medals of Klavdiya Boyarskikh in 1964. In the men’s relay, the bronze medal went to Switzerland, its first ever cross-country skiing medal at the Winter Olympics. On the women’s side, Czechoslovakia’s Helena Šikolová placed third in the 5 km race, the first cross-country medal for her country. Soviet skier Vyacheslav Vedenin won the men’s 30 km, the first individual gold medal for a Soviet man. Vedenin also starred in the relay, skiing a strong anchor leg to bring the Soviet Union its first relay gold since 1956.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
15 kilometres, Men Olympic 7 February 1972 62 19
30 kilometres, Men Olympic 4 February 1972 59 18
50 kilometres, Men Olympic 10 February 1972 40 13
4 × 10 kilometres Relay, Men Olympic 13 February 1972 56 14
5 kilometres, Women Olympic 9 February 1972 43 12
10 kilometres, Women Olympic 6 February 1972 42 12
3 × 5 kilometres Relay, Women Olympic 12 February 1972 33 11
152 (104/48) 19 (19/12)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
15 kilometres, Men Sven-Åke LundbäckSWE Fyodor SimashovURS Ivar FormoNOR
30 kilometres, Men Vyacheslav VedeninURS Pål TyldumNOR Johs HarvikenNOR
50 kilometres, Men Pål TyldumNOR Magne MyrmoNOR Vyacheslav VedeninURS
4 × 10 kilometres Relay, Men Soviet UnionURS NorwayNOR SwitzerlandSUI
5 kilometres, Women Galina KulakovaURS Marjatta KajosmaaFIN Helena ŠikolováTCH
10 kilometres, Women Galina KulakovaURS Alevtina OlyuninaURS Marjatta KajosmaaFIN
3 × 5 kilometres Relay, Women Soviet UnionURS FinlandFIN NorwayNOR

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 5 2 1 8
Norway NOR 1 3 3 7
Sweden SWE 1 0 0 1
Finland FIN 0 2 1 3
Czechoslovakia TCH 0 0 1 1
Switzerland SUI 0 0 1 1