The VIII Olympic Winter Games held in Squaw Valley, California from Feb. 18-28, 1960 marked the return of the Olympic Games to North America since the 1932 Winter Games in Lake Placid.
Olavi Hirvonen was among the 665 participants from 30 nations at Squaw Valley as a member of the United States Olympic Nordic ski team.
Hirvonen will be watching with great interest as the XXI Olympic Winter Games gets under way Friday in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
"It was quite an experience," Hirvonen said of his Olympic experience. "Just the opening ceremonies, I thought, were great. Of course, I was kind of serious."
A half-century later, Hirvonen and his wife Ann, own and operate the Lapland Lake Nordic Vacation Center in Benson.
"It was my dream for many years to start something like this," he said. "We would drive around and if we would see an interesting side road we would drive down it hoping to find the right place. My son died in an accident in 1977. The following spring I built houses because I wanted to do something different. In the spring I headed up north and forgot about the dream I had. We didn't find anything and didn't see any snow. I saw this little Benson sign and I just had to make a left. We went all the way to Bleecker and said 'no, this is not it," and turned around and stopped about a mile from here. I stopped at a house and it didn't look like anybody was home. So I left. The next week we headed north again and like a magnet, I just had to make that turn, again."
Lapland Lake is ranked among the top cross-country skiing destinations in the United States and is host to several high school invitationals each year.
That is what we are here for for people to come and enjoy a great outdoor activity," Hirvonen said.
Watching the young skiers compete over the Lapland Lake trails at the Mayfield-Scotia Invitational, Hirvonen reflected on his experience of making the 1960 Olympic team.
"The United States selected, by races, the top people in the country and they sent them to a training camp," he said. "I trained for three months before the tryouts. One of my buddies went to high altitude to train and did nothing else. I couldn't afford to go to a training camp, so I did most of my training at night seven days a week and on Sunday afternoons just to get some daylight skiing."
Hirvonen made the trip to Colorado for a qualifier but faced the difficulties of racing at a high altitude.
"A week before the tryouts, I went to Colorado where the team had been training because of the altitude," he said. "The first day we went skiing I didn't have any strength. I hurt night and day and thought to myself 'what am I doing?' The race in Aspen, Colorado was two days before the tryouts and I finished 26th and thought I will never make it."
Travel and accommodations in 1960 were different than what participants are accustomed to today.
"A good buddy of mine had a station wagon, so we stayed over [in Aspen] and slept in the wagon," he said. "After the race, we skied in Aspen in the morning and drove over to Steambolt Springs in the afternoon. There was still enough daylight that we went out to check the course. All at once, it was like someone flipped a switch and my strength was back. The next morning we went to wax the skis at 7 in the morning and the race was at 8 and I finished second to make the team."
However, making the team did not mean smooth sailing for Hirvonen.
"Strange things happened," he said. "I was training by myself and I beat all but one of the skiers who were training with the coaches. So it put me in a bad light with the coaches."
When race time came in Squaw Valley, Hirvonen thought he was going to be part of the 30 kilometer team, but the coaches thought differently.
"I thought I was in the 30 kilometer race because I was a good distance racer.," Hirvonen said. "That morning, I found out that I wasn't in that race. They put me in the 15."
Hirvonen broke out to a strong start in the race and was among the top 10 when a sportsmanlike gesture changed his approach to the race.
"In the first 10 kilometers a friend of mine, my favorite Finn, I thought might win the race," he said. "I expected him to catch me at any time. He caught me and I decided to give him track. My ski went under the crust and snapped in half. I went about a mile-and-a-half on one ski. The leg without the ski kept sinking down and the one with the ski was up. I got a ski from someone who was a spectator who recognized me. I raced with that and I was quite an experience."
Racing with one ski presented new problems when he was back on two.
"It cramped up the muscles," he said. "When I would take a full stride it would pull the muscles so I had to shorten my stride."
Hirvonen was the second United States skier to cross the finish line in the 15K race.
Hirvonen also was able to take in much of the Squaw Valley Olympic experience.
"The races were in the morning because California, in February, gets real warm in the middle of the day," he said. "And the natural snow gets slick and it is not so good for waxing for the races. We always started earlier than 8 o'clock in the morning, so it we had races in the morning and the afternoons off. I had the opportunity to watch hockey games, figure skating and speed skating all afternoon."
With the XXI Winter Olympic Games getting under way Friday, many fans will be gathered around the television to take in the excitement and pageantry. This years games also marks the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of the Winter Olympics on TV.
Hirvonen said he will be watching "when I get the opportunity. When you work for yourself, there is always something that needs to be done."
Cross-country skiing was contested at the inaugural Olympic Winter Games in 1924 and has been a part of every Winter Games since. It is one of six sports that have been contested at every Winter Games.
