Collection Highlight: Cortina 1956, A Pioneering Journey

In a fine return to form, the ‘Pearl of the Dolomites’, Cortina, recently played host to the Winter Olympic Games once again. The 1956 edition saw just 825 athletes from 32 countries taking part in 24 events. Yet despite their modest scale, the first Cortina Games made history. They were surprisingly modern and introduced innovations that we now take for granted. Fiat provided the official cars for the event, while Olivetti donated 400 typewriters for use by international journalists.

The media landscape was transformed as well: for the first time ever, the Winter Olympics were broadcast on television.

Today we marvel at drones and virtual reality enhancing sports coverage; but 70 years ago, audiences were equally amazed when images from Cortina appeared on giant screens in the United States. These films had been flown across the Atlantic and shown with only a short delay. Another technological highlight was an enormous projector, the largest in the world at the time and roughly the size of a truck, which was used to project Olympic rings and competition results onto the surrounding mountains.

The 1956 Games also marked the first participation of the Soviet Union in the Winter Olympics—and they made an immediate impact, finishing as the most successful nation. Unsurprisingly, they won the gold medal in men’s ice hockey, launching a dominant era that would eventually bring them seven Olympic titles (plus one more under the Commonwealth of Independent States).

At the height of the Cold War, images from Cortina were broadcast across the Iron Curtain into countries such as West Germany and Finland, becoming a significant propaganda tool for the Soviet Union.

The athletes of Cortina 1956 provided countless memorable stories. Austrian skiing legend Toni Sailer captured three gold medals in alpine events, becoming an international superstar. Swiss skier Madeleine Chamot-Berthod triumphed in the women’s downhill, and remarkably, at the age of 95, she followed the Milano/Cortina 2026 Games on television.

One competitor, however, deserves special recognition: Italian bobsleigh pilot Eugenio Monti. Although he won “only” a silver medal in Cortina, his later career was extraordinary. He went on to collect six Olympic medals and ten World Championship medals. In 1964, Monti became the first recipient of the International Fair Play Award after famously lending a bolt to a rival team, because theirs was broken. Today he is remembered as one of the greatest bobsledders of all time, and the historic Cortina track from the 1956 Games now proudly bears his name: the Pista Olimpica Eugenio Monti.

While these objects aren’t currently on display, the official poster of the 1956 Cortina Winter Olympics will be on view at QOSM’s Olympics Gallery later this year. In the meantime, plan your visit to see all the other incredible relics of Olympic lore.

Courtesy of the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum Curatorial Team.