The Miracle On Ice Games In The 1980 Winter Olympics

On February 22, 1980, two teams hit the ice in the Olympic Center Arena, now called Herb Brooks Arena, in the small town of Lake Placid, New York. The Soviet team, made up of active duty military members and world class athletes, took on the young American team, made up of mostly college kids and amateur hockey players. The Soviets struck first with a goal which was shortly answered by the United States team. The Soviets answered with another goal and as the period was about to end, the American team snuck in another goal to tie the score up 2-2 at the end of the first period. The Russians changed goalies going into the second period and although they outshot the Americans 12-2 in the second period, the Soviets managed to only score one goal, …show more content…
Within a decade, the “Miracle on Ice” game in the 1980 Winter Olympics helped shift public opinion of the United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics conflict in the Cold War and aided the United States in international clashes and relations at the time like the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Soviet-Afghan War. As the 1980 Winter Olympics approached, events like the Iranian Hostage Crisis and the Soviet-Afghan War made United States citizens want to burn american flags instead of wave them as those events placed an enormous burden on the morale of the once patriotic citizens. In November 1979, a group of Iranian students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line took over the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran. These supporters of the Iranian Revolution took 52 American diplomats and citizens as their hostages and tried to use them as blackmail to get the United States to return their overthrown Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi so that he could stand trial for the …show more content…
Two events where the United States and the Soviets shined were speed skating and cross country skiing respectively. For the United States, Eric Heiden shined and sped his way to several victories at the James B. Sheffield Olympic Skating Rink in Lake Placid. Eric Heiden was always seen as a great speed skater, but he was deemed as the best speed skater in the world after his performance at the 1980 Winter Olympics. During those games, he set four Olympic records and one world record for speed skating in both long and short distances. He also won all of the gold medals available in all of the speed skating competitions for men in Lake Placid that year. These victories were a huge morale boost for United States citizens. They demolished the Russians who only earned a silver in the 500 meter race and a bronze in the 1000 meter race. Neither of those victories compared to the humongous triumph and prodigy that was Eric Heiden. The United States had something to look forward to in the Olympics and it shined a positive light for them in the upcoming years. However, this victory was quickly faltered by the cross country skiing events which the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics easily dominated. Nikolay Zimyatov brought home three gold medals for the