It’s amusing to us that there is a heat wave on the Best Coast today as we sit down to explore Olympic Wednesday and the 1964 Winter Games. Austria hosted around a million spectators for this event, while almost 1,100 athletes from 36 countries participated in 34 competitions spread across 10 disciplines. Television coverage was now standard, and computers were used for the first time to help tabulate results.

Only 4 nations won double-digit medals: the Soviet Union (25), Norway (15), Austria (12), and Finland (10). With 11 gold medals alone, the USSR contingent outdid 10 nations’ overall medal count—including that of the United States (7), as 22 nations went home without a single medal in these Games. The Soviet Sports Machine was in full swing at this point, raising the unspoken-of Cold War stakes a bit higher once more.

Most Outstanding Male Athlete: Eero Mäntyranta, Finland

Two men won 3 medals each to top the competition: Eero Mäntyranta of Finland and Sixten Jernberg of Sweden—both cross-country skiers. The former won the 15km and 30km individual events, while taking silver in the 4x10km relay event. Meanwhile, the latter won 50km individual event and the 4x10km relay, while earning bronze in the 15km individual. Both had Top 10 finishes in the other events, as well. Exciting!

Mäntyranta finished 9th in the 50km event, while Jernberg ended up 5th in the 30km event. But the Finnish skier will get our nod for the multiple individual golds, of course, but both men obviously were very busy and successful in this olympiad.

Most Outstanding Female Athlete: Lidiya Skoblikova, USSR

Two Soviet women dominated the individual medal count, as Soviet speedskater Lidiya Skoblikova won an unprecedented 4 gold individual medals, sweeping the 4 distances: 500m; 1,000m; 1,500m; and 3,000m. Meanwhile, her countrywoman Klavdiya Boyarskikh won 3 golds in the cross-country skiing events: 5km individual, 10km individual, and the 3x5km team relay. We go with Skoblikova for the second time, obvi.

She is the third athlete now to win the Most Outstanding nod twice, joining figure skater Sonja Henie and gymnast Viktor Chukarin in this special-achievement category.

Most Outstanding Male Team: Norwegian Speedskating

Usually, the team winning these awards wins multiple golds, but that is not the case here with the Norway men: they did win, however, 7 of a possible 12 medals in the speedskating events. Knut Johannesen won the only gold (5,000m), and he added a bronze in the 10,000m event, too. Teammate Fred Anton Maier won silver (10,000m) and bronze (5,000m), while others won 2 more silvers and a bronze. Well done!

Most Outstanding Female Team: Soviet Speedskating

Led by Skoblikova, the Soviet women took home 9 of a possible 12 medals in speedskating. She won her 4 golds, of course, but Irina Yegorova won 2 silvers (500m; 1,000m) while 3 other USSR athletes joined them on the podium in the competition for an additional silver and 2 bronzes. Overall, it was another dominating effort, spearheaded by a legendary performer.