St. Moritz in the context of "Lake St. Moritz"

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⭐ Core Definition: St. Moritz

St. Moritz (/ˌsæn məˈrɪts/ SAN mə-RITS, US also /ˌsnt -/ SAYNT -⁠, UK also /sənt ˈmɒrɪts/ sənt MORR-its; German, in full: Sankt Moritz [zaŋkt moˈrɪts, ˈmoːrɪts] locally [saŋkt]; Romansh: San Murezzan [sam muˈʁetsən] ; Italian: San Maurizio d'Engandina; French: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about 1,800 metres (5,910 ft) above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss canton of the Grisons.

St. Moritz lies on the southern slopes of the Albula Alps below the Piz Nair (3,056 m or 10,026 ft) overlooking the flat and wide glaciated valley of the Upper Engadine and Lake St. Moritz. It hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948.

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St. Moritz in the context of 1948 Winter Olympics

The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (German: V. Olympische Winterspiele; French: V Jeux olympiques d'hiver; Italian: V Giochi olimpici invernali; Romansh: V Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948 (French: Saint-Moritz 1948; Romansh: San Murezzan 1948), were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the first to be celebrated after World War II; it had been twelve years since the last Winter Games in 1936.

From the selection of a host city in a neutral country to the exclusion of Japan and Germany, the political atmosphere of the post-war world was inescapable during the 1948 Games. The organizing committee faced several challenges due to the lack of financial and human resources consumed by the war. These were the first of two winter Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Sigfrid Edström.

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St. Moritz in the context of Skeleton at the Winter Olympics

Skeleton is a winter sport featured in the Winter Olympics where the competitor rides head-first and prone (lying face down) on a flat sled. It is normally run on an ice track that allows the sled to gain speed by gravity. It was first contested at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz and again in 1948 Winter Olympics, after which it was discontinued as an Olympic sport.

In October 1999, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) added the discipline to the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics sports program, with both men's and women's events, and has been held in each Winter Olympic competition since. In June 2022, the IOC added a third event, the mixed team, to the sports program at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

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St. Moritz in the context of Bobsled

Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (formerly the FIBT).

The first bobsleds were built in the late 19th century in St. Moritz, Switzerland, by wealthy tourists from Victorian Britain who were staying at the Palace Hotel owned by Caspar Badrutt. The early sleds were adapted from boys' delivery sleds and toboggans. These eventually evolved into bobsleighs, luges and skeletons. Initially the tourists would race their hand-built contraptions down the narrow streets of St. Moritz; however, as collisions increased, growing opposition from St. Moritz residents led to bobsledding being eventually banned from public highways. In the winter of 1884, Badrutt had a purpose-built run constructed near the hamlet of Cresta. The Cresta Run remains the oldest in the world and is the home of the St. Moritz Tobogganing Club. It has hosted two Olympic Winter Games and as of 2022 was still in use.

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St. Moritz in the context of Anders Haugen

Anders Olsen Haugen (October 24, 1888 – April 14, 1984) was a Norwegian-American ski jumper who won four national ski jumping championships. He competed in the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix and the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz. Anders Haugen was the first and, as of 2022, only American to win an Olympic medal for ski jumping.

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St. Moritz in the context of Clas Thunberg

Arnold Clas ("Classe") Robert Thunberg (5 April 1893 – 28 April 1973) was a Finnish speed skater who won five Olympic gold medals – three at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924 (along with a silver and a bronze medal) and two at the 1928 Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz. He was the most successful athlete at both of these Winter Olympics, sharing the honour for 1928 Winter Olympics with Johan Grøttumsbraaten of Norway. No other athlete ever won such a high fraction of all Olympic events at a single Games. He was born and died in Helsinki.

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St. Moritz in the context of Roald Larsen

Roald Morel Larsen (1 February 1898 – 28 July 1959) was a World Champion speed skater from Norway. He was born in Kristiania (now Oslo).Roald Larsen's parents were Hans Jacob Larsen, a glazier born in Kristiania in 1870, and Lydia Larsen, born in Porsgrunn in 1865. They had four children, all sons: Jaan Harald (1891), Lyder Ragnar (1895), Roald Morel (1898), and Gelgjermo Stone (1899).

Representing Kristiania Skøiteklub (now Oslo Skøiteklub), Larsen had his best year in 1924, when he became World Allround, European Allround, and Norwegian Allround Champion, in addition to winning two silver and three bronze medals at the 1924 Winter Olympics of Chamonix. One of those Olympic silver medals was on the allround event, a combination of the results of the 500 m, the 1500 m, the 5000 m, and the 10000 m – the only time in Olympic history that there was an allround event. Larsen won several more medals in the years that followed, including another bronze medal at the 1928 Winter Olympics of St. Moritz.

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St. Moritz in the context of Alpine skiing at the 1948 Winter Olympics

At the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the six alpine skiing events were held on Piz Nair from Monday, 2 February to Thursday, 5 February 1948.

After these games, the giant slalom was added and the combined event was dropped as an Olympic medal event for four decades, until 1988. From 1956 through 1980, the combined continued as an FIS medal event for the concurrent World Championships, using the results from three events, conducted as a "paper race."

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St. Moritz in the context of 1928 Winter Olympics

The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games (French: II Jeux olympiques d'hiver; German: II. Olympische Winterspiele; Italian: II Giochi olimpici invernali; Romansh: II Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1928 (French: Saint-Moritz 1928; Romansh: San Murezzan 1928), were an international winter multi-sport event that was celebrated from 11 to 19 February 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

The 1928 Games were the first true Winter Olympics to be held as a stand-alone event, not in conjunction with a Summer Olympics. The preceding 1924 Winter Games were retroactively renamed the inaugural Winter Olympics, although they had in fact been organised alongside the 1924 Summer Olympics in France. Before 1924, the winter events were included in the schedule of the Summer Games and there were no separate Winter Games. The 1928 Winter Games also replaced the now redundant Nordic Games, which had been held at varying intervals since early in the 20th century.

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