0:00:03 > 0:00:06In 1887, a 27-year-old Methodist minister
0:00:06 > 0:00:08from Horncastle in Lincolnshire
0:00:08 > 0:00:11travelled to Madras, now Chennai, in India.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Henry Lunn lasted a year as a missionary,
0:00:16 > 0:00:19long enough for his wife, Mary, to present him with a son, Arnold,
0:00:19 > 0:00:20and long enough to discover
0:00:20 > 0:00:23that Madras did not sit entirely well with his constitution.
0:00:29 > 0:00:35The Lunns...swapped the Indian subcontinent for the Alps in Europe,
0:00:35 > 0:00:40first Grindelwald in Switzerland and then Chamonix here in France.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43They started offering rugged retreats
0:00:43 > 0:00:47which would boost people's muscular Christianity.
0:00:47 > 0:00:48He would thoroughly have approved
0:00:48 > 0:00:51of this walk up to the glacier here above Chamonix,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53because what they were offering
0:00:53 > 0:00:57was the thrill of adventure...in the mountains.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04The winter package holiday was born
0:01:04 > 0:01:07through Henry's cooperative educational tours,
0:01:07 > 0:01:09which became Lunn Poly, in its day
0:01:09 > 0:01:12the biggest travel agency in Britain.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14And what has any of this to do
0:01:14 > 0:01:17with the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games?
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Sochi was made popular by Joseph Stalin,
0:01:20 > 0:01:22the much-feared leader of the Soviet Union.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26He had a summer dacha here and, thanks to him, the Black Sea resort
0:01:26 > 0:01:28became Russia's holiday destination of choice.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38But without the Lunn family and their adventures here in the Alps,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41it's perfectly possible that there would be nothing going on
0:01:41 > 0:01:43this year in southern Russia
0:01:43 > 0:01:45that would be seizing the world's attention.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Sochi will be holding the Winter Olympics just over a century after
0:01:49 > 0:01:52international sport began on snow and ice.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57To tell that story, I've come here to the Alps,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01where British pioneers helped to shape modern winter sports.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Balliol College, Oxford.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Sir Henry Lunn's son, Arnold, was a student here.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24But he spent his time dreaming not of Oxford spires
0:02:24 > 0:02:26but of mountain peaks.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30He'd inherited his father's love of all things alpine.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35As a ten-year-old, he had watched in awe as his father's generation
0:02:35 > 0:02:38scrambled up and then threw themselves down
0:02:38 > 0:02:39the steep slopes in Chamonix.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44I studied here as well, but I don't think somehow
0:02:44 > 0:02:47I quite fit in with the description of Balliol students
0:02:47 > 0:02:51given by Herbert Asquith, who became Prime Minister.
0:02:51 > 0:02:52He studied classics here.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54He wrote that they had
0:02:54 > 0:02:58a "tranquil consciousness of an effortless superiority".
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Might have been effortless for him.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05Anyway, Asquith was Prime Minister for six years before the First World War
0:03:05 > 0:03:07and the first two years of the Great War.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13The early 20th century, the closing years of Britain's "imperial century",
0:03:13 > 0:03:15a time of dominance on the seas
0:03:15 > 0:03:18and on land an empire that at its peak
0:03:18 > 0:03:21would stretch over 13 million square miles,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24containing around a quarter of the world's population.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29It was also the age of adventurers.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32There was Robert Falcon Scott, Scott of the Antarctic,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and another polar explorer, Ernest Shackleton.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39The requirements of running an empire and their spirit of adventure
0:03:39 > 0:03:44spawned a new passion for the British, organising sport,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46sport on the playing fields of home
0:03:46 > 0:03:50and wherever in the world the Empire carried the mother country's games.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Athletics, golf, cricket, hockey, rowing,
0:03:54 > 0:03:58association football, rugby football, lawn tennis, croquet,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02all given shape and order, a universal set of laws,
0:04:02 > 0:04:04by the British ruling class.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13For these serial organisers, no activity was beyond their reach.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16We live on an island of many bumps rather than mountain ranges,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19but it didn't stop the British tackling the Alps
0:04:19 > 0:04:21with their customary sense of orderliness.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25As far back as 1865,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28engraver, illustrator and climber Sir Edward Whymper
0:04:28 > 0:04:31was the first to reach the summit of the Matterhorn.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33His descent had ended in disaster
0:04:33 > 0:04:36as four of his party fell to their deaths.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39RUMBLING
0:04:39 > 0:04:42But despite the many dangers and the deaths,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45it didn't stop a whole host of young, ambitious climbers
0:04:45 > 0:04:49from coming out here to the Alps and trying to bag all these peaks,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52names that are forgotten now but at the time were famous,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Mummery, Wynthrop Young, Stephen.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58But one name has survived, a man who trained here
0:04:58 > 0:05:00before his final assault
0:05:00 > 0:05:03on the world's highest peak, Everest, in 1924...
0:05:04 > 0:05:07..Mallory, who climbed these peaks
0:05:07 > 0:05:10before perishing out in the Himalayas.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15The British led the way up the mountains, slowly, methodically,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17in an orderly fashion,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21but they also led the way coming down them...at speed.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23In 1884, Major William Bulpett
0:05:23 > 0:05:26had built the Cresta Run in St Moritz in Switzerland
0:05:26 > 0:05:28for skeleton toboggans.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31And now the Lunns were putting the British on skis.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44My great-grandfather was one of the people who brought people to the Alps
0:05:44 > 0:05:50and, you know, he saw quite rightly that to go to the Alps in the winter
0:05:50 > 0:05:51was a marvellous thing to do,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53as opposed to sticking around in London
0:05:53 > 0:05:55and all the smog and the bad weather.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00One of my great-grandfather's first parties,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02I think it was to France,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05there were about four skiers and they had a guide.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08And the skiers asked the guide,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11"When you're on these things, can you turn?"
0:06:11 > 0:06:13And the guide said, "I believe it's possible,
0:06:13 > 0:06:15"but I personally don't know how to do it."
0:06:15 > 0:06:19The Lunns were bringing the British on winter sports holidays
0:06:19 > 0:06:23to Swiss villages like Wengen, Adelboden, Murren and St Moritz.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27If perhaps more accessible than the climbing aristocracy,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29this was still skiing for the wealthy, the privileged,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31the resolutely amateur.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33It was people, largely speaking,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37who came from a club started by my great-grandfather
0:06:37 > 0:06:40called the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45He made it pretty much exclusive to people who had been to university
0:06:45 > 0:06:48or who had been to a public school.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52Before then...people with a certain amount of money
0:06:52 > 0:06:54didn't really want to travel
0:06:54 > 0:06:58on what was called a package tour in those days.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Skiing, said Arnold, was a branch of exploration,
0:07:01 > 0:07:06they had to solve their own problems with little help from guidebooks or guides,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09who, Arnold boasted, he often dispensed with.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13There you go, that good old Balliol trait,
0:07:13 > 0:07:17a "tranquil consciousness of effortless superiority".
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Winter sport could also be found closer to home.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26In 1908, the London Olympics began,
0:07:26 > 0:07:31starting in April and lasting six months, the longest Games ever.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Right down at the rear end of the schedule in October
0:07:34 > 0:07:38were the first Olympic winter sports, figure skating.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42Britain's Florence Madeline "Madge" Syers won the ladies' singles.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52This British confidence, this willingness to innovate,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55even on other people's mountains, this arrogance, if you like,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58not surprisingly didn't go down that well in countries
0:07:58 > 0:08:01with well-developed traditions of winter sports.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04I mean, who are the Brits to be telling the Norwegians about skiing?
0:08:04 > 0:08:07"Ski" is an Old Norse word.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11And how had the Arctic explorer, the Norwegian Ronald Amundsen,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14managed to beat Scott of the Antarctic
0:08:14 > 0:08:16by 34 days to the South Pole?
0:08:16 > 0:08:18On skis, that's how.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22And skis also helped him to get out...alive.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27BIRDSONG
0:08:29 > 0:08:31When you come to these Scandinavian countries, like Norway,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35you realise just how important winter sports are to people around here.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38They regard ski jumping for example
0:08:38 > 0:08:40like we'd think of the World Cup finals.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43NEWSREEL: 'On the great Holmenkollen jump just outside Oslo
0:08:43 > 0:08:45'the first half of what's often called
0:08:45 > 0:08:48'the Classic Combined event was completed.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51'It's a supreme test of all-round skiing ability with a ski jump
0:08:51 > 0:08:56'followed on the next day with an 18-kilometre cross-country race.'
0:08:56 > 0:08:59In fact, when the ski jumping happened here during the Olympic Games
0:08:59 > 0:09:04it's estimated that 100,000 spectators turned up just to watch.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09BIRDSONG
0:09:13 > 0:09:14It's minus five,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16why are we all out here firing rifles,
0:09:16 > 0:09:18why aren't we safely tucked up at home?
0:09:18 > 0:09:21We love doing biathlon, we love training, we love the cold.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24We have to love the cold to live in Norway.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27It's not always cold here, but the winter is cold with a lot of snow.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31And they say that the Norwegians are born with skis on their feet.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35- It's not real.- So in England, of course, the big excitement
0:09:35 > 0:09:36is the football World Cup.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39For you guys, are the Winter Olympics
0:09:39 > 0:09:43- the biggest event of the sporting calendar?- Yes, it really is.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45Then all of Norway comes together
0:09:45 > 0:09:49and we identify with our sportsmen and women.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55We are competing at the top and then we are one big nation.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01The Swedes, who ruled over Norway at the beginning of the 20th century,
0:10:01 > 0:10:02weren't too bad either.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05In 1901, they hosted the inaugural Nordic Games.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08There was bandy, which is a version of ice hockey still played today,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12skeleton tobogganing, curling and ski jumping.
0:10:12 > 0:10:13GUNSHOT
0:10:13 > 0:10:16The Scandinavians were keen to protect their Nordic sports
0:10:16 > 0:10:20and they lobbied against their inclusion in the Olympic programme.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24There could only be one winner,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28the Nordic Games or the Winter Olympics.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37It was a fight that would be decided in the French Alps.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42The pendulum was shifting towards the Olympics.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45The last Nordic Games were held in 1926,
0:10:45 > 0:10:51two years AFTER a special international winter sports festival
0:10:51 > 0:10:54held in Chamonix in France.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00It wasn't just any old week of sport,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02but sponsored by the International Olympic Committee
0:11:02 > 0:11:05and organised by the French Olympic Committee.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08There was bobsleighing, curling, figure skating,
0:11:08 > 0:11:14ice hockey, military patrol and plenty of Nordic skiing.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Still no downhill racing.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19There was even a special gold medal
0:11:19 > 0:11:22for the team of mountaineers, which included Mallory,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25who'd tried to ascend Everest in 1922.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30Baron de Coubertin personally wrote to the climber and asked him if he'd come and pick up his medal.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33When the reply came...it was to the point.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37He wrote, "Absolutely impossible. Mallory."
0:11:37 > 0:11:41He was headed back to the Himalayas for his final attempt.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44CHURCH BELL CHIMES
0:11:47 > 0:11:49The Games here in Chamonix had been so successful
0:11:49 > 0:11:51that two years later,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54that is in the year of the last ever Nordic Games,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57the International Olympic Committee
0:11:57 > 0:12:01decided retrospectively to call this the first Winter Olympics.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06Those were the first. 90 years on Sochi will hold the 22nd.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Winter sport had come of age.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17The Winter Olympics were next held in St Moritz in 1928
0:12:17 > 0:12:21and then Lake Placid, New York State, in 1932.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27The Olympic Games are on! And now for a little novelty,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30my speciality, skating on stilts.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34Ice skating was the main attraction.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Part of the glamour of skating
0:12:43 > 0:12:46comes from the history of it and the old days
0:12:46 > 0:12:48when they would compete outdoors.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51And, you know, you would hand your music to the orchestra
0:12:51 > 0:12:52and the conductor would play
0:12:52 > 0:12:55and it's snowing and, you know, you're competing.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57I would have loved to have experienced that.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06Winter sports had found its first superstar, Sonja Henie from Norway,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09three gold medals in three Olympic Games from 1928.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14She would invite controversy for her friendship with Adolf Hitler.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Well, Sonja was figure skating for many years.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19And she really set the tone.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22I mean, she has more titles than anyone ever and was at one point
0:13:22 > 0:13:28the highest-paid person in Hollywood, male or female, as a movie star.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33'Sun Valley Serenade. Starring Sonja Henie. So radiant.'
0:13:33 > 0:13:34What would you do up in Sun Valley,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38- where the temperature's 106 below zero and the snow's up to your neck? - Snow! Is it like that?
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Anything on skis...remained very Nordic.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58But now Lunn was working on making skiing so exciting and spectacular
0:13:58 > 0:14:01that it would be impossible to leave out.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Arnold Lunn was the man who started it all, downhill and slalom,
0:14:07 > 0:14:13it didn't exist before. So that was the foundation of alpine ski races.
0:14:15 > 0:14:16Norwegians were furious,
0:14:16 > 0:14:20they compared it to the Eskimos rewriting the rules of cricket.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Lunn replied maybe they should, there'd be fewer draws.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Arnold founded the Kandahar Club
0:14:27 > 0:14:30in honour of Field Marshall Roberts,
0:14:30 > 0:14:32hero of the Anglo-Afghan war of 1880.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Here in Murren in 1928, he put on a show that could not be ignored,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40the Inferno International Ski Race.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42'Here at the skiing resort of Murren, high up in the Swiss Alps,
0:14:42 > 0:14:47'competitors are preparing for the start of the long-distance ski racing championship.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50'As the entrants set out over the 14km course,
0:14:50 > 0:14:52'a light covering of powdery snow
0:14:52 > 0:14:54'makes the going difficult over the course.'
0:14:54 > 0:14:58It was an absolutely crazy idea at first.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01I think...not the Swiss would have done it.
0:15:02 > 0:15:08- HE SIGHS - Those early inferno races were very, well, British.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11The winner of the second ever race was called James Riddle
0:15:11 > 0:15:14and he finished in 45 minutes.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18And the judges at the bottom were in the pub, they weren't expecting anyone that early.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21They said, "My God! You shouldn't be here for another half an hour."
0:15:21 > 0:15:25He said, "That's not my problem, I'm here now and I need a beer."
0:15:25 > 0:15:29No wonder this place inspired Ian Fleming. I need a beer!
0:15:36 > 0:15:40In the 1930s, the make-up of the Winter Olympics were changed for ever
0:15:40 > 0:15:43as Arnold Lunn's great project came to fruition.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50Lunn found a powerful Austrian ally in the person of Hannes Schneider,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54who supported the Kandahar Ski Club in St Anton.
0:15:54 > 0:15:55Both of them were now pushing
0:15:55 > 0:15:57for the inclusion of alpine sports in the Olympic Games.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01But they had to wait till the following year, when both games were awarded to Germany.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04The August games of 1936 were in Berlin,
0:16:04 > 0:16:10in February six months earlier the Winter Games would go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13NEWSREEL: 'Opening the Olympic Games in a blizzard,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16'athletes of 28 nations march past and Hitler takes the salute.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20'It will be noticed that the British team salutes in Nazi fashion as a compliment to their hosts.'
0:16:20 > 0:16:23One of the most dramatic moments,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26I had a seat next to Hitler to watch the procession,
0:16:26 > 0:16:32the Swiss team marched past with their hands down at the side looking in front.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34And I watched Hitler's face
0:16:34 > 0:16:37and it had a look of absolute hatred and fury on it.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41I thought, "My God! If there's ever a war and the Swiss invaded, they'd catch it for this."
0:16:44 > 0:16:48But Arnold Lunn's success in bringing alpine sport to the Olympics
0:16:48 > 0:16:51would be hijacked by the Nazis.
0:16:51 > 0:16:58Here a combined downhill and slalom alpine event was introduced for both men and women.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Germany won gold and silver in both,
0:17:00 > 0:17:04a powerful alpine nation dominating an alpine sport.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07'In the slalom skiing event Germany was victorious.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10'The slalom is a downhill ski run that includes difficult turns between flags.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12'And the women's race was won by Christl Cranz.'
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Arnold Lunn had seen it coming, he'd watched as times changed,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25the English were no longer the kings of the resorts.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27He wrote, "In the days of our imperial power,
0:17:27 > 0:17:32"nobody dared question the English skaters' demand for Lebensraum.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34"The English skated in the English style
0:17:34 > 0:17:36"and the great rinks of Grindelwald and St Moritz
0:17:36 > 0:17:40"were seldom troubled by the intrusion of continental heresy.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43"But Kipling's England passed away."
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Now he was being humorous here, but he's making a serious point
0:17:46 > 0:17:51about the parallels between power politics and winter sports.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53His use of the word "Lebensraum" is fascinating.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Here in Germany in the 1930s Lebensraum meant living space,
0:17:57 > 0:18:02the desire for a German empire stretching right through Central and Eastern Europe.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Lunn was referring to the fact that from here on in the Winter Olympics
0:18:06 > 0:18:10would always be a stage for great power rivalries to play out.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18People were aware of some of the more menacing aspects of the Nazi ideology,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21there were reports in the foreign press of Jews being rounded up
0:18:21 > 0:18:23and persecuted here in Garmisch
0:18:23 > 0:18:27and the Germans themselves were then worried about international opinion.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31The head of the organising committee, a man called Karl Ritter von Halt,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33he wrote to the Interior Ministry in Berlin.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37He says, "If the slightest disturbance occurs in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
0:18:37 > 0:18:41"it will not be possible to hold the Olympic Games in Berlin,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44"because all the other nations will withdraw from the event."
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Anti-Jewish signs adorned the buildings throughout Garmisch,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55high-ranking Nazis understood this would derail the Games.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Every effort was being made down here in Garmisch
0:19:52 > 0:19:55to improve the atmosphere, bring a little Olympic spirit in.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58The "Jews forbidden" signs were being taken down
0:19:58 > 0:20:03and the Nazis even relented when it came to team selection.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08At first the German authorities refused to select their most famous ice hockey player, Rudi Ball,
0:20:08 > 0:20:13for the Olympics because he was Jewish, but then remarkably his team-mate, Gustav Jaenecke,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17said he would refuse to play unless Rudi was selected.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Extraordinarily, the authorities gave in, they selected Rudi,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24they even let him and his family leave Germany after the games
0:20:24 > 0:20:26and thus they survived the war.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35The final verdict on the Garmisch games remains damning
0:20:35 > 0:20:38thanks to their association with the Nazis.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Expressions like "relenting" and "giving way" soon disappeared from the vocabulary.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47And as soon as the games were over the anti-Jewish signs went back up around the town.
0:20:47 > 0:20:54Franz Pfnur, who won the first alpine event so beloved of Arnold Lunn, went on to join the SS.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04Way back in 1936, Arnold Lunn had been appalled at the way
0:21:04 > 0:21:07the Nazis had politicised winter sport.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10And when asked his opinion on the Olympic Games of that year,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13he said, "Germans, let me let you into a little secret,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17"there are still some people who enjoy skiing for fun."
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Those claims of 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
0:21:23 > 0:21:28were the final Winter Olympics before World War II.
0:21:28 > 0:21:35'I remember a time, and what a time, when the war you thought was going to be over last summer,
0:21:35 > 0:21:41'and should've been over last summer, showed every horrible sign of lasting through to next summer.'
0:21:43 > 0:21:47'The British, browned off, brassed off...
0:21:47 > 0:21:49'that's how they were.'
0:21:52 > 0:21:55The Alps turned into just another battle ground
0:21:55 > 0:22:00and remained that way until the 8th of May 1945, VE Day.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07The mountains had a captivating, spiritual effect on many.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13The leading Victorian thinker John Ruskin described the Alps as the great cathedrals of the earth,
0:22:13 > 0:22:20with their gates of rock, pavements of clouds, choirs of stream and stone, altars of snow.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26Once the war was over, Arnold Lunn could return to his beloved Switzerland
0:22:26 > 0:22:29and his snow-clad churches in the sky.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34He is best remembered for his contribution to the skiing world,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38but he was a very religious man as well.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41It was the sunsets and the dawns in the mountains
0:22:41 > 0:22:44that made him believe that a god existed,
0:22:44 > 0:22:49because these dawns and sunsets just couldn't possibly have happened by accident.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53In 1952 he was knighted for services to British skiing
0:22:53 > 0:22:56and Anglo-Swiss relations.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00And he continued to ski in Murren until his death in 1974.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12NEWSREEL: 'Dawn is breaking over this peaceful Norwegian village
0:23:12 > 0:23:17'as Mr Pastry quietly leaves his hotel for his first skiing lesson.'
0:23:21 > 0:23:24The Olympics resumed after the war.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Downhill skiing would no longer be the butt of Scandinavian jokes,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30it would become the blue riband event of future games.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38In 1948, the Games return to San Moritz,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42familiar St Moritz in neutral Switzerland
0:23:42 > 0:23:44for the Games of Renewal.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Renewal but not reconciliation...not yet.
0:23:48 > 0:23:54The Axis countries were not invited, so no Germany, Japan or Italy.
0:24:10 > 0:24:11Renewal might have been the dream,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14but the post-war reality was austerity.
0:24:14 > 0:24:20It seemed like the only thing that was new was a terrible divide between East and West.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24As Winston Churchill famously put it, it was as if an iron curtain
0:24:24 > 0:24:27had descended across the continent of Europe.
0:24:27 > 0:24:34Once wartime allies, the USSR and the West were now bitter enemies.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44In the winter of 1948, tensions were building around Berlin.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47They would lead to a Soviet blockade of West Berlin
0:24:47 > 0:24:51and the Berlin Airlift, one of the defining events of the Cold War.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57The Soviet Union chose not to attend the San Moritz games.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00They were tempted four years later for the ice hockey
0:25:00 > 0:25:03but eventually decided to stay at home.
0:25:04 > 0:25:10The wartime Axis powers of Japan, Germany and Italy were allowed to go to the Oslo Games in 1952.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13There were some complaints and reservations,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16but in the end the spirit of reconciliation won out.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18'Three seconds made all the difference,
0:25:18 > 0:25:23'enough to give this German quartet of heavyweights the Olympic bobsleigh title.'
0:25:23 > 0:25:28The following Olympics, it was actually awarded to a former Axis power, Italy.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30The games were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo
0:25:30 > 0:25:34and this time the Soviet Union decided to turn up.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43There had been a change in attitude towards international competition.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48Sport was no longer seen as an affectation of the capitalist bourgeoisie,
0:25:48 > 0:25:53instead they'd worked out that a physically fit nation would be a productive nation
0:25:53 > 0:25:57and excellence in international competition would force
0:25:57 > 0:26:02the rest of the world to realise the superiority of the Soviet system.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10It wasn't an easy pitch, certain...promises had to be made.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15There was a concern that if Soviet athletes failed on the international stage
0:26:15 > 0:26:20then that would be used by the Western media to throw mud at the entire Soviet project.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24And that meant that the chairman of the relevant government committee for sport,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27before entering any international competition,
0:26:27 > 0:26:33he had to write a personal note to Stalin here at the Kremlin guaranteeing victory.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Italy introduced a touch of slapstick to the opening ceremony,
0:26:40 > 0:26:44but then with an altogether more stern-faced determination
0:26:44 > 0:26:47the Soviet Union swept the top of the medal table
0:26:47 > 0:26:52with seven golds, three silvers and six bronzes.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57They would then go on to dominate nearly every Winter Olympics for the next 40 years.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02'Dagadov has scored!'
0:27:05 > 0:27:07'The Soviet Union won this match.'
0:27:09 > 0:27:12'Vladimir Beikov of the Soviet Union only 21.'
0:27:14 > 0:27:17'He seems to thinks he's done it! He seems to know he's done it! He has!'
0:27:26 > 0:27:29The shift in international sporting power didn't go unnoticed.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32The American magazine Sports Illustrated said the Soviets
0:27:32 > 0:27:37were casing Cortina like bank heisters planning a caper.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41And one US senator said there were 12 million professional Soviet athletes
0:27:41 > 0:27:45with their sinister eyes fixed on the 1956 games.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49And they weren't there, he continued, to promote sportsmanship and fair play,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52but to increase international Communist domination.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59The Berlin Wall was about to go up,
0:27:59 > 0:28:05the Cold War was filtering into every part of society, including sports.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09As in all wars, the sports war had its propaganda victories and defeats.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12The big star of the games from the West point of view was Tony Sailer
0:28:12 > 0:28:15from Kitzbuhel in Austria, known as the Blitz from Kitz.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20He won three gold medals in downhill, slalom and giant slalom.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Less noticed in the West was Yevgeny Grishin from Russia,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28he won two gold medals in speed skating and smashed the world record.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40The Games were getting more popular.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45In 1964, for the first time, the BBC would televise the Winter Olympics
0:28:45 > 0:28:48and Britain would win its first and only gold medal in bobsleigh.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53Tony Nash and Robin Dixon, 3rd Baron of Glentoran.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55It was in a race that harked back to another era
0:28:55 > 0:28:59and a victory for sportsmanship as their great rival, Eugeni Monti,
0:28:59 > 0:29:01offered to help them fix their faulty sled.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05It was, said Tony Nash, "a magnificent gesture".
0:29:05 > 0:29:07Did you know what you had to do when you left the top?
0:29:07 > 0:29:09We knew what we had to do, yes,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11but doing it is another matter.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17One of the key principles of the original Olympic Charter
0:29:17 > 0:29:19was that athletes should be amateurs.
0:29:19 > 0:29:25So how could it possibly be said that athletes that did nothing except train for their chosen sport,
0:29:25 > 0:29:30paid for by the state, were just doing it for the love of the game?
0:29:30 > 0:29:33The Americans thought the Soviets were 100% professional.
0:29:33 > 0:29:40And since the president of the IOC between 1952 and 1972 was their very own Avery Brundage,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44born in Detroit, raised in Chicago and ardently on the side of the amateurs,
0:29:44 > 0:29:51the battle to protect the Olympics against professionalism and commercialisation was keenly fought
0:29:51 > 0:29:53and would ultimately be lost.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00It wasn't just the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc that were threatening the amateur code.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12The gentlemanly, Christian alpine sport so beloved of the Lunns
0:30:12 > 0:30:17was becoming so popular by the 1960s that the commercial advertisers,
0:30:17 > 0:30:21those foot soldiers of capitalism, started paying attention.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26'Style, colours, the right anorak
0:30:26 > 0:30:30'and of course those eye-catching ski trousers.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33'You can get your equipment for around £30.'
0:30:33 > 0:30:37The Alps had become the holiday choice for the great British middle class
0:30:37 > 0:30:40and they left political correctness back at Heathrow.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45'If you are in a spot, someone will fly to your aid,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49'especially if you are sweet and helpless.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53'It's so useful to have a man around, I'm sure you'll agree.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57'And after all that, he's got something to chew on too.'
0:30:58 > 0:31:02But the public loved no sports star more than a skiing star.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07The dominating figure of these games has been, of course, Jean-Claude Killy,
0:31:07 > 0:31:13the Frenchman whose appearance and performances have made him in this country anyway almost an Olympic god.
0:31:16 > 0:31:23Enter Jean-Claude Killy, winner of three gold medals in the 1968 Olympic Games.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25I had to ski all out...
0:31:27 > 0:31:34..and to try everything I knew to really ski the fastest this mountain could be skied.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36Obviously now you can relax and celebrate.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40So now I can relax and drink champagne.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44After his triple triumph, Killy advertised Chevrolet cars,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Schwinn bicycles, United Airlines.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51Do you know me?
0:31:51 > 0:31:54I won a few gold medals in the 1968 Olympics as an amateur,
0:31:54 > 0:31:57but skiing for me now is a business
0:31:57 > 0:32:00and for that I need an American Express card.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04In a deal with Head skis he went into movies, motor racing.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07The world loved the dashing Frenchman.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09SUPERSTARS THEME From skiing, triple Olympic champion
0:32:09 > 0:32:12and double world champion Jean-Claude Killy.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14Killy with the first of his five.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17And that will do very nicely, left footed into the corner.
0:32:17 > 0:32:18And Killy delighted at that.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22The bastion of amateurism, Avery Brundage, wasn't impressed.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25The General Charles de Gaulle.
0:32:25 > 0:32:32He shunned his medal ceremonies and threatened to cut skiing from the Olympic programme.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36The president of the IOC couldn't nail Killy or get skiing banned.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42By the time of the next games in Sapporo, Japan,
0:32:42 > 0:32:47he did make an example of the next skiing superstar, Karl Schranz of Austria.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52Schranz was ever happy to complement his skiing with commercial exposure.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56Avery Brundage now banned him from the Sapporo games.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01It was all right for Austria as their beloved Franz Klammer
0:33:01 > 0:33:04would take gold four years later at the Innsbruck Olympics.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08Franz Klammer is only just 22, but in the blue riband of the Games,
0:33:08 > 0:33:13Klammer means as much to Austrians as Killy did to the French in 1968.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Austrian skiing's finest moment.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20There's the time! It's coming up now! 1.45! He's done it!
0:33:20 > 0:33:21Klammer's done it!
0:33:21 > 0:33:23And this crowd go wild!
0:33:25 > 0:33:27Not much consolation for Schranz though.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39Brundage retired in 1972 and after his presidency
0:33:39 > 0:33:44the rules on amateurism were slowly dispensed with until they were pretty much got rid of altogether,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47although they do still exist for boxing and wrestling.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51But there would be one ultimate showdown in the winter of 1980
0:33:51 > 0:33:54between those who believed in the amateur ideal
0:33:54 > 0:33:56and those who chose to ignore it.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59The games were held in Lake Placid, New York State.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03Now as ever with the Winter Olympics the setting was incredibly dramatic,
0:34:03 > 0:34:08but the political background was also certainly not placid.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan at the end of 1979,
0:34:16 > 0:34:20just two months before these Winter Olympics were due to take place.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25And that meant that the Americans had decided to boycott the summer games in Moscow.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29But the Soviets were going to send their team here to northern New York State
0:34:29 > 0:34:33to go toe-to-toe with their deadliest superpower rival.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37Now, Canada had dominated ice hockey at the early games,
0:34:37 > 0:34:39winning six of the first seven golds.
0:34:39 > 0:34:45Only Britain in 1936 with a team packed full of Canadian ex-pats denied them the clean sweep.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49Three cheers for Japan. Hip, hip, hooray! Hooray!
0:34:49 > 0:34:54But since joining the Winter Olympics in 1956, the Soviets had taken over,
0:34:54 > 0:34:56they'd won five out of six.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01The USA had only ever won once, in 1960 at Squaw Valley.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07Valeri Kharlamov, Vladislav Tretiak and Boris Mikhailov
0:35:07 > 0:35:10would be enshrined in ice hockey's Hall of Fame
0:35:10 > 0:35:15and they and their team arrived in Lake Placid fully determined to win Olympic gold again.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19They were confident they could beat anyone, even the best-paid professionals in the world,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22as found in America's National Hockey League.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26These pros of course were not eligible for the American Olympic team.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31Team USA was assembled by coach Herb Brooks from the university leagues.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33They were all amateur.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42- How long has this museum been here? - Well, since shortly after the 1980 games.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46They keep improving it and adding more and more things to it, so...
0:35:46 > 0:35:48it gets a lot of visitors now.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52At the time what did that game mean to Americans?
0:35:52 > 0:35:56It was the peak of the Cold War, that's what made it more significant.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00Russia had invaded Afghanistan on Christmas Day 1979,
0:36:00 > 0:36:07and the only time...still the only time the Olympics has ever been held in Russia was in the summer of 1980.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11Those who believe that sport has nothing to do with politics
0:36:11 > 0:36:13are living in a dream world!
0:36:13 > 0:36:17President Carter was just about to issue a boycott.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20The United States does not wish to be represented
0:36:20 > 0:36:27in a host country that is invading and subjugating another nation.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52Well, this is it, this is where the Miracle On Ice moment happened.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56- Nice! The Theatre of Dreams itself. - The Theatre of Dreams.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01A small little arena where the improbable, well, it became the probable.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05We had a bunch of college kids, ages 19, 20, 21,
0:37:05 > 0:37:09taking on this professional team from the Soviet Union.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13So it's really about history and it's about politics.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17This small rink... You know, it was the Cold War on ice.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24The Winter Olympics had been sucked into the Cold War rivalries
0:37:24 > 0:37:28and these ice rinks and ski hills had been turned into battlefields.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31National pride was at stake.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35In a political or nationalistic sense, I'm sure this game is being
0:37:35 > 0:37:38viewed with varying perspectives, but manifestly it is a hockey game.
0:37:38 > 0:37:43The United States and the Soviet Union on a sheet of ice in Lake Placid, New York.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47These are the inspirational words spoken by Herb Brooks,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50the coach of the US team, just before they went out on the ice.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54"Great moments are born from great opportunity. That's what we have here tonight, boys.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57- "That's what you've earned here tonight. One game."- It's a goal!
0:37:57 > 0:37:59Kasatonov has scored!
0:37:59 > 0:38:03"If we played them ten times, they might win nine, but not this game, not tonight.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05"Tonight we're going to skate with them."
0:38:05 > 0:38:08In the Olympic Handbook, Morrow is described as brutal.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10"So now we're going to stay with them and shut them down."
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Schneider scores! What a shot!
0:38:13 > 0:38:17"I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have."
0:38:17 > 0:38:23- Makarov. Goal!- "Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it."
0:38:24 > 0:38:28As someone who's been a crushing underdog their entire sporting career,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30this speech really talks to me.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Tretiak was the Russian goalie,
0:38:32 > 0:38:34considered the best goalie in the world.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38With 12 seconds left in the first period and Russia ahead 2-1,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Dave Christian picks up the puck on the right wing
0:38:41 > 0:38:44and lets a slap shot go outside the blue line.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Now, Tretiak had probably never missed a rebound in his life, but he missed that one.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51It's there! One second to go!
0:38:51 > 0:38:54And the United States have equalised!
0:38:54 > 0:38:57Tretiak did not look too good.
0:38:57 > 0:39:03And that Russian coach went berserk, he took Tretiak out and he never put him back in.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13Eruzione! Goal!
0:39:14 > 0:39:16So the best goalie in the world sat on the bench.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19That's how the college kids beat the Russians.
0:39:19 > 0:39:25Eruzione has put the United States in the lead by four goals to three!
0:39:25 > 0:39:31The result would be known for ever in America as the Miracle On Ice.
0:39:31 > 0:39:36And the United States have beaten the Soviet Union!
0:39:36 > 0:39:38WILD CHEERING
0:39:38 > 0:39:42I have never seen such scenes in all my life!
0:39:42 > 0:39:47In the Soviet Union, Pravda, the official newspaper, chose not to publish the result.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03- Hello, Mr President.- Tell all the team how much I love them
0:40:03 > 0:40:05and we'll see you tomorrow at the White House.
0:40:05 > 0:40:06And we're all proud of you.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09- Thank you very much. We'll all be there.- Good luck to you.- OK, good luck to you.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11- Go celebrate.- OK. We won't.
0:40:11 > 0:40:16It's still the single greatest moment in...in sports!
0:40:16 > 0:40:21CROWD CHANTS: USA! USA! USA! USA!
0:40:22 > 0:40:26It's difficult to overstate the importance of the Miracle On Ice
0:40:26 > 0:40:27in recent American history.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29It's been credited with everything
0:40:29 > 0:40:31from Hollywood's obsession with sports movies
0:40:31 > 0:40:36to a rebirth of national pride in America in the 1980s.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39The Miracle On Ice had such a huge impact
0:40:39 > 0:40:41that it eclipsed some of the other achievements of the games.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44There was another miracle when Eric Heinden won
0:40:44 > 0:40:47an unprecedented five Olympic gold medals in speed skating.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49- COMMENTATOR:- Heiden leading now!
0:40:49 > 0:40:53And he crosses the line there - 38.03 - a new Olympic record
0:40:53 > 0:40:59and he beats the reigning Olympic champion.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03As for the US college boys,
0:41:03 > 0:41:05they went on to beat Finland to win the gold medal.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09The Soviet Union faced nine long, hard years of war in Afghanistan,
0:41:09 > 0:41:13and during that time, they won both men's hockey finals at the Olympics,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15but they didn't win the one that mattered -
0:41:15 > 0:41:19here in Lake Placid in upstate New York in the good ol' US of A.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27ACCOMPANYING FLUTE / ACCENTED ENGLISH: Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31The city and the area surrounding it is filled with many moods.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36Wherever one goes, there is a sense of great history,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39the feeling that someone has walked here before.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47The children of Sarajevo will be the ones
0:41:47 > 0:41:51who will get the most out of the Olympic Games coming to the city,
0:41:51 > 0:41:53for they will be the ones who will carry on
0:41:53 > 0:41:55the happy tradition of friendship.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11The 1980s were extraordinary times for the Soviet Union.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14First, there was their withdrawal from Afghanistan,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16and perestroika and glasnost,
0:42:16 > 0:42:17the fall of the Berlin Wall,
0:42:17 > 0:42:19the collapse of the Soviet Union itself
0:42:19 > 0:42:22and the unravelling of their Eastern European empire.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25And nowhere was that reshaping of the old order
0:42:25 > 0:42:28more brutal and destructive
0:42:28 > 0:42:30than here in Sarajevo,
0:42:30 > 0:42:32the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36- RADIO:- It's eight o'clock on Wednesday, 30 August.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38The news headlines this morning.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41NATO planes and guns have been attacking Bosnian Serb positions
0:42:41 > 0:42:44in retaliation for Monday's mortar attack on Sarajevo...
0:42:44 > 0:42:48I mean, this is Europe 1993, not 1943.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59This was the view that the Serb commanders would have had
0:42:59 > 0:43:01during the siege of Sarajevo,
0:43:01 > 0:43:04the longest siege in modern military history.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06But only a few years before,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08these buildings, this hillside
0:43:08 > 0:43:10had been the site of a joyful occasion -
0:43:10 > 0:43:12the 1984 Winter Olympics.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15RADIO: The ski jumping at Mount Igman,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18twin towers feeding into one landing point.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26One of the biggest, newest
0:43:26 > 0:43:30and most expensive constructions is the bobsleigh run at Mount Trebevic -
0:43:30 > 0:43:34it's totally refrigerated, and one report puts its cost at 7 million.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42It's just amazing to think that in the last 30 years alone,
0:43:42 > 0:43:46this has been a state-of-the-art Olympic bobsleigh track,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48a battlefield, and is now obviously a Mecca
0:43:48 > 0:43:51for graffiti artists and kids on their bikes.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57We came back to Sarajevo since the war and, erm...
0:43:59 > 0:44:01it was just a war-torn city.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03Blown apart.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08We actually saw the opening ceremony stadium,
0:44:08 > 0:44:10a huge outdoor stadium,
0:44:10 > 0:44:12that had now been turned into a graveyard.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17I think that's when the full impact of what had happened hit me.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25This is a town fall of mosques, synagogues and churches.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28At the time, this was probably the most cosmopolitan place
0:44:28 > 0:44:31ever to host the Winter games,
0:44:31 > 0:44:33and it was certainly the first time
0:44:33 > 0:44:35the Winter Olympics had gone to a place
0:44:35 > 0:44:37with a large Muslim population.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44- REPORTER:- It's here in particular that Great Britain will be hoping
0:44:44 > 0:44:48for those Olympic medals. It's the home of the figure skating.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51Back in 1984, this was the ice rink for the Olympic Games
0:44:51 > 0:44:54and this room reverberated with the sound of Bolero,
0:44:54 > 0:45:00on an evening with 24 million people back in the UK watching.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03- TANNOY:- "..Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean..."
0:45:03 > 0:45:06Going into the Olympics, I guess, in everyone's eyes,
0:45:06 > 0:45:09it was ours to lose.
0:45:09 > 0:45:14Everything was geared around leading up to 1984,
0:45:14 > 0:45:19because this was our Olympics, this was our chance.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24Going into the competition we were so focused.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26Like a caged lion.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32Using the music Bolero, it became so popular,
0:45:32 > 0:45:35it even got to, like, number eight in the charts.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37Can you believe that?
0:45:37 > 0:45:39It was a piece of music that started very intimate
0:45:39 > 0:45:42and grew and crescendo'd and got louder and bigger,
0:45:42 > 0:45:44into a final frenzy.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49We think back about when we performed it,
0:45:49 > 0:45:51and from my point of view,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54I see it sort of outside.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57An outside-body experience.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59It feels like a dream sequence.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04It feels like I was looking down on someone else doing that,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07because it was such an emotional piece, as well.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15It was one of those routines that felt...eerily silent.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18You know, when mayhem is going on in a movie,
0:46:18 > 0:46:21they'll play slow music, in slow motion.
0:46:21 > 0:46:22It almost felt like that.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30We had so many flowers that people were giving us beside the ice,
0:46:30 > 0:46:35and throwing onto the ice, and we were collecting them.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39COMMENTATOR: And there's the first set of marks!
0:46:39 > 0:46:41Do I really have to go any further?
0:46:41 > 0:46:44They put the first lot of scores up, and there was a roar.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47And then when they put the second lot of scores up,
0:46:47 > 0:46:48it was a massive roar!
0:46:48 > 0:46:50WILD CHEERING
0:46:50 > 0:46:54COMMENTATOR: Right across the board! That's it.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58What a marvellous, marvellous set of marks!
0:46:58 > 0:47:00And I remember looking up at the scoreboard
0:47:00 > 0:47:03and seeing all those sixes and thinking, "Wow!"
0:47:06 > 0:47:09We were watching them put the flags up, the Union Jack
0:47:09 > 0:47:13was sandwiched with the two Russian flags, as well.
0:47:13 > 0:47:14Ouch.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19There's never been any resentment of being a double act,
0:47:19 > 0:47:22because that's what we are.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25It's not Torvill and it's not Dean by themselves.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29It's Torvill and Dean, it's Rolls-Royce, it's fish and chips.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33Something about that performance by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean -
0:47:33 > 0:47:38the precision, the passion, that line of 6.0s - it defined an era.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41It's gone, but no-one will ever forget it.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45- REPORTER:- Jean-Claude Killy he ain't.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47- COMMENTATOR:- And they're chanting for him.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50They're chanting, "Eddie!" Look at this!
0:47:50 > 0:47:52He's waving to the world!
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Way back in 1894, Baron Pierre de Coubertin declared,
0:47:56 > 0:48:00"The most important thing is not to win, but to take part."
0:48:00 > 0:48:01- COMMENTATOR:- Safely down.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05Calgary '88 gave us The Eagle that could barely fly...
0:48:05 > 0:48:09You have established many of your own personal bests,
0:48:09 > 0:48:12and some of you have even soared like an eagle.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15HUGE CHEER
0:48:15 > 0:48:18..and a new phrase "cool runnings".
0:48:18 > 0:48:22- COMMENTATOR:- Oh, and he's over! Oh, dear me.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Not always known for self-deprecation,
0:48:24 > 0:48:26the International Olympic Committee
0:48:26 > 0:48:28looked at Eddie The Eagle and the Jamaican bobsleighers
0:48:28 > 0:48:31and were not amused.
0:48:31 > 0:48:32I think you look like an athlete.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35- Do you really?- Yes. - Thank you very much.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38- I think you look like a movie star. - Thank you.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Qualification rules were tightened,
0:48:41 > 0:48:43the Olympics was serious business.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49Perhaps a little too serious.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52Before the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55the competition for the US figure skating team
0:48:55 > 0:49:00between Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan got seriously out of hand.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02An American figure skater is recovering
0:49:02 > 0:49:05after being attacked as she finished a practice session
0:49:05 > 0:49:07in an arena in Detroit.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09Nancy Kerrigan, who is the national women's champion,
0:49:09 > 0:49:13was attacked by a man believed to be carrying a crowbar.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15Harding, crowned champion two days after the attack,
0:49:15 > 0:49:17denies her involvement.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt
0:49:20 > 0:49:22have now been implicated.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25There has been absolutely nothing to implicate Tonya Harding
0:49:25 > 0:49:28in this incident at this point in time, to my knowledge.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31Here on this rink in the town of Hamar,
0:49:31 > 0:49:36about 130km north of Oslo and just a day's drive south of the Arctic Circle,
0:49:36 > 0:49:41the world's media descended to watch the main event, Tonya versus Nancy.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45Time magazine called it The Star-Crossed Olympics.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50Nancy, just a month after the attack,
0:49:50 > 0:49:52managed to win a silver medal here.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54It's one of the great comeback stories of Olympic history.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56She became the darling of America.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02COMMENTATOR: Well, that was expected to be a triple lutz.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06Tonya, visibly affected by the adverse publicity surrounding
0:50:06 > 0:50:08the whole thing, could only manage eighth.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11She always denied involvement in the attack,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14but did plead guilty to conspiring to hinder the prosecution.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17And that summer the US Figure Skating Association
0:50:17 > 0:50:21banned her from ever competing in any Olympics again.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25Later, she became a professional boxer,
0:50:25 > 0:50:29just an extraordinary postscript to a bizarre life.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48I wonder what the Lunns would have made of it all.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50I wonder what Sir Henry would have said
0:50:50 > 0:50:52when the IOC member from his beloved Switzerland
0:50:52 > 0:50:56Marc Hodler had to announce the expulsion of several IOC members
0:50:56 > 0:50:58after they were found taking gifts
0:50:58 > 0:51:03in the build-up to the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06I think the Methodist preacher wouldn't have been too happy.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10What would Sir Arnold have made of Shaun White,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12double Olympic champion in the half pipe?
0:51:12 > 0:51:17- COMMENTATORS:- Has he got it?! - YEAH! HE'S DOING IT!- YEEESSS!
0:51:17 > 0:51:18INDISTINCT YELLING
0:51:18 > 0:51:21Not Arnold's cup of tea, you might think,
0:51:21 > 0:51:23but having fought on the side of downhill skiing
0:51:23 > 0:51:25against the Nordic establishment,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27perhaps Arnold would have embraced freestyle.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29Aaarrgh!
0:51:32 > 0:51:35I wonder if the Lunns would have been able to get their heads around
0:51:35 > 0:51:38the threat of the boycott against the Sochi Winter Olympic Games
0:51:38 > 0:51:41because of anti-gay legislation just passed in Russia.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45I am an American Olympic figure skater.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48I'm a very flamboyant gay man, if you couldn't tell.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51I am an athlete, I'm a husband,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54and I'm a father to a beautiful puppy.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59Sport and politics are intrinsically linked.
0:51:59 > 0:52:03Unless, as Lord Carrington said, you are living in a dream world.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07Sexual orientation is the battle ground this time
0:52:07 > 0:52:10and Russia's attitude to homosexuals the focus for debate.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12Say hi to the BBC.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14Say hi to all the English people.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18From the outside, because figure skating looks very flamboyant
0:52:18 > 0:52:20and very "gay"...
0:52:20 > 0:52:22to much of the Western world
0:52:22 > 0:52:25and lots of our countries...
0:52:25 > 0:52:29In Russia, a male figure skater is a man's man.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34Russia is a place I've been obsessed with since I was very young.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38And to say I am a Russophile is kind of an understatement -
0:52:38 > 0:52:40I speak the language,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43I have married one of their people.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46When I go, I go to Russia as a celebrated athlete.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48I am treated very well.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50I'm kind of a chachki.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52I'm a pretty, cute thing that...
0:52:53 > 0:52:56..sparkles and shines and dances and entertains people.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59And in Russia that's not threatening.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03If I was going to Russia as a normal person,
0:53:03 > 0:53:05this is a time when I would have to rethink that.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08This is the time when I would be afraid.
0:53:09 > 0:53:15The laws against gay people at the moment in Russia are terrible.
0:53:15 > 0:53:17What is so terrifying about me...
0:53:19 > 0:53:20..and my people
0:53:20 > 0:53:25that you want to deny us rights and liberty
0:53:25 > 0:53:27and the ability to live freely?
0:53:29 > 0:53:31And I would ask the same thing of people
0:53:31 > 0:53:33that are against gays in America.
0:53:35 > 0:53:36CHEERING
0:53:36 > 0:53:38But I'll never stay away from Russia.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41Even if they don't want me there, I'll make them have me there.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43Unless they deny me a visa.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48This year in Sochi the gulf between East and West remains vast.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53Fears over security cast a shadow over the games once again.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55EXPLOSION
0:53:55 > 0:53:59Terrorism is the great challenge of the 21st-century Olympics.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02Let's hope the games will be remembered for events
0:54:02 > 0:54:04on the ice and snow.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08Arnold Lunn died in 1974,
0:54:08 > 0:54:10having lived through two World Wars
0:54:10 > 0:54:12and almost three decades of Cold War.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16The world was a very different place to the end of the imperial century,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19when he and his father had given alpine skiing -
0:54:19 > 0:54:22that unique British combination of daredevil spirit
0:54:22 > 0:54:24and an obsession with order.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26It was the spirit of "wait your turn"...
0:54:26 > 0:54:28now, go for it!
0:54:28 > 0:54:32Now, figure skating is a sport that combines a series of rare qualities -
0:54:32 > 0:54:35it has the power of the athlete, his grace, the skill,
0:54:35 > 0:54:36and the sheer nerve.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40- COMMENTATOR:- John Curry did not put a foot wrong!
0:54:40 > 0:54:43Robin Cousins - a great round of applause!
0:54:48 > 0:54:51We may no longer be the pioneers of winter sports,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54but considering our lack of mountains, or reliable snow,
0:54:54 > 0:54:58we were probably pushing our luck on this one.
0:54:58 > 0:54:59In the last 20 years, we've restored
0:54:59 > 0:55:02some great British pride in those sports in which, once,
0:55:02 > 0:55:06a long time ago, we set the rules.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09- COMMENTATOR:- She's done it!
0:55:09 > 0:55:12It's Olympic gold for Great Britain.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19Amy Williams could become an Olympic champion.
0:55:19 > 0:55:20Surely, it's gold for Great Britain!
0:55:20 > 0:55:22Oh, yes!
0:55:22 > 0:55:25Amy Williams is the Queen of Speed!
0:55:27 > 0:55:31Maybe soon we'll end our search for that elusive gold medal on snow...
0:55:35 > 0:55:38..86 years after Sir Arnold Lunn launched that first
0:55:38 > 0:55:40race in Murren.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43They say if you can ski in Murren, you can ski anywhere.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48But I never get tired of that - never!
0:55:50 > 0:55:52So how many generations of Lunns is it now
0:55:52 > 0:55:54that's come out here to ski?
0:55:54 > 0:55:57I think I may be right in saying it's six.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00Henry, Arnold, Peter, me, Lizzie,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03and Molly is the sixth generation, yeah.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06I bet that's longer than any other British family has been skiing.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08Do you think your grandfather would've been happy
0:56:08 > 0:56:12to see the success that skiing has enjoyed now across the world?
0:56:12 > 0:56:16I think he probably would have been quite happy
0:56:16 > 0:56:21that the downhill and the slalom really had...taken over.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24It's Ingemar Stenmark, can he produce?
0:56:24 > 0:56:26Gold!
0:56:26 > 0:56:28The strength of Tomba - this remarkable ski-racer...
0:56:28 > 0:56:29He flies!
0:56:29 > 0:56:31..and skis for the gold medal.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33Klammer's done it
0:56:33 > 0:56:34and this crowd go wild!
0:56:37 > 0:56:39I don't think he would have particularly taken
0:56:39 > 0:56:40an awful lot of credit for it.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43He would've thought, "If I didn't do it, somebody else would have."
0:56:43 > 0:56:47The appeal of the Winter Olympics has never changed.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50Just like its big brother, the motto remains
0:56:50 > 0:56:53"Faster, higher, stronger".
0:56:58 > 0:57:00But there is an extra dimension here -
0:57:00 > 0:57:02man and woman's relationship,
0:57:02 > 0:57:04not just for the political and social world around us,
0:57:04 > 0:57:07but with nature...
0:57:10 > 0:57:15..to test what is humanly possible, when snow, ice, and gravity
0:57:15 > 0:57:17all come into play.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22The rest of us may never pull off a triple axel,
0:57:22 > 0:57:24or a Double McTwist 1260.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29It's unlikely that we'll travel at 100mph
0:57:29 > 0:57:31without the help of an engine,
0:57:31 > 0:57:33and I doubt we'll ever experience 5G...
0:57:36 > 0:57:38..but what we can all share
0:57:38 > 0:57:40is that it's awfully fun to watch.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43Lee coming round the outside...
0:57:43 > 0:57:45Oh! And there's a fall! And they've all gone!
0:57:45 > 0:57:49And that's left Steven Bradbury to cross the finishing line.
0:57:51 > 0:57:52Sometimes absurd...
0:57:52 > 0:57:54COMMENTATOR: This is a lap of honour
0:57:54 > 0:57:56for Lindsey Jacobellis, the American.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59OH, DRAMA! Jacobellis is down.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03This is incredible - Friede-e-e-en!
0:58:03 > 0:58:04Friede-e-e-en!
0:58:04 > 0:58:07Unbelievable!
0:58:10 > 0:58:13..and always spectacular!
0:58:33 > 0:58:36It's escapism and it's available to all.
0:58:36 > 0:58:39I'm sure the Lunns would wholeheartedly approve.
0:58:39 > 0:58:44# Let it snow...
0:58:44 > 0:58:48# Let it snow
0:58:49 > 0:58:52# Oh, the weather outside is frightful
0:58:52 > 0:58:57# But the fire is so delightful
0:58:57 > 0:59:01# And since we've no place to go
0:59:01 > 0:59:07# Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! #