Film Overview

As the world celebrates the XXth Olympic Winter Games in Torino, a new documentary chronicles the inspiring story of the tiny town that gave America its greatest Olympic triumph. Lake Placid: An Olympic History traces the rise of Lake Placid, New York, from an unknown mountain village to the home of two Winter Olympics and the U.S. Hockey Team's Miracle on Ice.

As the site of the nation's first winter resort at the turn of the century, Lake Placid boasted some of the nation's top winter athletes when it hosted the Third Winter Olympics in 1932. As the decades passed and the Games expanded, some felt the Olympics had grown too large for this tiny Adirondack village. But they underestimated the spirit of the townspeople.

Lake Placid: An Olympic History chronicles how the town's 2,800 residents persevered through hardship and returned the Games to their small-town roots. The result, in 1980, was the Miracle on Ice, Eric Heiden's five gold medals, and America's most memorable Winter Olympic Games.

Blending rare audio recordings with archival films and photographs, Lake Placid: An Olympic History is the story of America's Winter Sports Capital - where the spirit of the Olympics lives on, every day.