The spectators sprawled on gaudy blankets at the bottom of the runs, or strapped on skis and slogged up through the slopes for a closehand look at the world's best skiers. Germans bellowed at each other across the turns; Italians shouted "Avanti!" as their blue-clad skiers hurtled past.
But to the competitors at California's Squaw Valley, the eighth Winter Olympics was an agonizing and lonely trial. Teammates drilled each other by the hour on the turns and perils of every run, tried to relax by taking long walks or playing table tennis. Before their runs, some skiers even retched in the snow.
On skis, the U.S. men in general fared about as poorly as expected; the week's best effort was ninth place in the slalom by Tom Corcoran, a graduate of Harvard Business School. France's Jean Vuarnet, 27, a studious innkeeper who has written three books on his sport, won the downhill (on unwaxed plastic-surfaced metallic skis) by throttling back on the tricky stretches like the bumpy "Waterfall," hurtling where the going was easy. Stung by defeat, the haughty Austrian team benched famed Karl Schranz, 21, and Anderl Molterer, 28, the sleek playboy who was gamboling away his off hours in nearby Crystal Bay. Skiing in their place, a long-faced farmer from Kitzbuehel named Ernst Hinterseer startled everyone by winning the tricky, hip-swinging slalom.
The Girls. The celebrity of Squaw Valley quickly became New Hampshire's Penny Pitou, a sturdy, round-cheeked blonde who looks like an angel and cusses like a deck hand. Years ago she tucked her hair under a cap, made the boys call her "Tom," and won all the honors in a male high school meet. But at Squaw Valley, Penny had learned how photogenic a flowing cloud of blonde hair can be, between races coyly nuzzled Boy Friend Egon Zimmerman of the Austrian ski team (who announced that he would marry her if he could find a job in the U.S.).
After finishing second to Germany's quiet Heidi Biebl in the downhill. Penny crossed the line in the giant slalom with a sputter of profanity and a ready alibi: "I'm so sick, I don't care what my time is. Bad chest cold." But Penny learned quickly enough that her time had made her second again, just .1 sec. behind Switzerland's beaming, broad-faced Yvonne Ruegg. Still, Penny had only to finish tenth in the slalom to compile the best overall women's record at the Olympics, thus automatically win the title of 1960 Combined Champion bestowed by the Federation Internationale de Ski.