1932 Winter Olympic Games

The third Winter Olympics, in 1932, were held in Lake Placid, New York State, a town of fewer than 4,000 people. Faced with major obstacles raising money in the midst of a depression, the president of the organizing committee, Dr. Godfrey Dewey, donated land owned by his family to be used for construction of a bobsleigh run. Sonja Henie defended her figure skating title, as did the French pair of Andrée and Pierre Brunet. However Gillis Grafström was thwarted in his attempt at winning a fourth gold medal, placing second behind Austrian Karl Schäfer. Billy Fiske of the United States won a second gold medal in the four-man bobsleigh. One member of Fiske’s team was Eddie Eagan, who had won the light-heavyweight boxing championship at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. Eagan remains the only person in Olympic history to earn gold medals in both Summer and Winter sports.