Let's See That Again in Slow-Motion
The Winter Olympics gave us a now-ubiquitous moment in sports.
Howdy! It’s Joey, back with more Fun Fact Friyay. Did you know the Winter Olympics begin today? What a treat!
The concept of instant replay came from the men’s slalom event in the 1960 Olympics, when event officials asked CBS to review a video tape to confirm if a skier missed a gate.
The 2026 Winter Olympics are upon us! They’re taking place across northern Italy, referred to as the Milano Cortano 2026. Milo and Tina are the official mascots, “the first openly Gen Z” mascots for the games.
I feel confident I could participate in about three Winter Olympics events, tops: curling, luge, and skeleton. Curling just looks like a fun time all around. The latter two surely have technique behind them, but, as “SNL” recently posited, the best of the best have to think things like how to “confuse and ultimately silence my survival instincts,” and “I honestly think a corpse that’s my same shape could win.”
That’s part of the joy of the Olympics, of course. It’s watching people who are the best at what they do, and the jubilation of a job well done is delightful to witness.
Naturally, a Winter Olympics fun fact feels fitting. One thing I came across that I really wanted to be true was a story about Finnish skier Kalle Jalkanen. During the 1936 games, he allegedly lost his dentures while breathing heavily in an impressive come-from-behind race.
The dentures fell into the snow, so Jalkanen skied back to find them. He recovered his dentures—still intact—and managed to huff and puff his way to a victory even with the delay.
However, despite being listed on the Olympics website as a fact, I didn’t find anything verifying this story. It could simply be a fun legend.
I’m thinking back to the days of wearing my expander (like a retainer in that it’s removable) as a teenager and don’t recall ever running so fast or exerting any amount of energy to the level that the expander came out.
That’s probably the lone reason why I’m not an Olympian.
In any case, here’s an Olympic fact that seems to hold more weight: We have the 1960 Winter Olympics to thank for instant replay.
The 1960 Olympics Games, held in Squaw Valley (now Olympic Valley), California, were significant for a number of reasons.
Women’s speed skating and men’s biathlon debuted at these Olympics. We also saw our first medal earned by metal skies (a little medal on metal wordplay) instead of the traditional wooden ones when Jean Vuarnet of France won a gold in the downhill event. He was given those metal skis just a few days before his race!
There was no bobsled event, the only time that’s ever happened during the Winter Olympics. The reason? Only nine nations said they were planning to participate, so the Olympic organizers didn’t bother putting a bobsled run together. This is the Olympic equivalent of taking your ball and going home.
Most relevant for this fact, though, is that the 1960 Olympics were the first Olympic Games to be broadcast live on television.
For a very simplified overview of the slalom event, participants ski down a slope and have to go in between pairs of poles, or gates. Both their feet and the tips of their skis must pass inside the gates.
Today, the majority of skiers use what’s called a cross-blocking technique, where their hands, arms, or shin pads and poles touch the outside gate as they pass it. With this technique, it’s typically very obvious when a skier has touched a pole.
Things were different in 1960, however. And during the men’s slalom event, it was unclear if one competitor had, in fact, gone through a gate.
Event organizers huddled together and decided they needed a second review. They asked CBS (the Olympics broadcaster) for a tape of the event, so they could see for themselves what had transpired.
That gave CBS an idea: What if we add this “second look” to other sports that air on the network? And the instant replay was born.
While you’re enjoying a slow-motion angle of a snowboard gliding through the air, a curling puck perfectly coming to rest, or a bobsled team gracefully running in stride before hopping in the ol’ sleigh, tip your cap to the 1960 Olympics for helping make that happen.
Now, if only we could reduce the number of replay reviews that happen (particularly in basketball and football games), then we’d truly be living the good life. Enjoy the Olympics!