The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games, were held in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9 1964. The games included 1091 athletes from 36 nations, and the Olympic Torch was carried by Joseph Rieder, a former alpine skier who had participated in the 1956 Winter Olympics.
The games were affected by the deaths of Australian alpine skier Ross Milne and a British luge slider, during training, and by the deaths, 3 years earlier, of the entire US figure skating team and family members.