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LIGHTING THE CAULDRONAfter 16,300 runners carried the torch 18,741 kilometres, the XI Olympic Winter Games were officially declared open with the lighting of the Olympic flame by Japanese schoolboy Hideki Takada. The music at the Opening Ceremony was composed especially for the Games by talented composers from across the world, while the stairway to the Sacred Flame cauldron was based on the one used for the Olympic Games Tokyo 1964.A SPANISH SURPRISEWith no previous medals in the Olympic Winter Games, Spain pulled off a stunning upset in the men’s slalom event as Francisco “Paquito” Fernández Ochoa landed gold, a full second ahead of Italian cousins Gustav and Roland Thöni, who won silver and bronze respectively.Fernández Ochoa remains the only winter Olympic champion from Spain, and is commemorated with a statue in his hometown of Cercedilla.MEMORABLE MOMENTSThe 1972 Olympic Winter Games were one of the last to feature medallists using all-wooden skis. Norwegian cross-country skier Magne Myrmo (below) notably won a silver medal in the 50km category and even claimed 15km gold at the World Championships in Falun (Sweden) two years later, before the fibreglass synthetics revolution took off in time for the Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck 1976.MEMORABLE MOMENTSDID YOU KNOW?70 OLYMPIC REVIEW