- NUMBER OF PENN STATERS COMPETING: 1 in 1952, 2 in 1956
- NUMBER OF PENN STATERS IN ALL ROLES: 1 in 1952, 2 in 1956
- NUMBER OF OLYMPIC ALTERNATES: 0
Most experiences by Penn Staters at the Olympics and Paralympics have taken place during the summer version of the festival. By the 1950s, though, winter sports were becoming a more prominent part of Penn State’s athletics offerings — and, in turn, Penn State was evolving into a place where past and future Winter Olympians could find a home within the Nittany Lions community.
Profile: Kurt Oppelt
Kurt Oppelt had already won an Olympic gold medal by the time he arrived at Penn State in 1967 as an assistant professor of physical education. Oppelt, born in Vienna, Austria on March 18, 1932, first participated in the Olympics in 1952 in Oslo. There, Oppelt finished 11th in the men’s figure skating competition and ninth with partner Sissy Schwarz in the pairs competition.
Four years later in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Schwarz and Oppelt took gold in a controversial finish in the pairs event. Finishing ahead of defending Olympic champions Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden, the Austrian victory was attributed not to the skating of Schwarz and Oppelt but to the machinations of a judging bloc of Austro-Hungarian ancestry. Italians in the arena pelted the ice with garbage, and Oppelt and Schwarz were booed throughout a post-Olympics tour. The furor over their victory died down over their next four years skating as professionals. No proof ever emerged of voting improprieties, nor were Oppelt and Schwarz ever implicated personally, but the result remains a source of contention for Canadians more than a half-century later.
Following his gold-medal performance in Italy, Oppelt relocated to the United States and made his way to State College in 1967. Oppelt wore many hats while in University Park, not all of them involved with figure skating. The Austrian served as a skating instructor, but he also filled the role of freshman soccer coach from 1968 to 1970. Oppelt served as director of the Penn State Ice Skating Club and director of the therapeutic skating program on campus.
Revered in his native Austria, Oppelt was inducted into the Austrian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1976. That same year, Oppelt served as a torch bearer for the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics. Oppelt also received Austria’s Golden Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic in 1996.
When the 1980s rolled around, Oppelt left Pennsylvania and relocated to Florida, where he worked as a sports psychologist and lived until his passing in 2015. Oppelt spoke out against a boycott of the Moscow Olympics, advocating that Americans should “beat [the Soviet Union] on their home grounds, it really hurts more.”
SOURCES AND ADDITIONAL READING
- Mark Breakey, “Skating Beneficial for Disabled,” Daily Collegian (State College, PA), March 24, 1977, 4.
- Ron Corbett, “Rehorick Calls for Inquiry,” Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) Citizen, February 14, 2002, C4.
- “Kurt Oppelt to Run Torch,” Springfield (MO) Leader and Press, January 15, 1976, 30.
- Steve Milton, “Passing Judgment on Judges,” Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada), January 31, 1998, E9.
- Kurt Oppelt, “Only Hurt Olympics,” Orlando (FL) Sentinel, January 22, 1980, A14.
- Tim Povtak, “Mind Over Matter? Yes, It’s Working,” Orlando (FL) Sentinel, August 28, 1998, A6.
- Tim Povtak, “Roadblock in the Fast Lane,” Orlando (FL) Sentinel, May 19, 1991, C9.
- “Skaters and Skiers Have Done Most in Upholding Canada’s Sports Image,” The Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada), December 26, 1967, 23.
- Rich Ziemba, “Skating: Fun for the Health of It,” Daily Collegian (State College, PA), December 15, 1977, 2.