Lake Placid is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1980 Winter Olympics. A number of athletes who competed are returning to the village to reminisce and reacquaint with residents who helped organize or volunteered during the games. Three people who worked behind the scenes during the games spoke with WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley this week. Marina LaDuke was a press photographer — among those selected to travel to Greece on Air Force 2 to get the Olympic flame.
"Mondale offered his Air Force plane for us to go to Athens. They have the flame where Zeus comes down and gives us the flame. So there was quite a ceremony there. And the flame was put into a miner’s lamp so that it would be safe in the plane. So then we flew back to Andrews Air Force Base and from there we went to the White House, to the Oval Office and Carter met us at the door and shook hands. He was really, really nice."
An extended behind-the-scenes conversation about the 1980 Winter Olympics is here:
