The torch of Lake Placid was created by the famous designer Don Mc Farland from Santa Barbara – California, and produced by Cleanweld Turner Co, Sycamore, Illinois. The torch has a length of 72.5. cm and a weight of 650 grams. Its upper part is made of bronze, while the handle is covered with leather. The silver ring separating the two different parts bears the Games emblem and the inscription «XIII Olympic Winter Games Lake Placid 1980» . Its design and materials symbolized a blend of a clean modern stile and a reference to the lamps of the Ancient Greece. The torch was carried by 52 torchbearers, of which 26 women and 26 men, representing each country together with a representative of the District of Columbia and one of the city of Lake Placid. At the end of the opening ceremony the mobile brazier was placed at the top of a 16-metre tower, so that it could be seen from the various competition venues. Legendary are the two gold medals of Ingemar Stenmark and Henri Wenzel in skiing and the historic gold of the US in ice hockey at the expense of the Russian team.

To guarantee that all events took place in the best possible conditions, machines were used to produce artificial snow, the first time this had been done at the Olympic Games. American speed skater Eric Heiden won all five speed skating events from 500m all the way up to 10,000m, setting an Olympic record. He became the first person in Olympic history to win five gold medals in individual events at the same Games.