1972 Winter Olympics

Two spectators wrap up warm while watching the games. The Games comprised of 35 events in 6 sports at 14 sites over an 11-day period and attracted 1,125 competitors from 35 countries.

Here is ski jumper Yukio Kasaya. He was the first Japanese athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in the Men’s Normal Hill, Individual event with a distance of 244.2. The athlete took up ski jumping at the Taketsuru facility in his native Yoichi, which was built by the founder of Nikka Whisky Distilling, Masataka Taketsuru. The facility was renamed after Kasaya following his Olympic win.

In this image, Dominis demonstrates the scale of the 90m ski jump by zooming out slightly and including the audience stand in the composition. A tiny competitor can be seen in the image and the steep downhill angle puts the skill and pluckiness of these athletes into context.

Here the photographer captures volunteer workers preparing and maintaining the luge track in between heats. Luge first appeared at the Winter Olympics in 1964, and these days lugers can reach up to incredible speeds of 140 km/h.

In this image, Dominis manages to portray the in-between moments of events and gives the people who work behind the scenes some recognition. In comparison to the bright outfits and blinding snow, this amber-tinged image offers a change of pace.

As well as capturing an athlete forlornly looking out of the window, Dominis also incidentally captures a self-portrait in the process with the reflection. This entire series was shot for LIFE magazine and the photographer often remarked on the freedom, “support, money and time” the publication gave him to do what he wanted all over the world.

Throughout the 10-day event, Dominis captured Alpine skiers on the downhill and slalom routes. The contrast between the blurred crowd and snowy tress with the vibrant colors of the competitors' outfits and their precise movements creates a series of dynamic images.

The Sapporo mountains provided a dramatic backdrop to the Games and here we see a skier sweeping downhill as he leaves a spray of powder in his wake. With these Winter Games being the first to be held outside of Europe and Northern America, it brought winter sports to a new audience within Asia. Along with 12 new sports venues, extensions to 2 airports were made, improvements to the main railway station, 41 new and improved roads and upgraded water and sewage systems, all to welcome the world and show people what winter sports in Asia could be.