THE OLYMPICS: WINTER GAMES AT ALBERTVILLE : Memoirs from ‘60: Silver Medal Drew Condolences From Nixon

A meeting with Vice President Richard Nixon left Penny Pitou feeling down after she won her second silver medal in the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif.

Pitou, a ski racer from Gilford, N.H., was favored in the downhill, but a near fall three gates from the finish cost her the gold medal, won by West Germany’s Heidi Biebl.

After the race, Pitou was summoned from the Olympic Village to meet Nixon.

“He came down and I said, ‘How do you do, Mr. Vice President. Thank you very much for coming to say hello,’ ” Pitou recalled. “He said, ‘I just want to give you my condolences. I’m so sorry you lost.’ ”

Thirty-two years later, most Americans will be satisfied if U.S. skiers win any medals at the Albertville Games in France.

But in 1960, the American women had a formidable team. Pitou also won a silver in the giant slalom and teammate Betsy Snite was second in the slalom.

Pitou, who directs ski tours from her New Hampshire travel agency, was recently found in Courchevel, France, where the men’s Olympic ski jumping will be held in the coming days. Being in an Olympic surrounding set her mind adrift.

“I can see my runs in Squaw Valley right as we talk about it,” she said. “The way the sun shone on the downhill, the way it felt to ski it.”

Pitou and other Olympians from that era reminisce about the quaint Sierra setting. All the athletes lived in one village within walking distance to the many events. They dined together each night, where they exchanged war stories.

“It was the last of the small Olympics,” Pitou said. “Everything was very cozy and comforting and warm and inviting.”

By contrast, the 1992 Games in the Savoy Alps are spread across the expansive Tarentaise Valley. Of Val d’Isere, site of the men’s races, Pitou said: “I know how it is. It’s huge, immense, it’s so vast.”

Pitou said the French host resorts are adorned with festive decorations commemorating the event.

“They’ve got all the flags out here,” Pitou said. “People are stealing them. If they are hanging down too low, people are climbing up the snow banks and pulling them off.”