1968 Winter Olympics / Bobsleigh

Bobsleigh at the 1968 Winter Olympics
information
venue	Alpe d'Huez
Competition venue	Piste de bobsleigh Col de Poutran
Nations	11
Athletes	90 (90 )
date	8-17 February 1968
decisions	2
← Innsbruck 1964 Sapporo 1972 →

At the X. Winter Olympics in Grenoble in 1968 , two bobsleigh competitions took place. The bobsled run was located near Alpe d'Huez on the Col de Poutran, at an altitude of around 2000 meters. It was 1500 meters long, had 13 curves and overcame a difference in altitude of 140 meters. In principle, it was a natural track, but three curves that were exposed to direct sunlight were artificially frozen with ammonia and liquid nitrogen. Inconsistent weather and shifts characterized the races.

Balance sheet

Medal table

space	country				total
1	Italy	2	-	-	2
2	BR Germany	-	1	-	1
	Austria	-	1	-	1
4th	Romania	-	-	1	1
	Switzerland	-	-	1	1

Medalist

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
Two-man bobsleigh	Eugenio Monti , Luciano De Paolis	Horst Floth , Pepi Bader	Ion Panțuru , Nicolae Neagoe
Four-man bobsleigh	Eugenio Monti , Luciano De Paolis , Roberto Zandonella , Mario Armano	Erwin Thaler , Reinhold Durnthaler , Herbert Gruber , Josef Eder	Jean Wicki , Hans Candrian , Willi Hofmann , Walter Graf

Results

(all times in min)

Two-man bobsleigh

Olympic Champion 1964 : GBR I ( Anthony Nash / Robin Dixon ) / World Champion 1967 : AUT I ( Erwin Thaler / Reinhold Durnthaler )

space	country	athlete	1st run	2nd run	3rd run	4th run	total
1	ITA	Italy I: Eugenio Monti , Luciano De Paolis	1: 10.13	1: 10.72	1: 10.64	1: 10.05	4: 41.54
2	FRG	Germany I: Horst Floth , Pepi Bader	1: 10.76	1: 10.43	1: 10.20	1: 10.15	4: 41.54
3	ROME	Romania I: Ion Panțuru , Nicolae Neagoe	1: 10.20	1: 11.62	1: 11.31	1: 11.33	4: 44.46
4th	AUT	Austria I: Erwin Thaler , Reinhold Durnthaler	1: 11.27	1: 11.26	1: 10.72	1: 11.88	4: 45.13
5	GBR	Great Britain I: Anthony Nash , Robin Dixon	1: 10.57	1: 11.60	1: 11.77	1: 11.22	4: 45.16
6th	United States	USA I: Paul Lamey , Robert Huscher	1: 11.30	1: 11.54	1: 11.04	1: 12.15	4: 46.03
7th	FRG	Germany II: Wolfgang Zimmerer , Peter Utzschneider	1: 12.36	1: 11.94	1: 10.77	1: 11.33	4: 46.40
8th	AUT	Austria II: Max Kaltenberger , Fritz Dinkhauser	1: 11.34	1: 12.15	1: 11.00	1: 12.14	4: 46.63
9	SUI	Switzerland I: Jean Wicki , Hans Candrian	1: 10.60	1: 11.72	1: 12.01	1: 12.65	4: 46.98
10	SUI	Switzerland II: René Stadler , Max Forster	1: 11.60	1: 12.74	1: 12.36	1: 12.46	4: 49.16

Runs 1 and 2: February 8, 1968 Runs
3 and 4: February 11, 1968

22 bobsleighs at the start, 20 of them in the ranking.

The first two runs of the two-man bobsleigh competition, scheduled for February 7, had to be postponed by one day due to heavy snowfall and holes in the track, and runs 3 and 4 by three days to February 11. Two two-man bobsleighs from eleven countries were represented each, so there were a total of 44 participants. One team was disqualified (CAN II), another gave up the competition (Romania II). Monti / De Paolis and Floth / Bader had exactly the same total time after four runs. However, only the Italians were awarded a gold medal: The regulations stipulated that the best individual performance is decisive in the event of a tie (Monti / De Paolis had set a new track record in the last run).
The trio of medals was already given after the first two races, but GBR I was fourth ahead of Switzerland I, followed by AUT I, USA I, AUT II, ​​ITA II and USA II.
After the first run, the Austrians had thalers / Durnthaler cannot play to their strengths, a good start, due to a possible weakness in form. Only Monti and Floth remained practically flawless. Ion Panțuru, one of the favorites, missed his gold chance in the second run with a mistake in the middle section.

Four-man bobsleigh

Olympic champion 1964 : CAN I ( Victor Emery , Peter Kirby , Douglas Anakin , John Emery ) / no World Championship results 1967 (not held) and 1966 (canceled after death), hence the last result in 1965: CAN ( Victor Emery , Gerald Presley , Michael Young , Michael Young , Peter Kirby).

space	country	athlete	1st run	2nd run	total
1	ITA	Italy I: Eugenio Monti , Luciano De Paolis , Roberto Zandonella , Mario Armano	1: 09.84	1: 07.55	2: 17.39
2	AUT	Austria I: Erwin Thaler , Reinhold Durnthaler , Herbert Gruber , Josef Eder	1: 10.08	1: 07.40	2: 17.48
3	SUI	Switzerland I: Jean Wicki , Hans Candrian , Willi Hofmann , Walter Graf	1: 10.65	1: 07.39	2: 18.04
4th	ROME	Romania I: Ion Panțuru , Nicolae Neagoe , Petre Hristovici , Gheorghe Maftei	1: 10.59	1: 07.55	2: 18.14
5	FRG	Germany I: Horst Floth , Pepi Bader , Willi Schäfer , Frank Lange	1: 10.49	1: 07.84	2: 18.33
6th	ITA	Italy II: Gianfranco Gaspari , Leonardo Cavallini , Giuseppe Rescigno , Andrea Clemente	1: 10.24	1: 08.12	2: 18.36
7th	GBR	Great Britain I: Anthony Nash , Guy Renwick , Robin Widdows , Robin Dixon	1: 10.45	1: 08.39	2: 18.84
8th	FRA	France I: Francis Luiggi , André Patey , Gérard Monrazel , Maurice Grether	1: 10.65	1: 08.19	2: 18.84
9	FRG	Germany II: Wolfgang Zimmerer , Hans Baumann , Peter Utzschneider , Stefan Gaisreiter	1: 11.12	1: 08.35	2: 19.47
10	United States	USA II: Bob Said , David Dunn , Robert Crowley , Phil Duprey	1: 11.08	1: 08.48	2: 19.56
12	SUI	Switzerland II: René Stadler , Ernst Schmidt , Hansruedi Müller , Robert Zimmermann	1: 11.02	1: 08.81	2: 19.83
13	AUT	Austria II: Manfred Hofer , Karl Pichler , Hans Ritzl , Fritz Dinkhauser	1: 10.90	1: 09.12	2: 20.02

1st run: February 16, 1968, 6:00 a.m.
2nd run: February 17, 1968, 6:00 a.m.

19 four-man bobsleighs from eleven countries with a total of 76 participants were represented - all bobsleigh were included in the ranking.

This competition should originally have been held on February 14th and 15th. The jury decided to only run two runs and to forego the rest.

Before the first run, which should have taken place at 6 a.m., it had snowed - soldiers had to clear about 10 cm of snow from the track, the temperature was not ideal at zero degrees. The first eight track sleds could not begin until 6.30 a.m., and after the first three competitors there was already a huge hole in the track just before it was Monti's turn. This complication was repaired with ice bricks and liquid air for 20 minutes. But even after Monti and behind it the single sled from Romania and Great Britain, the railway showed a huge hole again.
Ultimately, the ranking was Monti ahead of Thaler, with Italy II surprisingly placed third. The jury decided immediately after the first run that the second run should bring the final ranking, which deviated from the international competition rules with four planned runs.
On the second day, when the winter cold (−13 ° C) prevailed for the first time, the Swiss and Germans wanted to ensure that there should be four runs, but the jury had long since made its decision. For the time being, the Austrian bobsleigh set the best time (after that, Wicki was 0.01 seconds faster, which also meant the final new track record - in total, Monti's track record of 1: 08.59 minutes was undercut ten times thanks to the ideal conditions) but only push Monti to 9 hundredths of a second.
After a rough ride, Austria II dropped from 9th to 12th. Despite the early hour, 2,000 spectators came to Alpe d'Huez. Thaler saw the reason for the narrow defeat in the fact that he lost too much time at the start due to a spinal disc injury.

Web links

• Bobsleigh at the 1968 Winter Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Official report of the 1968 Winter Olympics (PDF; 19.4 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ «Thaler:“ Now we're going all out ”» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 10, 1968, p. 11 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
2. ↑ "Today start of the four-way competition" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 16, 1968, p. 15 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ^ "Monti von Thaler hard pressed" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 17, 1968, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
4. ^ "Four-man bobsleigh: Monti leads just ahead of Erwin Thaler (Bobsleigh Austria I)"; «Kleine Zeitung», Styria edition of February 17, 1968, page 22
5. ^ "Silver medal for Austria's four-man bobsleigh" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 18, 1968, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
6. ↑ «Our four-man bobsleigh conquered silver. Thaler by 0.09 seconds past the gold »; «Kleine Zeitung», Styria edition of February 18, 1968, page 23
7. ↑ «Thaler past“ Goldener ”by 60 cm»; "Kronen-Zeitung", Vienna, February 18, 1968