1988 Winter Olympics
Venue: | Calgary ( Canada ) |
Stadion: | McMahon Stadium |
Opening ceremony: | February 13, 1988 |
Closing ceremony: | February 28, 1988 |
Opened by: | Jeanne Sauvé (Governor General of Canada ) |
Olympic oath : |
Pierre Harvey (athlete) Suzanne Morrow-Francis (referee) |
Disciplines: | 10 (6 sports) |
Competitions: | 46 |
Countries: | 57 |
Athletes: | 1423, including 313 women |
← Sarajevo 1984 | |
Albertville 1992 → |
Medal table | |||||
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space | country | G | S. | B. | Ges. |
1 | Soviet Union | 11 | 9 | 9 | 29 |
2 | GDR | 9 | 10 | 6th | 25th |
3 | Switzerland | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15th |
4th | Finland | 4th | 1 | 2 | 7th |
5 | Sweden | 4th | - | 2 | 6th |
6th | Austria | 3 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
7th | Netherlands | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7th |
8th | BR Germany | 2 | 4th | 2 | 8th |
9 | United States | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6th |
10 | Italy | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
16 | Liechtenstein | - | - | 1 | 1 |
Complete medal table |
The 1988 Winter Olympics (also known as the XV Winter Olympics ) were held in 1988 in Calgary , a city in the Canadian province of Alberta . Other candidate cities were Falun in Sweden and Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy.
Highlights
- There were exhilarating by Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards in ski jumping and the Jamaican bobsleigh team .
- The team of the Federal Republic of Germany won gold in the Nordic Combined team competition ( Hans-Peter Pohl , Hubert Schwarz , Thomas Müller ) as well as in the women's downhill with Marina Kiehl .
- For the GDR, Katarina Witt ( figure skating ), Frank-Peter Roetsch ( biathlon ) and Uwe-Jens Mey ( speed skating ) won gold in Calgary. On February 19, gold and silver in the two-seater toboggan run by Jörg Hoffmann / Jochen Pietzsch and Stefan Krauße / Jan Behrendt were medals 100 and 101, since the GDR had its own team for the first time in Grenoble in 1968, making the GDR its fifth member in the Olympic "Hundreds Club". Only the USSR, Norway, the USA and Finland have collected more medals so far.
Choice of venue
1st ballot | 2nd ballot | |
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Calgary | 35 | 48 |
Falun | 25th | 31 |
Cortina d'Ampezzo | 18th | |
Abstentions | 1 |
The decision was made at the 84th IOC session (September 21 to October 4, 1981 in Baden-Baden ). Calgary had already applied for the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1968 without success. In the second attempt Grenoble was only defeated in the third ballot with 24 to 27 votes.
Competition venues
Most of the competitions, including all ice cream competitions, were held in Calgary . Only the alpine competitions took place about 80 kilometers west of Calgary in Kananaskis Country , the biathlon and cross-country skiing competitions about 105 kilometers west of Calgary in Canmore .
Calgary
- McMahon Stadium - Opening and Closing Ceremonies
- Olympic Plaza Awards Ceremonies
- Olympic Oval - speed skating
- Olympic Saddledome - figure skating, ice hockey
- Max Bell Center - curling, short track
- Stampede Corral - figure skating, ice hockey
- Father David Bauer Olympic Arena - Ice Hockey
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Canada Olympic Park :
- Bobsleigh and sled run in Canada Olympic Park - bobsleigh, sledding
- Alberta Ski Jump Area - Nordic combined, ski jumping
- Freestyle Skiing Park Calgary - Freestyle Skiing
Canmore
- Canmore Nordic Center - biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined
Kananaskis Country
- Nakiska - Alpine skiing
TV and radio; Pecuniary
- TV giant ABC paid $ 309 million for the broadcast rights. The organizer's total income would amount to US $ 427 million, according to Business Week, and is likely to exceed the city of Calgary's investments by around US $ 30 million.
- ARD and ZDF put out around 200 hours of broadcast at DM 12 million. The ORF had paid 17.5 million schillings for the TV rights, 186 hours of transmission time were planned.
- The legal department of the Olympic Organizing Committee (OCO) had to protect the economic interests of 97 sponsors, suppliers and licensees - the marketing contracts with the OCO brought it to US $ 70 million. There was a legal dispute between the Ingolstadt-based automobile company “Audi” and “General Motors” (“GM”), a main sponsor who had distributed US $ 1.8 million, not including the provision of around 3,000 vehicles to be allowed to call oneself “official carrier”. “Audi” (specifically “Audi” / “Volkswagen”) had set up a 286-car fleet worth around US $ 10 million in the “GM” area of Calgary at the beginning of January, for the German team and the Nordic team the Canadian was intended. The main points of contention were the four "Audi" rings and the words "Calgary 1988" on the doors. “Audi” ultimately had to delete the lettering. The Japanese company "Subaru", sponsor of the Swiss Olympic Committee, which had stuck 5 rings on the doors, had to remove them - nevertheless, the losers in the legal dispute were not losers, because the TV stations and newspapers in Canada reported daily about the State of affairs, which amounted to bomb advertising.
Olympic torch relay
The Olympic torch relay lasted 95 days: 6,250 runners covered a total of around 18,000 kilometers with the torch.
As always, the torch relay began in Olympia, Greece, and then led to Athens. The torch was transported from Greece to Canada by plane. In Canada, she arrived in St. John's . Then it was passed on to Calgary via Québec , Montreal , Ottawa , Toronto , Winnipeg , Inuvik , Vancouver and Edmonton . The final skater was Robyn Perry , a then twelve-year-old Canadian student and figure skater.
Attendees
A record 57 nations took part in the 1988 Winter Olympics. The states of Fiji , Guam , Guatemala , Jamaica and the Netherlands Antilles celebrated their premieres at the Winter Olympics.
Europe (983 athletes from 31 nations) | ||
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America (296 athletes from 12 nations) | ||
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Asia (113 athletes from 9 nations) | ||
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Oceania (30 athletes from 4 nations) | ||
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Africa (3 athletes from 1 nation) | ||
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(Number of athletes) * Participation in winter games for the first time |
Ceremonies
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony took place on February 13th at McMahon Stadium (but on white sand instead of snow). 48,193 spectators were there live. The Games were officially opened by the Canadian Governor General Jeanne Sauvé ; IOC President Samaranch and OC boss Frank King gave speeches to 1,428 participants from 57 countries. The last torchbearer was a 12 year old Canadian school child named Robyn Perry. The Olympic oath was taken by the ski and road cyclist and now cross-country skier Pierre Harvey and the figure skating referee Suzanna Morrow Francis from Canada.
The standard bearers for the two German states were Peter Angerer , whose nomination was somewhat controversial, and Frank-Peter Roetsch , both of whom were biathletes. For Switzerland it was Michela Figini , for Austria Leonhard Stock , both from the alpine skiing sector. It was criticized that the entire ceremony was too long by half an hour.
Award ceremonies
The award ceremonies were held in the Olympic Plaza .
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony took place on February 28, 1988, like the opening ceremony, at McMahon Stadium . There were 48,194 spectators in the stadium. For the first time, the Olympic flag was passed on during the closing ceremony from the Mayor of Calgary, Ralph Klein , to the Mayor of Albertville, Henri Dujoi .
Medals and Diplomas
The Olympic medals were designed by Friedrich Peter from Vancouver . The edition was 267 pieces. The gold medal weighed 252.4 grams, the silver medal weighed 226 grams and the bronze medal 106.3 grams. In addition, 102 medals were produced for the demonstration competitions. The Olympic diplomas were bilingual and signed by the presidents of the organizing committee and the IOC. The names of the athletes were handwritten by calligraphers .
The Olympic medals and diplomas were presented daily at the Olympic Plaza . If it was not possible for the athletes to get to the plaza in time, the allocation was carried out on site at the competition venues.
Competition program
There were 46 competitions (28 for men, 16 for women and 2 mixed competitions) in 6 sports / 10 disciplines. That was 7 more competitions than in Sarajevo 1984 - the number of sports / disciplines remained the same.
In Calgary, the Winter Games took place for the first time over 16 days, including three weekends. This was especially requested by the television companies. The official total number of spectators was given as 1,507,376 (including 77,028 free tickets for the Olympic family). This corresponds to an occupancy rate of 77.8 percent. The highest occupancy was recorded in bobsleigh with 95.7 percent.
The changes to the previous Winter Games are detailed below:
- In speed skating , the 5000 m for women were added.
- In alpine skiing , the Super-G for men and women was added to the program - in addition, the alpine combination for men and women became Olympic again after a break of 40 years.
- In Nordic Combined , a team competition on the small hill with a 3 × 10 km relay was added to the program - in addition, the start mode for cross-country skiing was switched to the Gundersen method for the individual decision .
- In ski jumping , a team event was added by the normal hill.
Olympic sports / disciplines
- Biathlon total (3) = men (3)
- Bob total (2) = men (2)
- Ice hockey total (1) = men (1)
- Ice skating
- Figure skating total (4) = men (1) / women (1) / mixed (2)
- Speed skating total (10) = men (5) / women (5)
- Luge total (3) = men (2) / women (1)
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Skiing
- Alpine skiing total (10) = men (5) / women (5)
-
Nordic skiing
- Nordic combined total (2) = men (2)
- Cross-country skiing total (8) = men (4) / women (4)
- Ski jumping total (3) = men (3)
Number of competitions in brackets
Time schedule
Time schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
discipline | Sat. 13. |
Sun. 14. |
Mon. 15. |
Tuesday 16 |
Wed. 17. |
Thursday 18. |
Fri. 19. |
Sat. 20. |
Sun. 21. |
Mon. 22. |
Tuesday 23 |
Wed. 24. |
Thursday 25. |
Fr. 26. |
Sat. 27. |
Sun. 28. |
Decision- disk- applications |
spectator | ||
February | ||||||||||||||||||||
Opening ceremony | 48.193 | |||||||||||||||||||
biathlon | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 29,429 | |||||||||||||||
bob | 1 | 1 | 2 | 100,927 | ||||||||||||||||
ice Hockey | 1 | 1 | 484,800 | |||||||||||||||||
Ice skating | figure skating | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4th | 137,838 | |||||||||||||
Speed skating | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 39,763 | ||||||||
Luge | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 76,153 | |||||||||||||||
Skiing | Alpine skiing | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 163.015 | |||||||
Nordic skiing |
Nordic combination | 1 | 1 | 2 | 203,886 | |||||||||||||||
Cross-country skiing | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8th | |||||||||||
Ski jumping | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
Closing ceremony | 48.194 | |||||||||||||||||||
Demonstration competitions | ||||||||||||||||||||
Disabled alpine skiing | 2 | 9,933 | ||||||||||||||||||
Nordic skiing for the disabled | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
Curling | 2 | 15,527 | ||||||||||||||||||
Freestyle skiing | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 62,705 | |||||||||||||||
Short track | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9,940 | |||||||||||||||
decisions | 4th | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4th | 4th | 3 | 4th | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 4th | 46 | ||||
Sat. 13. |
Sun. 14. |
Mon. 15. |
Tuesday 16 |
Wed. 17. |
Thursday 18. |
Fri. 19. |
Sat. 20. |
Sun. 21. |
Mon. 22. |
Tuesday 23 |
Wed. 24. |
Thursday 25. |
Fr. 26. |
Sat. 27. |
Sun. 28. |
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February |
Color legend
Sporting expectations
The demands of the Swiss delegation were based on a total of 8 medals, which were divided into three categories. Alpine boss Karl Frehsner warned, especially with regard to the flood of medals a year ago at the World Championships in 1987 in Crans-Montana , against too high expectations, since “the decisions on Mount Allen cannot be compared in the least with those made back then”. However, it was seen as an advantage that a branch in a hotel near the finish area of Nakiska was rented for the alpine team and that several parts of the Olympic downhill run were imitated in Saas-Fee .
Competitions
biathlon
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Biathlon
A total of three competitions for men took place in the Canmore Nordic Center , located about 105 kilometers west of Calgary .
Frank-Peter Roetsch (GDR) won both competitions. In the sprint he won in front of Valery Medvedzew and Sergei Tschepikow , both of whom come from the Soviet Union. In the singles Frank-Peter Roetsch won again ahead of Valeri Medwedzew , third this time was the Italian Johann Passler . The Soviet Union won the relay race.
It was the last Olympic Winter Games where biathlon was only Olympic for men.
bob
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Bobsleigh
Two-man and four-man bobsleigh competitions for men were held in Calgary.
The Soviet Union I team won the two-man bobsleigh and the Switzerland I team won the four-man bobsleigh.
The Jamaican bobsleigh team also took part in the Winter Olympics for the first time. However, in 1988 they still had to contend with many accidents and technical difficulties. The four-man bobsleigh could not finish all runs and was not classified and the two-man bobsleigh came in 30. The qualification and participation of the Jamaicans was also the template for the successful film comedy Cool Runnings , which was released in 1993.
The competitions were held on the bobsleigh and sled run in Canada Olympic Park . Both the bobsleigh and toboggan competitions were influenced by the weather because the gusty winds sometimes blew sand into the track.
ice Hockey
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / ice hockey
Twelve teams took part in the men's ice hockey tournament.
The Soviet Union won ahead of Finland and Sweden . Host Canada couldn't get past fourth place. The USA even dropped out in the preliminary round.
The ice hockey games were played in a total of three ice hockey stadiums.
figure skating
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / figure skating
The figure skating competitions were held at the Scotiabank Saddledome and the Stampede Corral .
American Brian Boitano won the men’s race, Katarina Witt’s women’s race . In the pairs and in the ice dance, the Soviet Union achieved a double victory. In the pairs category, Jekaterina Gordejewa / Sergei Grinkow won ahead of Jelena Walowa / Oleg Wassiljew . Natalja Bestemjanowa / Andrei Bukin won in ice dancing ahead of Marina Klimowa / Sergei Ponomarenko .
Speed skating
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Speed Skating
In Olympic Oval ten competitions were held in speed skating (five five for women for men).
The men won the following athletes: 500 meters Uwe-Jens Mey (GDR) with world record, 1000 meters Nikolai Guljajew , 1500 meters André Hoffmann (GDR) and in the disciplines 5000 and 10,000 meters, this one with world record, Tomas Gustafson (Sweden).
The women dominated the Dutch Yvonne van Gennip . She won the 1500 meter run, as well as the 3000 and 5000 meter disciplines, and there was world record in both distances. The American Bonnie Blair won the 500 meter discipline and set a new world record with 39.1 seconds. The 1000 meters were won by Christa Rothenburger from the GDR , also with a world record .
Luge
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Luge
As expected, the GDR dominated the luge, so the West German Veronika Bilgeri was the first to be happy in the “Rest of the World” team.
In the men's race, Jens Müller (GDR) won in the single-seater, while the GDR achieved a double victory in the two-seater. It won Jörg Hoffmann and Jochen Pietzsch before Stefan Krausse and Jan Behrendt .
In the women's category, the tobogganers from the GDR celebrated a triple victory for the third time after Sapporo in 1972 and Sarajevo in 1984 . The gold medal went to Steffi Walter , as it did four years earlier, silver went to Ute Oberhoffner and bronze to the current world champion Cerstin Schmidt . The competitions were held on the bobsleigh and sled run in Canada Olympic Park .
Alpine skiing
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Alpine skiing
The alpine competitions were held about 80 kilometers west of Calgary in Kananaskis Country in the Nakiska ski area, which was specially built for the Olympics .
The Super-G and Combination disciplines were new to the program .
In the men's downhill run, the Swiss Pirmin Zurbriggen won . In the Super-G the Frenchman Franck Piccard won . The Italian Alberto Tomba won the giant slalom and slalom . Tomba had won bronze in the giant slalom at the 1987 World Cup, but his star only really rose from the start of the 1987/88 season, when he began to dominate the technical competitions. The combination won the Austrian Hubert Strolz .
In the women's race, Marina Kiehl from West Germany won (surprisingly) in the downhill . The Austrian Sigrid Wolf won the Super-G . Giant slalom and slalom were both won by the Swiss Vreni Schneider . The combination was won by Austrian Anita Wachter by a narrow margin .
Contrary to expectations, the women and men from Canada and the USA achieved only two medals, and these were bronze: Percy in the downhill and the women's Super-G.
Nordic skiing
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Nordic skiing
Cross-country skiing
The cross-country skiing competitions were held about 105 kilometers west of Calgary in Canmore at the Canmore Nordic Center .
In the men's race, Mikhail Dewjatjarow from the Soviet Union won the 15-kilometer race . Alexei Prokurorow from the Soviet Union won the 30 km discipline . The Swede Gunde Svan won the 50-kilometer race . Sweden could also decide the season for themselves.
In the women’s category , there were the following winners: 5 kilometers Marjo Matikainen (Finland), 10 kilometers Vida Vencienė (Soviet Union), 20 kilometers Tamara Tichonowa , Soviet Union relay.
Nordic combination
In the Nordic Combined there were two competitions for men, an individual and a team competition. The jumping competitions were held in Calgary in the Alberta Ski Jump Area and the cross-country skiing competitions about 105 kilometers west in Canmore in the Canmore Nordic Center Provincial Park .
In the individual, the Swiss Hippolyt Kempf won ahead of the Austrian Klaus Sulzenbacher and Allar Levandi from the Soviet Union. The season won the Federal Republic of Germany. For Austria these were the first Olympic medals in this discipline; Sulzenbacher had already attracted ninth place at the games in Sarajevo four years earlier.
Ski jumping
In ski jumping, a total of three competitions were held in Canada Olympic Park in the Alberta Ski Jump Area , dominated by the Finn Matti Nykänen . Nykänen won the competition on the large hill as well as on the normal hill. He also won the team with Finland. However, the ski jumpers had to struggle with strong winds and fog that made the competitions a game of chance. The two ski jumps set on a bare mountain slope were defenseless against the gusts.
The Briton Michael Edwards , known as "Eddie The Eagle", became the main attraction and darling of the public as an exotic species. He was more of a funny talent than a serious athlete and was knocked off last on both hills.
Demonstration competitions
Curling
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Curling
After a long break since 1932 , curling was again held as a demonstration competition. This took place in the Max Bell Arena .
Norway won the men's tournament with Skip Eigil Ramsfjell with a 10-2 final victory over the Swiss team from CC Solothurn with Skip Hansjörg Lips . Canada was represented by a team from Calgary and reached third place. The West German team from EV Füssen with Skip Andreas Kapp took sixth place together with Denmark.
For the first time, a women's tournament was also held. There the Canadians around Skip Linda Moore defeated the Swedish team with Skip Elisabeth Högström 7: 5 and won the gold medal. The bronze medal went to Norway with Skip Trine Trulsen . The West German team from SC Riessersee with Skip Andrea Schöpp placed fourth and the Swiss team from Bern Egghölzi Ladies CC with Skip Cristina Lestander came in seventh.
Freestyle skiing
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Freestyle skiing
Competitions in freestyle skiing were held for the first time at the Olympics . These took place from February 21 to 25, 1988 in Canada Olympic Park . At the same time, the competitions were the 2nd Freestyle Skiing World Championship .
In the men's ballet, the West German Hermann Reitberger won the ballet , while the Canadian Jean-Marc Rozon managed a home win in jumping . The Swede Håkan Hansson won on the moguls .
In the women's ballet, Christine Rossi from France won gold. American Melanie Palenik succeeded in jumping . West German Tatjana Mittermayer won on the moguls .
Short track
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Shorttrack
For the first time, short track was Olympic, if only as a demonstration sport. The competitions were held at the Max Bell Center .
In the men's race, Briton Wilf O'Reilly won the 500 and 1000 meters. The winners of the 1500 and 3000 meter long courses came from South Korea. Kim Ki-hoon won the 1500 meter discipline and Lee Joon-ho won 3000 meters . The Netherlands won the 5000 meter relay.
The women’s winners were: 500 meters Monique Velzeboer (Netherlands), 1000 meters Li Yan (China), 1500 meters Sylvie Daigle (Canada), 3000 meters Eiko Shishii (Japan), 3000 meters relay Italy.
Disabled skiing
→ Main article: 1988 Winter Olympics / Disabled skiing
Four demonstration competitions for disabled skiing were held in Calgary with a total of 25 athletes and 18 athletes.
The 5-kilometer cross-country runs for the blind were completed with the help of escort runners . In the men's category , the Norwegian Hans Aalien won, and in the women's category, the Austrian Veronika Preining .
In addition, a giant slalom was held for above-knee amputees. This was won by the West German Alexander Spitz and the US American Diana Golden .
Outstanding athletes and achievements
The most successful participants | |||||||
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rank | athlete | country | sport | total | |||
1 | Matti Nykänen | Finland | Ski jumping | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Yvonne van Gennip | Netherlands | Speed skating | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
3 | Tamara Tikhonova | Soviet Union | Cross-country skiing | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Frank-Peter Roetsch | German Democratic Republic | biathlon | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
5 | Gunde Svan | Sweden | Cross-country skiing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Alberto Tomba | Italy | Alpine skiing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
Vreni Schneider | Switzerland | Alpine skiing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
Tomas Gustafson | Sweden | Speed skating | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
The most successful Olympic athletes of these games were the Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen and the Dutch speed skater Yvonne van Gennip , each with three gold medals.
The Italian Alberto Tomba and the Swiss Vreni Schneider both won gold medals in giant slalom and slalom at their first Olympic Games.
At 11 years and 256 days, the Chinese figure skater Liu Luyang was the youngest participant in these Winter Games. She finished 19th in ice dancing and thus second to last place. The oldest participant was Harvey Hook, a bobsledder from the US Virgin Islands, who was 52 years and 197 days. With the two-man bobsleigh, he came in 35th out of 41 participating teams.
criticism
The editor-in-chief of the Swiss sports newspaper "Sport Zürich", Peter A. Frei, researched, especially in a conversation with FIS President Marc Hodler , that the lack of money and incorrect statistics of the organizers had led to the chaos and the postponements. In addition to the ski jumps, completely different locations were originally presented for the alpine races and the bobsled runs. Hodler explained that his association had no chance when choosing the competition venues. In the evaluation, the three-time Olympic candidate Banff , located near Nakiska, lost three times because the slopes there are in the Banff National Park and the success of the application by environmental, animal and nature conservationists was prevented. Calgary therefore promised from the start that it would not touch the national park under any circumstances. The FIS participated in the search for ideal locations and found a sheltered area for cross-country skiers in Canmore, despite the 120 km distance. Spray Lakes with Mount Sparrowhawk , one and a half kilometers from Canmore, would have been ideal for the alpine competitions, and the Albertan government with Prime Minister Peter Lougheed had promised to build a road and other structures there. But when the oil price fell at the beginning of the 1980s, the province, which was largely dependent on it, suddenly lacked the money to develop the designated area, protected by the Chinook , 130 km from the Olympic village, for alpine competitions. Ski jumps and a bobsled run should have been built in Bragg Creek , 50 km away. There would have been mostly natural hills there, only six meters of the tower would have looked out from above. The large part of the inrun and the take-off would have been protected by forest on both sides. With regard to the earlier start times of the jumping competitions, there was an objection from television that it was not possible to take pictures because the cameras were pointed directly at the sun. Because of the long journey, it was not possible for the alpine to start before 10 a.m., otherwise the athletes would have had to get up at 4 a.m. to be brought to Nakiska. In principle, there was no serious dispute with the TV company ABC . According to the June 1984 Olympic Record '88, the official organ of the organizing committee, "it was not until May 16, 1984 that the Alberta government announced the broad lines of the plan to develop Mount Allen."
In a final statement, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch rejected the allegations that Calgary had distorted competition through the wrong choice of sports facilities and the wrong date. The games ended without any political tension, there were excellent competitions and the best athletes had won. Ski jumping also ended regularly. The wind conditions would have been unusual and the most difficult in 22 years. Nevertheless, Calgary has shown the best-organized games so far. Freestyle skis had the greatest response from the demonstration competitions. He assumes that the Winter Games will now always last 16 days.
Money issues
According to a report in the Arbeiter-Zeitung , the television stations had to accept losses of around 300 million schillings (i.e. more than 40 million DM) because the transmission rights of 3.7 billion schillings (over 500 million DM) were too high. The press comments on the games were consistently negative because of the commercial interests there and the influence of television.
On the other hand, there were also reports of profits: According to an interim balance sheet, the initially announced profit of US $ 27 million was far exceeded by US $ 33 to 41 million.
Worth mentioning
- 6,838 accredited journalists reported on the event.
- The weather conditions were problematic: freezing frost alternated with strong, warm foehn storms . Against the advice of local experts, but in the interests of the broadcasting television rights holder, the games took place in a phase of weather that is usually unfavorable in Calgary.
- They were games of "the long distance", because the cross-country skiing area in Canmore is 120 km from the city center, where the Saddledome (ice hockey and figure skating stadium) is located. The Canada Olympic Park (jumping, bobsleigh, tobogganing) was around 85 km from Nakiska (alpine disciplines) and the jumps for the Nordic combined athletes were 100 km from the cross-country skiing area.
- The Austrian team doctor Jörg Oberhammer was hit by a snowcat between the two rounds of the men's giant slalom and then died. Although he did not belong to the official Olympic delegation, he was there to help the ÖSV .
- A team competition was held for the first time in ski jumping.
- The two diving platforms had cost $ 18 million. The critical voices for building the jumping facilities in such an exposed location were trumped by the sponsor's interests. In addition, the FIS should not have agreed to the relocation to the Olympic Park, because when it was awarded to Calgary (1981 in Baden-Baden ) a different location was discussed.
- Tomas Gustafson , winner of the 5000 m, was the first speed skater in history to repeat his Olympic victory. In Sarajevo he had won in 7: 12.28 minutes and with two hundredths of a second ahead, this time he crossed the finish line in 6: 44.63 minutes. He missed the world record set by Geir Karlstad - also achieved in Calgary - by 1.04 seconds.
- Various rescue measures in the event of injuries also turned out to be a major problem, because due to the laws in force in Canada, only local doctors were allowed to offer "assistance" to the casualties and, in addition, due to nature conservation laws, helicopter landings were mostly not allowed.
- The official mascots of the Winter Games were the polar bear twins Hidy and Howdy .
literature
- Calgary Olympic Development Association: XV Olympic Winter Games: Official Report . Calgary 1988, ISBN 0-921060-26-2 . Online: Part 1 (PDF, 27 MB), Part 2 (PDF, 11 MB)
- Volker Kluge : Olympic Winter Games. The Chronicle . 3rd, exp. Edition. Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-328-00831-4 .
- Dieter Kürten (Ed.): Olympic Games 1988. Calgary - Seoul . Mosaik Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-570-01821-0 .
- Harry Valérien (Ed.): Olympia 88: Seoul, Calgary . Südwest Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-517-01058-8 .
- Ernst Huberty , Willy B. Wange: The Olympic Games Seoul / Calgary 1988 . Cologne 1988
- Lisa H. Albertson, John Robinson (Eds.): Seoul Calgary 1988: The Official Publication of the US Olympic Committee . Commemorative Publications, Salt Lake City 1988, ISBN 0-918883-02-4 .
- Ellen Galford: The XXIII Olympiad: Los Angeles 1984, Calgary 1988 , World Sport Research & Publications Inc., Los Angeles 1996, ISBN 1-888383-21-6 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ "The GDR in the" Hundred Club "", Sport Zürich, No. 22 of February 22, 1988, page 32, bottom center.
- ↑ "Calgary feels like the winner of a billion- dollar spectacle " in "Tiroler Tageszeitung" No. 37 of 30./31. Jan 1988, page 37
- ↑ “Opening too long, but in a good mood” in “Sport Zürich” No. 19, from February 15, 1988, page 14
- ↑ "Trouble with Angerer as the standard bearer" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 13, 1988, p. 17 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ^ Official report, p. 307
- ↑ Kluge, p. 668, note 9
- ^ "Switzerland expects 8 medals" in "Tiroler Tageszeitung" No. 24 of 30./31. January 1988, page 38; POS .: Column 1, first title
- ^ «Money shortage, wrong statistics: Olympic chaos is no coincidence» and gloss «To the point», title: «Many are complicit» and «Falling oil price to blame for postponements», Sport Zurich, No. 23 of February 24, 1988, pages 1, 6 and 7
- ^ "IOK-Samaranch:" No distortion "", Sport Zurich, No. 25 of February 29, 1988, page 2.
- ↑ Realized . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 29, 1988, p. 15 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ IOC is in the crossfire . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 1, 1988, p. 23 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ Article “Short and interesting” in “Tiroler Tageszeitung” No. 98 of April 27, 1988, page 13; POS .: column 5, below; first post
- ↑ "Olympia of wide paths", Sport Zürich, No. 18 of February 12, 1988, page unknown.
- ↑ As a friend of the athletes: Dr. Jörg Oberhammer died . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 27, 1988, p. 21 ( arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ «Unreasonableness defeated by nature», Sport Zürich, No. 22 of February 22, 1988, page 13.
- ^ "A victory for history", Sport Zürich, No. 21, from February 19, 1988, page 17.