XV Winter Olympic Games Host city Calgary, Canada Participating countries 57 Number of athletes 1423 (1122 men, 301 women) 46 sets of medals are played in 6 sports ... Wikipedia
IV Winter Paralympic Games 1988 Host city Innsbruck, Austria Participating countries 22 Number of athletes 397 Medals are played 279 in 4 sports Opening ceremony January 17, 1988 ... Wikipedia
IV Winter Paralympic Games 1988 Organizing city Innsbruck, Austria Participating countries 22 Number of athletes 397 Medals are played 279 in 4 sports Opening ceremony January 17, 1988 ... Wikipedia
- (English 2022 Winter Olympics, French Jeux Olympiques d'hiver de 2022, official name XXIV Winter Olympic Games) The 24th Winter Olympic Games, which will be held in early 2022. Official applications for the Games ... ... Wikipedia
The years were originally to take place from 3 to 12 February 1940 in Sapporo, Japan. After Japan refused to host the games, the IOC moved the planned games to St. Moritz in July 1937, but later due to disagreements with the Swiss committee ... ... Wikipedia
World complex competitions in winter sports, held since 1924 by the International Olympic Committee in the Year of the Olympic Games (in 1940, 1944 did not take place). Year and place of the Winter Olympic Games: I 1924 (Chamonix, France); II and V… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
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This article or section contains information about an upcoming sporting event that will take place in 1 year 1 month 16 days. With the start of the event, the content of the article may change ... Wikipedia
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Venues for the Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games are the largest international winter sports competitions held once every 4 years under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee. The Winter Olympics have begun ... ... Wikipedia
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- White games are classified as secret. USSR and Winter Olympic Games 1956-1988 , N. Tomilina, Mikhail Prozumenshchikov, I. Kazarina, N. Pereudina, S. Borak. Sport in the twentieth century was an integral part of world politics, which had an ever-increasing influence on it and actively intervened in the conduct of competitions. During the Cold War...
- White Games classified as secret of the USSR and the Winter Olympic Games 1956-1988, Aroyan E. (ed.). Sport in the twentieth century was an integral part of world politics, which had an ever-increasing influence on it and actively intervened in the conduct of competitions. During the Cold War...
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In 1981, the Canadian city of Calgary was proposed to the International Olympic Committee for the seventh time to host the Winter Olympics. This time the attempt was successful. The Organizing Committee and the people of Calgary have done a lot to make the Winter Olympics a success. The Olympic Stadium after reconstruction began to accommodate more than 60 thousand spectators. Especially for the Olympics, a new luge-bobsleigh track was built with 14 turns and two gutters: one for lugers, the other for bobsledders. Refrigeration units installed under the track made it possible to keep ice even at a temperature of +20C. New indoor stadiums provided an opportunity for 19,000 spectators to watch matches of hockey teams and competitions in figure skating. Modern ski and ski slopes were also built, and the International TV and Radio Broadcasting Center was put into operation.
The XV Winter Olympic Games brought together 1634 athletes, including 364 women from 57 countries. For the first time, four new ski disciplines for men and women were included in the program: super giant slalom and alpine combined, team competitions in ski jumping and Nordic combined. Skaters have a 5000 m distance for women in speed skating. 46 sets of medals were played. Women competed in 16 types of competitions of 5 sports, men - in 28 types of competitions of 10 sports. The two types of competitions in figure skating are ice dancing and pair skating were mixed - women and men.
In cross-country skiing, the performance of representatives of the USSR was especially successful - 15 medals, including 5 gold: three won by women - Vincen at a distance of 10 km, Tikhonova at a distance of 20 km and in a 4 × 5 km relay, and two by men - Devetyarov at a distance of 15 km and Prokurorov at a distance of 30 km. Moreover, the advantage of the women's team, which lost only one of the four gold medals played, won the entire podium in the 20 km race and outstripped the nearest Norwegian team in the relay by more than 1.5 minutes, was generally recognized. Two-time Olympic champions were Tamara Tikhonova and Swede Gunde Swan. Gold medals went to representatives of three countries: the USSR - 5, Sweden - 2 and Finland - 1.
In ski jumping, the famous Finnish athlete Matti Nykanen was out of competition, becoming a three-time winner on the 70 and 90-meter springboard, as well as in team competitions, where his contribution was decisive. All gold medals went to athletes from Finland.
In alpine skiing, success was accompanied by representatives of the Alpine states, especially Switzerland - 11 medals, including 3 gold ones, which predetermined the high third place of the team of this country in the unofficial standings. The two-time Olympic champion was the legendary Alberto Tomba from Italy, who was the winner of the World Cup 7 times. Athletes from five countries received gold medals: Switzerland - 3, Austria - 3, Italy - 2, Germany - 1, France - 1.
Speed skating was dominated by the representatives of the GDR - 13 medals, including 3 gold medals, and this time the most successful were the men who won 2 gold medals: May in the 500 m distance and Hoffman in the 1500 m distance. Three gold medals were won by the Dutch, to be exact one athlete, Yvonne van Gennip, who won the 1500m, 3000m and 5000m distances. The most successful among men was Thomas Gustafsson from Sweden, who became a two-time Olympic winner. Gold medals went to representatives of five countries: the GDR - 3, the Netherlands - 3, Sweden - 2, the USSR - 1, the USA - 1. The performance of the speed skater from the GDR Christa Rotenburger-Luding was marked by two medals: gold at a distance of 1000 m and silver at a distance of 500 m. However, in history Olympic sport this athlete entered not only on these indicators. She was the only athlete who managed to receive medals at the Winter and Summer Olympic Games in the same year. In Seoul, she won a silver medal in cycling.
In biathlon, the largest number of medals - 4, including one gold for victory in the men's relay race, was won by Soviet athletes, however, in both individual races defeated Franz-Peter Rech of the GDR.
In bobsleigh competitions, the largest number of prizes - 3, were taken by athletes from the GDR. Gold medals were won by the Soviet two-seat crew, and the Swiss - by a four-seat one. The victory of the crew from the USSR Janis Kipurs and Vladimir Kozlov turned out to be one of the sensations of the Olympic Games.
But in luge, representatives of the GDR won all the gold medals.
In figure skating, athletes from the USSR demonstrated high skill. The first and second places on the podium in pair skating were taken by Soviet pairs: Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov, as well as Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev. In ice dancing, Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrey Bukin took first place, Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko took second. In women's single skating, as in Sarajevo, Katarina Witt from the GDR won, becoming a two-time Olympic champion. Among men, the winner was Brian Boitano from the USA. Gold medals went to representatives of three countries: the USSR - 2, the USA - 1 and the GDR - 1.
In hockey, having defeated the Finnish team in the final, the USSR team became the Olympic champion.
According to the results of the Olympic Games, the USSR athletes had the largest number of medals - 29 (11 gold, 9 silver, 9 bronze) and points in the unofficial team standings (204.5). The GDR team advanced to second place, winning 173 points and 25 medals - 9 gold, 10 silver, 6 bronze. In the third place, Swiss athletes won 97.5 points and 15 medals - 5 gold, 5 silver, 5 bronze.
It should be noted that the results of the struggle between the teams were weakly related to the number of athletes - representatives of various countries who took part in the competition. The United States fielded the most numerous team - 119 athletes, the second largest team was Canada - 113 people. However, the US team was in 9th place, 54 points, and Canada - in 12th. At the same time, the GDR team - 54 athletes - performed brilliantly in the competition and achieved high results.
The Winter Olympics in Calgary will forever go down in history as one of the most significant events in world sports. For the first time winter Olympics lasted for sixteen days, during which the whole world followed the celebration of the triumph of the spirit and the will to win.
The Olympic capital of 1988 showed a real example of determination long before the start of the competition. Despite the fact that Canada has always been a leading country in winter sports, the right to host the Olympic flame was not easy for her. Calgary has been competing for the title of Olympic capital since 1959, and only in 1981 was elected to host the XV Winter Olympics in 1988.
Canada has not only stood the test with dignity, but in many ways exceeded the expectations of the world community. The construction of the Canadian Olympic Park took 7 years. Innovative sports facilities were rebuilt and existing ones modernized.
The new bobsleigh descent was equipped with refrigeration units that prevent the ice from melting at positive temperatures. New tracks for skiers and alpine skiers were equipped, a grandiose indoor stadium for ice sports - the Olympic Oval - was erected. For the first time, speed skating competitions were held indoors, protected from the vicissitudes of the weather.
An important event was the international broadcast of the games, which was conducted from a specially built International Broadcasting Center. The Games were covered by 4,900 media professionals from around the world.
On the Olympic Square in the city center, a monument was unveiled to the first champion in the history of the Olympic Games - the athlete of Ancient Greece Koreb. The bronze monument in Calgary is modeled after a real ancient Greek statue. Every day on this square, with a confluence of thousands of spectators, athletes were honored - the heroes of the day, and Olympic awards were presented. The opening ceremony of the games took place on February 13, 1988. The Olympic torch was carried by athletes of all ages, including four-year-old Bruno Levesque and Joe Chase, who celebrated his 101st birthday on the opening day of the games.
Athletes from 57 countries took part in the games. For the athletes of Jamaica, Guam, Fiji, Guatemala and the Antilles, this Winter Olympics was the first in history. Athletes competed for 46 sets of awards in 10 Olympic sports sports, including for the first time included ski disciplines: alpine biathlon and super giant slalom.
The changeable climate of the Rocky Mountains brought a lot of difficulties to the organizers and participants of the competition. A warm Pacific wind in a matter of hours made the ski slopes unusable. Due to the melting snow, skiing competitions were postponed several times. At the finish line, the water was ankle-deep.
The winner in the overall standings was the USSR team, which won 29 medals. The honorable second place was taken by the GDR team, which received 25 medals. The triumphant performances of these teams were the last in the sunset of the history of these countries. By the next Olympic Games, both states ceased to exist.
The Calgary Olympics has become a powerful impetus for the development of sports and tourism in the region. The facilities built for the competitions have become a training ground for athletes from all over the world. The park is constantly developing and modernizing. In the 21st century, new facilities were added to the facilities built for the Olympics. Today, the Canadian Olympic Park is open to the general public at any time of the year. It is well equipped for summer sports activities. The park has bike paths and mountain bike trails, a cable car. Outdoor festivals are held here, there are summer camps.
Applications for hosting the 1988 Winter Olympics came from the cities of Falun (Sweden), Calgary (Canada) and d'Ampezzo (Italy). On September 30, 1981, the 84th session of the IOC announced the victory of Calgary in the vote.
Up to this point, the city had already applied twice to host the Olympic Games, but lost in 1964 to Innsbruck (Austria), and in 1968 to Grenoble (France).
Hosting the 1988 Calgary Olympics
A record number of national teams from 57 countries participated in the competition.
The opening ceremony of the 1988 Calgary Olympics was held at McMahon Stadium. The fire of the games was brought by the Canadian athlete Robin Perry, and the oath of the Olympians was given by the athlete Pierre Harvey. The 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics were declared open by the Governor-General of Canada, Jeanne Sauve.
The 1988 Olympic Games were the first not marred by political confrontation. The days of boycotts are over. The national teams of the GDR and the FRG competed separately for the last time at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, and a year and a half later the Berlin Wall fell. 
For the USSR national team, the White Olympics in Calgary 1988 was also the last, the country would break up into separate states.
Changes to the Calgary 1988 Olympics
The Spanish marquis Juan Antonio Samaranch, having become the president of the IOC, decided to refresh the stagnant program of the Winter Olympics, freestyle, curling and short track were presented as demonstration sports.
IOC President Samaranch succeeded in making the world sporting event a super-profitable event. He put forward a proposal to stretch the competition for 16 days, including three weekends.
It became known that the organizers earned over $100 million from the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Then they said that this is a strong exaggeration. The American company ABC paid $309 million for the right to broadcast the 1988 Calgary Olympics, but wished to reschedule the event to the end of February. However, at this time, a warm Chinook wind blows from the Rocky Mountains and some competitions almost fell through.
Results of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary
The USSR team won the medal standings: the triumph of the hockey team allowed the Soviet team to get ahead of the founders of Canadian hockey in terms of the number of Olympic titles.
Soviet red car
In total, the USSR team received 29 medals: 11 gold, 9 silver and 9 bronze. In second place was the GDR team.
The 1988 Winter Olympics became not only a sporting but also an entertainment event, which turned them into the most fun Olympics of our time.
The bobsleigh crew from Jamaica showed amazing determination, and the audience was very rooting for the representatives of the tropical island. But in conclusion, the bob of the Jamaican crew turned over and could not finish. The story of the brave crew formed the basis of the feature film "Sharp Turns".
British ski jumper Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards also distinguished himself. He became the worst skier in history, who did not succeed, but the fans were very worried about the clumsy fat man and rejoiced at his every success.
After the Winter Olympics in Calgary 1988, the IOC approved a special "Eddie Rule" in order to tighten the qualification standards for participants in the Olympic Games.
But there were some tragedies during the Games: the doctor of the Austrian national team Jörg Oberhammer died - he got hit by a track on a slope. Before the start of the race, American speed skater Dan Jensen learned about the death of his sister from leukemia and fell at a distance of 500 meters, and then in the 1000 meters race.
The XV Winter Olympic Games were held in the south of Canada, in the "cowboy capital" - Calgary. The city, founded during the oil boom at the turn of the 20th century, deserved this honorary title thanks to the world's largest rodeo, which annually gathers up to a million spectators. Moreover, the Canadians won the right to host the Olympic Games on the fourth attempt.
In our memory, the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988 remained as the most successful for the athletes of the Soviet Union, who won a record number of medals - 29, of which 11 were gold, 9 silver and 9 bronze. The second was the team of the GDR. For both teams, the performance in Calgary became a “swan song”, since both states disappeared from the political map of the world by the next Olympics.
And so the figure skating tournament started. The men were the first to go out on the ice. In those years, two figure skaters - B. Boitano (USA) and B. Orser (Canada) held in their hands all the men's figure skating of the planet. Their rivalry was no less exciting than the constant duels between Yagudin and Plushenko a decade later. The battle of two Bryans at the 1988 Olympics was a truly magnificent spectacle. As a result, Boitano became the owner of the gold Olympic medal, and Orser - silver. Boitano's free program to Carmeno Coppola's music for the film "Napoleon", which creates the image of a romantic hero going to war and returning with victory, is still considered one of the brightest in the history of figure skating.
Brian Orser.
Unexpectedly for everyone, the third place was taken by 18-year-old Viktor Petrenko from Odessa. From an interview with V. Petrenko to the R-Sport agency: “- I planned to enter the top six. The main responsibility was assigned to Sasha Fadeev and Vova Kotin. And I was a debutant, I just had to learn how to perform, go through the Olympics. But it so happened that a certain gap appeared, Sasha made a mistake, Vova also skated the short program not quite cleanly, and I “shot”, got close to the leaders. The same thing happened in the free program.
Free program V. Petrenko "Don Quixote".
Women's medals were next. Soviet figure skaters Kira Ivanova and Anna Kondrashova took 7th and 8th places respectively.
Kira Ivanova
.
Anna Kondrashova.
And the winner in Calgary 1988, as well as in Sarajevo 1984, was the brilliant Katarina Witt (GDR), who became a two-time Olympic champion. “I am sure that many years will pass before any of the skaters will be able to repeat my Olympic success,” she said in Calgary, on the day of her second Olympic victory, Katharina Witt. “After all, I managed to achieve such a result only 52 years after the famous Sonya Henie.”
The main duel of the Olympic figure skaters' tournament was to be held between Witt and Debi Thomas (USA), two Carmen (their compositions were on the same theme and close in music: Bizet - Shchedrin - for the champion of the GDR, Bizet - for the US champion). But Thomas's nerves could not stand it - she made a number of mistakes and ended up being content with a bronze award.
Debi Thomas.
In addition, one of the hosts of the Olympics, the Canadian figure skater Elizabeth Manley, intervened in the dispute, who won the free skating and received silver as a reward. A 22 year old double Olympic champion extremely smoothly passed the distance Olympic competitions. She was third in the “school”, first in the short program and second in the free program, proving once again that the one who is strong enough in all its components wins the all-around. “Still, I turned out to be stronger,” Katarina said, not without a challenge. “In order to clearly perform all the jumps, you need to have extraordinary self-control. I did not manage to avoid a mistake, but Debi was not at all in shape. No, she is an ordinary person, not a miracle at all. By the way, in 1990, Witt, Boitano and Orser each received an Emmy Award for their roles played in the performance on ice "Carmen", which is considered the best ice performance.
In the sports couples competition, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov flashed the brightest star, who took gold from Sarajevo victors Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev. This victory in figure skating was the seventh in a row since the 1964 Olympics. At one time, Katya and Sergey were paired up due to the fact that both of their jumps were not strong enough for single skating. They were trained by Stanislav Leonovich, and then by Stanislav Zhuk. In November 1987, Katya was injured in training - a concussion. The couple missed the USSR championship. Despite this, they won the European Championship and went to the Olympic Games in Canada. Both programs were brought to perfection, and the free program (to the music of Mendelssohn, Chopin and Mozart) became a masterpiece in the history of figure skating.
The amazed judges gave 14 marks 5.9 and four - 5.8 (the only one who gave the lowest, both 5.8, was the British judge S. Stapleford, known for her tendentious judging against athletes from socialist countries). I would like to quote Sergei Cheskidov from the Sovetsky Sport newspaper: "...After an elegant, as if weightless program to the music of Chopin and Mendelssohn, performed by Muscovites Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, the hall stood up, applauding - not a single blot was allowed by the athletes , every element, every combination was performed with inspiration, gracefulness.... 3-time Olympic champion Irina Rodnina, who was sitting next to me, jokingly exclaimed: Olympic tournament!" An amazing fact for those times: Katenka Gordeeva immediately became the most popular athlete at the 1988 Olympics, in North America, which is not the most friendly towards Soviet athletes. For me personally, the statement is absolutely true: you can look at fire, water and skating of the beautiful, brilliant Gordeeva and Grinkov.
Elena Valova and Oleg Vasilyev also worked hard to defend their title of Olympic champions-84. But, a carefully thought-out and developed plan, it was not possible to implement - Elena's severe leg injury prevented. Instead of training on ice - long-term treatment. A month before the start of the Olympiad, Valova and Vasilyev started training, and here we have to say a lot of thanks to our excellent coach - T. N. Moskvina. Thanks to her high professionalism and ability to lead athletes to great starts, the couple was included in the number of Olympians-88. Valova/Vasiliev completed the most difficult program in full, without breaking a single element, and deservedly won silver medals.
Our 3rd couple, Larisa Selezneva, Oleg Makarov performed less successfully in Calgary. Mistakes during the execution of the short and then the free program did not allow these athletes to rise above 4th place. Bronze medals were won by the Americans Jill Watson and Peter Oppergar.
In ice dancing, Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrey Bukin took first place, Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko - second. Canada's Tracy Wilson and Robert McCull moved up to third place.
I want to write about a duet for which gold medal XV Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, became the pinnacle of their 11-year joint sports career - Bestemyanova-Bukin. A couple that struck me in those (young for me) years with their expression and became my favorite for a long time. Before the start of the Olympics, at the general meeting of the team, Andrei was entrusted with a great honor - he was elected the standard bearer of the Soviet team at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. He became the first of our skaters to receive such a right. And then the Olympic weekdays flowed - obligatory dances: paso doble, kilian and Viennese waltz, the original tango dance, after which Bestemyanova and Bukin were in the lead.
Before the start of the season, many experts believed that Tarasova took a big risk by staging Polovtsian Dances, since the theme is specific and not all Western viewers will understand. And then the day "X" came - February 23, 1988. From an article in Sovetsky Sport: “Pale Tarasova at the side of the Olympic Saddledome rink traditionally nods her head, admonishing Natasha and Andrey. They nod approvingly in response. A little bit. With a light, imperceptible slope, they say, everything will be in order, they go to the middle of the rink as powerfully, as spaciously as only they can in the world ...
Natasha: - When we went on the ice, to the main start in my life, I was in such a good condition, I felt so good that it seemed to me that I was ready to tear down the mountains. And Tatyana Anatolyevna stood nearby and said: “You don’t need to do anything, you need to ride medium, these are the Olympic Games, you don’t need to get out of yourself here” ... at the beginning of the program there was a failure that immediately brought me to my senses, The failure was small, but for us he is a blunder. ... In general, when we skated, I started crying again. But Andryushka stopped talking to me right away, the competition was not over yet.
It makes no sense to describe the composition performed by Natasha and Andrey, the best thing about it was the longtime rival of our skaters, the famous Christopher Dean, who here in Calgary commented on the figure skating competitions for Australian television. “I was so carried away by this spectacle,” he said, “that I could not immediately wake up and get to work, I was simply shocked!” The ovation given by the audience sitting in the stands of the Saddledome was the best confirmation that Natasha and Andrey managed to convey to the heart of everyone the meaning of their last, and therefore such a piercing dance.
A lot can be written about our second couple - Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko, but their best Olympic performance still ahead. In the meantime, let's remember their original dance, which is just a pleasure to watch!
And yet, the Calgary Olympics is the first for the very famous brother-sister duo Duchesnay. Bright, who had great popularity not only in the West, but also here (at the European Championships in Leningrad they received a standing ovation), which seriously changed dances in the early nineties. At the Calgary Olympics, Duchesne made a splash with Dean's Savage Rites.
Watch the video from the 2nd minute.
At that Olympiad, they remained only eighth, but they were noticed, and this is the main thing. In the next Olympic cycle, they entered the circle of main contenders for all titles, and the public was waiting for each of their new work: Dean's choreography was very different from the dominant "Russian" style.
This is how the Olympic Games in Canada turned out, where our skaters won 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal. Perhaps none of us would refuse such a result in the future. Sochi Games. And in conclusion, I would like to quote N. Bestemyanova's statement after the victory in Calgary: - "Do not repeat yourself" is our motto, our credo over the past 10 seasons. They say that we have our own style, that we know how to get away from patterns. But, probably, this is the peculiarity of those masters who win on ice. (“Soviet Sport”, 1988).
