1988 was a memorable year for Calgary. It was then that the Olympic Games were held in Calgary. This event became significant for the city as a whole, as well as for each individual resident. Wake up an ordinary Canadian in the middle of the night and ask when the Olympics in Calgary took place - he will accurately name the date of its holding, because this is his story.
Calgary had a hard time getting the right to host this sporting event. He applied three times, but only the third time he was lucky: in 1981, the International Olympic Committee decided that the 15th Winter Olympic Games would be held in Calgary.
Seven years remained until the cherished date, and the city spent this time, as well as multimillion-dollar investments, with a sense. Major sports facilities such as the Canadian Olympic Park and the Olympic Oval were built for Calgary 88. The first opened up opportunities for competitions in luge sports, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, alpine skiing and snowboarding, and the second - in speed skating and hockey. The life of these structures did not stop after the end of the games. They have become a training base for many athletes, as well as a base for the development of tourism in the city. Thanks to the Olympics, indoor stadiums for 19 thousand spectators, ski and ski slopes appeared in the city.
After reconstruction, the Olympic stadium began to accommodate more than six thousand spectators. New indoor stadiums, modern ski and ski tracks, as well as a bobsleigh track were built. The Canadians installed special refrigeration units that allowed the ice to be kept at a temperature of plus 20 degrees. One of the main know-how of the Games was the implementation of the first International TV and Radio Broadcasting Center.
The Calgary Olympics have become memorable thanks to the new sports that were presented for the first time as demonstration sports. These are freestyle, curling, short track, which soon became full-fledged Olympic disciplines.
The 1988 Calgary Olympics were not victorious for Canada in terms of medals. Then the USSR distinguished itself, taking 29 awards. Canada limited itself to five awards, among which there was not a single gold medal. However, the very fact that Canada was the host of the Olympic Games was a fundamental factor that completely smoothed out the bitterness of a poor performance.
Calgary still remembers the 1988 Winter Olympics. In the middle of downtown, dotted with skyscrapers, the ancient Greek arch with the slogan “Citius, Altuis, Fortius” - “Faster, higher, stronger” looks organically. The square itself is laid out of original bricks - before the Games, Canadians staged an action: everyone could immortalize their name in stone for a symbolic fee of $ 19 88 cents. And then the heroes of the Olympics were honored on this square. In particular, the Soviet hockey team, which won gold for the penultimate time in its history. In memory of this event, there is a bronze plaque with the name of each winner engraved on it. I read: Bykov, Fetisov, Gusarov, Khomutov, Makarov ... All of them have finished their careers a long time ago. All but one. Alexander Mogilny, who was then barely 19 years old. Now “Alexander the Great” plays for “New Jersey” and “cuts a coal on the mountain”: 22 (10 + 12) points in 25 matches - a result worthy of a master. But the veteran refused to travel to the Olympic Turin. Like Sergei Zubov, together with Sergei Fedorov, the NHL members of the first wave, who still hold a grudge against Russian Federation hockey (FHR).
What was it
For the first time, four new alpine skiing disciplines were included in the program of the Olympics, team competitions in ski jumping and combined skiing, a distance of 5000 m for women in speed skating.
In total, forty-six sets of awards were played at the Games. Women competed in five sports, which included sixteen competitions, and men in ten sports and twenty-eight competitions. There are also two types of competitions in figure skating(ice dancing and pair skating) were mixed.
Who was that
In figure skating, there was no equal to the USSR team. In pair skating, our country got both gold and silver. Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov became the best, while Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev were only one step lower. In ice dancing, Soviet athletes demonstrated the same agility - Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrei Bukin took gold, and Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko won silver.
Soviet athletes also staged the main sensation of the Games - gold medal Kipursa and Kozlova in the "twos" competition became the first for the Soviet Union. The greatest number of prizes in bobsled was won by the GDR team.
In biathlon, Soviet athletes won the largest number of awards - four medals. The only gold for the USSR in the relay was won by the men's team. In both individual races there was no equal to Franz-Peter Rech from the GDR.
The coward does not play
The “Red Machine” again produced masterpiece hockey at the main event in the world of sports. At the group stage, Soviet hockey players left no stone unturned from the national teams of Czechoslovakia, Norway and Austria. The fights with the teams of the USA and the FRG turned out to be more stubborn, but the Soviet national team still won victories.
In the first round of the final round, our hockey players defeated their historical rival, the Canadian national team, with a score of 5: 0. The team of Vyacheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov also won the next meeting, hitting seven goals against the Swedish national team and conceding only one. But in the final match Olympic tournament the USSR national team lost to Finland, however, it is worth mentioning that this meeting essentially did not solve anything.
On a note
Interestingly, the official emblem of the Calgary Games was styled like a snowflake with traditional Olympic rings at the bottom. The "face of the Olympics" also resembled a maple leaf - the symbol of Canada. The "creatives" decided to add another hidden meaning to the emblem of the Games - the snowflake was made from the letters "C" drawn in different versions. Recall that the words Calgary and Canada begin with the letter "C".
“The 88th Olympics witnessed the last performances of the“ red car ”
We must not forget that the Olympic Games in Calgary were the last for the USSR. A completely different team has arrived in Albertville, called the “United CIS team and does not even have its own flag. The 1988 Olympics witnessed the last performances of the “red car” ... For the GDR national team, these Games were also the last ...
City selection
Two Asian cities competed for the right to host the XXIV Summer Olympic Games - Seoul (the capital of South Korea) and Nagoya (the fourth most populous city in Japan). At the 84th session of the IOC on September 30, 1981 in Baden-Baden (Germany), it was announced that Seoul won the vote, gaining 52 votes against 27 votes for Nagoya.
Symbolism
The official poster presented the Games in a combination of two images. The Olympic rings depicted on the poster have been given a vivid metaphorical image in order to reflect the Olympic ideal - to create world peace. The image of a running athlete with the Olympic torch in his hands symbolizes the progress of mankind, his movement forward to happiness and prosperity. In the process of making the official posters, computer graphics technology was used, light blue and bright orange colors were mixed in order to represent Korea as the Land of Morning Calm (Land of Achim Goe). In addition to the official posters, the Organizing Committee has released 27 more different variations of the poster depicting various sports.
Seoul Games Official Poster
The emblem of the Seoul Olympics depicts the traditional Korean pattern, the samtaeguk. It is widely used to decorate fans, gates for Korean-style houses, souvenirs and handicrafts.
The Olympic emblem contains elements of the pattern in two forms, centripetal and centrifugal; centripetal movement depicts people from all over the world arriving in Korea, thus symbolizing harmony around the world, while centrifugal movement depicts a person moving forward in search of happiness and prosperity.
Mascot
Talisman XXIV Olympic Games became the hero of Korean legends - the Amur tiger. To neutralize the negative aspects of the predatory animal, he was portrayed as a small tiger, kind and harmless.
The name for the mascot was chosen by popular vote from 2295 proposed options. The winning name - Hodori - can be translated from Korean as Tiger Boy ("Ho" means "tiger" and "dori" means "boy").
The main attribute of the Korean mascot is a small black hat worn over his ear. This is an element of the national costume; In the old days, peasants used to wear such hats during folk festivals.
For Hodori, a girlfriend, the Tigress Hosuni, was originally invented, but she did not receive such popularity as the official mascot, and she was quickly forgotten.
Official Games Song
The organizers of the Seoul Olympics decided to record the official song of the Olympics, which will contribute to the promotion of friendship and peace among all countries participating in the International Olympic Committee. The song "Hand in Hand" was co-written by an Italian composer Giorgio Moroder and his American counterpart Tom Whitlock... The composition was performed by a Korean group Koreana... The song gained recognition, topping the music charts in 17 countries around the world.
"Hand in Hand" by Koreana
Boycott of the Games
The 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korean Seoul were boycotted by North Korea. Pyongyang decided not to send its sports team to the Games, as the organizing committee for the preparation of the Seoul Olympics rejected the offer Kim il sung on the transfer of part of the sports competitions to the cities of the DPRK in order to demonstrate the unity of the Korean Peninsula.
The official reason for this was the fact that there was an ongoing state of war between the two countries. The North Korean position was supported by Cuba, Nicaragua and Ethiopia and also announced their non-participation in the Games. The stadiums and other sports facilities prepared for the Olympic Games were used by the DPRK at the XIII International Festival of Youth and Students, held in Pyongyang a year later.
In the USSR, a series of postage stamps was issued with the text “1988. USSR Post. Games of the XXIV Olympiad ”and images of athletes. However, due to the lack of diplomatic relations between the USSR and the Republic of Korea, the stamps do not have the words "Seoul" or "Korea".
The opening ceremony
At the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the 76-year-old brought the torch with the Olympic flame to the stadium Song Ki-Chang, winner of the Olympic marathon in 1936. Then he was forced to perform using a Japanese name, since Korea was occupied by Japan. In 1936 he performed as a Japanese athlete Kitay's Dream.
Song Ki-Chang at the opening ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics
Flag of the USSR national team at the opening ceremony Summer Olympics 1988 wrestler carried Alexander Karelin... At the Seoul Games, he won his first out of three Olympic gold medals.
South Korean athletes Jung Soon-Man, Kim Won-Thak and Song Mi-Chun light the fire of the 24th Summer Olympics
Pigeons are a symbol of peace, and they were launched at almost every Olympic opening ceremony. It was very beautiful and touching, but animal advocates were worried about the fate of the birds themselves - some of them simply burned up on the Olympic fire, trying to fly away from the stadium. The IOC showed humanity, and after 1988 there were no more bird victims at the Games - the pigeons were released even before the fire was lit, and then paper ones were used.
USSR national team at the XXIV Summer Olympic Games
The USSR national team missed due to a political boycott. Therefore, at the Seoul Olympics, Soviet athletes were faced with the task of proving that they, as before, are trendsetters in world sports.
As a result, the USSR national team won the team unofficial medal standings by a wide margin, having won 18 gold medals more than its closest rival, the GDR national team. At the end of the Olympics, Soviet athletes had 55 gold, 31 silver and 46 bronze medals.
Soviet athletes confirmed the title of the strongest gymnasts on the planet Elena Shushunova(2 gold, silver and bronze) and Vladimir Artyomov(4 gold and silver). Their teammates also supported them - 10 out of 14 gold medals went to Soviet gymnasts.
One of the heroes of the 1988 Summer Olympics - Vladimir Artyomov
Domestic athletes also looked very good in Seoul - 10 top awards. The racers on the cycle track, volleyball players, wrestlers, rowers on kayaks and canoes, men's handball and basketball teams won.
After a 16-year break, Soviet basketball players again climbed to the highest step of the podium. In the final of the basketball tournament, the USSR national team beat the Yugoslavian team with an advantage of 13 points and took first place.
After a 32-year break, they went to the USSR national team, which defeated the Brazilian team in the final with a score of 2: 1. Goals scored against the opponents Igor Dobrovolsky and Yuri Savichev.
USSR national football team - champions of the Olympic Games in Seoul
Then, in 1988, hardly anyone could have imagined that this would be the last Olympic Games in the history of the USSR national team.
Scandals of the XXIV Summer Olympic Games
September 24, 1988 26-year-old native of Jamaica with a Canadian passport Ben Johnson set a world record in 100 meters running, showing a result of 9.79 seconds. Two days later, the result of the doping test became known: the prohibited drug stanozolol was found in the athlete's urine. Ben Johnson was deprived of the Olympic "gold", world record and was suspended for two years. At the end of the period of ineligibility, the runner returned to the track. On January 17, 1993, at the Toronto Athletics Tournament, Johnson's body was found to have a 16-fold excess of the hormone testosterone. The leadership of the International Athletics Federation has disqualified the Canadian for life. In both Seoul and Toronto, Ben Johnson claimed that he was "not a criminal, but a victim."
The American runner won three gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. She also broke the 200m world record there, running the distance in 21.34 seconds. and improving the result of the German Marita Koch by 0.37 sec. According to many experts, such results would not have been possible without the use of doping, but each time the test of the American woman turned out to be negative. After the Olympics, the IOC announced an increase in the number of doping tests, and Delores Florence Griffith-Joyner immediately ended her sports career. Meanwhile her husband Al Joyner(winner of the "gold" of the 84 Olympics in Los Angeles in the triple jump) remained in the sport and got caught on doping. In 1996, the athlete suffered her first heart attack, and in September 1998 she died of an epileptic seizure at the age of 39. Florence Griffith-Joyner's records are still unbeaten.
Bulgarian athletes Mitko Grablev(category up to 56 kg) and Angel Genchev(category up to 67.5 kg) won gold medals in weightlifting competitions on September 19 and 21, 1988, respectively. On September 23, both were stripped of their medals and suspended for two years after their doping tests tested positive for furosemide. On September 24, the leadership of the Bulgarian weightlifting team withdrew athletes who had not yet performed from the competition, and the team of Bulgarian weightlifters left Seoul. One of the members of the Soviet delegation later told the media that the Bulgarians intended to cheat the doping control by injecting fresh urine into the bladder using a catheter. Having guessed the plan of his Bulgarian colleagues, the Soviet official occupied the only toilet in the medical laboratory. There was nowhere else to use the catheter unnoticed, and the Bulgarians had to surrender. Subsequently, one of the violators, Angel Genchev, was sentenced several times by the court to imprisonment for rape, hooliganism, theft, illegal possession of weapons, and escape from prison.
September 22 Hungarian weightlifter Kalman Chengeri took fourth place in the category up to 75 kg. On September 25 in Seoul, he was caught doping and disqualified for using testosterone. September 26th another Hungarian weightlifter, Andro Chanyi, won silver in the category up to 100 kg, but on September 28 he returned the medal, as he was convicted of using stanozolol. On September 29, the entire Hungarian weightlifting team withdrew from the competition.
October 2, 1988 19 year old American boxer Roy Jones fought in the final bout in the category up to 71 kg with a South Korean boxer Park Si Hoon... In the fight, Jones had a clear advantage and even knocked down his opponent. By the end of the fight, the strike ratio reached 86:32 in favor of the American. Despite this, the judges, by three votes to two, awarded the victory to the Korean athlete. During the announcement of the decision of the judges, the beaten winner barely kept himself upright.
Roy Jones hits Park Si Hoon
Judge declares Park Xi Hoon the winner of the bout.
The American delegation lodged a protest, but the decision of the judges was not changed. Instead of a gold medal, Roy Jones received the Val Barker Trophy and the title of Outstanding Boxer at the Seoul Games from the International Amateur Boxing Association. This unofficial prize is awarded at every Olympics, but until 1988 it was usually awarded to the Olympic champion. In November 1988, three judges from Uganda, Uruguay and Morocco, who gave the victory to the Korean, were disqualified for two years for biased judging. In 1996, it was proven that these arbitrators received bribes from members of the Korean delegation. Since the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the scoring rules for boxing have changed. If earlier the judges recorded the marks on sheets of paper that were given to the referee at the end of the fight, now they press the computer button immediately after the blow that the boxer inflicted. A point is entered into the computer system if three out of five judges have pressed the button. On September 9, 1997 in Lausanne, Switzerland, Roy Jones was awarded the Silver Olympic Order in recognition of his services to Olympic movement... The decision to award medals was never revised.
“These were the best in the history of the Games”, - with this phrase the President of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch (Spain) began his final press conference following the starts in Seoul. He said it not for the first time, it was in 1980 in Moscow, then in 1984 in Los Angeles. Representatives of 159 countries from five continents gathered in the capital of South Korea - a record figure in the history of the Games. The warming of the international climate has played an important role in the success of the '88 Olympics.
9627 athletes competed for 237 sets of medals. Soviet athletes performed brilliantly in 23 sports (504 people were in the USSR national team), who won 132 awards - 55 gold, 31 silver and 46 bronze (879.5 points); the athletes of the GDR-102 won 37 gold, 35 silver and 30 bronze (636 points); representatives of the United States received 94 medals - 36 gold, 31 silver and 27 bronze (579.5 points). 120 athletes from the Soviet Union returned home as champions.
During Olympic competitions J0 world and 104 Olympic records were set. Athletes of the Soviet Union set 55 Olympic records in Seoul arenas, of which 7 became world records.
In the sports delegation of the USSR there were 31 Leningrad athletes. Our fellow countrymen won 17 medals: in individual competitions - 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze; in team competitions - 4 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze. In the unofficial team competition, the Leningraders received 46.61 points - 5.3 percent of the total number of points of the USSR delegation.
Only one champion - Elena Shushunova - brought 4 awards to the banks of the Neva - 2 gold, silver and bronze.
I remember at the beginning of the Olympic season on the sidelines artistic gymnastics many seriously expressed doubts whether it would "break through" Olympic Seoul Leningrad Elena Shushunova. “It’s heavy, there is no that lightness,” some said. “Critical age,” others argued (“critical” -19 years) and added: “It's time for her to part beautifully with big sports.” Well, the failures did "happen." Only the third - at the European Championship, the second - at the world championship. And here are the words of the famous Natasha Kuchinskaya, uttered after the end of the tournament of the women's teams challenging the championship: "Lena is great, she was not distracted by rumors and conversations and worked, worked, worked." She won the USSR championship and won the country's Cup. She confirmed not only the right to participate in the Games-88, but also to unconditional leadership in the team. All her combinations met the highest requirements of the team.
Elena became the true leader on the gymnastics platform in Seoul. In addition to her, the USSR national team included S. Boginskaya, O. Strasheva, N. Laschekova, S. Baitova and E. Shevchenko. The girls won 4.6 points against the excellent team of Romanian gymnasts, who took 2nd place, led by the talented and graceful Daniela Silivash. By the way, after completing the compulsory program, Daniela became the leader, ahead of the Leningrad woman. "I hope that Silivash's leadership is temporary," predicted the famous gymnast Polina Astakhova. "Shushunova is not weaker." And here is the comment of Elena herself: “Each exercise of our girls stood out with its zest. And most importantly, we have a growing team. "
And the lag of Shushunova from Silivash could be considered symbolic - 0.055 points. But Daniela is the absolute world champion. On September 23, hundreds of millions of people watched their dispute on the gymnastic platform. Both were worthy of the title of "queen of gymnastics". Before the last type of all-around - vault - Silivash was ahead of the pursuer by 0.025 points. The Romanian jumped perfectly, and only 10 points could help the Leningrad woman. Shushunova's jump was elegant and impeccable in style and technical performance. As a result - 79.662 points, the first place in the all-around and the title of absolute Olympic champion... Silivash has 79.637. The third - at S. Boginskaya - 79,400.
And how much girlish strength - physical and moral - Lena and her permanent mentor Viktor Nikolayevich Gavrichenkov put into these two gold medals! And that they, these forces, are not limitless, we saw during the finals in certain types of all-around, where the Leningrad woman managed to win "only" a silver medal in exercises on the balance beam (19.875 points) and a bronze medal on uneven bars (19.962).
Christine Otto of the German Democratic Republic, who won six gold medals in swimming, was named the most outstanding athlete of the XXIV Games. This prize, established by South Korean newspapers, is rightfully awarded to Otto - never in the Olympic Games has a woman achieved such significant success. But the award, which was received by the Polish gymnast Teresa Folga, emphasized the appearance of the fair sex. A 22-year-old student (height - 160 centimeters, weight - 44 kilograms) was named "Miss Olympics". If Otto fought for her prize on the blue carpet, then Folga, taking 7th place in the dispute between the graces - masters rhythmic gymnastics, ascended to the highest step of the symbolic beauty pedestal after the announcement of the results of a survey among the male population of the Olympic Village ...
Getting into the USSR Olympic men's handball team was an archetypal undertaking. Literally on the last day before the team left Vladivostok for Seoul, we learned that the player of the "workers" sports club "Bolshevik" Yuri Nesterov was included in it.
During the final match with the South Korean team, this giant (2 meters 6 centimeters tall) appeared on the court several times, and distinguished himself at the end of the decisive match (Soviet handball players won - 32:25), effectively throwing the ball into the opponents' goal. So the player of the first line Yuri Nesterov, a pupil of the coach Viktor Aleksandrovich Klochkov, who noticed the athletic eighth grader of the 393rd school of Leningrad and instilled in him the skills: a cool handball player, became an Olympic champion. Now Yura is 21 years old, he is a student of the P.F.Lesgaft Institute of Physical Education.
For the first time, they learned about our young swimmer Elena Dendeberova outside Leningrad during the 1983 Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. Lena was prepared for the Seoul Olympics by her permanent mentor, an excellent specialist and trainer GG Petrov. She started at both complex swimming distances - 200 and 400 meters. And in both finals she showed her top scores, which are included in the USSR Table of Records. Could you become a champion? Of course, she could: after all, in the 200-meter decisive swim, she was in the lead almost to the very finish line and slightly lost to Daniela Hünger, a swimmer from the GDR. The champion's time is 2 minutes 12.59 seconds. Our compatriot finished in 2 minutes 13.31 seconds. Well, at 400 meters, her time, although better than the all-Union record, did not allow her to take a place above the 4th.
Nikolay Evseev performed in the 4X100 meter freestyle relay. In it, together with Nikolai, the sports honor of the USSR national team was defended by G. Prigoda from Kuibyshev, Y. Bashkatov from Chisinau and V. Tkachenko from Kiev. Few doubted the victory of the US quartet. He excelled with a world record of 3 minutes 16.53 seconds. But there was a moment when eyewitnesses of the relay doubted the success of the Americans: at the third stage, the Leningrader Yevseev was ahead, and his speed was the highest among the participants in the water battle. And as a result - the 2nd place and the record of Europe - 3 minutes 18.33 seconds.
Our swimmer Elena Volkova took 5th place in the 100-meter breaststroke - 1 minute 09.24 seconds.
The Soviet male academic eight only 32 years ago - in the Olympic Melbourne - won awards (silver). In the competition on the Seoul Canal, the Soviet eight, which included three Leningraders - Veniamin Bout, Andrei Vasiliev and Viktor Diduk, again took 2nd place in the final Olympic race. And the crew of the FRG took the lead among rowing battleships.
The opinion of all three of our fellow countrymen is unanimous: they could have become champions if they had gathered together to train long before the Games. But it was these guys who brilliantly won both the Friendship-84 competition and the 1985 World Championship. It's hard to believe, but the fact, as they say, remains the fact! The victorious crew during the preparation for the Games-88 was ... disbanded. And I got together again only 3 months before the starts in Seoul. And then, during the decisive race, a headwind blew out, in the conditions of which the guys never competed in the Olympic season. And yet they won. Together with the silver medalists, the trainer P.K. Chernov also accepted congratulations ...
For many years, the captain of the USSR men's volleyball team was Leningrader Vyacheslav Zaitsev, the recognized leader of the country's main team. In 1987, Zaitsev was invited to Italy as a player-coach in one of the second-tier clubs and, of course, contributed a lot to his team's entry into the first, strongest, league. And literally two weeks before the Games-88 Vyacheslav was called up under the banner of the USSR Olympic team, which included another Leningrader, a young Avtomobilist player Yuri Cherednk. Only one game was lost in Seoul by Soviet volleyball players - the champion of the Games-84 and the world - the US team (1: 3) and won silver medals. Both players of the Soviet national team are graduates of the remarkable coach and teacher V. A. Platonov, who has been the head of Avtomobilist and the national team for many years.
Our women's basketball team twice in Seoul left the court defeated, losing to the Australians and then the Americans in the semifinals. The team was awarded bronze medals, it included two women from Leningrad - Natalya Zasulskaya and Olga Yakovleva ...
Leningrad school bullet shooting- traditionally Olympic look sports - delegated two of its representatives to Seoul: Svetlana Smirnova and Kirill Ivanova. Alas, the coaches kept Smirnova on the bench. But Kirill came out to challenge the championship in small-bore rifle shooting. The first exercise is MB-9, and Kirill fails: only 595 points out of 600 possible and 15th place. Usually Ivanov performed more successfully in the "3x40 standard". And then there were 2 days of rest, during which the worries associated with a clearly weak opening subsided a bit. The rivals of Summer Olympnada-88 were competing for four and a half hours - it was a competition in the main exercise; then, after a short rest, Kirill, who was fifth in the table, proceeded to the final firing - 10 shots were to be fired. Nine out of ten bullets hit the very center of the target. Englishman M. Cooper became the champion (1279.3 points), bronze medalist Kirill Ivanov lost 4.3 points to him ...
There were also failures. The results of the performances of the Leningrad athletes were especially disappointing. So, the leader of the shot pushers of the USSR national team S. Smirnov with a mediocre result - 20 meters 36 centimeters - was in the final eighth. The referees are responsible for the result of the performance of our talented boxer A. Artemiev, who actually did not lose the quarterfinal match to the Bulgarian A. Hristov, but was declared defeated. The ex-world champion in judo Y. Sokolov never recovered from a severe injury and lost to an opponent in the very first fight. Only the 20th place went to the pentathlete G. Yuferov (5007 points), and together with the team - the 5th.
In 1988, the Winter Olympic Games were held in the Canadian province of Alberta, Calgary. The 1988 Olympics was the last for the Soviet national team. Viktor Tikhonov took the national team to the Games in Calgary. As it turned out, the players had a special motivation to win.
"The then leaders of domestic hockey made a strong move, saying that in the event
victories will not prevent the top five from leaving overseas. Having received such an emotional charge, the guys just flew on the ice, not knowing what difficulties still await them before moving to the NHL clubs. Do not forget that perestroika was already in full swing in the country, as a result of which the pressure from above was clearly weakening. And there was no need to pump us up especially, because to win Olympic medals- the dream of any athlete ", - the striker shared his memories of the Olympics in Calgary Alexander Chernykh.
By the way, the President of the International Ice Hockey Federation Gunther Sabecki announced that the Olympics will be open to all professional athletes. While NHL players had the right to come to Calgary, teams were reluctant to let go of their best players. Nevertheless, the Canadians had 13 players from the NHL, the Swedes and the Finns had six, the FRG had three, and two each in the French and US national teams.
At the preliminary stage, "Red Machine" won victories over the national teams of Norway (5: 0), Austria (8: 1), USA (7: 5), Germany (6: 3) and Czechoslovakia (6: 1).
The match with the USA turned out to be a real thriller. After the second period, the USSR national team was leading 6: 2. American channel ABC Sports decided to interrupt the broadcast and switch to other events. Soon, those who made this decision had to regret it. The USSR national team allowed the Americans to play two goals first, and then Todd Åkerlund from
the varsity team of Minnesota scored another goal. There was a hope of leveling the score, but a goal buried her Vyacheslav Fetisov.
After the preliminary round, the teams that took the first-third places in the groups got into the final tournament. In this case, the points scored in the matches with all the teams that passed to the final stage were counted.
The Calgary Olympics became the first in many years, which did not play Vladislava Tretyak... According to Alexander Chernykh, the team felt comfortable with Sergey Mylnikov at the gate. " In his face, behind our backs, we felt a reliable rear and knew that even if we fail somewhere, he will certainly help out".
In the first match of the second stage, the USSR national team met with the hosts of the tournament. In Canada, many believed that the great Red Car would malfunction in Calgary. Why? The Soviet Union failed to win the 1987 World Cup in Vienna, lost in the Canada Cup final and lost in the Izvestia Prize home tournament, which was believed to be a dress rehearsal for the Olympics.
Moreover, NHL players played for Canada. For the first time in the last 20 years, the national team was represented by such a strong line-up. Among the NHLs were two current Stanley Cup winners: Randy Gregg who left Edmonton to take part in his second winter
Olympic Games, and the goalkeeper Andy Moog, who had a contract disagreement with an NHL club. However, the victory of the Soviet Union over Canada 5:0 made clear that Canadians' expectations were premature.
After the Canadians, the USSR national team dealt with the Swedes (7: 1). " All the players were then in such fantastic shape that in decisive match we did not leave a stone from a stone from the Swedes, defeating them with a score of 7: 1. The real leader of the team was Vyacheslav Fetisov, who by personal example inspired the team to uncompromising struggle", - recalled the forward of the team Alexander Chernykh.
In their final match, Soviet hockey players lost to the Finns (1: 2). Famous defender played for the Finnish national team Reijo Ruotsalainen who was playing in Sweden at the time. Formerly an NHL All-Star and Stanley Cup winner with Edmonton.
"By the way, in 1988 the Finns began to play strongly. And it was believed that they learned everything from us, inviting Soviet hockey players to master classes. And they surprisingly made it to the top three (finished second). Until 1988, the Finns were considered straightforward, but in Calgary they played differently - before that they had Canadian pressure, and then the Soviet coaches showed them how they can play, and then there was a revival of Finnish hockey.", - said the Olympic champion Calgary Alexander Kozhevnikov.
The USSR national team scored eight points in the final table, which allowed the team to become Olympic champions. Finland national team
turned out to be seven points and silver medals at the 88 Olympics.
"As far as I know, this defeat was the first in the history of relations between the two powers at major representative tournaments. However, we did not even think of playing giveaway with the Finns. Our squad even scored a goal, but that day the then little-known Jarmo Mullis played brilliantly at the goal of the opponent. However, no tragedy happened, because the ringing of gold medals was already beating victoriously in our hearts.", - said Alexander Chernykh.
The Soviet Union once again demonstrated its complete superiority over all other teams. Our great five: Fetisov, Kasatonov, Larionov, Makarov, Krutov proved herself in this tournament in full glory.
"The games in Calgary were easier for us than the Olympics in Sarajevo, where the teams were more serious. Although there are two options - either we prepared that way, or the teams were weaker. It was not so difficult in Canada also because we had a real team, in which every hockey player was charged with a thirst for victory. Plus Viktor Vasilyevich Tikhonov and Vladimir Vladimirovich Yurzinov came up with some things", - recalled Alexander Kozhevnikov.
When Soviet hockey players climbed the podium, no one knew that this would be the last olympic ceremony rewarding the Soviet team.
USSR national team squad
Goalkeepers: Sergei Mylnikov, Vitaly Samoilov, Evgeniy Belosheikin.
Defenders: Vyacheslav Fetisov, Alexei Kasatonov, Ilya Byakin, Alexei Gusarov, Igor Stelnov, Sergei Old men, Igor Kravchuk.
Forwards: Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov, Valery Kamensky, Andrey Khomutov, Anatoly Semenov, Alexander Grave, Sergei Svetlov, Vyacheslav Bykov, Sergei Yashin, Alexander Black, Andrey Lomakin, Alexander Kozhevnikov.
Trainers: Victor Tikhonov, Igor Dmitriev.
