1968 Winter Olympics
Encyclopedia
The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event
which was celebrated in 1968 in Grenoble
, France
and opened on 6 February. Thirty-seven countries participated. Norway won the most medals, the first time a country other than the USSR had done so since the USSR first entered the Winter Games in 1956.
Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy
won three gold medals in all the alpine skiing
events. In women's figure skating
, Peggy Fleming
won the only United States gold medal. The games have been credited with making the Winter Olympics more popular in the United States, not least of which because of ABC
's extensive coverage of Fleming and Killy, who became overnight sensations among teenage girls.
The year 1968 marked the first time the IOC
first permitted East and West Germany
to enter separately, and the first time the IOC ever ordered drug and gender testing of competitors.
, Austria, on 28 January 1964.
and West Germany
sent independent teams to the Games for the first time.
Multi-sport event
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports between organized teams of athletes from nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the modern Olympic Games.Many...
which was celebrated in 1968 in Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and opened on 6 February. Thirty-seven countries participated. Norway won the most medals, the first time a country other than the USSR had done so since the USSR first entered the Winter Games in 1956.
Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy
Jean-Claude Killy
Jean-Claude Killy was an alpine ski racer, who dominated the sport in the late 1960s. He was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there...
won three gold medals in all the alpine skiing
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
events. In women's figure skating
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
, Peggy Fleming
Peggy Fleming
Peggy Gail Fleming is an American figure skater. She is the 1968 Olympic Champion in Ladies' singles and a three-time World Champion...
won the only United States gold medal. The games have been credited with making the Winter Olympics more popular in the United States, not least of which because of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's extensive coverage of Fleming and Killy, who became overnight sensations among teenage girls.
The year 1968 marked the first time the IOC
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
first permitted East and West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
to enter separately, and the first time the IOC ever ordered drug and gender testing of competitors.
Host city selection
Grenoble went against five other candidate cities for the 1968 Winter Olympics. Here was the resulting vote count that occurred at the 61st IOC Session in InnsbruckInnsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
, Austria, on 28 January 1964.
| 1968 Winter Olympics bidding results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Country | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | ||
| Grenoble Grenoble Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère... |
 Early Modern France |
15 | 18 | 27 | ||
| Calgary Calgary Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies... |
 Canada |
12 | 19 | 24 | ||
| Lahti Lahti Lahti is a city and municipality in Finland.Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki... |
 Finland |
11 | 14 | — | ||
| Sapporo |  Japan |
6 | — | — | ||
| Oslo Oslo Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King... |
 Norway |
4 | — | — | ||
| Lake Placid Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638.... |
 United States |
3 | — | — | ||
Highlights
- Grenoble 1968 is the first Olympiad to adopt a mascotMascotThe term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
, although unofficially. Schuss, the mascot, is a styled skier. - Norway came away from the Games with the most medals: 6 gold, 6 silver, and 2 bronze.
- In the downhill skiing event, French hero Jean-Claude KillyJean-Claude KillyJean-Claude Killy was an alpine ski racer, who dominated the sport in the late 1960s. He was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there...
won the gold medal with a time of 1:59.85. - Killy also swept the other men’s Alpine events, but only after one of the greatest controversies in the history of the Winter Olympics. Austrian superstar Karl SchranzKarl SchranzKarl Schranz is a former champion alpine ski racer, one of the best in the 1960s.During his lengthy career , Schranz won twenty major downhills, many major giant slalom races and several major slaloms...
claimed that a mysterious man in black crossed his path during the slalom race, causing him to skid to a halt. Given a restart, Schranz beat Killy’s time. However, a Jury of Appeal disqualified Schranz and gave the medal to Killy. - The East German women’s luge team, who had won gold, silver, and fourth, were all disqualified for heating their runners.
- Swedish skier Toini GustafssonToini GustafssonToini Gustafsson-Rönnlund is a former Swedish cross country skier who competed during the 1960s. She competed in two Winter Olympics, earning a total of four medals. Gustafsson also competed several times at the Holmenkollen ski festival, winning three times at 10 km...
was a star in women’s cross-country events, winning both individual races and earning a silver medal in the relay. - American figure skater Peggy FlemingPeggy FlemingPeggy Gail Fleming is an American figure skater. She is the 1968 Olympic Champion in Ladies' singles and a three-time World Champion...
built up a huge lead after the compulsory figures and easily won the first-place votes of all nine judges. - Elegant married couple Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg ProtopopovOleg ProtopopovOleg Alekseyevich Protopopov is a Russian pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With his partner Ludmila Belousova, he is a two-time Olympic champion and four-time World champion .- Career :Protopopov started skating relatively late, at age 15...
successfully defended their pairs figure skating title from Innsbruck1964 Winter OlympicsThe 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964...
for the Soviet Union. - Fabled Italian bobsleigh pilot Eugenio MontiEugenio MontiEugenio Monti was an Italian bobsledder. He is one of the most successful athletes in the history of this sport, with ten World championship medals and 6 Olympic medals, but is known also for an act of sportsmanship during the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria that made him the first...
drove both the two-man and four-man events to win gold. - All bobsleigh contests had to be scheduled to start before sunrise and end shortly after dawn because the track at L'Alpe d'Huez was designed with insufficient cooling capability and could not keep the ice solid in bright daylight.
- In speed skating, the women’s 3,000m event turned out to be particularly fast, with the first 10 finishers beating the previous Olympic record set in Squaw Valley1960 Winter OlympicsThe 1960 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VIII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held between February 18 and 28, 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, United States. In 1955 at the 50th IOC meeting, the organizing committee made the surprise choice to award Squaw Valley as...
in 1960. However, the gold medallist, the Netherlands’ Johanna “Ans” Schut, was unable to beat the world record—until the next year on the same oval in Grenoble. - Sex tests for women were introduced.
- This Olympics was the first to use Bugler's Dream by Leo ArnaudLeo ArnaudLeo Arnaud or Léo Arnaud was a French-American composer of film scores, best known for Bugler's Dream, which is used as the theme by television networks presenting the Olympic Games in the United States....
as the theme for Olympic television coverage by ABC. It was also the first Olympics to be broadcast in color. - Were the first Winter Olympics on which doping control tests were performed.
Venues
- AutransAutransAutrans is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, it hosted the biathlon, cross country skiing, nordic combined, and the ski jumping normal hill events.-Reference:...
– biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping (normal hill) - ChamrousseChamrousseChamrousse is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.The majestic mountain scenery towering above Grenoble is, for the most part, formed by the Belledonne range...
– alpine skiing (men) - La Patinoire MunicipaleLa Patinoire MunicipaleLa Patinoire Municipale is an indoor ice venue located in Grenoble, France. Completed in 1963, it hosted some of the ice hockey competitions for the 1968 Winter Olympics. During those games, it seated 2700....
– ice hockey - L'Anneau de VitesseL'Anneau de VitesseL'Anneau de Vitesse is an outdoor speed skating venue located in Grenoble, France. It hosted the speed skating events for the 1968 Winter Olympics. This Speed Circuit is located in a park of 27 hectares, the Park Paul Mistral...
– speed skating - Le Stade de GlacePalais des Sports (Grenoble)Palais des Sports, known also as the Palais des sports Pierre Mendes is an indoor ice hockey arena, in Grenoble, France. It was built in 1967 and holds 12,000 people....
– figure skating, ice hockey, closing ceremonies - Piste de BobsleighAlpe d'HuezL'Alpe d'Huez is a ski resort at . It is a mountain pasture in the Central French Alps, in the commune of Huez, in the Isère département in the Rhône-Alpes region.-Tour de France:L'Alpe d'Huez is one of the main mountains in the Tour de France...
– bobsleigh - Piste de LugeVillard-de-LansVillard-de-Lans is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.The town is a centre for skiing in winter and hiking and hot air ballooning in other seasons.-1968 Winter Olympics:...
– luge - Recoin de ChamrousseChamrousseChamrousse is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.The majestic mountain scenery towering above Grenoble is, for the most part, formed by the Belledonne range...
– alpine skiing (women) - Saint-Nizier-du-MoucherotteSaint-Nizier-du-MoucherotteSaint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.-1968 Winter Olympics:The commune hosted the ski jumping individual large hill event for the 1968 Winter Olympics held in neighboring Grenoble. Its hill had a calculation or K-point of 90 meters and was...
– ski jumping (large hill) - Olympic Stadium (Grenoble)Olympic Stadium (Grenoble)Olympic Stadium, also known as Opening Stadium, was a temporary stadium in Grenoble, France. Built to only host the opening ceremonies for the 1968 Winter Olympics, the stadium was immediately disassembled following the games. The stadium held 60,000 spectators.-Reference:* pp. 86-7. &...
– opening ceremonies
Participating nations
A total of 37 nations sent athletes to compete at these Games. Morocco competed at the Winter Games for the first time in Grenoble. East GermanyGerman Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
and West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
sent independent teams to the Games for the first time.
| (host) |
Medal count
These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1968 Winter Games.| 1 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 14 | |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 | |
| 3 | (host nation) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 | |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | |
| 7 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | |
| 8 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | |
| 9 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 | |
| 10 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |