Bobsleigh at the XV Olympic Winter Games | |
---|---|
Venue | Canada Olympic Park |
Dates | 20–28 February |
Competitors | 135 from 23 nations |
Bobsleigh at the 1988 Winter Olympics | |
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Two | men |
Four | men |
Bobsleigh at the 1988 Winter Olympics consisted of two events, at Canada Olympic Park. The competition took place between February 20 and February 28, 1988. [1] [2]
The event included competitors from countries with little history of bobsleigh participation and/or little or no snow. [3] These countries included Jamaica (whose involvement spurred the film Cool Runnings in 1993), Mexico, and New Zealand. An informal "Caribbean Cup" of such countries was won by New Zealand's Alexander Peterson and Peter Henry, who finished equal twentieth. In the two-man event, the best result from a completely snow-less country was fifteenth by Chen Chin-san and Lee Chen-tan of the Chinese Taipei. [3]
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Soviet Union | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
2 | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
3 | East Germany | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Totals (3 entries) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
Three countries won medals in Calgary, with the Soviet Union leading the medal table, winning two medals, one gold and one bronze. East Germany won the most medals, with three.
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Two-man | Soviet Union (URS) Jānis Ķipurs Vladimir Kozlov | 3:53.48 | East Germany (GDR) Wolfgang Hoppe Bogdan Musioł | 3:54.19 | East Germany (GDR) Bernhard Lehmann Mario Hoyer | 3:54.64 |
Four-man | Switzerland (SUI) Ekkehard Fasser Kurt Meier Marcel Fässler Werner Stocker | 3:47.51 | East Germany (GDR) Wolfgang Hoppe Dietmar Schauerhammer Bogdan Musioł Ingo Voge | 3:47.58 | Soviet Union (URS) Jānis Ķipurs Guntis Osis Juris Tone Vladimir Kozlov | 3:48.26 |
Twenty-three nations participated in bobsleigh at the 1988 Games. With nine debutants, more than a third of these were competing in Olympic bobsleigh for the first time. The nations making debuts were Netherlands Antilles, Australia, Bulgaria, U.S. Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand and Portugal.
For the first time, a team from Ireland was also entered in the competition. However, just ten days before the opening ceremony took place, its entry was cancelled by the Olympic Council of Ireland, without explanation. An attempt to overturn the withdrawal in court was unsuccessful. The story is told in the 2020 documentary film Breaking Ice . [4] [5]
Three bobsleigh events were competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics, at Utah Olympic Park. The competition took place between February 16 and February 23, 2002.
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Sarajevo '84, were a winter multi-sport event held between 8 and 19 February 1984 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. It was the first Winter Olympic Games held in a Slavic language-speaking country, as well as the only Winter Olympics held in a communist country before the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. It was the second consecutive Olympic Games held in a communist country, after the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Calgary 1988, were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the most recent time that two consecutive Olympic Games were hosted in North America. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to be held for 15 days, like the counterpart Summer Olympic Games. The majority of the events took place in Calgary itself. However, the snow events were shared by Nakiska ski resort in Kananaskis Country at the west of the city and the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park in the town of Canmore.
The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was already an Olympic candidate, unsuccessfully bidding to host the 1960 Games. Innsbruck won the 1964 Games bid, defeating the cities of Calgary in Canada and Lahti in Finland. The sports venues, many of which were built for the Games, were located within a radius of 20 km (12 mi) around Innsbruck. The Games included 1,091 athletes from 36 nations, which was a record for the Winter Games at the time. Athletes participated in six sports and ten disciplines which bring together a total of thirty-four official events, seven more than the 1960 Winter Olympic Games. The luge made its debut on the Olympic program. Three Asian nations made their Winter Games debut: North Korea, India and Mongolia.
The 1988 Summer Olympics took place in Seoul, South Korea. The swimming competition, held from September 18 to September 25, was notable for the seven medals, including five golds, won by Matt Biondi, the six golds won by Kristin Otto, and the three individual golds won by Janet Evans. 633 participants from 77 countries were competing.
Bobsleigh at the 1998 Winter Olympics consisted of two events at Spiral. The competition took place between February 16 and February 23, 1998.
The swimming competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics was held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States. There were 762 competitors from 117 countries. This was the last Olympics where swimming B-finals were held.
Cool Runnings is a 1993 American sports comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub from a screenplay by Lynn Siefert, Tommy Swerdlow, and Michael Goldberg, and a story by Siefert and Michael Ritchie. It is loosely based on the debut of the Jamaican national bobsleigh team at the 1988 Winter Olympics, and stars Leon, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Yoba and John Candy. In the film, former Olympian Irving Blitzer (Candy) coaches a novice four-man bobsleigh team from Jamaica, led by sprinter Derice Bannock (Leon).
Luge at the 1988 Winter Olympics consisted of three events at Canada Olympic Park. The competition took place between 14 and 19 February 1988.
Alpine skiing at the 1988 Winter Olympics consisted of ten alpine skiing events, held February 15–27 at Nakiska on Mount Allan, a new ski area west of Calgary.
Bobsleigh at the 1992 Winter Olympics consisted of two events, at La Plagne. The competition took place between February 15 and February 22, 1992.
The bobsleigh competitions of the Lillehammer 1994 Olympics were held at the Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track between 19 and 27 February 1994.
Lascelles Brown is a Jamaican-born Canadian bobsledder who has competed for three countries since starting his career in 1999. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he is the first Jamaican-born athlete to win a Winter Olympic medal.
Several tropical nations have participated in the Winter Olympics despite not having the climate for winter sports. Partly because of that, their entries are a subject of human interest stories during the Games. No tropical nation has ever won a Winter Olympic medal.
Jamaica competed in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They competed in one sport, Bobsledding, in both the two-man and four-man events and finished outside the medal places in both competitions. Athletes were recruited from the Jamaica Defence Force, which saw Dudley Stokes, Devon Harris, and Michael White become the first members of the team. Caswell Allen was the fourth man, but was injured prior to the start of the Olympics and was replaced by Chris Stokes, who was only in Canada to support his brother and new teammate Dudley.
The weightlifting competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City consisted of seven weight classes, all for men only. The competition was held from 17 to 21 October 1968 at the Teatro de los Insurgentes.
The Jamaica national bobsleigh team represents Jamaica in international bobsleighing competitions. The men's team debut in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games four-man bobsleigh in Calgary, Alberta, was received as underdogs in a cold weather sport represented by a nation with a tropical environment. Jamaica returned to the Winter Olympics in the two-man bobsleigh in 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2014, and 2022; a women's team debuted in 2018.
For the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a total of nine sports venues were used. Calgary tried twice to host the Winter Olympics in the 1960s without success before finally winning the 1988 Winter Games in 1981. Stampede Corral was built in 1950 while McMahon Stadium was built in 1960. When the National Hockey League (NHL) Flames franchise was relocated from Atlanta, Georgia in the United States during the summer of 1980, a new arena was needed. The Saddledome construction was underway in late 1981 when Calgary was awarded the 1988 Games. Completed in 1983, the Olympic Saddledome has played host to the Flames ever since, including three Stanley Cup Finals and the NHL All-Star Game in 1985. An innovation for the games was the first indoor long-track speed skating venue which has served as a model for future Olympics. The bobsleigh and luge track was the first combination track in North America and was noted for the Jamaican bobsleigh team crash during the four-man event. Both the Oval and the bobsleigh/luge track continue to host the World Championships in their respective sports since the 1988 Winter Olympics.
Ivo Ferriani is an Italian sports official and bobsledder. In September 2010, he was elected president of the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT), ending the 16-year presidency of Canada's Robert H. Storey. In 2016, Ferriani became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Albertus "Bart" Carpentier Alting is a former luger and bobsledder from Curaçao. He represented his country at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.