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| 1988 Winter Olympics |
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A number of notable controversies and concerns associated with the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, emerged which were the subject of public debate and media commentary.
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| Part of a series on |
| 1988 Winter Olympics |
|---|
|
A number of notable controversies and concerns associated with the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, emerged which were the subject of public debate and media commentary.
On February 25, 1988, 47 year old Austrian Olympic Team physician Joerg Oberhammer died after falling into the path of a snow-grooming machine after colliding with another skier between runs of the men's giant slalom. [1] Swiss team skiers Pirmin Zurbriggen and Martin Hangl witnessed Oberhammer's death from the chairlift, Zurbriggen went on to win a gold medal, while Hangl withdrew from the giant slalom due to the incident. [2]
| Date | High °C (°F) | Low °C (°F) | Low Windchill °C (°F) |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 13, 1988 | 4.7 (40.5) | −8.9 (16.0) | −16.0 (3.2) |
| February 14, 1988 | 4.6 (40.3) | −11.6 (11.1) | −17.0 (1.4) |
| February 15, 1988 | 5.1 (41.2) | −4.3 (24.3) | −10.0 (14.0) |
| February 16, 1988 | 4.9 (40.8) | −5.8 (21.6) | −10.0 (14.0) |
| February 17, 1988 | 6.0 (42.8) | 0.6 (33.1) | — |
| February 18, 1988 | 7.5 (45.5) | −7.1 (19.2) | −9.0 (15.8) |
| February 19, 1988 | 11.2 (52.2) | 3.8 (38.8) | — |
| February 20, 1988 | 15.9 (60.6) | 6.8 (44.2) | — |
| February 21, 1988 | 11.8 (53.2) | −1.8 (28.8) | −9.0 (15.8) |
| February 22, 1988 | −0.8 (30.6) | −10.5 (13.1) | −16.0 (3.2) |
| February 23, 1988 | −0.4 (31.3) | −14.7 (5.5) | −21.0 (−5.8) |
| February 24, 1988 | 14.9 (58.8) | −7.2 (19.0) | −12.0 (10.4) |
| February 25, 1988 | 17.5 (63.5) | 2.7 (36.9) | — |
| February 26, 1988 | 18.1 (64.6) | 1.4 (34.5) | — |
| February 27, 1988 | 12.9 (55.2) | 0.2 (32.4) | — |
| February 28, 1988 | 10.8 (51.4) | −7.7 (18.1) | −12.0 (10.4) |
The weather conditions for the 1988 Winter Olympics were a significant problem, with temperatures ranging from −30 to 22 °C (−22 to 72 °F). [4] Of the 176 events scheduled for the 1988 Games, 30 were postponed and rescheduled due to inclement weather. [5] The men's downhill skiing event at Nakiska was postponed for one day, due to Chinook winds blowing up to 160 km/h. [6] [7] The women's downhill event also experienced the same scenario. With the ski jumping venue facing north at Canada Olympic Park (COP), the same winds also disrupted those events, [8] with the large hill event being postponed four times. [9] It had also disrupted the Nordic combined events, in which the ski jumping part had to be postponed as well. For the first time in Olympic history, both the ski jumping and Nordic combined cross-country skiing events was contested in a single day. [10]
Despite using artificial cooling, [8] the bobsleigh and luge events at COP was not spared, with several races being postponed due to the high temperatures during that time. [11] During the Two-man Bobsleigh, sand and dust particles ended up being deposited onto the artificial track by Chinook winds, [12] [11] resulting in a noticeably faster track for later participants. The Soviet Union's two man bobsleigh team won gold after an unexpected come-from-behind win over the heavy favourite East German teams. [11]
The high on February 26, 1988, in Calgary reached 18.1 °C (64.6 °F), an all-time record high for the city on that day. [13]
The drug testing laboratory for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games was installed at Foothills Hospital and accredited by the IOC Medical Commission in December 1987. [14] During the games a total of 428 urine samples were tested for banned substances, with one competitor testing positive for testosterone, and five hidden control samples correctly identified by the laboratory. [14] The laboratory tested for five classes of drugs, stimulants, narcotic analgesics, anabolic steroids, β-blockers, and diuretics, as well as the masking agent probenecid. [14]
Polish ice-hockey player Jarosław Morawiecki tested positive for the banned substance Testosterone during the Games. [15] The 23 year old centre, who was considered Poland's best player, [15] exceeded the allowable limit of testosterone in random testing after a match which saw Poland defeat France 6–2. [15] Polish coach Leszek Lejczyk claimed Morawiecki was deliberately drugged for political reasons. [16]
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) banned Morawiecki from competition for 18 months and invalidated Poland's victory in the France match. [15] [17] Poland finished 5th of 6th in the tournament Group A standings. [17]
Prior to the 1988 Winter Olympics, American Nordic combined skier Kerry Lynch admitted to taking illegal blood transfusions under the guidance of coach Jim Page prior to the 1987 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships where he finished 2nd in the 15 km individual event. FIS subsequently suspended Lynch for two years which included the 1988 Games. [18] During the 1988 Games, Canadian Nordic skiing coach Martin Hall alleged the Soviet Union's success was a result of blood doping. [19] [20] The national ski federations of Finland, Norway and Sweden later demanded blood doping tests be carried out in future Nordic skiing events. [20]
A series of ticket-related scandals plagued the organizing committee as the Games approached, resulting in widespread public anger. [21] Demand for tickets was high, particularly for the premier events which had sold out a year in advance. Residents had been promised that only 10 per cent of tickets would go to "Olympic insiders", IOC officials and sponsors, [22] but OCO'88 was later forced to admit that up to 50 percent of seats to top events had gone to insiders. [22] [23] [24] The organizing committee, which was subsequently chastised by mayor Klein for running a "closed shop", admitted that it had failed to properly communicate the obligations it had to supply IOC officials and sponsors with priority tickets. [25]
Organizers attempted to respond to public concern by asking sponsors to consider reducing their orders and by paying $1.5 million to add 2,600 seats to the Saddledome, as well as increase capacity for ski jumping, alpine skiing and the opening and closing ceremonies. [26] [22] Organizers noted that the Calgary Games offered a then-record 1.9 million tickets for sale, [26] three times the amount available at Sarajevo or Lake Placid, and that 79 per cent of tickets were to be allocated Calgarians and 21 per cent to sponsors and other VIPs. [26] [22] [25] By the start of the 1988 Winter Games, a record of over 1.4 million tickets had been sold, [27] a figure that eclipsed the previous three Winter Games combined. [28] In the OCO'88's final report, the Committee admits the culmination of fraud charges, large portion of premier tickets requested by Olympic insiders, and poor communications led to a negative public reaction to the ticketing process. [26]
These events were preceded by the ticketing manager for OCO'88 being charged with theft and fraud after he sent modified ticket request forms to Americans that asked them to pay in United States funds rather than Canadian and to return them to his company's post office box rather than the office of the organizing committee. The American dollar was trading 40 cents higher than the Canadian dollar, resulting in significantly higher than anticipated revenue through currency conversion. [29] [30] [26] The ticket manager maintained his innocence claiming he was used as a scapegoat and credit card company Visa was responsible for the error, despite his claims, the ticketing manager was convicted of fraud, theft, and forgery, and sentenced to 5 years in prison. [31] [22]
Other planning and logistical issues plagued ticket sales during the 1988 Winter Olympics. The OCO'88 ticketing department was not prepared to handle the significant demand created by the aggressive marketing strategy which saw cut-out advertisements placed in 27 major Canadian newspapers (3.7 million forms) and other intonational papers (800,000 forms) allowing individuals to buy tickets by mailing a certified cheque. [22] Members of the public were under the assumption that the "first-come first-serve" ticketing process would allow those who mailed their cheques on the same day the forms were released the first rights at tickets. [32] However, Canada Post did not mark letters with the date of posting, and the ticketing department placed mail into large 800-letter bins which was then opened in a computer generated random order. [32] The backlog resulted in purchaser order notifications being delayed a month from November 30, 1986, to December 31, 1986. [32] A second public ticket update was issued in February 1987 to notify the public of what tickets remained, as 50 per cent had been allocated by then, [33] and a third ticket update was sent out in May 1987. [33]
There were several groups which received pre-allocated tickets. The Children's Ticket Fund provided a total of 12,088 tickets were distributed to child-focused agencies and communities within Alberta and eastern British Columbia. [34]
The Lubicon Lake Band, a Cree First Nations in northern Alberta orchestrated a boycott of elements of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games as a protest for the abusive treatment by the Government of Canada. [35] The Government of Canada had promised the Lubicon Cree a land settlement in 1940 which had failed to materialize. [35]
OCO'88 had planned an Can$ 13 million Olympic Arts Festival to take place from January 14, 1988, to May 1, 1988, during the Games with over 600 exhibitions. [36] [35] The Lubicon protest focused on the Glenbow Museum's "The Spirt Sings: Artistic Traditions of Canada's First Peoples" exhibition sponsored by Shell Canada, which sought to display over 6,000 displaced first nations and non-first nations artifacts brought together from collections around the world. [35] [37] The Spirit Sings was considered by OCO'88 chairman Frank King as the "flagship" event of the Olympic Arts Festival. [37] The Spirit Sings was intended to bring a wide array of First nations ethnographic materials from public and private European collections back to Canada for display, many of the artifacts were considered "lost" to Canadian scholars. [37] The Spirt Sings sold more than 126,000 tickets during its five-week run in Calgary. [36]
The Lubicon Cree began publicly discussing their goals and past treatment by the provincial and federal governments in the early-1980s which attracted broad national and international attention, with articles discussing the Lubicon plight appearing in The Globe and Mail and The New York Times . [38] The Lubicon call for a boycott started in 1986 after Shell Canada was announced as the sponsor for The Spirit Sings, Shell had developed oil and gas infrastructure on land claimed by the Lubicon Cree. [39] Lubicon Cree leaders Lennarson and Ominayak began a public relations campaign to convince European museums holding desirable objects for The Spirit Sings to not loan the objects, and were supported by other Indigenous organizations such as the Assembly of First Nations, the Indian Association of Alberta, the Metis Association of Alberta, and the Grand Council of Crees of Quebec. [40] The boycott was somewhat successful, as it dissuaded 29 international museums from participating in The Spirit Sings, [35] [36] including New York's National Museum of the American Indian. [41] During the torch relay in Quebec, 700 Mohawks protested along the route. [35]
The Winter Olympic Games is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority.
The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948, were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the first to be celebrated after World War II; it had been twelve years since the last Winter Games in 1936.
The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 1952 in Oslo, the capital of Norway.
The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Calgary 1988, was a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to be held for 15 days, like the counterpart Summer Olympic Games. The majority of the contested events took place in Calgary itself. However, the skiing events were held west of the city at the Nakiska ski resort in Kananaskis Country and the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park in the town of Canmore.
The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956, was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956.
The Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is North America's first covered speed skating oval; it was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics and opened 36 years ago on September 27, 1987. Located on the University of Calgary campus, it is the official designated training centre for Speed Skating Canada and the Elite Athlete Pathway.
The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was the 16th Olympic Championship. The Soviet Union won its seventh gold medal. The silver medal was won by Finland, marking its first ever Olympic ice hockey medal. Sweden won the bronze medal. Games were held in the Olympic Saddledome, the Stampede Corral, and Father David Bauer Olympic Arena. This is so far the only Olympic tournament held on North American soil that was not won by either Canada or United States.
An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics complex in the case of the summer games, or the main ice hockey rink for the winter games. The Olympic Park is often part of the "legacy" which provides benefit to the host city after the games have ended. As such it may subsequently include an urban park and a museum or similar commemoration of the games that were hosted there.
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.
Canada was the host nation for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. It was the first time that Canada had hosted the Winter Olympic Games, and second time overall, after the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Vancouver would eventually host the 2010 Winter Olympics which makes it the second city in Canada to host the Winter Olympics and the third overall.
Little Buffalo is an Indian settlement and hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada within Northern Sunrise County. It is located on Highway 986, approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of the Town of Peace River and 47 kilometres (29 mi) west of Highway 88. Little Buffalo Lake is to the south of the community.
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.
The selection process for the 1988 Winter Olympics consisted of three bids, and saw Calgary, Alberta, Canada, be selected ahead of Falun, Sweden, and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The selection was made at the 84th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Baden-Baden, West Germany, on 30 September 1981.
The 1988 Winter Olympics torch relay was run from November 15, 1987, to February 13, 1988, prior to the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics.
The Olympiques Calgary Olympics '88 (OCO'88), originally incorporated as XV Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee was the organization responsible for overseeing the planning and development of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.
The opening ceremony of the 1988 Winter Olympics was held on February 13, 1988, beginning at 1:30 p.m. MST at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
1988 Winter Olympics marketing was a long running campaign that began when Calgary won its bid to host the games in 1981.
Numerous world records and Olympic records were set in various events at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
The closing ceremony of the 1988 Winter Olympics was held on February 28, 1988, beginning at 19:30 MST at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The closing ceremony had 60,000 people in attendance, including 10,000 volunteers who received free admission. It was the first Winter Olympics to stage a closing ceremony outdoors.