The Canadian city of Calgary was selected as the capital of the XV 1988 Winter Olympics. This right did not come easily to him - the city applied three times. Canada's rivals in the last fight were Italy and Sweden.
Calgary used time and investments very competently, the largest sports facilities were built - the Olympic Oval and the Canadian Olympic Park. The first became a playground for hockey and speed skating, and the second hosted competitions in luge, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and snowboarding. After the end of the games, the buildings became training bases for athletes and recreation places for townspeople and tourists.
The emblem of the Olympics was a maple leaf stylized as a snowflake, a symbol of Canada. The mascots of the games were the figures of two polar bears, Heidi and Howdy. The opening speech at the opening of the Winter Olympic Games in Calgary was delivered by the Governor General of Canada, Jeanne Sauve.
1423 athletes from 57 countries took part in this Olympiad. For the first time, athletes from such warm countries as the Antilles, Guatemala, Fiji and Jamaica came to the Winter Games. This was the last Olympiad in which the USSR national team and two German national teams played. 46 sets of awards were played in 11 sports.
The Calgary Olympics were remembered for the new sports that were presented by demonstration performances. These are freestyle, short track and curling, which became full-fledged Olympic disciplines at the next games. In addition, for the first time, new ski disciplines were included in the program - alpine biathlon and super giant slalom. Women competed for the first time at a distance of 5000 meters in speed skating.
The Calgary Olympic Games received a new 16-day format that is still in use today. At this Olympics, several technological sports innovations were tested - "light" vinyl skates and improved designs of bobs and sleds.
The heroes of the games were the Finnish jumper Matti Nyukanen and the speed skater from Holland Yvonne van Gennip, who won three gold medals. Soviet skier Tamara Tikhonova, Swiss skier Freni Schneider, Swedish skier Gundé Svan, Swedish skier Thomas Gustafson and Italian skier Alberto Tomba won two gold medals each. Prince Albert of Monaco made his debut in the bobsleigh tournament.
In the overall team competition, the USSR national team took the first place, taking 29 medals, 11 of which were gold. The second were the athletes of the GDR, and the third were the Swiss national team. The hosts of the games limited themselves to 5 medals, among which there were no gold ones.
