|
|
Brian Boitano of the United States celebrates a flawless
performance in figure
skating.
|
Olympic Alpine skiing added a men's and women's
super-giant slalom, and re-introduced a men's and
women's Alpine combined, after a 36-year hiatus.
In Nordic skiing events, team competitions were
added to ski jumping and the Nordic combined.
Jamaica made its Winter Olympic debut with a
four-man bobsled team and, although it was not
foreseen, Soviet athletes would be competing under
the hammer and sickle for the last time. Highlights
 Speedskater Bonnie Blair of the United States had
her work cut out for her after East German
favorite Christa Rothenburger-Luding broke
her own world record time in the 500m
event. Blair rose to the challenge, breaking
the world record that Rothenburger-Luding
had just set moments before by two
one-hundredths of a second, and thus
winning the gold. Billed by the media as the "Battle of
the Brians," the competition between figure
skaters Brian Boitano (United States) and Brian
Orser (Canada) provided for high drama at
the Calgary Games. Entering the
competitions final program, the two were
virtually in a dead head score wise. In the
end, Boitano's flawless performance in
the long program earned him the gold medal.
Orser took the silver, while the bronze went
to a future gold medalist, Viktor Petrenko of
the Soviet Union.
Italian Alpine skier Alberto Tomba
burst onto the scene in 1988, winning a pair
of gold medals in the slalom and giant slalom
events.
Matti Nykanen (Finland) emerged as a
new king of the ski jumping at Calgary.
Following up on his gold medal performance
in the 90m hill at Sarajevo in 1984,
Nykanen took home three golds in the 90m
hill, 70m hill and team ski jumping events.
| Attendance | Male Athletes | Female Athletes | Most-Medaled | U.S. Rank | | 49 nations | 1,270 | 364 | USSR (29) | Eighth (tied) |
Source: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
Back to the top
Olympics Front
| Sport by Sport
| Gallery
| History
| Nagano
| Countries
|
