Winter Olympics 1988. Media "Sport-Express Internet" founder of JSC "Sport-Express" editor-in-chief Maksimov M. A. What was it

The XV Winter Olympic Games were held in the south of Canada, in the “cowboy capital” - Calgary. The city, founded during the oil boom at the turn of the 20th century, earned this honorary title thanks to the world's largest rodeo, which attracts up to a million spectators annually. Moreover, Canadians won the right to host the Olympic Games on the fourth attempt.

In our memory, the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary remained as the most successful for the athletes of the Soviet Union, who won a record number of medals - 29, of which 11 were gold, 9 silver and 9 bronze. The second was the GDR team. For both teams, the performance in Calgary became a “swan song”, since by the next Olympics both states had disappeared from the political map of the world.

And then the figure skating tournament started. The men were the first to take to the ice. In those years, two figure skaters - B. Boitano (USA) and B. Orser (Canada) controlled the entire men's figure skating world. Their rivalry was no less exciting than the constant duels between Yagudin and Plushenko a dozen years later. The battle of the two Bryans at the 1988 Olympics was truly a magnificent spectacle. As a result, Boitano won the Olympic gold medal, and Orser won the silver medal. Boitano's free program to Carmeno Coppola's music for the film "Napoleon", creating the image of a romantic hero going to war and returning victorious, is still considered one of the brightest in the history of figure skating.

Brian Orser.

Third place, unexpectedly for everyone, was taken by 18-year-old Odessa resident Viktor Petrenko. From V. Petrenko’s interview with the R-Sport agency: “I planned to enter the top six. The main responsibility was assigned to Sasha Fadeev and Vova Kotin. And I was a debutant, I just needed to learn how to perform and get through the Olympics. But it so happened that a certain gap appeared, Sasha made a mistake, Vova also did not skate the short program very cleanly, and I “shot” and got close to the leaders. The same thing happened in the free program.”

Free program by V. Petrenko “Don Quixote”.

The women were next to compete for medals. Soviet figure skaters Kira Ivanova and Anna Kondrashova took 7th and 8th places, respectively.

Kira Ivanova

.

Anna Kondrashova.

And the winner in Calgary 1988, as in Sarajevo 1984, was the brilliant Katharina Witt (GDR), who became a two-time Olympic champion. “I am sure that many years will pass before any of the figure skaters will be able to repeat my Olympic success,” said Katarina Witt in Calgary, on the day of her second Olympic victory. “After all, I managed to achieve such a result only 52 years after the famous Sonia Henie."

The main duel of the Olympic figure skating tournament was to take place between Witt and Debi Thomas (USA), two Carmen (their compositions were on the same theme and similar in music: Bizet - Shchedrin - for the GDR champion, Bizet - for the US champion). But Thomas’s nerves gave way - she made a number of mistakes and was ultimately content with the bronze award.

Debi Thomas.

In addition, one of the hostesses of the Olympics, Canadian figure skater Elizabeth Manley, intervened in the dispute, winning in free skating and receiving silver as a reward. And the 22-year-old two-time Olympic champion completed the Olympic competition course extremely smoothly. She was third in the “school”, first in the short program and second in the free program, once again proving that in the all-around the winner is the one who is strong enough in all its components. “I still turned out to be stronger,” Katarina said, not without a challenge. “To accurately perform all the jumps, you need to have extraordinary self-control. I was unable to avoid a mistake, and Debi turned out to be completely out of shape. No, she is an ordinary person, not a miracle at all.” By the way, in 1990, Witt, Boitano and Orser each received an Emmy Award for their roles in the ice play Carmen, which is considered the best ice performance.

In the sports pairs competition, the brightest stars were Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov, who took gold from Sarajevo triumphers Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev. This victory in the pairs figure skating competition was the seventh in a row, starting with the 1964 Olympics. At one time, Katya and Sergei were paired up due to the fact that both of their jumps were not strong enough for single skating. They were trained by Stanislav Leonovich, and then by Stanislav Zhuk. In November 1987, Katya was injured during training - a concussion. The couple missed the USSR Championship. Despite this, they won the European Championship and went to the Olympic Games in Canada. Both programs were brought to perfection, and the free program (to the music of Mendelssohn, Chopin and Mozart) became a masterpiece in the history of figure skating.

The amazed judges gave 14 scores of 5.9 and four - 5.8 (the only one who gave the lowest, both 5.8, was the British judge S. Stapleford, known for her biased judging against athletes from socialist countries). I would like to quote Sergei Cheskidov from the newspaper "Soviet Sport": "...After an elegant, seemingly weightless program to the music of Chopin and Mendelssohn, performed by Muscovites Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, the audience stood up, applauding - the athletes did not allow themselves a single blot , every element, every connection was performed with inspiration, gracefully... 3-time Olympic champion Irina Rodnina, who was sitting next to me, jokingly exclaimed: “It’s just a “disgrace” to skate so confidently and freely at an Olympic tournament!” Katenka Gordeeva immediately became the most popular athlete at the 1988 Olympics, in North America, which was not the most friendly towards Soviet athletes. For me personally, the statement is absolutely true: you can endlessly watch fire, water and the skating of the beautiful, brilliant Gordeeva and Grinkov.

Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev also worked hard to prepare for the defense of their title as Olympic champions-84. But the carefully thought-out and developed plan could not be implemented - Elena’s severe leg injury prevented her from doing so. Instead of training on ice - long-term treatment. A month before the start of the Olympics, Valova and Vasiliev began training, and here we must say a huge thank you to our excellent coach - T. N. Moskvina. Thanks to her high professionalism and ability to lead athletes to big starts, the couple was included in the 88 Olympians. Valova/Vasiliev completed the most difficult program in full, without missing a single element, and deservedly won silver medals.

Our third pair, Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov, performed less successfully in Calgary. Errors during the execution of the short and then free program did not allow these athletes to rise above 4th place. Americans Gil Watson and Peter Oppergar won bronze medals.

In ice dancing, Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrey Bukin took first place, Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko took second place. Canadians Tracy Wilson and Robert McCall rose to third place.

I want to write about the duo, for whom the gold medal at the XV Winter Olympic Games in Calgary became the pinnacle of their 11-year joint sports career - Bestemyanova-Bukin. A couple that amazed me in those (young for me) years with their expression and became my favorite for a long time. Before the start of the Olympics, at the general meeting of the team, Andrei was entrusted with a great honor - he was elected standard bearer of the Soviet team at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. He became the first of our skaters to receive this right. And then the Olympic everyday life began - the mandatory dances: paso doble, Kilian and Viennese waltz, the original tango dance, after which Bestemyanova and Bukin were in the lead.

Before the start of the season, many experts believed that Tarasova took a big risk by staging “Polovtsian Dances,” since the topic was specific and would not be understandable to all Western viewers. And then the day “X” came - February 23, 1988. From an article in Soviet Sport: “Pale Tarasova at the side of the Saddledome Olympic skating rink traditionally nods her head, bidding farewell to Natasha and Andrey. They nod approvingly at her in response. A little. With a slight, imperceptible tilt, saying that everything will be fine, they drive out to the middle of the skating rink as powerfully, as spaciously as only they can in the world...

Natasha: - When we went out on the ice, for the main competition in my life, I was in such good condition, I felt so good that it seemed to me that I was ready to tear down mountains. And Tatyana Anatolyevna stood nearby and said: “You don’t need to do anything, you need to skate averagely, these are the Olympic Games, there’s no need to get out of yourself here”... at the beginning of the program there was a glitch that immediately brought me to my senses. The glitch was small, but for us he is a blunder. ...So, when we skated, I started crying again. And Andryushka stopped talking to me right away, the competition was not over yet.

There is no point in describing the composition performed by Natasha and Andrey; it was best said by the long-time rival of our skaters, the famous Christopher Dean, who here in Calgary commented on the figure skating competition for Australian television. “I was so captivated by this spectacle,” he said, “that I couldn’t immediately wake up and get to work, I was simply shocked!” The ovation given by the spectators sitting in the stands of the Saddledome was the best confirmation that Natasha and Andrey were able to convey to the hearts of everyone the meaning of their last, and therefore such piercing dance.”

A lot can be written about our second couple - Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, but their best Olympic performance is still ahead. In the meantime, let's remember their original dance, which is simply a pleasure to watch!

Also, the Olympics in Calgary are the first for the very famous brother-sister duo Duchesne. Bright, extremely popular not only in the West, but also here (they received a standing ovation at the European Championships in Leningrad), who seriously changed dance in the early nineties. At the Olympics in Calgary, Duchesne created a sensation with Dean's "Dance of the Savages" (Savage Rites).

Watch the video from the 2nd minute.

They only came eighth at that Olympics, but they were noticed, and that’s the main thing. In the next Olympic cycle, they entered the circle of the main contenders for all titles, and the public waited for each of their new works: Dean’s choreography was very different from the dominant “Russian” style.

This is how the Olympic Games turned out in Canada, where our skaters won 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals. Perhaps none of us would refuse such a result at the upcoming Sochi Games. And in conclusion, I would like to quote N. Bestemyanova’s statement after the victory in Calgary: “Don’t repeat yourself” is our motto, our credo over the past 10 seasons. They say that we have our own style, that we know how to move away from templates. But, probably, this is the peculiarity of those masters who win on ice.” (“Soviet sport” 1988).

Calgary (Canada)

The 1988 Games were the first in many years not to be marred by political confrontation. The time of sports boycotts and demarches was becoming a thing of the past. The world was on the verge of great changes. The national teams of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic in Calgary competed as different teams for the last time at the Winter Olympics - only a year and a half remained before the fall of the Berlin Wall. For the USSR national team, these were also the last White Games - the country was already infected with perestroika, and it would not make it to Albelville 1992. The Olympic movement also entered an era of great changes - all of them were associated with the active IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Venue: Calgary, Canada
February 13 - 28, 1988
Number of participating countries - 57
Number of participating athletes - 1423 (301 women, 1122 men)
Medal sets - 46
Winner in the team competition - USSR

Three main characters of the Games according to SE

Alberto Tomba (Italy),
skiing
Eddie Edwards (Great Britain)
ski jumping
Valery Medvedtsev (USSR),
biathlon

LIFE IN AN AGE OF CHANGE

The Spanish Marquis decided to inject fresh blood into the stagnant Games program - in Calgary, curling, freestyle and short track speed skating were presented as demonstration events, which will very soon join the family of Winter Olympic disciplines. For the first time, Samaranch managed to make the forum of snow and ice sports a highly profitable event. This was largely due to the decision to extend the competition over 16 days, including three weekends. According to official data, the organizers earned over $100 million at the 1988 Olympics. True, one of the Canadian newspapers subsequently managed to prove that these figures were greatly exaggerated. But this no longer bothered anyone - according to the new IOC doctrine, the Games were to become synonymous with success at any cost.

The most significant contribution to the Olympics budget, as usual, was made by television workers - the American company ABC paid $309 million for the right to broadcast the Games, but stipulated that the starts would take place at the end of February. This requirement almost led to the disruption of some competitions. The fact is that at this time of year in Calgary a warm chinouk wind blows from the Rocky Mountains. Because of it, during the Olympics the temperature sometimes reached 20 degrees above zero. Skiers unanimously complained about the loose snow, and races on the luge and bobsleigh track had to be stopped several times due to sand blown onto the track by the wind.

ABC producers, who were now commissioning music for the Games, were primarily interested in making the Olympics a spectacular show. This approach has greatly changed the perception of the Games - now, not stubborn champions, but textured media characters have come to the fore. The USSR national team won its swan medal event in Calgary. And she didn’t just win - in cross-country skiing we won five out of eight titles, the relay victory in biathlon was won for the sixth time in a row, and the seventh triumph of the hockey team (out of nine possible) allowed the Soviet team to outstrip the Canadians, the founders of hockey, in the number of Olympic titles. But it was difficult for our heroes - skier Tamara Tikhonova, biathlete Valery Medvedtsev or the hockey team - to compete for the sympathy of the media with such popular characters as the pretty figure skater Katharina Witt from the GDR or the charming alpine skier Alberto Tomba from Italy.

HEROIC LOSERS

TRAGIC FATES

As often happens in life, there is only one step from fun to tragedy. The giant slalom competition was overshadowed by the death of the Austrian team doctor Jörg Oberhammer: he collided with a television technician on the slope and was hit by a snowcat. American speed skater Dan Jensen was considered the favorite in the sprint competition in Calgary, but a few hours before the start of his 500-meter race he learned that his sister had died of leukemia. Unable to control his emotions, Jensen fell in the distance. History repeated itself in the 1000-meter race, where the American was ahead of schedule for the world record, but again could not stay on his skates. Dan won his Olympic gold only six years later in Lillehammer 1994.

Some of the 1988 Olympic champions met a tragic fate. The winner of the pairs competition in figure skating, Sergei Grinkov, will die of a heart attack during training in seven years. The winner of the gold medal in the 30 km cross-country ski race, Alexey Prokurorov, was hit and killed by a drunk driver of a Zhiguli in 2008. The goalkeeper of the USSR hockey team, Evgeny Belosheykin, hanged himself in 1999 due to problems in his personal life. Three-time Calgary champion Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen will drink himself to death after finishing his career, stab his drinking buddy and receive two years in prison.

However, evil fate did not prevail over everyone after the Games. After Calgary, Katharina Witt will perform in various shows for another 20 years, reaping the benefits of her fame. The winner of the competition in men's single skating, Brian Boitano, will become one of the heroes of the popular cartoon "South Park". Alberto Tomba's career will also be very successful, and in 2006 he will be on the organizing committee of the Turin Olympics. German speed skater Christa Rothenburger, six months after her victory at the Canadian oval, will win silver in the cycling track at the Summer Games in Seoul and become the only athlete who managed to receive medals in the Winter and Summer Olympics in one year. Almost all the leaders of the USSR hockey team will achieve success in the NHL - Vyacheslav Fetisov will then also become the head of Rossport, and Vyacheslav Bykov will take the Russian Olympic team to Vancouver 2010 as the head coach.

1988 was a memorable year for Calgary. It was then that the Olympic Games took place in Calgary. This event became significant for the city as a whole, as well as for each individual resident. Wake up an ordinary Canadian in the middle of the night and ask when the Olympics took place in Calgary - he will unmistakably name the date, because this is his story.

The right to host this sporting event was won by Calgary with great difficulty. He applied three times, but only the third time he was lucky: in 1981, the International Olympic Committee decided that the 15th Winter Olympic Games would be held in Calgary.

There were seven years left until the cherished date, and the city spent this time, as well as multimillion-dollar investments, wisely. For Calgary 88, such large sports facilities as the Canadian Olympic Park and the Olympic Oval were built. The first opened up opportunities for competitions in luge, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, alpine skiing and snowboarding, and the second - in speed skating and hockey. The life of these structures did not stop after the games ended. They became training bases for many athletes, as well as a base for the development of tourism in the city. Thanks to the Olympics, the city now has indoor stadiums for 19 thousand spectators, as well as ski and downhill ski slopes.

After reconstruction, the Olympic Stadium began to accommodate more than six thousand spectators. New indoor stadiums, modern ski and downhill ski slopes, and a bobsleigh and luge track were built. The Canadians installed special refrigeration units that made it possible to preserve ice at a temperature of plus 20 degrees. One of the main know-how of the Games was the introduction of the first International Broadcasting Center.

The Olympics in Calgary became memorable thanks to the new sports that were presented for the first time as demonstration sports. These are freestyle, curling, and short track, which soon became full-fledged Olympic disciplines.

The 1988 Olympics in Calgary was not a victory for Canada in terms of winning medals. Then the USSR distinguished itself, taking 29 awards. Canada limited itself to five awards, among which there was not a single gold medal. However, the very fact that Canada was the host of the Olympic Games was a fundamental factor that completely smoothed out the bitterness of a not very successful performance.

Calgary still remembers the 1988 Winter Olympics. In the middle of a downtown dotted with skyscrapers, an ancient Greek arch with the slogan “Citius, Altuis, Fortius” - “Faster, higher, stronger” - looks organic. The square itself is made of original bricks - the Canadians staged a promotion before the Games: everyone could immortalize their name in stone for a symbolic fee of 19 dollars 88 cents. And then the heroes of the Olympics were honored on this square. In particular, the Soviet hockey team, which won gold for the penultimate time in its history. In memory of this event there is a bronze plaque with the name of each winner carved on it. I read it: Bykov, Fetisov, Gusarov, Khomutov, Makarov... All have long since completed their careers. All but one. Alexander Mogilny, who was then barely 19 years old. Now “Alexander the Great” plays for “New Jersey” and is “hewing coals”: ​​22 (10+12) points in 25 matches – a result worthy of a master. But the veteran refused a trip to the Olympic Turin. Like Sergei Zubov, together with Sergei Fedorov, are NHL players of the first wave, who still hold a grudge against the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF).

What was it

For the first time, the Olympic program included four new alpine skiing disciplines, team competitions in ski jumping and Nordic combined, and a 5000 m distance for women in speed skating.

A total of forty-six sets of awards were awarded at the Games. Women competed in five sports, which included sixteen events, while men competed in ten sports and twenty-eight events. Also, the two types of figure skating competitions (ice dancing and pair skating) were mixed.

Who was that

The USSR team had no equal in figure skating. In pairs skating, our country won both gold and silver. Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov became the best, and Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev were only one step lower. In ice dancing, Soviet athletes demonstrated the same agility - Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrei Bukin took gold, and Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko took silver.

Soviet athletes also created the main sensation of the Games - the gold medal of Kipurs and Kozlov in the doubles competition was the first for the Soviet Union. The GDR team won the largest number of prizes in bobsleigh.

In biathlon, Soviet athletes won the largest number of awards - four medals. The only gold for the USSR in the relay race was won by the men's team. In both individual races there was no equal to Franz-Peter Rech from the GDR.

A coward doesn't play

“The Red Machine” once again produced a masterpiece of hockey at the main event in the world of sports. At the group stage, Soviet hockey players left no stone unturned against the teams of Czechoslovakia, Norway and Austria. The matches with the US and West German teams turned out to be more stubborn, but the Soviet Union team still won.

In the first round of the final round, our hockey players defeated their historical rival, the Canadian national team, with a score of 5:0. The team of Vyacheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov also won the next meeting, scoring seven goals against the Swedish national team and conceding only one. But in the final match of the Olympic tournament, the USSR team lost to Finland, however, it is worth saying that this meeting essentially did not decide anything.

On a note

Interestingly, the official emblem of the Calgary Games was stylized as a snowflake with the traditional Olympic rings at the bottom. The “face of the Olympics” also resembled a maple leaf, the symbol of Canada. The “creatives” decided to introduce another hidden meaning into the Games emblem - the snowflake was made from the letters “C”, drawn in different versions. Let us remind you that the words Calgary and Canada begin with the letter “C”.

“The 1988 Olympics witnessed the last performances of the “red machine”

We must not forget that the Olympic Games in Calgary were the last for the USSR. A completely different team arrived in Albertville, called the “United CIS Team” and did not even have its own flag. The 1988 Olympics witnessed the last performances of the “red car”... For the GDR team, these Games were also the last...

The Winter Olympics in Calgary will forever go down in history as one of the significant events in world sports. For the first time, the Winter Olympics lasted for sixteen days, during which the whole world watched the celebration of the triumph of the spirit and will to win.

The 1988 Olympic capital showed a true example of determination long before the start of the competition. Despite the fact that Canada has always been a leading country in winter sports, the right to host the Olympic flame was not easy for it. Calgary has been competing for the title of Olympic capital since 1959, and only in 1981 was it chosen to host the XV Winter Olympics in 1988.

Canada not only passed the test with dignity, but also in many ways exceeded the expectations of the world community. Construction of the Canadian Olympic Park took 7 years. Innovative sports facilities were built and existing ones were modernized.

The new bobsled run was equipped with refrigeration units to prevent ice from melting at above-zero temperatures. New trails for skiers and downhill skiers were equipped, and a grandiose indoor stadium for ice sports, the Olympic Oval, was built. For the first time, speed skating competitions were held indoors, protected from the vicissitudes of the weather.

An important event was the international broadcast of the games, which was conducted from the specially built International Broadcasting Center. The games were covered by 4,900 media personnel from around the world.

A monument to the first champion in the history of the Olympic Games, the athlete of Ancient Greece Korebus, was unveiled on the Olympic Square in the city center. The bronze monument in Calgary is modeled after an actual ancient Greek statue. Every day on this square, in front of thousands of spectators, athletes - the heroes of the day - were honored and Olympic awards were presented. The opening ceremony of the games took place on February 13, 1988. The Olympic torch was carried by athletes of different ages, including four-year-old Bruno Levesque and Joe Chase, who celebrated his 101st birthday on the opening day of the games.

Athletes from 57 countries took part in the games. For athletes from Jamaica, Guam, Fiji, Guatemala and the Antilles, this was the first Winter Olympics in history. Athletes competed for 46 sets of medals in 10 Olympic sports, including the first included alpine skiing disciplines: alpine combined and super-giant slalom.

The changeable climate of the Rocky Mountains presented many difficulties to the organizers and participants of the competition. The warm Pacific wind rendered the ski slopes unusable in a matter of hours. Due to melting snow, ski competitions were postponed several times. At the finish line the water was ankle-deep.

The winner in the overall standings was the USSR team, which won 29 medals. The GDR team took an honorable second place, receiving 25 medals. The triumphant performances of these teams were the last in the twilight of the history of these countries. By the next Olympic Games, both states ceased to exist.

The Olympics in Calgary became a powerful impetus for the development of sports and tourism in the region. The facilities built for the competition became a training ground for athletes all over the world. The park is constantly developing and modernizing. In the 21st century, new ones were added to the facilities built for the Olympics. Today, Canada Olympic Park is open to the general public at any time of the year. It is perfectly equipped for sports in the summer. The park has bicycle and mountain bike trails and a cable car. Outdoor festivals are held here, and there are summer camps.

Bids to host the 1988 Winter Olympics came from the cities of Falun (Sweden), Calgary (Canada) and d'Ampezzo (Italy). On September 30, 1981, at the 84th session of the IOC, Calgary's victory in the vote was announced.

Up to this point, the city had already applied twice to host the Olympic Games, but lost in 1964 to Innsbruck (Austria), and in 1968 to Grenoble (France).

Hosting the 1988 Calgary Olympics

A record number of teams from 57 countries took part in the competition.

The opening ceremony of the 1988 Calgary Olympics took place at McMahon Stadium. The flame of the games was carried by Canadian athlete Robin Perry, and athlete Pierre Harvey took the Olympian oath. The 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary were declared open by the Governor General of Canada, Jeanne Sauvé.

The 1988 Olympics were the first not marred by political confrontation. The time of boycotts was becoming a thing of the past. The national teams of the GDR and West Germany competed separately for the last time at the Winter Olympics in Calgary; a year and a half later, the Berlin Wall fell.

For the USSR national team, the White Olympics in Calgary 1988 was also the last; the country would break up into separate states.

Changes to the 1988 Calgary Olympics

The Spanish Marquis Juan Antonio Samaranch, having become the President of the IOC, decided to refresh the stagnant program of the Winter Olympics; freestyle, curling and short track speed skating were presented as demonstration sports.

IOC President Samaranch managed to make the world sporting event a highly profitable event. He put forward a proposal to extend the competition over 16 days, including three weekends.

It became known that the organizers earned over $100 million from the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Then they said that this was a gross exaggeration. The American company ABC paid $309 million for the rights to broadcast the 1988 Calgary Olympics, but wanted to reschedule the event until the end of February. However, at this time, a warm chinouk wind blows from the Rocky Mountains and some competitions were almost canceled.

Results of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary

The USSR national team won the medal count: the triumph of the hockey team allowed the Soviet team to get ahead of the Canadians, the founders of hockey, in the number of Olympic titles.

Soviet red car

In total, the USSR team received 29 medals: 11 gold, 9 silver and 9 bronze. The GDR team was in second place.

The 1988 Winter Olympics became not only a sporting event, but also an entertainment event, which turned them into the most fun Olympics of our time.

The Jamaican bobsled crew showed amazing determination, and the spectators strongly cheered for the representatives of the tropical island. But in conclusion, the bob of the Jamaican crew turned over and was unable to finish. The story of the brave crew formed the basis of the feature film “Tight Turns.”

British ski jumper Eddie "Eagle" Edwards also distinguished himself. He became the worst skier in history, who did not succeed, but the fans were very worried about the clumsy fat man and rejoiced at his every success.

After the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, the IOC adopted a special "Eddie Rule" in order to tighten the qualification standards for participants in the Olympic Games.

But there were some tragedies during the Games: Austrian team doctor Jörg Oberhammer died - he was hit by a truck on a slope. American speed skater Dan Jensen learned before the start of the race that his sister had died from leukemia and fell at a distance of 500 meters, and then in the 1000 meter race.