Bobsleigh at the 1988 Winter Olympics

Bobsleigh
at the XV Olympic Winter Games
VenueCanada Olympic Park
Dates20–28 February
Competitors135 from 23 nations
Bobsleigh at the
1988 Winter Olympics
Twomen
Fourmen

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]

Medal summary

Medal table

[1]

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Soviet Union1012
2 Switzerland1001
3 East Germany0213
Totals (3 entries)2226

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.

Events

[1]

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

Participating NOCs

[1]

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.

Ireland

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]

See also

References
  1. "Calgary 1988 Official Report" (PDF). XV Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. 1988. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  2. "Bobsleigh at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  3. David Wallechinsky: "The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics" (2002 edition) ISBN 1-85410-807-7
  4. O'Callaghan, Eoin (15 February 2014). "Calgary '88: Tracey's bob dream slips away". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  5. Crosson, Seán (7 October 2020). "Breaking Ice – Review of Irish Film at Galway Film Fleadh 2020". Film Ireland Magazine. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  • Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2009). "Bobsleigh". In The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited.
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