The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event held in Grenoble, France, from 6 to 18 February 1968. A total of 1,158 athletes representing 37 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in 35 events from 10 different sports and disciplines.[1] The Olympic programme was largely unchanged from four years prior in Innsbruck; one event was added, a relay event in biathlon.[2]
Norway won the most medals, with 14, and the most gold medals with 6. The Soviet Union finished second in both tallies, with 5 golds and 13 medals in total.[3] Of the 37 NOCs to participate at Grenoble, 15 won at least one medal, with 13 of those winning at least one gold medal.[3] East and West Germany entered separate teams for the first time, having competed together in the three prior Winter Olympics. Both nations won gold medals, their first competing as different nations.[4] Czechoslovakia won its first gold Winter Olympics medal, achieved by Jiří Raška in the ski jumping normal hill event.[5] Romania won its first, and as of the 2018 Winter Olympics, only medal in a Winter Olympics in the two-man bobsleigh event.[6][7]
Jean-Claude Killy of France was the most successful athlete at these games, winning all three of the men's alpine skiing events. Two other athletes each won three medals: Sweden's Toini Gustafsson earned two golds and a silver, and Finland's Eero Mäntyranta won a silver and two bronzes. Both of them were competitors in cross-country skiing. Four other athletes—Luciano de Paolis, Ole Ellefsæter, Harald Grønningen, and Eugenio Monti—won two gold medals, and 29 individuals in total won at least two medals in Grenoble.[3] In speed skating, three different events ended with ties for the silver medal position, one, the women's 500 metres ended in a three-way tie for silver.[8] In all three cases, multiple silver medals and no bronze medals were awarded.[9][10] In figure skating, American Peggy Flemming won the gold medal in ladies' singles; this came a mere seven years after the 1961 crash of Sabena Flight 548 that killed the entire US figure skating team.[11]
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Men's downhill[12] |
Jean-Claude Killy France |
Guy Périllat France |
Jean-Daniel Dätwyler Switzerland |
Men's giant slalom[13] |
Jean-Claude Killy France |
Willy Favre Switzerland |
Heini Messner Austria |
Men's slalom[14] |
Jean-Claude Killy France |
Herbert Huber Austria |
Alfred Matt Austria |
Women's downhill[15] |
Olga Pall Austria |
Isabelle Mir France |
Christl Haas Austria |
Women's giant slalom[16] |
Nancy Greene Canada |
Annie Famose France |
Fernande Bochatay Switzerland |
Women's slalom[17] |
Marielle Goitschel France |
Nancy Greene Canada |
Annie Famose France |
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Men's Individual[19] |
Magnar Solberg Norway |
Aleksandr Tikhonov Soviet Union |
Vladimir Gundartsev Soviet Union |
Men's Relay |
Soviet Union (URS)[20] Aleksandr Tikhonov Nikolay Puzanov Viktor Mamatov Vladimir Gundartsev |
Norway (NOR)[21] Ola Wærhaug Olav Jordet Magnar Solberg Jon Istad |
Sweden (SWE)[22] Lars-Göran Arwidson Tore Eriksson Olle Petrusson Holmfrid Olsson |
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Two-man |
Italy (ITA)[23] Eugenio Monti Luciano De Paolis |
West Germany (FRG)[24] Horst Floth Pepi Bader |
Romania (ROU)[25] Ion Panțuru Nicolae Neagoe |
Four-man |
Italy (ITA)[23] Eugenio Monti Luciano De Paolis Roberto Zandonella Mario Armano |
Austria (AUT)[26] Erwin Thaler Reinhold Durnthaler Herbert Gruber Josef Eder |
Switzerland (SUI)[27] Jean Wicki Hans Candrian Willi Hofmann Walter Graf |
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Men's 15 km[28] |
Harald Grønningen Norway |
Eero Mäntyranta Finland |
Gunnar Larsson Sweden |
Men's 30 km[29] |
Franco Nones Italy |
Odd Martinsen Norway |
Eero Mäntyranta Finland |
Men's 50 km[30] |
Ole Ellefsæter Norway |
Vyacheslav Vedenin Soviet Union |
Josef Haas Switzerland |
Men's 4×10 km |
Norway (NOR)[31] Odd Martinsen Pål Tyldum Harald Grønningen Ole Ellefsæter |
Sweden (SWE)[32] Jan Halvarsson Bjarne Andersson Gunnar Larsson Assar Rönnlund |
Finland (FIN)[33] Kalevi Oikarainen Hannu Taipale Kalevi Laurila Eero Mäntyranta |
Women's 5 km[34] |
Toini Gustafsson Sweden |
Galina Kulakova Soviet Union |
Alevtina Kolchina Soviet Union |
Women's 10 km[35] |
Toini Gustafsson Sweden |
Berit Mørdre Norway |
Inger Aufles Norway |
Women's 3×5 km |
Norway (NOR)[31] Inger Aufles Babben Enger Berit Mørdre Lammedal |
Sweden (SWE)[32] Barbro Martinsson Toini Gustafsson Britt Strandberg |
Soviet Union (URS)[36] Alevtina Kolchina Rita Achkina Galina Kulakova |
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Men's singles[37] |
Wolfgang Schwarz Austria |
Tim Wood United States |
Patrick Péra France |
Ladies' singles[38] |
Peggy Fleming United States |
Gabriele Seyfert East Germany |
Hana Mašková Czechoslovakia |
Pairs |
Soviet Union (URS)[39] Liudmila Belousova Oleg Protopopov |
Soviet Union (URS)[39] Tatiana Zhuk Alexander Gorelik |
West Germany (FRG)[40] Margot Glockshuber Wolfgang Danne |
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Men's singles[44] |
Manfred Schmid Austria |
Thomas Köhler East Germany |
Klaus-Michael Bonsack East Germany |
Women's singles[45] |
Erika Lechner Italy |
Christa Schmuck West Germany |
Angelika Dünhaupt West Germany |
Doubles |
East Germany (GDR)[46] Klaus-Michael Bonsack Thomas Köhler |
Austria (AUT)[47] Manfred Schmid Ewald Walch |
West Germany (FRG)[48] Wolfgang Winkler Fritz Nachmann |
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Individual[49] |
Franz Keller West Germany |
Alois Kälin Switzerland |
Andreas Kunz East Germany |
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Normal hill individual[50] |
Jiří Raška Czechoslovakia |
Reinhold Bachler Austria |
Baldur Preiml Austria |
Large hill individual[51] |
Vladimir Belousov Soviet Union |
Jiří Raška Czechoslovakia |
Lars Grini Norway |
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Men's 500 metres[9] |
Erhard Keller West Germany |
Terry McDermott United States Magne Thomassen Norway |
None awarded[a] |
Men's 1500 metres[10] |
Kees Verkerk Netherlands |
Ivar Eriksen Norway Ard Schenk Netherlands |
None awarded[b] |
Men's 5000 metres[52] |
Fred Anton Maier Norway |
Kees Verkerk Netherlands |
Peter Nottet Netherlands |
Men's 10000 metres[53] |
Johnny Höglin Sweden |
Fred Anton Maier Norway |
Örjan Sandler Sweden |
Women's 500 metres[8] |
Lyudmila Titova Soviet Union |
Jenny Fish United States Dianne Holum United States Mary Meyers United States |
None awarded[c] |
Women's 1000 metres[54] |
Carry Geijssen Netherlands |
Lyudmila Titova Soviet Union |
Dianne Holum United States |
Women's 1500 metres[55] |
Kaija Mustonen Finland |
Carry Geijssen Netherlands |
Stien Kaiser Netherlands |
Women's 3000 metres[56] |
Ans Schut Netherlands |
Kaija Mustonen Finland |
Stien Kaiser Netherlands |
Athletes who won three medals or two gold medals during the 1968 Winter Olympics are listed below.[3]
Athlete | Nation | Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jean-Claude Killy | France (FRA) | Alpine skiing | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Toini Gustafsson | Sweden (SWE) | Cross-country skiing | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Eero Mäntyranta | Finland (FIN) | Cross-country skiing | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Luciano de Paolis | Italy (ITA) | Bobsleigh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Ole Ellefsæter | Norway (NOR) | Cross-country skiing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Harald Grønningen | Norway (NOR) | Cross-country skiing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Eugenio Monti | Italy (ITA) | Bobsleigh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |