most dominant nation in the Olympics, the Soviet
Union won eleven gold and twenty-nine total med-
als. Its political ally East Germany came in second in
both categories (nine and twenty-five, respectively).
The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and athletes
from the former socialist state competed either for
new nations or for the Commonwealth of Indepen-
dent States in 1992.
Calgary will also be remembered
as the Games in which freestyle ski-
ing, curling, and short-track speed
skating made their Olympic debuts.
It was the city where the charismatic
Italian skier Alberto Tomba won the
gold medal in both slalom and giant
slalom and then announced that he
wished to date East German figure
skater Katarina Witt. He even offered
to give her one of his medals if she did
not win her own gold. Finland’s Matti
Nykänen won three gold medals in
ski jumping, and Dutch speed skater
Yvonne van Gennip also took home
three gold medals.
The host country did not win any
gold medals, but perhaps the biggest
winners were future Canadian Olym-
pic hopefuls. The Calgary Games
turned a profit estimated between
$90 and $150 million, and these
funds were used to ensure that the
Olympic facilities in the city re-
mained at their best when the Olym-
pic athletes went home.U.S. Shortfalls Far down the medal
table was the United States. Indeed,
Calgary was not kind to American
athletes, who took home fewer med-
als (two gold, six total) than had been
forecast. Speed skater Bonnie Blair
won one of those gold medals, in the
500 meter, and she also took home a
bronze medal in the 1,000 meter.
Figure skater Brian Boitano earned
the other gold medal, narrowly de-
feating Canadian Brian Orser, the
silver medalist. The so-called Battle
of the Brians made for great televi-
sion viewing, with the home crowd
booing lustily when the final results were an-
nounced. Orser led after the short program, but
Boitano delivered a stunning, technically perfect
long program that forced Orser to be perfect to have
a chance to win. He almost delivered, but a slight er-
ror during one of his jumps was critical. Boitano won
gold, and Orser, who also won the silver medal in
1984, was left wondering what might have been.732 Olympic Games of 1988 The Eighties in America
Top Standings for the 1988 Winter OlympicsMedals
Won Country Gold Silver Bronze
29 Soviet Union 11 9 9
25 East Germany 9 10 6
15 Switzerland 5 5 5
10 Austria 3 5 2
8 West Germany 2 4 2
7 Finland 4 1 2
7 Netherlands 3 2 2
6 Sweden 4 0 2
6 United States 2 1 3
5 Italy 2 1 2
5 Norway 0 3 2
5 Canada 0 2 3Top Standings for the 1988 Summer OlympicsMedals
Won Country Gold Silver Bronze
132 Soviet Union 55 31 46
102 East Germany 37 35 30
94 United States 36 31 27
40 West Germany 11 14 15
35 Bulgaria 10 12 13
33 Korea 12 10 11
28 China 5 11 12
24 Romania 7 11 6
24 Great Britain 5 10 9
23 Hungary 11 6 6
16 France 6 4 6
16 Poland 2 5 9