1968 Winter Olympics

X Olympic Winter Games
Host city Grenoble, France
Nations participating 37
Athletes participating 1158
(947 men, 211 women)
Events 35 in 6 sports
Opening ceremony February 6
Closing ceremony February 18
Officially opened by President Charles de Gaulle
Athlete's Oath Léo Lacroix (alpine skiing)
Olympic Torch Alain Calmat (figure skating)
Stadium Stade Lesdiguières

The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1968 in Grenoble, France and opened on 6 February. Thirty-seven countries participated. Norway won the most medals, the first time a country other than the USSR had done so since the USSR first entered the Winter Games in 1956.

Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy won three gold medals in all the alpine skiing events. In women's figure skating, Peggy Fleming won the only United States gold medal. The games have been credited with making the Winter Olympics more popular in the United States, not least of which because of ABC's extensive coverage of Fleming and Killy, who became overnight sensations among teenage girls.

The year 1968 marked the first time the IOC first permitted East and West Germany to enter separately, and the first time the IOC ever ordered drug and gender testing of competitors.

Contents

Host city selection

Grenoble went against five other candidate cities for the 1968 Winter Olympics. Here was the resulting vote count that occurred at the 61st IOC Session in Innsbruck, Austria, on 28 January 1964.[1]

1968 Winter Olympics bidding results[2]
City Country Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
Grenoble  France 15 18 27
Calgary  Canada 12 19 24
Lahti  Finland 11 14
Sapporo  Japan 6
Oslo  Norway 4
Lake Placid  United States 3

Highlights

Venues

Medal winners

Participating nations

A total of 37 nations sent athletes to compete at these Games. Morocco competed at the Winter Games for the first time in Grenoble. East Germany and West Germany sent independent teams to the Games for the first time.

Medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1968 Winter Games.

 Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Norway 6 6 2 14
2 Soviet Union 5 5 3 13
3 France (host nation) 4 3 2 9
4 Italy 4 0 0 4
5 Austria 3 4 4 11
6 Netherlands 3 3 3 9
7 Sweden 3 2 3 8
8 West Germany 2 2 3 7
9 United States 1 5 1 7
10 East Germany 1 2 2 5
Finland 1 2 2 5

See also

Notes

References

External links

Preceded by
Innsbruck
Winter Olympics
Grenoble

X Olympic Winter Games (1968)
Succeeded by
Sapporo