It’s February 1988.
The air is thin and sharp, as volunteers zip up red-and-white jackets.
Their breath is seen as they rehearse smiling and waving because soon, they’ll be hosting people from all over the world.
Their city isn’t a global destination…. But this is the oil town’s coming out party and as cowboy boots squeak in the snow they know tonight is a big night.
A quiet anxiety hangs in the air.
There’s a lot at stake. Canada has never won a gold medal at home, and the country is hoping that changes at these games.
They’re not the only ones.
Athletes here will chase perfection, knowing one mistake can echo forever.
Some have trained their whole lives for this moment while others have simply arrived, wide-eyed, underfunded, and unforgettable.
Nervous laughter ripples across the tens of thousands gathered at McMahon Stadium.
In the air there’s a sense that this isn’t just about athletic excellence and medals.
It’s about what happens when the world comes together to celebrate humanity.
And we’ll see its magic when Brians collide, when an English ski jumper flies farther than anyone thought he could and also when a bobsled from the Caribbean rattles into history.
But before any of that can happen. A flame must be lit.
[BEAT]
I’m Craig Baird and this is Canadian History Ehx. This month I’m sharing Olympic stories… in this episode we travel back to the moment the world learned to pronounce Cal-gary.
This is the story of the 1988 Winter Olympics
When the Olympic flame was lit on February 13, 1988, it marked the first time the Winter Games had ever been hosted in Canada.
Since the birth of the games in 1924, Canada has been waiting with bated breath to welcome the world.
That fact alone carried weight.
Canada had helped invent many winter sports, hosted international competitions for decades, and yet had never staged the Olympics on its own soil despite having tried many times.
On April 10, 1929, representatives from Montreal were feeling optimistic.
Their biggest challenger was Lake Placid.
The village in upstate New York had a ski jump and speed skating venue but not much else …. yet organizers boasted to the Olympic Committee they had the best winter sports facilities in the United States and could host 1,700 people.
Sir George McLaren Brown, the head of the Canadian delegation, countered that they could host 70,000.
Quote
“Montreal has everything any other city in the United States possesses and its own special recommendations, as well as mountains, rivers, the St. Lawrence River and the Ottawa River, islands, French and English culture. Montreal is the second oldest city in North America and there are a million fine people to say ‘Bienvenue.’”
End quote
But the International Olympic Committee, the IOC, instead selected Lake Placid and in 1932 it became the first in the U.S to host the games.
Montreal tried again… for the 1936 Winter Olympics but they went to Berlin, which had also received the summer games that same year. This would be the last time that happened.
Then World War II broke out and if you remember my episode on Barbara Ann Scott, you’ll recall that the games returned in 1948 in St. Moritz.
Meanwhile, Montreal kept pitching the IOC to host the games, they had tried and failed in 1944, and then again in 1956. Both times they lost to Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy.
After failing three times, Montreal focused on the Summer Olympics which they won.
Canada finally hosted the world during the 1976 Games.
But the winter ones were elusive.
Could a prairie city known more for oil rigs and rodeos than carry the hope of a nation?
Calgary was determined to try.
Afterall, Canada prided itself on winter identity.
Hockey, skating, skiing were supposed to be Canadian domains and yet the Winter Olympics kept going to Europe, the United States, Japan. On May 26, 1959, Calgary hoped to change all that.
They had picked up where Montreal had left off and the oil city was hoping to host the 1964 Winter Olympics, but many knew they didn’t stand much of a chance.
Squaw Valley, California, now known as Olympic Valley, had hosted in 1960 and it would be highly unlikely that the IOC would award two consecutive Games to North America.
Instead, the Olympics went to Innsbruck, Austria.
By the late 1970s, Calgary was ready to try again.
It was an absolute travesty and embarrassment that since 1924, the Winter Games had been held in Europe 10 times, and the United States four times including, half of that in Lake Placid.
So, Frank King and Bob Niven of Calgary’s Booster Club made a renewed effort for the Games in 1978.
The Canadian Olympic Association joined a year later in the efforts for an official bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics.
But it would be an uphill battle.
For one thing, Calgary didn’t have Olympic sized sports facilities.
If the city won their bid, everything would have to be built from scratch at an incredible cost.
Despite this, Calgary’s Olympic committee forged ahead and built support.
The Calgary Olympic Development Association sold 80,000 memberships to Calgarians at five dollars each and secured another $270 million in federal and provincial funding.
Members also travelled two million kilometres around the world to visit nearly every one of the 82 IOC members to lobby for Calgary.
Alberta’s oil industry was booming. Money was flowing. Confidence was high and the city was marketed as having a vibrant economy only an hour away from the Rocky Mountains and the world-famous resort town of Banff.
The city also pointed to the fact it hosted the Calgary Stampede, one of the largest festivals in North America, every year.
Calgary’s Olympic bid had been ambitious and as the International Olympic Committee met in Baden-Baden, West Germany, the city was up against Falun, Sweden and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy,
Many expected Cortina d’Ampezzo to win, but to everyone’s surprise it was eliminated in the first round.
Katie Fisher with Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame said Calgary’s hopes were high as they entered the second round.
They had tried and failed in their bids for the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Games but this one would be different.
KATIE CLIP [4:04 – 4:29] 25 Seconds
In the second round, Calgary defeated Falun by 17 votes.
It was a victory not just for the city, but for the country.
Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed burst into tears when the victory was announced. Mayor Ralph Klein sang It’s Hard to be Humble.
All things considered, winning the bid would be the easy part because for Calgary this wasn’t just about two weeks in February.
It was about legacy.
Olympic cities usually built temporary structures or accepted that venues would be abandoned after the flame went out.
Calgary would redefine the Games because every major venue would be permanent.
And for that the city turned to Bill Pratt.
Pratt had overseen the construction of Calgary’s Heritage Park in the 1960s.
He had also been the general manager of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede which saw its revenue grow from $3 million to $30 million.
In 1979, after decades of hard work, he retired by June 1983 he was needed again.
He was appointed the President of the Olympic Organizing Committee, and he had a lot to get done and it wasn’t going to be cheap.
First, he had to oversee the completion and opening of The Olympic Saddledome, which became a centerpiece of the games.
The arena would host hockey and figure skating, and has a distinctive roof inspired by a Western saddle.
City council had approved building a 20,000-seat arena on the Stampede Grounds west of the city’s downtown on March 3, 1981, mere months before Calgary was awarded the Games.
The decision was deeply unpopular, so Mayor Ralph Klein asked the provincial government to take over the land allowing the city to bypass the appeal process.
On July 29, 1981, construction began.
The arena was budgeted to cost 60 million dollars, but it ballooned to $97.7 million by the time it finally opened on Oct. 15, 1983.
At the time, it was the largest arena ever built for the Winter Games, but it would first host the Calgary Flames.
Their first game in their new home was against the Edmonton Oilers which they won 4-3 in front of 17,000 fans.
Among them was Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who has the distinction of being the first person booed at the arena.
He retired from politics in early 1984 by then plans were well on their way to the first covered speed skating oval in North America and was the first at a Winter Olympics.
The original plan had been for speed skating events to be held outdoors.
That was quickly nixed once everyone realized that one chinook could derail things.
For those wondering…. European settlers on the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain foothills especially in southern Alberta, Montana, and Colorado adopted the word “Chinook” to describe a warm, dry downslope wind.
The term was likely used because these winds came from the west or southwest, and in the general direction of Chinookan territory and Pacific trade routes.
Calgary sits on Blackfoot ancestral lands and in their language the weather phenomenon is known as “snow eater”.
That is a very apt name.
It is truly amazing to experience.
You can wake up to -20 C and within just a couple of hours, snow is melting around you.
In fact, Jan. 10, 1962, in Pincher Creek, 200 kilometres south of Calgary, the temperature went from -19 Celsius to +22 Celsius….in one hour!
The weather would become an issue, but we’ll get to that in a second.
Because by the time Calgary won the bid for the Olympics studies commissioned by the University of Calgary also showed real value in building a covered, permanent facility that would serve athletes, students, and the public long after the Games.
Construction began in 1985 using precast, prestressed concrete, similar to Calgary’s Saddledome, with a distinctive arched roof supported by a system of perimeter and internal beams.
It was completed in September 1987, around five months before the Olympics and cost approximately $39.9 million or about $109.8 million in today’s dollars.
And somehow it wasn’t the most expensive venue for the games.
That distinction went to Canada Olympic Park which would host the bobsleigh, luge, ski jumping and Nordic combined events.
It was constructed on the former site of Paskapoo Ski Hill which was renovated for $200 million.
Downhill skiing and other Nordic events wouldn’t be hosted in Calgary.
For that, athletes would travel West to the small community of Canmore.
The local economy was hit incredibly hard since mining operations ceased in 1979.
So, they saw construction of the Nordic Center which would host cross-country-skiing, the biathlon and other events as a salvation.
The centre, built at a cost of $17.2 million, helped Canmore become a thriving tourist town.
Nearby, in Kananaskis Country, Games organizers announced that a ski resort would be constructed to host ten alpine events.
It would be a controversial decision.
In 1985, the site, located on Mount Allan, was officially named “Nakiska,”
The word comes from the Cree language meaning “meeting place,” and reflected both its role as a gathering spot and its envisioned legacy.
Construction of the $25 million complex took place between 1984 and 1986 and included building access roads, base facilities, installing permanent chairlifts and clearing roughly 30 ski runs designed to meet international competition standards.
This meant bulldozers excavated 25,000 cubic metres of rock, doing incredible harm to the local ecosystem.
And things wouldn’t get better for organizers because early inspections by The International Ski Federation said the course failed to meet standards and they rejected the site.
Courses had to be widened, and grades sharpened and by March 1987 it was deemed as one of the world’s foremost downhill courses.
And just a few months later in July of that year Calgarians would get to enjoy a key piece in downtown revitalization and a focal point for visitors that would arrive a year later.
Located across from City Hall, Olympic Plaza was constructed between 1986–1987 in the heart of downtown Calgary as a dedicated venue for medal ceremonies.
It was designed as a large, open urban public space and featured a skating rink and a legacy walk paved with 20,000 inscribed bricks which were sold to Calgarians at $19.88 each.
The venue cost 5.6 million to build but it became THE spot for celebration as gold, silver, and bronze medals were given to Olympians in front of local and international spectators.
As 1988 fast approached, Calgary was ready.
Or at least, it thought it was.
Anticipation for the games was brewing.
Demand for tickets was incredibly high, and main events had been sold out a year in advance.
Unfortunately, as the games approached, the Olympic Organizing Committee failed to communicate its obligations to IOC officials and sponsors and claimed 50 percent of the tickets.
Calgarians were livid but the Olympic Organizing Committee made several changes and by opening day, 79 percent of tickets had been allocated to Calgarians, with a total of 1.4 million tickets being sold.
This was more tickets than the previous three Winter Games combined.
Calgarians wanted to be part of history and if they didn’t get a ticket they offered to help host the world.
Katie Fisher with Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame said that the volunteer effort was extraordinary.
KATIE CLIP [6:12 – 6:51] (39 Seconds)
There were 9,400 volunteer positions, and everyone from oil executives to fast food workers signed up to be drivers, ushers, translators, medics, and hosts.
They were trained to smile, and to make visitors feel welcome.
Their red-and-white uniforms became one of the most recognizable symbols of the Games.
Lynne Rennie was a 20-year-old student at the time, and she became one of them.
LYNN CLIP [6:01 – 6:22[ 21 Seconds
Those that couldn’t volunteer their time, offered their homes.
Entire neighborhoods adopted teams because for the first time ever, a Homestay program was created, and local families opened their homes to visitors.
The University of Calgary suspended classes and turned student housing into an Olympic village for athletes.
And to meet and greet all those visitors and athletes, were two polar bears in cowboy hats.
The official mascots of the Games.
While Calgary was abuzz with anticipation, half a world away, the sun was shining on Greece., on Nov. 15, 1987.
Katerina Didaskalou knelt next to a concave mirror at the Temple of Hera
The Greek actress was portraying the High Priestess and recited a prayer to the sun-God Apollo.
In her hand was a torch, designed by the National Research Council Canada to look like a mini-Calgary Tower.
Katerina slowly placed the torch, made to withstand harsh Canadian winters, next to the mirror and within seconds the concentrated rays of the sun were supposed to light the torch.
But the skies were overcast, so the flame from the previous day’s rehearsal was used instead.
Once lit Didaskalou with 14 handmaidens by her side, carried the torch to a grove where Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Olympic Games, was buried.
She handed the torch to Greek runner Stelios Bisbas who carried it and a branch of olive on a relay towards Athens.
By doing so she initiated the, then, 15,000-kilometre journey of the flame from Greece to Canada.
Two days later, the torch arrived in St. John’s where it was handed to Fred Hayward, the first Newfoundlander to represent Canada at the Winter Olympics and Barbara Ann Scott the beloved figure skater who won Olympic gold in 1948.
For the next 88 days it would travel through every province, every territory in an effort to make all Canadians feel as though they were part of the Olympics.
A random draw was held, and 6,214 people were selected to carry the torch one kilometre each.
Along the journey, 80 people in 40 support vehicles travelled 125 kilometres a day across the country.
Mike MacDonnell carried the torch near his home on Cape Breton Island and was so enthralled with the experience that after his one kilometre was complete, he ran for a further 45 kilometres along the relay.
Four-year-old Bruno Levesque of Jacquet River, New Brunswick and his father Gerry submitted 100 applications. When Bruno finished his run, he handed the flame to his father, who also won a spot.
Donalda Garner of Balgonie, Saskatchewan had to travel to Quebec City to carry the torch.
She sold seven goats, a horse and poultry from her farm to make the trip and spoke.
“I can always rebuild a herd, but the chance to carry the torch only comes once in a lifetime.”
Heather Freer gave birth nine hours after she carried the torch outside of Sarnia and David Doucette carried a photo of his younger brother Jason.
Jason had been selected in early 1987 but a few months later he sadly drowned and his brother carried him and the flame in his stead.
Amanda Wyorren submitted quite 16,280 applications for the honour of carrying the torch on her birthday and said,
“I will be able to show that to my grandkids and say that that’s what I did on my 18th birthday.”
In Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Janice Nikkel held the torch while being pulled by seven dogs on a sled.
As she reached Sir Alexander Mackenzie School, 1,500 people were outside in -35 Celsius to cheer her on.
The relay was the longest in history until the 2000 Sydney Games and as the torch finally approached Calgary, Karen Nicolson said she was ready to have her own Olympic moment.
KAREN CLIP [0:47 – 1:16] 29 Seconds
Halfway through her run, Karen was stopped because someone else would be joining.
KAREN CLIP [1:55 – 2:43] 48 Seconds
I found that photo in my research but
I couldn’t see Karen’s face in the photo, because just like she said, a Petro Canada employee had her hand over her face.
And as the flame got closer, everyone wondered who would have the honours of carrying the torch into McMahon Stadium and light the cauldron?
TOR_BETA 1104 Eve of the Olympics [0:30 – 1:02]
The city was overflowing for the Opening Ceremonies on Feb. 13, 1988.
The big day had finally arrived.
In McMahon Stadium, usually home to the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, 60,000 people sat in -18 Celsius weather to be part of the visual spectacle that would include them.
Every spectator was given coloured ponchos provided by the sponsor Coca-Cola which had arrived days earlier with visible branding that went against IOC rules.
Organizers sent them to a local prison where inmates removed the labels, but some inmates had defaced some of the ponchos and all 62,000 had to be individually checked before they were given out.
With everyone in the stands shivering with antici……pation, the show was ready to begin.
The ceremony began when 1,100 singers from across Alberta performed the theme to the Games, Come Together.
An estimated 1.5 billion worldwide television viewers then watched as 700 performers filled the stadium with a kaleidoscope of colors, arranged in carefully choreographed patterns.
First Nations dancers honoured the land, their movements echoing centuries of tradition, while other performers brought in the spirit of the Calgary Stampede, connecting the city’s frontier history with this global gathering.
The RCMP were on hand to do a short version of the Musical Ride, and then the Parade of Nations began.
Greece entered first, a nod to the Olympic roots.
Then in alphabetical order 1,424 athletes entered the stadiums waving flags while smiling and laughing despite the chill.
Canada, as host nation, would be last and led by beloved figure skater Brian Orser.
The stadium roared with pride at the sight of the red maple leaf.
Canadian icon Gordon Lightfoot then sand Four Strong Winds and between oaths and anthems, the ceremony pulses with Canadian pride.
After the Games were declared open, the Olympic flame entered the stadium in the hands of Cathy Priestner and Ken Read.
Priestner was a speed skating silver medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics.
Read was a legend and one of the Crazy Canucks who took the skiing world by storm in the 1970s.
You’ll hear more about the Crazy Canucks and hear directly from Ken Read later this month.
The two torchbearers momentarily shared the flame with Rick Hansen.
The Paralympian had recently returned from his Man in Motion tour around the world which helped raise $26 million for spinal cord research.
They pass the torch to 12-year-old Robyn Perry, a figure skater representing the athletes of the future.
She then climbed up 65 steps to the Olympic cauldron, which was surrounded on three sides by the largest teepee ever built.
As she stood on her toes and held the torch to the cauldron, with a whoosh…it sprang to life.
Lynne Rennie in her poncho, remembers how the flames leaped skyward, as a formation of Snowbirds jets streaked overhead, trailing smoke in the Olympic colors.
LYNN CLIP [4:10 – 4:18] 8 Seconds
Then something unexpected happened.
Lynne Rennie said a few kilometres away at the Calgary Tower, flames suddenly shot into the sky as well.
LYNNE CLIP [20:28 – 21:00] 32 Seconds
A natural gas filled cauldron was built on top of the Calgary tower by Canadian Western Natural Gas in October 1987, to serve as a giant Olympic torch in the background of medal ceremonies, at the nearby Olympic Plaza.
Back at McMahon Stadium, the soft strains of Gilles Vigneault’s song “Mon Pays”, could be heard.
It’s Quebec’s unofficial national anthem and was meant as a celebration of bilingualism.
Then voices of all languages sang along in celebration to the theme song of the games Can’t You Feel as doves took flight, gliding over the stadium, a living symbol of peace and unity.
TOR_BETA 1095_Olympics Open [0:24 – 1:03]
With that, the 15th Winter Olympics Games were officially…. Open
But then…. Mother nature had other plans.
Remember the chinooks I mentioned earlier? Those pesky warm winds that encouraged Calgary to build the Oval??
Well after those bitterly cold Opening Ceremonies, temperature swung from -22 Celsius on Feb. 13, to nearly 20 Celsius the next day.
Outdoor events had to be delayed, including downhill skiing at Nakiska on account of the 160 km/h winds tearing through the mountains.
With snow quickly melting, artificial snow had to be used.
Lynne Rennie said it was something no one expected to happen in the Great White North.
LYNNE CLIP [15:10 – 15:32] 21 Seconds
Over at Canada Olympic Park, ski jumping was postponed four times due to those high winds.
But that is where one man’s story became half history, half legend.
Michael “Eddie” Edwards was a British ski jumper who became one of the most famous athletes of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, not because he won medals, but because he showed up at all.
Nicknamed Eddie the Eagle he won the hearts of the world with his unlikely story.
He was born in 1963 in Cheltenham, England, far from mountains and snow.
When he arrived in Calgary he hadn’t been groomed by a national sports system or backed by sponsors.
Britain had no real ski-jumping tradition, and until Eddie, no one had participated in the event for decades. He had paid his own way and taught himself to ski jump largely on borrowed equipment.
Eddie was also nearsighted, famously wearing thick, oversized glasses that fogged up in the cold.
He arrived in Calgary by qualifying at the 1987 World Championships in Bavaria, where he ranked 55th.
Eddie competed in the 70-metre and 90-metre ski jump events at Canada Olympic Park.
He finished last in both events, but that detail hardly mattered.
What mattered was that he completed his jumps, landed safely.
At the bottom of the hill, he stood smiling as crowds cheered him like a champion.
Surrounded by elite athletes Eddie became a symbol of something simpler and older.
the Olympic ideal of participation over perfection and with that came fame.
Overnight he became a celebrity and even appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as the press dubbed him Mr. Magoo and the Ski Dropper.
The Calgary Herald wrote quote.
“It may be hard for historians to explain how a 24-year-old plasterer from Great Britain, who finished dead last in both of his events, could become the hero of the Games. But there was no doubt ski jumper Eddie Edwards was the fans’ favourite.” end quote.
The attention he received, caused the IOC to create the Eddie the Eagle rule which requires competitors place in the top 30 per cent, or top 50 competitors in international events leading up to the Olympic.
Because Eddie the Eagle wasn’t the only unlike athlete at Canada Olympic Park
The bobsleigh track snaked down the unforgiving hill in Calgary.
It was designed for nations that have been sliding on snow for generations.
Which is why the crowd picked the unlikely favorites to fall in love with.
Jamaica.
At home there’s no snow-covered mountains, no sleds and yet here they were.
And the Jamaican bobsled team wasn’t a joke.
Coached by Howard Siler, who had competed at the 1972 and 1980 Olympics they had arrived in Calgary as the ultimate underdog.
The idea for the team began only a year earlier, in 1987, when, an American businessman living in Jamaica, noticed military recruits sprinting while pushing heavy carts.
To him, it looked exactly like the explosive start bobsledding is known for, so he turned to Captain William “Baldy” Maloney of the Jamaican Defence Force, to recruit sprinters that were disciplined, fast, and strong.
The team would be made up of Dudley Stokes, Devon Harris, Michael White were selected from the army along with civilians Frederick Powell, Sammy Clayton and Caswell Allen.
After making the team they traveled to an ice hockey rink in Lake Placid to try running on ice and a month later, they were in Calgary sledding for the first time before they traveled to Europe to
They trained wherever they could, selling t-shirts for supper, borrowing sleds to compete and learning the sport at a pace no elite athlete ever should.
Just before Christmas 1987 they learned they would be going to the Winter Olympics even though officials doubted they belonged and tried to disqualify them before the Olympics.
That’s when influential people, including Prince Albert of Monaco, stepped in to champion them.
And so… when they arrived in Calgary, they were instant celebrities.
A week before the Games started, the team held a promotional party at a Greek restaurant where they raffled off a ticket to Jamaica and sold sweatshirts.
The team was already so popular that people were lined up around the street to catch a glimpse of them.
But by now driver Sammy Clayton had quit the program.
Which meant the team had only started practicing on a borrowed sled for only about a month.
They didn’t actually have a four-man sled of their own.
First up was the two-man bobsled team of Dudley Stokes and Michael White who reached a high of 22nd place in their second run but finished 30th out of 41 teams overall after four runs.
As I mentioned the Jamaicans didn’t own their own four-man sled, so they borrowed one the Canadians had stored away and were willing to lend to them.
As Dudley wrote in Newsweek….
‘It was a bucket, but we fixed it up as best we could and started practicing on the ice.”
But the challenging times weren’t behind them.
On the first day of training, Caswell Allen fell off the sled and hurt himself.
That’s when Dudley Stokes turned to his brother Chris Stokes who had traveled to Calgary for the games as a spectator.
He was standing close by and because he ran 100m track in college, and somehow by the end of the day had Olympic accreditation.
After three days of training the Jamaican bobsled team with new addition Chris Stokes would be making history.
The first day of the four-man competition was a disaster.
The men finished 24th in the first run and 26th in the second. They weren’t complete last but far from where they were hoping to be. On the morning of the second day of races, the team took off with the seventh fastest start of the event.
But inside the sled things were not going well.
Around curve nine they started “porpoising,” as the front of the sled was moving up and down.
Then… they tipped and flipped upside down as they crashed.
Inside the sled the Jamaican team watched the ice go by as they skidded violently along the ice.
The race was over,
And the crowd watched in silent horror as the sled came to a stop.
Then the four men slowly climbed out of the sled.
They were shaken, but uninjured.
One by one, they gathered themselves.
And then they lifted the sled and as they carried it the crowd erupted.
Thousands of people on their feet, clapping, shouting, whistling in the freezing air.
Because much like Eddie the Eagle had done, the Jamaican bobsled team reminded the world of the courage it takes to compete.
It’s something that stayed with Lynne Rennie as well.
LYNNE CLIP [1:29 – 1:58] 29 Seconds
The Jamaican Bobsledders and Eddie the Eagle may not have won medals in 1988, but they ensured interest in their respective sports.
Britain returned to the ski jump at 2002 Winter Olympics thanks to Glynn Pedersen.
But unlike the other underdog in this story Jamaica returned to Olympic bobsledding in later Games, and built a real program, proving that Calgary was not a fluke, it was the beginning.
Jamaica was part of the 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2022 Games.
They reached 14th in 1994 and expanded the program to include a two-women bobsled team which competed in 2018 competed and finished 19th.
Both Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsled team have also had their story told… heavily fictionalized in movies.
And in 2026 keep an eye out for the Jamaicans at Milano Cortina because they may have you saying “Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Get on up, it’s bobsled time!”
As Calgarians fell in love with ski jumping and bobsledding…. The rest of Canada waited for its first medal of the Games.
That came on day Six when Karen Percy won bronze in women’s downhill on Feb. 19.
She followed that up three days later with another bronze in women’s super-G.
The podium finishes were special for the 21-year-old who was born in Banff and grew up skiing and now had won in her own backyard.
But you may not remember who won that first medal because the spotlight of the world wasn’t on the slopes but the rink.
If there was one sport where Canada desperately wanted gold, it was figure skating.
The men’s event which was dubbed The Battle of the Brians became the emotional center of the Games.
Canada’s Brian Orser was the hometown favorite.
Known as “Mr. Consistency,” Orser was smooth, reliable, and deeply musical.
He had won a silver four years earlier in Sarajevo and won the 1987 World Championship on a perfect season because he didn’t lose a single competition.
He arrived in Calgary determined to finish the story on home ice.
Brian Boitano of the United States stood in his way.
Boitano was powerful, technical, and precise.
Where Orser glided, Boitano attacked.
His jumps were higher, sharper and his programs were built to win under the sport’s rigid judging system.
He had won the 1986 World Championship by beating…. You know who… Brian Orser.
So, the competition in Calgary unfolded with almost unbearable tension.
At the time the figure skating event was divided into three phases: compulsory figures, the short program and the long program.
After the compulsory figures, Russian, Alexandre Fadeev was in first followed by Boitano in second, Orser was in third.
Up next was the short program where Orser shot up to first place as Boitano finished second.
With 50 percent of the final score accounted for whoever won the long program would win the gold.
In a dead heat, they took to the ice.
Boitano was up first and he skated a technically perfect program with eight triple jumps, including two triple axels.
Orser was up next, and he gave the performance of his life, landing seven triple clean jumps, tied together by controlled footwork, and confident presence.
When he finished, the arena erupted.
This was the skate Canadians had been waiting for.
But figure skating is not won by applause and when the judges’ scores appeared, the result was devastatingly close.
Boitano’s technical difficulty was undeniable.
He had won gold by a single point. Boitano took the gold, Orser got the silver.
There was no controversy, only heartbreak.
Orser stood on the podium, composed and gracious, but the absence of gold hung heavily in the air.
Years later, the rivalry would be remembered as one of the great duels in figure skating history. In 1988, it was raw and unresolved.
But Canada wasn’t done earning hardware at the rink because three days later, Tracy Wilson and Robert McCall squeezed on to the podium and put a stop to an all-Soviet Union sweep.
The Soviet Union had dominated the event as they had in pairs where they also took gold and silver.
Meanwhile, a young skater from Ottawa was about to burst onto the scene to become Canada’s Sweetheart.
Inspired by Barbara Ann Scott, Elizabeth Manley started to skate at a young age.
By the time she was 17 in 1982, she had won bronze at the World Junior Championship.
Two years later, she placed 13th at the Sarajevo Olympics and finished fourth at the 1987 World Championships.
Heading into the Calgary Olympics, the women’s competition was defined by two names before it ever began.
Katarina Witt of East Germany was the defending Olympic champion.
She was confident, experienced, and politically protected, Witt represented a system built to produce winners.
Her skating was powerful and theatrical, shaped by years of elite training and expectation.
Across from her stood Debi Thomas of the United States, the reigning world champion.
Thomas was an extraordinary athlete, she was intense, fast, and technically daring. ‘
She was also a media favorite because she was balancing elite sport with pre-med studies and who doesn’t love a story like that?
Elizabeth Manley was mentioned, but rarely centered.
As expected, after compulsory figures and the short program Witt and Thomas finished top two while Manley, sat in third behind Thomas but the crowd knew something was brewing.
When the skaters hit The Saddledome, spectators sensed something building.
It wasn’t dominance but momentum.
When Elizabeth Manley stepped onto the ice for her free program, the atmosphere shifted.
She skated with joy, speed, and fearlessness.
Her jumps were as big as her footwork was sharp.
She performed not as someone protecting a lead, but as someone with nothing to lose.
The program was the skate of her life.
Manley said,
“On my last spin, it was like the world was caving in, it was overwhelming. I just wanted to dance.”
As she hit her final pose, the crowd exploded.
For the first time during the Games, Canadians felt something close to certainty.
The judges rewarded her with high marks, and she moved into first place.
Announcer Jim McKay said,
“Wouldn’t it be great if every human being could have a moment like this once in their lives?”
And then she had to wait.
Lynne Rennie was working at the concession, and she said it was a night she would never forget.
LYNNE CLIP [2:31 – 3:09] 38 Seconds
Debi Thomas skated next.
Her program, set to Carmen, was ambitious and intense but she unraveled as she missed jumps and the performance lacked control.
When the score came up Thomas had fallen behind Manley.
And only Katarina Witt stood in the way of Manley’s victory.
When Katarina Witt stepped on the ice to perform… Carmen… She skated with the calm of someone who had been here before.
She avoided major mistakes and carried an intense authority.
Her free skate was not perfect, but it was composed and the judges responded accordingly.
The difference was narrow.
Inside the Saddledome, the reaction was complicated.
There was disappointment, but somehow for the first time, Canada had a moment that felt like victory.
Elizabeth Manley’s silver medal was one of the most emotional moments of the Games.
She had skated fearlessly and, in a Games, where Canada would not win gold, Manley’s performance stood out as proof that belief still mattered.
Her silver did not feel like second place.
It felt like an arrival for Canada’s Sweetheart.
As I mentioned, in 1988, much like in Montreal in 1976 Canada didn’t win a gold medal.
There was a hope that Team Canada would top the podium in hockey, but that was not to be as the team finished fourth and lost 5-0 to the Soviet Union in the semi-final.
On the other side of the country, a six-month-old boy named Sidney Crosby was taking his first steps and in 22 years time, he would make that golden dream on home ice a reality.
In the end Canada only won five medals, two silver and three bronzes.
Not a great medal haul, but it was the second most medals won by Canada at the Winter Olympics behind Lake Placid in 1932.
Canada, however, had more top eight finishes than in any previous Games.
Calgary has welcomed athletic excellence but on the night of February 28, 1988, McMahon Stadium filled one last time.
There were no races left to run.
No judges’ scores to wait for.
No medals to be won.
The tension that had defined the previous two weeks had loosened, replaced by something warmer.
A mixture of relief, pride, and a quiet sense of finality.
60,000 people10,000 of which were volunteers in their red-and-white jackets that had become symbols of the Games were in attendance.
This was their moment too and the crowd acknowledged them openly, and the applause lingered as the athletes entered not by nation, but together.
Skaters, skiers, and sliders walked side by side, waving to the crowd.
Some wore medals around their necks.
Others carried cameras. A few looked exhausted. All of them looked human again.
On the largest temporary ice rink in the world a figure skating performance took place inside the stadium.
Then Alberta musician k.d. lang performed Turn Me Round.
The ceremony leaned into Canadian themes of winter, openness, and community.
Music echoed as atmosphere and speeches were delivered with restraint.
IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said to the crowd,
“From your very first howdy to this last farewell, you have graciously met this challenge with your unique western style and hospitality. In spite of your famous chinook, you have still managed to produce the best organization of the Olympic Winter Games ever.”
Samaranch declared the XV Olympic Winter Games closed.
The Olympic flag was lowered and presented to Mayor Ralph Klein, who passed it to the president of the IOC. and then on to the waiting hands of Henri Dupri, the mayor of Albertville, France, and host of the 1992 Winter Olympics.
Then the Olympic flame was extinguished.
After years of planning, it was all over.
But the legacy of those two weeks would be far reaching.
Even with the headaches, traffic jams and years of preparation
Lynne Rennie said when it was all said and done, the Calgary Olympics were a monumental success.
LYNNE CLIP [11:22 – 11:47] 25 Seconds
Unlike Montreal in 1976, the Calgary Games boasted a $32 million surplus and single-handedly pulled the city out of recession.
But Katie Fisher with Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame said the games did much more… they left a legacy which can be felt today.
KATIE CLIP [9:10 – 9:35] 25 Seconds
Facilities built for the Games gave Canada world-class training which can be seen in the incredible results.
From 1924 to 1984, Canada won 38 medals at the Winter Olympics. About one-quarter of those were in hockey.
But then…. From 1992 to 2022, Canada has won 182 medals.
In 2010 in Vancouver, we literally owned the podium by winning the most gold medals of any nation and set a then-record for most gold medals at a Winter Games.
Katie said those two eras are defined by the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
KATIE CLIP [1:05 – 1:38] 33 Seconds
This year, to celebrate the 1988 Winter Olympics, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame launched The Spirit of Motion exhibit.
It showcases stories, artifacts and videos of the five Canadian athletes that medalled in 1988, along with other Olympic treasures from the Calgary Games.
The exhibit is free to view at the base of the Calgary Tower until April 2026.
Speaking of the Calgary Tower.
That natural gas cauldron is still on top of it and it is lit to celebrate holidays like Canada Day, and important wins.
In 1992, I remember landing at the Calgary International Airport and seeing the cauldron burning after the Stampeders won the Grey Cup.
It was truly a surreal sight to see.
But could that tower cauldron be lit again for the Olympics?
The city did contemplate a bid for the 2026 Games, but on Nov. 13, 2018, in a non-binding vote, 56.4 percent of residents voted against it.
The next day, the bid process was suspended.
Katie, however. Says she’s optimistic.
KATIE CLIP [5:17 – 5:42] 25 Seconds
And if there is a will there is a way…
Much like there was a way for the Jamaican bobsled team.
In 2025 Shane Pitter, Andrae Dacres, Junior Harris and Tyquendo Tracey won Jamaica’s first gold medal at any international bobsleigh in Whistler.
By doing so they helped their country successfully qualify for three spots in the 2026 Winter Olympics in February at Milano Cortina
As for me… should Calgary ever host another Winter Games need a history podcast host with a great bow tie to help carry the torch…. I’ll be there to help carry the Olympic Sprit.
