1968 Grenoble, France

The Winter Olympics coming of age

Last Updated: Friday, December 18, 2009 | 3:31 PM ET

CBC Sports

Czech and Soviet ice hockey players are tangled in front of the Czech goal as the referee stops the play 15 February 1968 in Grenoble, France during the 1968 Winter Olympic Games. (Staff/AFP/Getty Images)

A lavish Opening Ceremony. Star-making performances. The French city of Grenoble was a surprise choice to host the 1968 Games, but it's where the Winter Olympic movement truly came of age.

The industrial centre was never a traditional resort like St. Moritz or Innsbruck. It also lacked an essential winter sports element – snow. The solution was to create the first decentralized Olympics, with events taking place throughout the Dauphine region. Some venues were more than 65 kilometres apart, with downtown Grenoble only hosting the skating competitions.

The widely spread facilities forced organizers to accommodate the 1,158 athletes from 37 nations in seven separate Olympic villages. Some critics, including IOC president Avery Brundage, complained that the Games felt more like seven world championships instead of a true Olympiad.

About 18,000 participants crowded into Parc Paul Mistral to experience the glitzy Opening Ceremony presided over by French president Charles de Gaulle. Three helicopters showered thousands of paper roses over the stadium. Five parachutists drew the Olympic rings in the sky with smoke. Olympic flags were fired into the air by cannons. The elaborate celebration entrenched the trend toward glamour followed by many future Olympic ceremonies.

The Grenoble Games introduced many other Winter Olympic firsts. The IOC ordered drug tests after each competition, something never done before. All 86 athletes tested passed.

The 1968 Games also brought unprecedented media exposure to the Winter Olympics. The Grenoble Games were the first to be televised live in colour.

Meanwhile, the East Germans fiercely lobbied for separate recognition after cutting ties with West German athletic organizations once the Berlin Wall was erected in August, 1961. Some NATO countries, led by the United States, initially balked at giving independent status to East Germany for fear of legitimizing its government. But in 1966, the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) allowed two German teams to compete at the European championships. The IOC finally yielded to the East German petition, admitting separate German teams in Grenoble.

The only threads linking the two German teams were a black, red and gold flag bearing the Olympic rings and a brief snippet of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for winning athletes.

American figure skater Peggy Fleming also shone in the Grenoble spotlight. The two-time world champion won the United States' only gold of the Games. Her elegant and athletic performance in front of a live TV audience proved to be the catalyst that paved the way for figure skating ’s boom in popularity to this day.

Another big story was Italian bobsleigh driver Eugenio Monti. The nine-time world champion, who came up short at the 1956 and 1964 Olympics, won both the two and four-man events at the age of 40.

Norway led the final medal count with six gold, six silvers and two bronzes. It marked the first time the Soviets didn’t win the overall medal count since entering Winter Olympic competition in 1956.

The East German women’s luge team was involved in the biggest controversy of the 1968 Games. The members were stripped of a gold, silver and fourth place result when it was discovered they had illegally heated their sled runners to achieve faster times.

Another point of contention tarnished the glamour sport of alpine skiing. Brundage, who was a staunch supporter of keeping amateur sport free of commercialism, didn’t want skiers to display brand names on their equipment. Many skiers didn’t adhere to Brundage’s warnings. The IOC president became infuriated and refused to present the alpine skiing medals – a gesture that now seems absurd in light of the increasing commercialism of the Games.

Canada's performance

Canada won three medals in Grenoble. Two came courtesy of skier Nancy Greene. The Rossland, B.C. native was a medal threat in all three alpine disciplines (downhill, slalom and giant slalom) in the months leading up to the 1968 Olympics. Greene held the 1967 overall World Cup title.

However, the world champion suffered a major setback just one month before the Games. She pulled the ligaments in her right ankle during a training crash. But the sore ankle didn’t hold her back.

After a 10th-place finish in the downhill, Greene rebounded by winning silver in slalom, her least favourite event. She capped off an Olympics to remember by attacking the Chamrousse course to claim gold in the giant slalom. Greene obliterated the field by over 2.5 seconds. Her determination and competitive spirit earned Greene the nickname "Tiger."

The only other Canadian medal was a bronze in ice hockey. Canada cruised through the first part of the tournament, chalking up wins over West Germany, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and the United States, losing only to Finland. The Canadian team entered its final game against the Soviets with a shot at gold, but was outclassed 5-0 to finish third overall.