1988 Winter Olympics

The weather conditions were a problem facing OCO'88 during the Games, with temperatures ranging from −28 to 22 °C (−18 to 72 °F).[43] After an unexpectedly freezing opening ceremony,[44] the outdoor competitions scheduled to start the next day had to be postponed. This ended up affecting the men's downhill skiing event at Nakiska which was postponed for one day, due to Chinook winds blowing up to 160 km/h.[45] The women's downhill event also experienced the same scenario. With the ski jumping venue facing north at Canada Olympic Park (COP), the same winds also disrupted those events,[36] with the large hill event being postponed four times.[46] It also disrupted the Nordic combined events, in which the ski jumping part had to be postponed as well. This situation ended up causing something unprecedented in the history of the Winter Olympics, as for the first time both the ski jumping and Nordic combined cross-country skiing events were contested in a single day.[47] Despite using artificial cooling,[36] the bobsleigh and luge events did not need to be rescheduled; however, several races had to be postponed because of the high temperatures recorded and also because of the dirt that was carried away by these winds.[48]

The Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA) Board of Directors had originally 25 members. It was chaired by Frank King,[20] followed by former Mayors Ralph Klein and Ross Alger, and other prominent Calgarians. The executive committee president was Robert Niven.[49] The Olympic Organizing Committee (OOC) was formed by utilizing many of the original board of directors members.[50] It was initially started with 11 members and was grown to 25 members by October 1983.[51] It grew further to 29 members by 1985, when former Alberta premier, Peter Lougheed, was added to the list.[26][52] An Olympic biographer, Kevin Wamsley, noted that the CEO Frank King, President Bill Pratt, Ralph Klein, and former COA President Roger Jackson had collectively the most influence on all aspects of these Winter Olympics.[26] This organizing committee took a hierarchical form for planning these Olympics, which caused consternation from some staff, volunteers, and people in executive roles. The original staff, who were at odds with the current management structure, were either fired or willingly resigned. Also, there were claims that some of the volunteers were verbally abused.[26] As a result, David Leighton resigned as OOC President in 1982, after only five months on the job. Therefore, Bill Pratt, a former general manager of the Calgary Stampede, became the new OCOG's president shortly afterwards.[26][53] The City of Calgary and the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) delegated officially all Olympic responsibilities, including staging the Winter Olympics under the Olympic Charter, to the newly formed OCO'88 in February and September 1983 respectively.[53]

However, conflicts within OCO'88 grew in the public eye and a review of the entire management structure was conducted after Ralph Klein threatened it with a public inquiry in 1986.[32] Thus, Frank King remained as CEO, but with the addition of more full-time staff. Also, more than 9,000 volunteers were registered who were allocated to the most diverse areas.[32] Despite these changes, there was still some animosity within OCO'88. Kevin Walmsley noted that Bill Pratt and Frank King continued to have a very tense relationship and that any movement caused sparks with each other.[28] Some members of the media commented that the changes made further alienated the general public, with a host broadcaster producer, Ralph Mellanby, describing it as "an oilman's and cattleman's Calgary thing."[28] Long-time IOC member Dick Pound, on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), went on record to say that the IOC grew increasingly frustrated, as it saw the actions of OCO'88 as a refusal to collaborate with them.[28]

The 1988 Winter Olympic Games coincided with a shift in television policy by the International Olympic Committee and growing enthusiasm by broadcasters in the United States. Amendments to the Olympic Charter in 1977 established a policy mandating joint television rights involving the IOC and the local organizing committee and was enshrined in the 1981 bid agreement for the Calgary games.[54]

The joint negotiating committee convened in 1984 late-January, some weeks before the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Games at the IOC's president residency at the Lausanne Palace were held to negotiate the Calgary television contracts with American broadcasters.[55] The negotiating committee was represented by Dick Pound for the IOC, Bill Wardle for OCO'88 and consultant Barry Frank. The co-negotiating committee designed a new tender process for the television rights bid with an emphasis on creating a level playing field for all broadcasters. For the first time, the negotiations were based on a series of sealed bids and representatives from ABC, CBS and NBC vied for the opportunity to broadcast the Games.[54]

After six rounds of sealed bids, the ABC delegation led by producer Roone Arledge was successful with an agreement paying a record US$309 million (Can$386 million Canadian at the time) in exchange for exclusive rights for the games.[56][57] CBS exited the bidding process after the second round with a final offer of $257 million, while ABC and NBC both reached the fifth round with an offer of $300 million.[54][57] In the sixth and final stage, the IOC and OCO'88 decided a coin flip would determine which of ABC or NBC had the right to submit the first bid or defer, a decision neither network supported.[57] NBC's president of sports Arthur A. Watson elected to call the coin-flip, although he remained silent on the first flip, so a second coinflip was required, and NBC won with a choice of "heads", and after 30 minutes of deliberation submitted a $304 million bid.[57] ABC's representative Arledge made a quick phone call to executive Fred Pierce, and ABC submitted a $309 million bid, exceeding NBC's bid by $5 million.[54][57] ABC's record-setting bid was immediately controversial, first Arledge had exceeded the maximum allowable bid set by ABC's executives by $34 million, and in the coming weeks ABC's coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympics which cost $91.5 million[32][58] returned poor Nielsen ratings.[56] Early estimates speculated the network would lose $50-$60 million televising the games.[56] The Wall Street Journal described the NBC agreement as the "biggest prize of the Winter Olympics".[56] The deal which was at the time the highest amount ever paid for a sporting event, allowed OCO'88 to announce the Games would be debt-free.[59]

The negotiations with American television broadcasters were in sharp contrast to negotiations for Western European rights with the European Broadcasting Union quickly closing an exclusive deal with the IOC for US$5.7 million led by Juan Antonio Samaranch and Marc Hodler on behalf of the IOC.[60] The Calgary Herald headline after the announcement negatively reflected on the "bargain" the European network received, and OCO'88 chairman Frank King publicly expressed his disappointment with the IOC.[60] Samaranch's argument for providing for a privileged negotiation with EBU was ensuring European viewers had equal access and coverage of the games, something he did not believe would occur if private networks from each nation were provided with the opportunity to bid.[60] Dick Pound was also critical of the decision and argued more revenue could be brought in from BBC and RAI alone and the privileged status suppressed the willingness of the EBU to make a market-value bid on the games.[61]

The CTV Television Network won the bid to broadcast the Games in Canada in December 1983, paying Can$4.5 million for the exclusive rights.[62][63] CTV also won the $23.5 million contract to serve as the host broadcaster, responsible for the manpower and equipment to televise the games.[62] In 1978, while the bid was strengthened, CBC and CTV signed an agreement that if Calgary were the eventual winner, the two broadcasters would create a consortium in which the purchase of television rights would take place jointly. The previous arrangement had CBC provide full coverage for Summer Games with CTV broadcasting a nightly summary, while CTV had the rights to Winter Games with CBC broadcasting a nightly summary.[64] The nightly summary of the Games was also televised on CBC.[65][66]

The Asian broadcast rights were awarded to NHK in July 1986 for US$3.9 million.[67]

OCO'88 made several alterations to the Olympic program as part of efforts to ensure value for its broadcast partners. Now, the premier and main events, including ice hockey and figure skating, were scheduled for prime time and the Games were lengthened to 15 days from the previous 12 to ensure three weekends of coverage.[68] However, a significant downturn in advertising revenue for sporting events resulted in ABC forecasting significant financial losses on the Games. Calgary organizers appreciated their fortunate timing in signing the deal. King described the timing of the contract with ABC as "the passing of the sun and the moon at the right time for Calgary".[65][66] The revenue growth from broadcasting was significant for the Calgary Games, the 1980 Lake Placid Games generated US$20.7 million, while OCO'88 generated $324.9 million in broadcast rights.[69] ABC had net losses of more than $60 million, and broadcast rights to the 1992 Winter Olympics were later sold to the CBS network for $243 million, a 20 per cent reduction compared to Calgary.[70]

A series of ticket-related scandals plagued the organizing committee as the Games approached, resulting in widespread public anger.[71] Demand for tickets was high, particularly for the main events which had sold out a year in advance. Residents had been promised that only 10 per cent of tickets would go to "Olympic insiders", IOC officials and sponsors, but OCO'88 was later forced to admit that up to 50 percent of seats to top events had gone to insiders.[37] The organizing committee, which was subsequently chastised by mayor Klein for running a "closed shop", admitted that it had failed to properly communicate the obligations it had to supply IOC officials and sponsors with priority tickets.[72]

These events were preceded by the ticketing manager for OCO'88 being charged with theft and fraud after he sent modified ticket request forms to Americans that asked them to pay in United States funds rather than Canadian and to return them to his company's post office box rather than the office of the organizing committee. At that time, the American dollar was trading 40 cents higher than the Canadian dollar, resulting in significantly higher than anticipated revenue through currency conversion.[73][28][74] The ticket manager maintained his innocence claiming he was used as a scapegoat and sponsor credit card Visa was responsible for the error, despite his claims, the ticketing manager was convicted of fraud, theft, and forgery, and sentenced to 5 years in prison.[75]

Organizers attempted to respond to public concern by asking sponsors to consider reducing their orders and by paying $1.5 million to add 2,600 seats to the Saddledome, as well as increase capacity for ski jumping, alpine skiing and the opening ceremonies. This led to a change of the venue of the closing ceremonies from Saddledome to McMahon Stadium, as the stadium capacity was about two times bigger than the indoor venue.[74] King also noted that the Calgary Games offered a then-record 1.9 million tickets for sale,[74] three times the amount available at Sarajevo or Lake Placid and that 79 percent of them were to be allocated to Calgarians.[74][72] By the start of the 1988 Winter Games, a record of over 1.4 million tickets had been sold,[76] a figure that eclipsed the previous three Winter Games combined.[77] In the OCO'88's final report, the Committee admits the culmination of fraud charges, a large portion of premier tickets requested by Olympic insiders, and poor communications led to a negative public reaction to the ticketing process.[74]

For the first time in the history of the Olympics, both summer and winter, the Organizing Committee worked with a refund policy for returned or unused tickets. When an event was postponed by at least 24 hours, the ticketholder was eligible for a refund. Due to weather issues, the 8 events that were scheduled for the first 24 hours had to be rescheduled, resulting in 130,000 ticket refunds totalling Can$2.9 million, with transactions handled by the Royal Bank of Canada.[78]

Hidy and Howdy were the mascots of the Calgary Games.

The city of Calgary is world-renowned for the enthusiasm of its population for volunteer work which is reflected in the annual Calgary Stampede, which also relied heavily on volunteers to run the Olympics. Over 22,000 people signed up for more than 9,400 positions, no matter how inglorious: doctors, lawyers and executives even offered to collect the waste generated during the opening ceremony.[79] Also, for the first time, a "Homestay" program was created and several local families opened their homes to visitors from around the world, and others were renting their rooms or houses to those who could not stay in pay a reserve in a hotel.[37]

Klein was among those who felt it necessary that the event be community driven, a decision which allowed the city's welcoming spirit to manifest.[80] The Games' mascots, Hidy and Howdy, were designed to evoke images of "western hospitality".[81] The smiling, cowboy-themed polar bears were popular across Canada. Played by a team of 150 students from Bishop Carroll High School, the sister-brother pair made up to 300 appearances per month in the lead-up to the Games.[82][83] From their introduction at the closing ceremonies of the Sarajevo Games in 1984 until their retirement at the conclusion of the Calgary Games, the pair made about 50,000 appearances.[82] The iconic mascots graced signs welcoming travellers to Calgary for nearly two decades until they were replaced in 2007.[84] The mascot's names "Hidy" and "Howdy" were chosen by a public contest.[51]

The 1988 Winter Olympic Games were the most expensive Games, summer or winter, to be held at that time, with total expenses exceeding Can$879.6 million.[76][lower-alpha 4] The high cost was anticipated, as organizers were aware at the outset of their bid that most facilities would have to be constructed.[22] The venues, constructed primarily with public money, were designed to have lasting use beyond the Games and were planned to become the home of several of Canada's national winter sports teams.[87] The record-breaking cost of the Calgary Olympics came in stark contrast to the original projections during the 1981 bid, which estimated a total cost of Can$218 million, split between Can$126 million in capital costs and Can$92 million in operating costs.[88] The significant growth in capital expenditures came despite the three levels of government taking over projects which constituted nearly half of the original budgeted capital projects.[89]

The primary source of revenue for OCO'88 was the lucrative television contracts, bringing in Can$325.9 million (58.3 per cent of revenue), followed by corporate sponsorships at Can$88 million (15.8 per cent of revenue), and ticket sales of Can$41.9 million (7.5 per cent of revenue).[89] Of the total expenses for the Games (Can$879.6 million), the Government of Canada contributed Can$200 million (22.7 per cent), the Government of Alberta contributed Can$130 million (14.8 per cent), and the City of Calgary contributed Can$43 million (4.9 per cent).[86] The Can$320.8 million of government capital contributions not directly included in OCO'88's revenue statements included the Government of Canada constructing the Can$72.2 million Canada Olympic Park,[90] and Can$40 million for the Olympic Oval.[91] Provincial expenses included Can$14.4 million to build the Canmore Nordic Centre,[38] and Can$25.3 million to build Nakiska.[92] All three governments contributed to the Can$97.7 million Olympic Saddledome.[25] Of OCO'88's reported revenue of Can$526.8 million, Can$110 million was paid to the IOC as a share of television and market rights, and an additional Can$7 million was paid to the United States Olympic Committee for rights to broadcast the Games in the United States, and Can$3 million was reimbursed to NOC's for accommodation fees at the Games.[93]

The Games were a major economic boom for the city, which had fallen into its worst recession in 40 years following the collapse of both oil and grain prices three years before the games.[77][94] A report prepared for the city in January 1985 estimated the games would create 11,100 man-years of employment and generate Can$450 million in salaries and wages.[95] In its post-Games report, OCO'88 estimated the Olympics created Can$1.4 billion in economic benefits across Canada during the 1980s, 70 percent within Alberta, as a result of capital spending, increased tourism and new sporting opportunities created by the facilities.[93]

1988 Winter Olympic Torch

The design of the Olympic Torch for the Calgary games was a reproduction of the main landmark building of the Calgary skyline, the Calgary Tower.[105] The National Research Council Canada developed the design for the Torch,[105] the base of the torch is made of maple wood, the national tree of Canada, aluminum, and hardened steel, all 100% collected in Canadian territory. The torch was designed to remain lit despite the extreme conditions of Canadian winters.[106] The Torch had to be light enough for relay runners to carry comfortably, and the final design came in at 60 centimetres in length and 1.7 kilograms in weight.[105][36][107] The maple handle portion included laser-incised pictograms of the 10 official Olympic Winter sports, and lettering was engraved on the steel caldron portion.[105] The torch used a mixed type of three fuels (gasoline, kerosene and alcohol) to allow a continuous burn during the unpredictable Canadian winter.[105] Approximately 100 torches were manufactured for the Games.[105]

All of the long track world (WR) and Olympic records (OR) that occurred during these Games were later broken at succeeding Winter Olympics and other world events.[34]

Date	Event	NOC	Name	Time
February 14	Men's 500 metres	East Germany	Uwe-Jens Mey	36.45 (WR)
February 17	Men's 5000 metres	Sweden	Tomas Gustafson	6:44.63 (OR)
February 18	Men's 1000 metres	Soviet Union	Nikolay Gulyayev	1:13.03 (OR)
February 20	Men's 1500 metres	East Germany	André Hoffmann	1:52.06 (WR)
February 21	Men's 10000 metres	Sweden	Tomas Gustafson	13:48.20 (WR)
February 22	Women's 500 metres	United States	Bonnie Blair	39.10 (WR)
February 23	Women's 3000 metres	Netherlands	Yvonne van Gennip	4:11.94 (WR)
February 26	Women's 1000 metres	East Germany	Christa Luding-Rothenburger	1:17.65 (WR)
February 27	Women's 1500 metres	Netherlands	Yvonne van Gennip	2:00.68 (OR)
February 28	Women's 5000 metres	Netherlands	Yvonne van Gennip	7:14.13 (WR)

Hosting the Winter Olympics helped fuel a significant increase in Calgary's reputation on the world stage.[80] Crosbie Cotton, a reporter for the Calgary Herald who covered the city's Olympic odyssey from its 1979 initiative to the closing ceremonies, noted an increased positive outlook of the city's population over time. He believed that the populace began to outgrow its "giant inferiority complex" that is "typically Canadian", by replacing it with a new level of confidence as the Games approached.[133] This outcome helped the city grow from a regional oil and gas centre, best known for the Calgary Stampede, to a destination for international political, economic, and sporting events.[80] A study prepared for the organizing committee of the 2010 Winter Olympics, (VANOC), claimed that Calgary hosted over 200 national and international sporting competitions between 1987 and 2007, due to the facilities it had constructed for these Olympic Games.[134]

The Games' enduring popularity within Calgary has been attributed to efforts in making them "everybody's Games." Aside from the sense of community fostered by the high level of volunteer support, OCO'88 included the general public in other ways. For example, the citizens were given an opportunity to purchase a brick with their names engraved on it. Those bricks were used to build the Olympic Plaza, where the medal ceremonies were held in 1988. It remains a popular public park and event site in the city's downtown core today.[135]

After the success of these Olympic Games, Calgary was wanting to bring back the Olympic experience again. It offered, to the IOC, in becoming a possible alternate host city of the 2002 Winter Olympics, after a bidding scandal resulted in speculation that Salt Lake City would not be able to remain the host city.[136] Next, the city was attempting to be Canada's bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but the COC decided to give it to Vancouver and Whistler.[137] Later, a 2013 Calgary Sun online poll found that 81% of respondents said they would support the idea of hosting another Winter Olympics.[138] On November 13, 2018, Calgary held a public non-binding plebiscite on whether it should bid to host the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. On November 19, 2018, the results of the plebiscite showed that 56.4% (171,750) of eligible voters said "No", while 43.6% (132,832) of them said "Yes." Therefore, the city council concluded that the bid would be withdrawn.[139]

Canada increased its medal totals in each successive Winter Games from Calgary until Vancouver in 2010.

In light of the 1976 Summer Olympics' disastrous financial legacy,[140] the Calgary Olympic organizing committee, OCO'88, parlayed its ability to generate television and sponsorship revenues, along with the three levels of government support, into what was ultimately a C$170 million surplus.[68] While OCO'88 reported officially a surplus after the Games were over, the accounting practices of the final report did not include federal, provincial, and municipal capital and operations funding infrastructures.[141][142]

The overall surplus was turned into endowment funds that were split between Canada Olympic Park (C$110 million) and CODA. They were subsequently reformed later, in order to manage the Olympic facilities with a trust fund that had grown steadily to be worth over C$200 million by 2013.[68] Consequently, all five primary facilities built for the 1988 Winter Olympics remained operational for their intended purposes, 25 years after the Games concluded.[143] Calgary and Canmore became the heart of winter sports in Canada, as CODA (now known as WinSport) established itself as the nation's leader in developing elite winter athletes. For the 2006 Winter Olympics, a quarter of Canada's Olympic winter athletes were from the Calgary region and three-quarters of its medalists were from or trained in Alberta.[134]

Before 1988, Canada was not a winter sports power. The nation's five overall medals won in Calgary was its second-best total at a Winter Olympics, behind the seven overall medals it won at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.[144] After 1988, Canada won an increasing number of gold and overall medals at each successive Winter Olympics.[145] It culminated in an overall performance of 26 medals won at the 2010 Winter Olympics, which included the previous Olympic record of 14 gold medals.[146] Until 2010, Norway won the most Olympic gold medals on home soil at the 1952 Winter Olympics. However, Norway recaptured the record of winning the most Olympic gold medals at a single Winter Olympics, at 16. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Canada earned its highest overall medal count in the Winter Olympics to date, with a total of 29 medals.[147]

• Calgary Olympic Development Association (1981). Calgary, Canada (Candidature File) (in English and French). Calgary: Calgary Olympic Development Association.
• Dunn, Bob, ed. (1987), Official Souvenir Program – XV Olympic Winter Games, XV Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee
• International Olympic Committee (1988). Calgary '88, the Official Book of the International Olympic Committee: Come Together, Ensemble: 13th-28th February, 1988. The Committee.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• OCO'88 (1988), XV Olympic Winter Games: Official Report (in English and French), XV Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee, ISBN 0-921060-26-2
• Robertson, Lloyd; Johnson, Brian D. (1988). The Official Commemorative Book: XV Olympic Winter Games. Toronto: Key Porter Books. ISBN 978-1-55013-059-1.

• Barney, Robert Knight (2002). Selling the Five Rings: The International Olympic Committee and the Rise of Olympic Commercialism. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press. ISBN 978-0-87480-713-4.
• Dempsey, Daniel V. (2002). A Tradition of Excellence: Canada's Airshow Team Heritage. High Flight Enterprises. ISBN 0-9687817-0-5.
• Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberly D., eds. (1996). Historical dictionary of the modern Olympic movement. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-28477-6.
• Gerlach, Larry (2004). The Winter Olympics – From Chamonix to Salt Lake City. The University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-778-6.
• Podnieks, Andrew (2009). Canada's Olympic Hockey History 1920–2010. Fenn Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55168-323-2.
• Wallechinsky, David; Loucky, Jaime (2009). The complete book of the Winter Olympics (2010 ed.). London: Aurum. ISBN 978-1-84513-491-4.