Calgary '88: flamboyant Tomba, comical Eddie the Eagle (Feature)

By David Hein Jan 27, 2010, 5:06 GMT

Munich - Alberto Tomba left a first mark with two gold medals while Eddie the Eagle was the first prominent exotic athlete when the Winter Olympics came to Canada for the first time.

Calgary 1988 saw the flamboyant Italian Tomba capture a slalom and giant slalom double while Briton Michael Edwards (that's his proper name) turned ski-jumping into something of a mockery.

Olympic supremo Juan Antonio Samaranch said at the closing ceremony that one athlete 'flew like an eagle.' The remark drew 'Eddie Eddie' chants from the Canadian crowd but it is believed that Samaranch actually meant Finland's Matti Nykaenen who won three golds.

After all, the Canadian crowd was left to cheer others, including a Caribbean bobsleigh team, as the home team failed to get gold.

Under the motto 'Come Together in Calgary', the 1988 Games were opened on February 13, 1988, at MacMahon Stadium with the lighting of the Olympic Flame by schoolgirl Robyn Perry and cross-country skier Pierre Harvey taking the athlete's Olympic Oath.

A record 57 nations entered athletes for the Calgary Games, including for the first time participants from Fiji, Guam, Guatemala, Jamaica and Netherlands Antilles. All told, there were 1,423 athletes with Liu Luyang (11 years, 256 days) being the youngest participant and Harvey Hook (52 years, 197 days) the oldest.

Besides a record number of participating athletes and nations, the 1988 Games also saw the number of events increase from 39 in Sarajevo to a record 46 which stretched the programme from 12 to 16 days.

And spectators at home saw plenty of unforgettable thrills.

The Soviet Union and East Germany ruled over the 1988 Games, winning 29 and 25 medals, respectively, with the Soviets' 11 golds two better than East Germany. Switzerland finished third overall with 15 medals, including five gold medals.

Nykaenen dominated the ski-jumping events and Dutch speed skater Yvonne van Gennip also got three golds, plus two world records in the process.

Swedish men's speed skater Tomas Gustafson set two world records in taking two golds.

The double feat also accomplished in spectacular fashion by the debutant Tomba, with Switzerland's Vreni Schneider also getting an alpine double in the same events as Tomba.

The glamour sport of figure skating also had its share of highlights with American Brian Boitano winning the Battle of the Brians in the men's event against Canadian Brian Orser.

East German Katarina Witt graced her way to the women's gold.

The Jamaica four-man bobsleigh team had a similar impact as Edwards on the Games' legacy, demonstrating the Olympic spirit and even inspiring the 1993 Disney comedy film 'Cool Runnings'.

The Games themselves were threatened a number of times by warm Chinook winds gusting at times up to 95 kph, forcing the rescheduling of many ski events.

The Winter Olympics turned into the 'Windy Olympics,' with the alpine events taking place on artificial snow for the first time, but history would show that the conditions could not dampen the legacy of the 1988 Calgary Olympics.