Winter Olympics Through the Years: 1968

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff

Grenoble

For the first time since they began attending the Winter Games in 1956, the Russians did not win the most medals—Norway did.

This was also the first year that the IOC permitted East and West Germany to participate as separate countries.

The host French team finished fourth in the overall standings—their best showing ever—thanks mainly to 24–year-old Jean-Claude Killy, who became the first skier to sweep all three Alpine events since Toni Sailer in 1956.

Killy was awarded his third gold medal in the slalom only after original winner Karl Schranz of Austria was disqualified for missing two gates on his second run in the two-heat race. Schranz had been allowed to retake his second heat run when a spectator interrupted his initial attempt, but officials ruled the missed gates came before the interruption.

Once again, the U.S. won only one gold medal—19–year-old Peggy Fleming in women's figure skating. Three of the five silver medals won by the U.S. came in one event—the women's 500–meter speed skating race, where Jenny Fish, Dianne Holum and Mary Myers tied for second place with a time of 46.3 seconds.

Top 10 Standings

National medal standings are not recognized by the IOC. The unofficial point totals are based on 3 points for a gold medal, 2 for a silver and 1 for a bronze. Total medals are in parentheses.

  GoldSilverBronzePts
1Norway (14)66232
2USSR (13)55328
3Austria (11)34421
4France (9)43220
5Holland (9)33318
6Sweden (8)32316
7USA (7)15114
8West Germany (7)22313
9Italy (4)40012
10East Germany (5)1229
 Finland (5)1229

Leading Medal Winners

Number of individual medals won on the left; gold, silver and bronze breakdown to the right.

Men

No SportG-S-B
3Jean-Claude Killy, FRAAlpine3-0-0
3Eero Mäntyranta, FINX-country0-1-2
2Eugenio Monti, ITABobsled2-0-0
2Luciano De Paolis, ITABobsled2-0-0
2Ole Ellefsaeter, NORX-country2-0-0
2Harald Grönningen, NORX-country2-0-0
2Thomas Köhler, E.Ger.Luge1-1-0
2Fred Maier, NORSp. Skate1-1-0
2Odd Martinsen, NORX-country1-1-0
2Jiri Raska, CZESki Jump1-1-0
2Manfred Schmid, AUTLuge1-1-0
2Magnar Solberg, NORBiathlon1-1-0
2Aleksandr Tikhonov, USSRBiathlon1-1-0
2Kees Verkerk, NEDSp. Skate1-1-0
2Klaus Bonsack, E. Ger.Luge1-0-1
2Vladimir Goundartsev, USSRBiathlon1-0-1
2Gunnar Larsson, SWEX-country0-1-1

Women

No SportG-S-B
3Toini Gustafsson, SWEX-country2-1-0
2Carolina Geijssen, NEDSp. Skate1-1-0
2Nancy Greene, CANAlpine1-1-0
2Berit Mördre, NORX-country1-1-0
2Kaija Mustonen, FINSp. Skate1-1-0
2Lyudmila Titova, USSRSp. Skate1-1-0
2Inger Aufles, NORX-country1-0-1
2Annie Famose, FRAAlpine0-1-1
2Dianne Holum, USASp. Skate0-1-1
2Galina Kulakova, USSRX-country0-1-1
2Christina Kaiser, NEDSp. Skate0-0-2
2Alevtina Kolchina, USSRX-country0-0-2

Alpine Skiing

Men

Event  Time
DownhillJean-Claude Killy, FRA1:59.85
SlalomJean-Claude Killy, FRA1:39.73
G.SlalomJean-Claude Killy, FRA3:29.28

Women

Event  Time
DownhillOlga Pall, AUT1:40.87
SlalomMarielle Goitschel, FRA1:25.86
G.SlalomNancy Greene, CAN1:51.97

Biathlon

Event MTAdj.Time
20 kmMagnar Solberg, NOR01:13:45.9
4x7.5kmUSSR (Tikonov, Pousanov,  
 Mamatov, Goundartsev)22:13:02.4

Bobsled

Event  Time
2-ManITA (Eugenio Monti & Luciano De Paolis)4:41.54
4-ManITA (Eugenio Monti, Luciano De Paolis,
 Roberto Zandonella, Mario Armano)2:17.39

Figure Skating

Event  Points
MenWolfgang Schwarz, AUT1904.1
WomenPeggy Fleming, USA1970.5
PairsLyudmila Belousova 
 & Oleg Protopopov, USSR315.2

Ice Hockey

Group A

(Overall records in parentheses)

  GmW-L-TPtsGFGA
1USSR76-1-0124810
2Czecholslovakia75-1-1113317
3Canada75-2-0102815
4Sweden74-2-192318
5Finland (4-3-1)73-3-191723
6USA72-4-152328
7West Germany (2-6-0)71-6-021339
8East Germany (1-7-0)70-7-001348
Note: Finland and the two Germanys had to win an elimination round game to qualify for Group A.

Luge

Men

Event  Time
1-SeatManfred Schmid, AUT2:52.48
2-SeatKlaus Bonsack & Thomas Köhler, E. Ger1:35.85

Women

Event  Time
1-SeatErica Lechner, ITA2:28.66
Note: Defending champion Ortrun Enderlein and teammate Anna Maria Müller of East Germany finished 1–2, but were disqualified for heating the blades of their toboggans.

Nordic Skiing

Men

Cross Country

Event  Time
15kmHarold Grönningen, NOR47:54.2
30kmFranco Nones, ITA1:35:39.2
50kmOle Ellefsaeter, NOR2:28:45.8
4x10kmNOR (Martinsen, Tyldum, Grönningen,
 Ellefsaeter)2:08:33.5

Ski Jumping

Event  Points
70mJiri Raska, CZE216.5
90mVladimir Beloussov, USSR231.3

Nordic Combined

Event Points
15km/JumpFranz Keller, W. Ger.449.04

Women

Cross Country

Event  Time
5kmToini Gustafsson, SWE16:45.2
10kmToini Gustafsson, SWE36:46.5
3x5kmNOR (Aufles, Damon-Enger, Mördre)57:30.0

Speed Skating

Men

Event  Time  
500mErhard Keller, W. Ger.40.3 
1500mKees Verkerk, NED2:03.4OR
5000mFred Maier, NOR7:22.4WR
10,000mJohnny Höglin, SWE15:23.6OR

Women

Event  Time  
500mLyudmila Titova, USSR46.1 
1000mCarolina Geijssen, NED1:32.6OR
1500mKaija Mustonen, FIN2:22.4OR
3000mJohanna Schut, NED4:56.2OR
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