Australia at the 1988 Winter Olympics

Australia at the
1988 Winter Olympics
IOC code AUS
NOC Australian Olympic Committee
Website www.olympics.com.au
in Calgary
Competitors 18 in 6 sports
Flag bearer Michael Richmond
Medals
Gold Silver Bronze Total
0 0 0 0
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games
Australasia (1908–1912)

Australia competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Eighteen athletes participated, competing in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, figure skating and speed skating, and for the first time bobsleigh. Australia's best result was tenth by Danny Kah in the 5000 metres speed skating.

Australia also participated in the demonstration sports of mogul freestyle skiing and short track speed skating.

There had earlier been hopes that Janine Shepherd would do well at these Olympics, but she was hit by a car and made a paraplegic while training for it.

Alpine skiing

[1]

Men
Athlete Event Final
Run 1 Rank Run 2 Rank Total Rank
Peter Forras Downhill N/A Did not finish
Steven Lee Downhill N/A 2:04.46 22
Super G N/A Did not finish
Giant slalom 1:10.64 41 1:06.90 36 2:17.54 36
Richard Biggins Super G N/A 1:47.38 31
Giant slalom 1:09.33 36 1:06.15 31 2:15.48 32
Slalom Did not finish

Men's combined

Athlete Downhill Slalom Total
Time Time 1 Time 2 Points Rank
Peter Forras Did not finish
Steven Lee Did not finish

Biathlon

[1]

Men
Athlete Event Final
Time Misses Rank
Andrew Paul Individual 1:08:59.3 6 57
Sprint 30:36.6 1 62

Bobsleigh

[1]

Athlete Event Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Angus Stuart
Martin Harland		 Two-man 59.21 26 60.15 18 61.38 24 60.49 24 4:01.23 23
Adrian Di Piazza
Simon Dodd		 60.03 33 60.94 31 61.23 21 60.41 23 4:02.61 26
Adrian Di Piazza
Martin Harland
Simon Dodd
Stephen Craig		 Four-man 58.20 25 58.87 22 57.25 16 59.02 24 3:53.34 23

Cross-country skiing

[1]

Men
Athlete Event Race
Time Rank
Chris Heberle 15 km classical 45:19.5 33
30 km classical 1:34:25.6 45
David Hislop 15 km classical 50:19.8 70
30 km classical 1:38:48.8 62

Figure skating

[1]

Athlete(s) Event CD1 CF/CD2 SP/OD FS/FD Total
FP FP FP FP TFP
Cameron Medhurst Men's N/A 10.8 6.4 20.0 37.2 19
Tracy Brook Ladies' N/A 15.6 9.2 Did not advance
Monica MacDonald & Rodney Clarke Ice dance 12.0 8.0 20.0 40.0 20

Speed skating

This was the sixth Winter Olympics for Colin Coates, having competed in every Winter Olympics since 1968. Although registered as a competitor, he was regarded by the AOC as an official. General manager and Chef de Mission Geoff Henke later said about this arrangement

His own parent organisation, the Australian Skating Union, refused to endorse him as a competitor. I asked them several times if perhaps he could compete, but they said no; they felt they should concentrate on building potential for the future. Finally we did list him among the entries, but on the strict understanding that he would not compete ... The listing boosted team numbers on paper, allowing us to provide adequate numbers of support staff, but more importantly the competitor status meant that Colin would be able to share ice time with the speed skaters, train with them, give them the benefit of his experience.

He unsuccessfully tried to convince the Geoff to allow him to compete, saying "No Colin, it's not on. Your own sport won't nominate you, and that's the end of it. You're training with the athletes, but not skating in the Games. You've known that since we left Australia". After other rejected requests, he gave the impression of accepting the situation. "I had the power to take his entry out, and probably that's what I should have done. But I trusted him. He knew that he was not to compete." Instead, when the event was on, he put on a uniform and skated his best time ever.

I looked up, and all of a sudden I could see Colin. I thought at first it must have been an old video they were screening, but then I saw he had the current uniform on, and the realisation dawned that he was skating in the race, defying my orders. He had set the whole thing up behind my back. Some team members knew what he was up to. I actually leapt up and started running. I took off for the track, half a mile away through an underground tunnel. When I surfaced I was in the middle of the arena, ready to put my arms around his throat and drag him off. He was halfway through the event, the course announcer had mentioned that this was his sixth Games, and a lot of very enthusiastic people, including the King of Sweden, were cheering him on. I was as angry as I'd ever been, really wanting to bundle him off the course. Then I calmed down, and thought ... no, I'll finish up making history, too. I didn't want to do a Percy Cerutty kind of thing, so I waited until he finished.

After the race, Geoff ran on the ice without skates and reprimanded him:

I told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of him. I used words I'd never normally use. As far as I was concerned, he'd skated illegally. I'd helped him a lot in his own sport, and he'd let me down.

Coates wept in response. Colin then received congratulations for skating at six Olympics, including from the prime minister Bob Hawke. Geoff relented "At that point, I settled for discretion rather than valour. I stopped going crook. The man was a public hero. He did the wrong thing by me, but his was an incredible performance, and nobody could ever take that away from him."

[1]

Athlete Event Final
Time Rank
Mike Richmond 500 m 37.77 23
1000 m 1:14.61 14
1500 m 1:54.95 12
Phillip Tahmindjis 1000 m 1:16.38 31
1500 m 1:57.63 32
Danny Kah 1500 m 1:55.19 14
5000 m 6:52.14 10
Colin Coates 10000 m 14:41.88 26

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "XV Olympic Winter Games: Official Report - XVes Jeux Olympiques d'hiver: rapport officiel" (PDF). XV Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. 1988. Retrieved November 17, 2013.

External links

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