Speed Skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics

Dates 14 – 28 February 1988
Medal Events 10

The Calgary Olympic Oval, an indoor rink with artificial ice, was built specifically for the 1988 Winter Olympics, and was opened in November 1987. It was not the first indoor speed skating oval in the world, that honor going to the Sportforum Hohenschönhausen in Berlin in late 1985, followed in 1986 by Heerenveen’s IJsstadium Thialf in the Netherlands, but this was the first time that the Olympic speed skating events would be held indoors. Shortly after opening, the Calgary Olympic Oval quickly developed a reputation as the fastest rink in the world, and when a World Cup event was held there in December 1987, six world records were broken at the meet. At the 1988 Winter Olympics six of the 10 distance world records were broken in Calgary. The speed of the rink was due to the covered oval, keeping out weather conditions, the dry air of Calgary, and its altitude, at 1,035 metres. One change did occur to the speed skating Olympic Program in 1988, as a fifth event was added for women, the 5,000 metres. The 5,000 had replaced the 1,000 metre in women’s all-around competition starting in 1983.

Star of the speed skating competitions was Yvonne van Gennip, who unexpectedly beat the favored East German skaters to win three gold medals. Among the men, it was Tomas Gustafson who added two more gold medals to his gold and silver of Sarajevo.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
500 metres, Men Olympic 14 February 1988 37 15
1,000 metres, Men Olympic 18 February 1988 40 16
1,500 metres, Men Olympic 20 February 1988 40 20
5,000 metres, Men Olympic 17 February 1988 38 18
10,000 metres, Men Olympic 21 February 1988 32 19
500 metres, Women Olympic 22 February 1988 30 15
1,000 metres, Women Olympic 26 February 1988 27 12
1,500 metres, Women Olympic 27 February 1988 28 13
3,000 metres, Women Olympic 23 February 1988 29 16
5,000 metres, Women Olympic 28 February 1988 25 14
141 (88/53) 21 (21/17)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
500 metres, Men Uwe-Jens MeyGDR Jan YkemaNED Akira KuroiwaJPN
1,000 metres, Men Nikolay GulyayevURS Uwe-Jens MeyGDR Ihar ZhaliasouskiURS
1,500 metres, Men André HoffmannGDR Eric FlaimUSA Michael HadschieffAUT
5,000 metres, Men Tomas GustafsonSWE Leo VisserNED Gerard KemkersNED
10,000 metres, Men Tomas GustafsonSWE Michael HadschieffAUT Leo VisserNED
500 metres, Women Bonnie BlairUSA Christa RothenburgerGDR Karin KaniaGDR
1,000 metres, Women Christa RothenburgerGDR Karin KaniaGDR Bonnie BlairUSA
1,500 metres, Women Yvonne van GennipNED Karin KaniaGDR Andrea EhrigGDR
3,000 metres, Women Yvonne van GennipNED Andrea EhrigGDR Gabi ZangeGDR
5,000 metres, Women Yvonne van GennipNED Andrea EhrigGDR Gabi ZangeGDR

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
East Germany GDR 3 6 4 13
Netherlands NED 3 2 2 7
Sweden SWE 2 0 0 2
United States USA 1 1 1 3
Soviet Union URS 1 0 1 2
Austria AUT 0 1 1 2
Japan JPN 0 0 1 1