Singles, Women1

The women’s competition was overshadowed by a scandal involving three sleighers, two of them set to win the medals. Two of the three East German women, Ortrun Enderlein and Anna-Maria Müller were leading after three runs (the fourth was eventually cancelled) when they were disqualified for heating the runners of their sleds. This practice gives lugers an advantage, as the warm runners melt the ice of the track, resulting in less friction when going downhill. At luge’s Olympic debut in 1964, heating of the runners was commonly practiced by nearly all competitors, but the International Luge Federation (FIL) had since forbidden this. At competitions, a technical delegate of FIL checked the sleds, measuring temperature of the runners by hand. However, after the first two runs, there were persistent rumours that the East Germans were nevertheless warming their material. This prompted the chief of the Jury, Poland’s Lucian Świderski, to test the runners himself. Witnessed by team leaders of Austria and Italy, he concluded that the three East Germans, who were in positions 1, 2 and 4 after three runs, had heated their runners, and were to be disqualified. When the 4th run was cancelled due to the poor weather, this left the title to Italy’s Erika Lechner, ahead of two West German women.