THE ALBERTVILLE OLYMPICS: 20 Years On

The Albertville Olympics were the last to be held on the same year as the summer games.  They were the first to have a unified German team and a "Unified team" from the former Soviet republics.  Both did rather well - here's the medal table.

Albertville saw off Sofia and Falun (Sweden) to win the games, and follow Grenoble (1968) and Chamonix (1924).  Nineteen years later, Annecy, having beaten Nice and Grenoble for the French candidature, flopped dismally against Munich and the victorious Pyeongchang (South Korea).

It's an unprepossessing place, pop 17,000, at the junction of the Combe de Savoie (the flat valley from Chambery/Grenoble), the Tarentaise, Beaufortain, and Val d'Arly.  A bit like Penrith being the venue for a British version.

The venues for the Games were of course mainly in the various ski stations, and the RN90 was upgraded, putting an end to some monstrous traffic jams.

Some of the facilities you will see in resort today are a direct result of the games - for example the rather excellent ice rink at Meribel.

The speed skiing was held at Les Arcs, and marred by the death of Swiss speed skier Nicolas Bochatay on the morning of the event.

The downhill race was on La Face de Bellevard Val d'Isere, with Graham Bell finishing 33rd, just behind brother Martin (29th).

This was of course four years after Eddie the Eagle's triumphant Calgary tour de force (cue video):

There were actually some pretty strong British performances at Albertville.  For example Wilf Reilly finished 5th in the 1,000 metres short-track speed skating.

Perhaps the highlight of the speed skating, however, came from Austria:

The second notable performance was the British team at the Bobsleigh track in La Plagne, who were 6th in the 2-man and 7th in the 4-man, beating our French rivals on both occasions...

Although I can find no record of this on the results website, apparently Australia had a bobsled team in the 8-man section to complement Glenn Turner and Paul Narracott in the 2-man.  You can see a reunion of these fine athletes here:

Twenty years on, the future of the Bobsleigh course in La Plagne (the only one in France) is by no means assured.  It's not helped by being outside the resort and indeed relatively isolated half way up the Tarentaise.  More here and here.