Speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skatin ...
at the
1968 Winter Olympics
The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...
, was held from 4 to 12 February. Eight events were contested at
L'Anneau de Vitesse
L'Anneau de Vitesse ( en, The Speed Circuit) is an outdoor speed skating venue located in Grenoble, France. It hosted the speed skating events for the 1968 Winter Olympics. This Speed Circuit is located in a park of 27 hectares, the Park Paul Mist ...
in
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
, France.
Medal summary
Medal table
The Netherlands topped the medal table, with nine medals, three of each type. Three tied events meant that only five bronze medals were awarded. The gold medal won by
Erhard Keller was the first medal in speedskating for West Germany as a separate country.
Five athletes shared the top of the individual medal table, with one gold and one silver each:
Kees Verkerk and
Carry Geijssen of the Netherlands, Finland's
Kaija Mustonen, the Soviet Union's
Lyudmila Titova and Norway's
Fred Anton Maier
Fred Anton Maier (15 December 1938 – 9 June 2015) was a speed skater from Norway. He was among the dominating skaters throughout the 1960s, specialising in the longer distances.
__NOTOC__
Maier won four Olympic medals: silver on the 10,000&nb ...
.
Three American female skaters were tied for a silver in the women's 500 meters, all showing the same time.
Men's events
Women's events
Records
One world record and six Olympic records were set at Grenoble. The only Olympic records not broken were in the two shortest events, the men's and women's 500 metres.
Participating NOCs
Nineteen nations competed in the speed skating events at Grenoble. East and West Germany made their debuts as separate teams.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
{{Speed skating at the Winter Olympics
1968 Winter Olympics events
1968
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide.
Events January–February
* January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
* Janu ...
1968 in speed skating
Olympics, 1968