Figure skating at the Winter Olympics | |
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Type: | Olympic Games |
Venue: | Le Stade Olympique de Glace |
Champions | |
Men's singles: Wolfgang Schwarz | |
Ladies' singles: Peggy Fleming | |
Pairs: Liudmila Belousova / Oleg Protopopov | |
Previous: 1964 Winter Olympics | |
Next: 1972 Winter Olympics |
Figure skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics was held at Le Stade Olympique de Glace in Grenoble, France. Ice dance, then known as "rhythmic skating," was a demonstration event and was won by the team of Diane Towler and Bernard Ford of Great Britain. [1] It became a medal event eight years later in 1976 Innsbruck. [2]
American figure skater Peggy Fleming built up a huge lead after the compulsory figures and won the first-place votes of all nine judges. [3] Her victory marked the first gold medal won by an American after the Sabena crash in 1961, and heralded an American figure skating renaissance. [4]
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
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1 | Soviet Union | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
3 | Austria | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
4 | East Germany | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
5 | Czechoslovakia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
France | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
West Germany | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Totals (7 entries) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
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The plane crash that killed the 1961 U.S. world championship figure skating team decimated families and the sport, but alongside grief came renewal.