United States at the 1968 Winter Olympics

United States at the
1968 Winter Olympics
Flag of the United States
IOC codeUSA
NOCUnited States Olympic Committee
in Grenoble
Competitors96 (75 men, 21 women) in 6 sports
Flag bearerTerry McDermott
Medals
Ranked 9th
Gold
1
Silver
5
Bronze
1
Total
7
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)

The United States competed at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.

Medalists

Further information: 1968 Winter Olympics medal table

The following U.S. competitors won medals at the games. In the by discipline sections below, medalists' names are bolded.

Alpine skiing

Main article: Alpine skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics

Men

Athlete Event Heat 1 Heat 2 Final
Run 1 Run 2 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Jim Barrows Downhill — DNF
Jere Elliott DNF
Billy Kidd 2:03.40 18
Dennis McCoy 2:04.82 21
Rick Chaffee Giant slalom — 1:46.44 13 1:49.75 14 3:36.19 15
Jimmy Heuga 1:45.46 7 1:48.43 9 3:33.89 10
Billy Kidd 1:45.91 8 1:46.46 1 3:32.37 5
Spider Sabich 1:46.34 12 1:49.81 15 3:36.15 14
Rick Chaffee Slalom 54.28 1 QF Bye 49.95 10 51.24 10 1:41.19 9
Jimmy Heuga 52.34 1 QF Bye 49.96 11 51.01 9 1:40.97 7
Billy Kidd 53.37 1 QF Bye DNF
Spider Sabich 53.52 2 QF Bye 49.75 4 50.74 7 1:40.49 5

Women

Athlete Event Run 1 Run 2 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Karen Budge Downhill — DNS
Suzy Chaffee 1:48.50 28
Kiki Cutter 1:44.94 17
Sandy Shellworth 1:46.53 21
Wendy Allen Giant slalom — 2:00.03 22
Suzy Chaffee 1:58.38 17
Kiki Cutter 1:59.52 21
Judy Nagel 1:57.39 12
Wendy Allen Slalom DSQ
Kiki Cutter DSQ
Rosie Fortna DSQ
Judy Nagel 40.19 1 DSQ

Biathlon

Main article: Biathlon at the 1968 Winter Olympics
Athlete Event Time Misses Rank
Jonathan Chaffee Individual 1:34:21.1 11 (3+2+4+2) 49
Bill Spencer 1:30:17.7 10 (2+3+1+4) 37
Ralph Wakley 1:27:32.9 5 (1+1+3+0) 27
Edward Williams 1:32:24.5 9 (2+5+0+2) 45
John Ehrensbeck
Bill Spencer
Ralph Wakley
Edward Williams 		Relay 2:28:35.5 8 8

Bobsleigh

Main article: Bobsleigh at the 1968 Winter Olympics
Athletes Event Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Howard Clifton
Michael Luce 		Two-man 1:12.10 14 1:12.18 10 1:11.88 9 1:13.15 15 4:49.31 11
Paul Lamey
Robert Huscher 		1:11.30 8 1:11.54 4 1:11.04 6 1:12.15 9 4:46.03 6
Bill Hickey
Howard Clifton
Michael Luce
Paul Savage 		Four-man 1:11.45 14 1:08.92 14 — 2:20.37 15
Boris Said
David Dunn
Robert Crowley
Phil Duprey 		1:11.08 11 1:08.48 10 2:19.56 10

Cross-country skiing

Main article: Cross-country skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics
Athlete Event Time Rank
Larry Damon Men's 15 km 55:07.2 55
Mike Elliott 52:40.8 41
Mike Gallagher 52:02.4 34
Bob Gray 53:24.8 48
Mike Elliott Men's 30 km 1:42:22.6 29
Mike Gallagher 1:41:58.2 27
Charles Kellogg 1:50:03.7 51
Jon Lufkin 1:51:21.2 55
Larry Damon Men's 50 km 2:41:25.2 32
Mike Elliott 2:40:38.5 30
Mike Gallagher 2:36:26.1 22
Charles Kellogg 2:44:00.4 36
John Bower
Mike Elliott
Mike Gallagher
Bob Gray 		Men's 4 × 10 km relay 2:21:30.4 12

Figure skating

Main article: Figure skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics

Ladies' singles skater Peggy Fleming built up a huge lead after the compulsory figures and won the first-place votes of all nine judges.[1] Her victory marked the first gold medal won by an American after the death of an entire US figure skating team in an air crash in 1961, and heralded an American figure skating renaissance.[2]

Individual

Athlete Event CF FS Total
Rank Rank Points Places Rank
John Misha Petkevich Men's singles 8 4 1806.2 56 6
Gary Visconti 6 5 1810.2 52 5
Tim Wood 2 3 1891.6 17 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Peggy Fleming Ladies' singles 1 1 1970.5 9 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Janet Lynn 14 6 1698.7 90 9
Albertina Noyes 5 7 1797.3 40 4

Mixed

Athlete Event SP FS Total
Rank Rank Points Places Rank
Cynthia Kauffman
Ronald Kauffman 		Pairs 5 7 297.0 58 6
JoJo Starbuck
Kenneth Shelley 		14 12 276.0 121 13
Sandi Sweitzer
Roy Wagelein 		8 6 294.5 64.5 7

Ice hockey

Main article: Ice hockey at the 1968 Winter Olympics

Summary

Team Event First round Medal round
Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Rank
United States men Men's tournament Bye  Czechoslovakia
L 1–5 		 Sweden
L 3–4 		 Soviet Union
L 2–10 		 Canada
L 2–3 		 West Germany
W 8–1 		 East Germany
W 6–4 		 Finland
T 1–1 		6

Roster
Coach: Murray Williamson

Pos. Name
G Jim Logue
G Pat Rupp
D Robert Gaudreau
D Paul Hurley
D Lou Nanne
D Bob Paradise
D Bruce Riutta
D Donald Ross
F Herb Brooks
F John Cunniff
F Jack Dale
F Craig Falkman
F Tom Hurley
F Leonard Lilyholm
F Jack Morrison
F Larry Pleau
F Larry Stordahl
F Doug Volmar

Medal Round

Rank Team Pld W L T GF GA Pts
1  Soviet Union 7 6 1 0 48 10 12
2  Czechoslovakia 7 5 1 1 33 17 11
3  Canada 7 5 2 0 28 15 10
4  Sweden 7 4 2 1 23 18 9
5  Finland 7 3 3 1 17 23 7
6  United States 7 2 4 1 23 28 5
7  West Germany 7 1 6 0 13 39 2
8  East Germany 7 0 7 0 13 48 0

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia – United States USA 5:1 (1:1, 2:0, 2:0)
Goalscorers: Suchý, Havel, Jiřík, Hejma, Jiří Holík – Volmar.
Referees: Dahlberg, Wiking (SWE)

Sweden Sweden – United States USA 4:3 (0:0, 4:2, 0:1)
Goalscorers: Nilsson, Wickberg, Hedlund, Bengsston – Falkman, Lilyholm, Nanne.
Referees: McEvoy, Kubinec (CAN)

Soviet Union USSR – United States USA 10:2 (6:0, 4:2, 0:0)
Goalscorers: Firsov 3, Blinov 2, Populanov 2, Kuzkin, Staršinov, Mojsejev – Ross, Morrison.
Referees: Dahlberg (SWE), Kubinec (CAN)

Canada Canada – United States USA 3:2 (1:2, 0:0, 2:0)
Goalscorers: Cadieux 2, Johnston – Pleau, Riutta.
Referees: Snětkov, Seglin (URS)

United States USA – Germany West Germany 8:1 (2:1, 4:0, 2:0)
Goalscorers: Volmar 2, Ross, Morrison, Nanne, Pleau, Cunnoff, P. Hurley – Funk.
Referees: McEvoy (CAN), Seglin (URS)

East Germany East Germany – United States USA 4:6 (1:3, 1:1, 2:2)
Goalscorers: Fuchs 2, Karrenbauer 2 – Stordahl 2, P. Hurley 2, Volmar, Lilyholm.
Referees: Kubinec (CAN), Seglin (URS)

United States USA – Finland Finland 1:1 (1:1, 0:0, 0:0)
Goalscorers: Volmar – Wahlsten.
Referees: Kubinec (CAN), Seglin (URS)

Luge

Main article: Luge at the 1968 Winter Olympics

Men

Athlete Event Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Mike Hessel Singles 1:00.00 29 1:00.46 32 1:00.16 29 3:00.62 30
Kim Layton 59.73 27 59.45 23 59.46 24 2:58.64 26
James Murray 1:00.34 32 59.94 29 59.72 26 3:00.00 28
Robin Partch 1:30.36 47 59.78 28 59.53 25 3:29.67 46
Mike Hessel
Jim Moriarty 		Doubles DNS — DNS

Women

Athlete Event Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Sheila Johansen Singles 51.21 15 51.90 19 52.36 18 2:35.47 17
Kathleen Ann Roberts-Homstad 50.62 12 51.04 15 51.94 15 2:33.60 14
Ellen Williams 51.67 16 51.09 16 52.39 19 2:35.15 16

Nordic combined

Main article: Nordic combined at the 1968 Winter Olympics
Athlete Event Ski Jumping Cross-country Total
Jump 1 Jump 2 Points Rank Time Points Rank Points Rank
John Bower Individual 104.2 101.0 205.2 14 51:00.1 205.96 16 411.16 13
Georg Krog 105.4 106.8 212.2 11 53:55.9 171.56 33 383.76 22
Jim Miller 85.1 86.5 171.6 35 50:56.0 206.78 15 378.38 26
Tom Upham 92.2 90.0 182.2 31 56:30.5 142.97 40 325.17 39

Ski jumping

Main article: Ski jumping at the 1968 Winter Olympics
Athlete Event Jump 1 Jump 2 Total
Distance Points Distance Points Points Rank
Bill Bakke Normal hill 69.5 90.0 70.0 90.8 180.8 40
John Balfanz 72.5 97.8 68.5 91.9 189.7 33
Jay Rand 70.0 85.8 70.5 92.6 178.4 42
Adrian Watt 71.0 86.9 68.0 87.1 174.0 44
Bill Bakke Large hill 90.5 90.1 87.5 85.4 175.5 34
John Balfanz 84.5 83.7 85.5 86.1 169.8 42
Jay Martin 85.0 81.4 85.0 82.4 163.8 43
Jay Rand 90.0 90.9 86.0 83.8 174.7 35

Speed skating

Main article: Speed skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics

Men

Athlete Event Time Rank
Neil Blatchford 500 m 40.7 5
Tom Gray 41.6 21
Terry McDermott 40.5 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
John Wurster 40.7 5
Roger Capan 1500 m 2:13.6 34
Bill Lanigan 2:11.7 24
Wayne LeBombard 2:11.2 23
Richard Wurster 2:08.4 19
Bill Cox 5000 m 7:58.1 25
Bill Lanigan 7:57.7 24
Wayne LeBombard 8:03.8 28
Bill Cox 10,000 m 17:08.2 25
Bill Lanigan 16:50.1 21

Women

Athlete Event Time Rank
Jenny Fish 500 m 46.3 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Dianne Holum 46.3 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Mary Meyers 46.3 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Jeanne Ashworth 1000 m 1:34.7 7
Jenny Fish 1:38.4 23
Dianne Holum 1:33.4 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Jeanne Ashworth 1500 m 2:30.3 16
Dianne Holum 2:28.5 13
Jeanne Omelenchuk 2:35.5 25
Jeanne Ashworth 3000 m 5:14.0 10
Toy Dorgan 5:17.6 14
Jeanne Omelenchuk 5:14.9 11

References

  1. ^ Beijing 2008 Archived 1 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Ford, Bonnie D. (2011). "Still Crystal Clear". ESPN. Retrieved February 19, 2014. The plane crash that killed the 1961 U.S. world championship figure skating team decimated families and the sport, but alongside grief came renewal.

Sources