Calgary 1988 - looking back 20 years to the Olympic Games and its impact

[Innersoul1]

one of the best parts of that song is certainly the bridge!

[YYCguys]

I have been looking for a list of Calgary based Olympic athletes, both those who participated in the '88 edition and those in other winter Olympics as well. Google has turned up nothing, except a list of all Canadian athletes with no city listed. Does anybody know of a list?

[Doug]

Originally Posted by johnnyc

I also find it funny that the "teepee" that housed the torch is now a landmark in Medicine Hat.

THe original plan was to mount the teepee over a new mall planned for Lincoln Park (south of Mount Royal College).

[mr.steevo]

What I remember about the Olympics in Calgary is that it didn't snow. The snow in McMan Stadium was fake for the television networks.

I also remember thinking Calgary did a class act having a young girl that no one knew run the final steps to light the flame. She won the draw.

s.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by mr.steevo

What I remember about the Olympics in Calgary is that it didn't snow. The snow in McMan Stadium was fake for the television networks.

Shhhhh... don't let anyone from down east or Vancouver hear you say that. Calgary has snow year-round and our weather is constantly terrible.

[Just Build It]

The Olympics really moved Calgary into another level. It's what put Calgary onto the world stage.

[Surrealplaces]

I was actually around back then, and even attended a couple of events. Hung out at Olympic Plaza watching the medals get awarded. It was an amazing time.

The truth is, I wasn't that excited about the Olympics until the torch run came through Calgary, and right past my house. It seemed like the city was all abuzz after that. The opening ceremonies literally kicked the city in to Olympic fever.

I can attest that Calgary was forever changed (for the better) after that. The people in this city had completely changed their outlook on Calgary, changing to an outlook of 'we can do anything'. Calgary has carried that attitude ever since.

One thing in the article, I don't agree with, was the statement about being able to freely walk around downtown and Stephen Avenue back then. That wasn't the case at all, in fact, just the opposite for Stephen Avenue mall. It was cold , gray, and seedy. Today, Stephen Ave is a model that other cities should follow. Other than that a great article.


Here's a few pictures I took back then.

Here's how the skyline looked, the night of the closing ceremonies.

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by Wooster

There's roughly 300,000 people that have arrived in Calgary in the last decade who have no real connection with the city, he said. White suggested Calgary could rally around the Stampede, which will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2012. "We're a teenager going through a growth spurt, and it's ugly and it's awkward," he said.

"But if we could just find some major event, with a huge volunteer component that everybody feels a part of, it would reinforce our can-do attitude."

I think its important to note the major event of the Red Mile and the Flames playoff run in 2004 as an event that helped reinforce the connectivity of the city. 40, 50 or 60 thousand people along 17th ave on game nights was a significant spurt of community development and got complete strangers talking.

At the same time, Calgary definately has an upbeat attitude about itself, especially compared to some places out east (except toronto, those guys are a little too upbeat about themselves ). The most defining thing that connects Calgary is how the general attitude is we are always thinking about the future; dreaming of bigger and better things for ourselves and the city as a whole. I think this attitude is important for creating a great city to live in, and the olympics were a big part of developing that.

[raggedy13]

Hello Calgarians!

With the Vancouver's Olympic games nearly here, I was wondering, what impact did your 1988 Winter Olympics have on the city? Were there noticeable positive impacts, immediate or over the long term? Negative impacts? Did it effect the city economically in anyway? Improve tourism? Raise Calgary's profile internationally and/or domestically? Spur growth and/or development? Generate any foreign investment? etc. etc.

Is it seen today as a major transformative event in the city's history and if so why?

p.s. I watched Cool Runnings earlier today. Classic movie.

[tsumetai]

It is generally regarded as a success, especially when compared to the Montreal Olympics earlier.

[Stang]

I was only 8, so my memories of the Olympics (and many of their immediate impacts on the city) are somewhat vague.

I firmly believe that the Olympics did wonders for the profile of the city. I have travelled to a few countries around the world and when someone asks where I'm from, most of the time they comment about the Olympics. Some mention the Stampede. But it is definitely front-of-mind for the majority of people I run into.

Relatives that visit from the UK are interested in the facilities - I have done a tour of the ski jumps at COP, the Oval, and the Saddledome - all on their insistence.

[Riise]

As I wasn't even three when the games took place, I cannot speak much about the immediate impact of the games. However, I do believe that they had a huge impact on the City and, in terms of International profile/recognition, it put us on the map for quite a lot of people who have the Calgary on their map. While Vancouver will get the same exposure, I don't think they will see as many people add Vancouver to their map. Fear not because this is due to the fact that Vancouver is already on a lot of people's map and much more than Calgary was in '88.

Our exposure helped get us to the next level but seeing as how Vancouver is on a higher level than us, where it takes more to get to higher levels, these Olympics might not change that. Seeing as how we held an excellent games Vancity would need to hold an exceptional games to get the needed push. It could very well be done though and best of luck!

[frinkprof]

There's an old thread kicking around on this subject:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=145739

[raggedy13]

^Ah, thank you very much.

[raggedy13]

Originally Posted by freeweed

And a lot of commentators would say idiotic things like "sure, but REAL cities get the summer games". I think Toronto's still trying.

I've heard people say similar things about Vancouver's games several times on these forums. Like this post by flar a few weeks ago (this one not specifically aimed at Vancouver though):

Originally Posted by flar

I was alive when Montreal hosted the Olympics (not the winter Olympics, the real Olympics), though I was just a baby.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...176943&page=11

[Surrealplaces]

I was a teenager when the Olympics were in Calgary, and it was a very memorable experience. A highlight in my life for sure.

What has it done for Calgary? well, I can attest that Calgary was forever changed after the games. After the Olympics Calgary took off running, and hasn't stopped to look back.

Raggedy, you guys are in for a truly great experience. Vancouver as a city has already been evolving nicely as a city, but the Olympics will change the dynamics of the city, and move it up another notch.

[mr.steevo]

Hi,

I don't know if the 2010 games will have the same effect on Vancouver as the '88 games did on Calgary. The result of the 88 games was that Calgary was put on the map and established as a city that could "do it" even though it was small city of about 600,000. The thing with Calgary is it was so small that just about everyone was involved in the games or knew someone who was volunteering. With Vancouver's population I would wonder if the "magic" we felt would dilute?

Still, the most concrete examples I can think of legacy for Calgary was the infrastructure that was put in place in anticipation of the games. The LRT system, speed skating oval, saddle dome, conversion of Paskapoo ski hill to Canada Olympic Park, Kananaskis Village and Mt. Allen (Nakiska). These are items that you can point at, touch, use.

What the 88 games really did for Calgary is make us believe we were as good as anywhere else in the world. We had been given permission to try.

s.

[freeweed]

Was Calgary always the home of the various Olympic teams (for training, or whatever)? I haven't been here long enough but when I noticed that Hockey Canada is HQ'd here, and I constantly run into Olympic athletes training here, I kinda got the impression that one major legacy of the '88 games was that Calgary became "home" to most of Canada's winter athletes.

Unless it was like this before the games?

[frinkprof]

^I gather that a lot of the Canadian Winter Olympics teams didn't really have a "home" before the '88 games. I'd imagine the ski teams might have been based in Calgary due to the rocky mountains of course, but athletes in sports like bobsled and speed skating certainly wouldn't have been based in Calgary, and many trained in other countries. I'd imagine a lot trained in the Lake Placid, NY facilities prior to 1988. Lots of athletes from different countries call Calgary their home to train at either the bobsled course, and especially the Olympic Oval. If you go down to the Oval, you can often see skaters from South Korea, Japan, Norway, and of course Canada. Not sure if Hockey Canada was headquartered elsewhere, if anywhere, before the '88 Games.

Certainly though, the '88 Games and the facilites they left behind have given a boost to a lot of Winter Olympics athletic achievements for Canada.

[mr.steevo]

Hi,

According to Wikipedia, Canada's medal count in Winter Olympics has improved steadily since 1980, with 2006 being our best year for medals (24 in total). I don't know how much Calgary's facilities contributed to this improvement, but it certainly could have hurt.

It can be easy to shrug off the Olympics as a thinly veiled corporate money generating event, but my opinion is that it has positively impacted Canadians and Calgarians with the '88 Games. The intangibles that the Games gave Calgary can't be measured in dollars, but the impact is here.

Think of how connected the city was in 2004 when the Flames made the run to the Cup. Now multiply that emotion ten fold and that was the feeling in Calgary in 1988.

s.