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Let the Calgary Games begin!

Broadcast Date: Feb. 12, 1988

It's Feb. 13, 1988, and Calgary is kicking off the biggest, most elaborate Winter Olympics ever. Organizers and some 10,000 volunteers were busy up until the last minute preparing for the lavish opening ceremony as seen in this CBC TV report. Some thousands of spectators, athletes and celebrities, including Prince Rainer of Monaco and Entertainment Tonight host Mary Hart, have descended upon Calgary for the first Winter Games hosted by Canada.

Let the Calgary Games begin!

• The opening ceremony for the XV Winter Olympics was held at McMahon Stadium. An unprecedented 1,423 athletes from 57 countries participated in 46 events at the 1988 Calgary Games.

• Montreal hosted Canada's first Summer Olympics in 1976.

• Over 60,000 spectators gathered at the newly renovated stadium to watch the Olympic torch being lit by Robyn Perry, a local seventh grader and figure skater. Skier Ken Read and speed skater Cathy Priestner passed the Olympic torch to Perry in the final leg of the run.
• Mascots for the 1988 Winter Games were Howdy and Hidy – a pair of brother and sister polar bears. Their names were chosen to embody the warmth of Canadian hospitality: "Hidy" being an extension of "hi" and "Howdy" being slang for "hello."

•The official logo for the 1988 Winter Games consisted of a snowflake above the Olympic rings. It also resembled a stylized maple leaf. The logo was composed of different "C" letters to represent Canada and Calgary.
• The 1988 Calgary Winter Games were hampered by unusually mild temperatures. Temperatures fluctuated from –30 to a balmy 12 C over night. The warm weather – coupled with record strong winds – led to 33 events being rescheduled.

• Canada won just five medals at the Calgary games: two silver and three bronze. Canada was shut out of the gold medal race, continuing the experience of being the only host country to not win a gold medal at its own Games. (Canada didn't win any gold at the '76 Olympics either.)

• For more on this topic visit the CBC Archives website's: The Winter of '88: Calgary's Olympic Games.

Let the Calgary Games begin!

Medium: Television

Program: The Journal

Broadcast Date: Feb. 12, 1988

Guest(s): Liz Palmer, Kevin Peterson

Host: Barbara Frum, Paul Griffin

Duration: 8:59

Last updated:
Oct. 1, 2008