Medal Standings   Gold Silver Bronze Total USSR 11 9 9 29 East Germany 9 10 6 25 Switzerland 5 5 5 15 Finland 4 1 2 7 Sweden 4 0 2 6 Austria 3 5 2 10 Netherlands 3 2 2 7 West Germany 2 4 2 8 U.S.A. 2 1 3 6 Italy 2 1 2 5   Canada 0 2 3 5 CANADIAN MEDAL WINNERS   Medal Event Elizabeth Manley Silver Figure Skating Brian Orser Silver Figure Skating Rob McCall / Tracy Wilson Bronze Ice Dancing Karen Percy Bronze Downhill Skiing Super-G

The third time proved to be the charm for Calgary. After losing the right to host the Winter Olympics in 1964, 1968 and 1972, the International Olympic Committee selected Calgary ahead of Falun, Sweden to stage the 1988 Games. In the first round of voting, Calgary received 35 votes to Falun's 25; Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy received 18 votes and was eliminated. On the second ballot, Calgary recieved 48 votes to Falun's 31.

For the first time since 1976 and only the second time ever, Canada played host to the Olympics and the city of Calgary was set to shine on the international stage. But it was not without some hiccups along the way. Following the IOC announcement, the mayor of Cagliari, Italy received telegrams of congratulations instead of a certain Alberta city with a similar name.

Calgary's infamous "Chinook", which is usually a welcome site during the winter months, proved to be a problem as it melted snow and delayed the start of several alpine events. For the first time the Olympics were extended to 16 days, including three weekends. The Alpine events were expanded from three to five with the inclusion of the super giant slalom and the Alpine combined. Team events were added in Nordic combined and ski jumping.

Once again, Canada failed to win a gold medal as the host nation of the Olympics. Three of the five medals won by Canadian athletes came courtesy of the figure skaters. The Battle of the Brians highlighted the men's event with Brian Boitano of the United States narrowly defeating Brian Orser. It was the second silver medal in as many winter games for Orser.

Elizabeth Manley surprised everyone with a dazzling performance to capture the silver medal in the women's event, which was billed as the Battle of the Carmens. Both Katerina Witt of West Germany and American Debi Thomas skated to the music from Bizet's opera 'Carmen'. Witt turned in a flawless performance to claim the gold, her second straight while Thomas struggled and settled for the bronze.

Canada's third figure skating medal came courtesy of the dance team of Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall while Karen Percy became the first Canadian skier in 20 years to win two Olympic medals in the same games, with bronze medals in Downhill and Super G; she narrowly missed a third medal in the Combined when she lost the grip on her ski pole and came fourth. Overall, though, Canadians performed poorly in the alpine events. Medal hopefuls Laurie Graham and Rob Boyd both failed to qualify for a medal with Graham finishing fifth and Boyd placed a disappointing 16th.

Canada also captured top honours in three other sports - curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing, recording three firsts, six seconds and five third place finishes. However, the medal totals did not count in the official record because the sports were considered demonstration events.

For the third straight Olympics, Canada failed to medal in the sport of ice hockey. After finishing 3-1-1 in the preliminary round, the Canadian's carried forward a 2-1 loss to Finland and a 2-2 tie against Sweden into the medal round. A 5-0 loss to the Soviets sealed their fate. Despite an 8-1 win over West Germany and a 6-3 victory over Czechoslovakia, Canada finished fourth.