Australia at the 1988 Winter Olympics
| Australia at the 1988 Winter Olympics |
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| IOC code | AUS | ||||||||
| NOC | Australian Olympic Committee | ||||||||
| Website | www |
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| in Calgary | |||||||||
| Competitors | 18 in 6 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer | Michael Richmond | ||||||||
| Medals |
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| Winter Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
| Other related appearances | |||||||||
1906 Intercalated Games Australasia (1908–1912) |
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Australia competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Eighteen athletes participated, competing in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, figure skating and speed skating, and for the first time bobsleigh. Australia's best result was tenth by Danny Kah in the 5000 metres speed skating.
Australia also participated in the demonstration sports of mogul freestyle skiing and short track speed skating.
There had earlier been hopes that Janine Shepherd would do well at these Olympics, but she was hit by a car and made a paraplegic while training for it.
Men's combined
This was the sixth Winter Olympics for Colin Coates, having competed in every Winter Olympics since 1968. Although registered as a competitor, he was regarded by the AOC as an official. General manager and Chef de Mission Geoff Henke later said about this arrangement
He unsuccessfully tried to convince the Geoff to allow him to compete, saying "No Colin, it's not on. Your own sport won't nominate you, and that's the end of it. You're training with the athletes, but not skating in the Games. You've known that since we left Australia". After other rejected requests, he gave the impression of accepting the situation. "I had the power to take his entry out, and probably that's what I should have done. But I trusted him. He knew that he was not to compete." Instead, when the event was on, he put on a uniform and skated his best time ever.
After the race, Geoff ran on the ice without skates and reprimanded him:
Coates wept in response. Colin then received congratulations for skating at six Olympics, including from the prime minister Bob Hawke. Geoff relented "At that point, I settled for discretion rather than valour. I stopped going crook. The man was a public hero. He did the wrong thing by me, but his was an incredible performance, and nobody could ever take that away from him."
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