Pictured above, and reproduced below for easier reading, is a newspaper clipping from the first full day of action at the 1968 Olympic Winter Games, which took place from February 6 – 18, in and around Grenoble, France. Of interest in the story is the debate about whether or not manufacturers’ trademarks could be displayed on sports equipment such as skis, hockey sticks and bobsleds.
Trademarks, it should be noted, were simply that – the manufacturer’s label or insignia denoting the maker of the equipment. The use of sponsorship logos was a whole other debate which continued until after the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
Also of note is the final paragraph of the article in which it is suggested that the 1972 Winter Olympics might be the last because no winter sport truly conformed to the Olympic charter. Happily for all skiers and winter sports enthusiasts, this idea did not come to pass!
Skiers, skaters, bobsledders get into action at Olympics
Grenoble, France (CP) – the 10th Winter Olympic Games, a measure of harmony restored to it by executive compromise, sent its skiers, skaters and bobsledders into action today.
The Games were declared open Tuesday by President de Gaulle, participating with 9,000 other persons in impressive opening ceremonies before 60,000 spectators. Uncounted millions in Europe and North America watched on television.
Canada’s national hockey team started its quest for an Olympic medal in good style by defeating West Germany 6-1. It was one of three championship-round hockey games which made up the entire athletic program on opening day.
The Soviet Union swamped Finland 8-0 and Czechoslovakia downed the United States 5-1.
Of utmost significance for the success of the Games was an agreement reached Tuesday by the International Olympic Committee and the International Ski Federation to curb commercialism.
BANS DISPLAY
The IOC, which had sought to have manufacturers’ names and trademarks removed from skis used at the Olympics, ruled that the symbols could remain but that the skiers could not display them to photographers and television cameras. The athletes will be required to lay aside their skis before being photographed after their events, on penalty of disqualification.
The agreement kept the ski federation with the Olympic structure. Failure to agree could have resulted in the skiers declaring their events world championships and conducting them under their own rules, which do not currently ban the display of trademarks.
Canada’s Nancy Greene, her left ankle mended after a January accident, will compete in the women’s downhill runs Thursday. Seventh in the downhill in the 1964 Games, the 24-year-old Rossland, B.C., skier wants an Olympic medal as a follow-up to her 1967 World Cup triumph.
At 7 a.m. (1 a.m. EST) 32 girls began the long grind in quest of the women’s figure-skating medals.
Peggy Fleming of the United States, world figure-skating champion, is a heavy favorite, and she drew a favorable starting number, 18.
CHAMP READY
Canada’s chief hopes rested with 15-year-old Karen Magnussen of North Vancouver, the Canadian champion, who reported Tuesday that a slight skate cut had healed and she was ready to compete.
Canada’s other women’s singles skaters are Linda Carbonetto, 18, of Toronto and Lyndsai Cowan 19, of West Vancouver.
Compulsory figures have been reduced to five from six for the current Olympics, with two figures to be skated today and three Thursday. Compulsory figures count as 60 per cent of the total score.
The medals will be awarded Saturday night at the conclusion of free-style competition.
The Games’ first medals were up for winning today in the 30-kilometre-18.6-mile-cross-country ski race, with 66 men from 19 countries setting out at 30-second intervals.
Canada had three entries – Rolf Pettersen of Prince George, B.C., in the 27th starting position, David Rees of North Bay, Ont., in 39th position, and Nils Skulbru of Vancouver in 59th.
The first two heats of the two-man bobsled event were to be held under the lights tonight at Alpe d’Huez, 36 miles from Grenoble. The remaining two heats will be run off Thursday night.
Canada’s No. 1 team of Purvis McDougall, Montreal, and Bob Storey, Collingwood, Ont., was drawn to start 18th tonight. The No. 2 team of Hans Gehrig and Harry Goetschi, both of Montreal, was to start 13th.
There were four hockey games on tap here. In the championship round, Sweden played the U.S. and the Soviet Union met East Germany. In group B the games were Japan vs. Yugoslavia and Romania vs. Austria.
In Tuesday’s opening ceremony parade at Grenoble, Nancy Greene carried Canada’s flag and Canada’s 73 athletes and 20 officials appeared in colorful Hudson Bay coats ringed with yellow, red, green and black stripes – the Olympic colors. The costumes were completed by white fur hats, navy blue ski slacks, brown sued shoes and bright red gloves.
In Canada’s hockey victory Roger Bourbonnais of Edmonton had two goals. The forward line of Fran Huck of Regina, Ray Cadieux of Winnipeg and Morris Mott of Creelman, Saks., had one goal each and Gary Dineen got the other. West Germany’s lone goal, in the second period, was scored on Wayne Stephenson, in the Canadian nets, while Barry MacKenzie of Winnipeg was service a tripping penalty.
The compromise on ski trademarks appeared to be based on a formula offered by Marc Hodler, Swiss president of the International Ski Federation. The federation had refused to ban the symbols for the Olympics on the grounds that ski balance could be destroyed by last-minute alterations or efforts to cover up the trademarks.
Avery Brundage, the IOC’s 80-year-old president, is a long-time foe of commercial exploitation of amateur athletics, and had wanted a ban imposed.
Col. John Westerhoff, IOC secretary-general, noted that trademarks also appear on bobsleds and hockey sticks but said the ban would not apply to them.
“The trademarks on hockey sticks are much too small to see, and it is impossible to put a bobsleigh around your neck to be photographed,” said Westerhoff.
A number of IOC officials are known to favor scrapping the Winter Games on the grounds that few if any winter sports confirm strictly with the Olympic charter. There has been some speculation that the 11th Winter Olympics, at Sapporo, Japan, in 1972, could be the last.