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| Event type

Two, Men

Date20 – 21 February 1988
StatusOlympic
LocationCanada Olympic Park, Calgary
Participants82 from 23 countries
FormatFour runs, total time determined placement.
DetailsCurves: 14
Length: 1475 m
Start Altitude: 1250 m
Vertical Drop: 120 m

Although the 1987 World Championships had seen Swiss success on home ice in St. Moritz it was East Germany and particularly defending Olympic champion Wolfgang Hoppe who entered the Games as a clear favourite. Hoppe did in fact lead after the first run but his hopes of retaining the title were ruined in the controversial second run. Seeding of the top fifteen crews had not yet been introduced at the Olympics and by the time East Germany I competed the track was in less than perfect condition. Some of the top crews, including the GDR and the half way leaders from the Soviet Union filed a protest and asked for the results of the first day to be set aside. Their arguments centered on the fact that strong winds had blown dust and dirt onto the track and had left the track in a condition which was unfair to later runners. Hoppe had a strong case to say that the time he lost on the difficult second run had a material effect on the result as he dropped a second and a quarter on that run to the Soviet gold medallists. The Soviets won the title only by three quarters of a second. Hoppe was also critical of the novice crews that littered the event and complained that the damage to the track caused by inexperienced drivers had also had an effect on the performance of other teams.

The winner of the Soviet Union’s one and only Olympic bobsleigh title, Jānis Ķipurs, was a Latvian whose bob was painted in Latvian national colours. Four years later he would carry the Latvian flag in the opening ceremony in Albertville. A record number of 41 teams from 23 countries slid down the Calgary track with a number of unlikely countries fielding sleds. Oceanian representation came from Australia and New Zealand and the first teams appeared from the Caribbean. Mexico’s two sled contingent was populated by a family of four brothers whilst Prince Albert of Monaco piloted his nation’s first entry. The US Virgin Islands number one bob were the last of the thirty-eight finishers but it is worth noting that their team consisted of fifty-year-old John Reeve and John Foster who turned fifty a week after the Games ended.

PosPairNOCTimeRun #1Run #2Run #3Run #4
1Jānis Ķipurs / Vladimir KozlovURS3:53.4857.43 (4)58.05 (1)59.52 (2)58.48 (2)Gold
2Wolfgang Hoppe / Bogdan MusiolGDR3:54.1957.06 (1)59.26 (8)59.45 (1)58.42 (1)Silver
3Bernhard Lehmann / Mario HoyerGDR3:54.6457.65 (7)58.67 (2)59.59 (4)58.73 (3)Bronze
4Gustav Weder / Donat AcklinSUI3:56.0658.01 (11)58.88 (3)1:00.12 (8)59.05 (5)
5Ingo Appelt / Harald WinklerAUT3:56.4957.22 (2)59.83 (12)1:00.00 (5)59.44 (9)
6Hans Hiltebrand / André KiserSUI3:56.5258.74 (21)59.21 (7)59.55 (3)59.02 (4)
7Toni Fischer / Christoph LangenFRG3:56.6257.58 (6)59.70 (10)1:00.06 (6)59.28 (=7)
8Peter Kienast / Christian MarkAUT3:56.9158.19 (13)58.96 (4)1:00.48 (12)59.28 (=7)
9Zintis Ekmanis / Aivars TropsURS3:56.9257.95 (10)59.12 (6)1:00.72 (14)59.13 (6)
10Greg Haydenluck / Lloyd GussCAN3:56.9757.36 (3)59.90 (13)1:00.11 (7)59.60 (12)
11Michael Sperr / Rolf MüllerFRG3:57.8457.47 (5)1:00.09 (16)1:00.42 (11)59.86 (14)
12Tom De La Hunty / Alec LeonceGBR3:58.0157.83 (=8)59.77 (11)1:00.91 (15)59.50 (10)
13David Leuty / Kevin TylerCAN3:58.1958.56 (18)59.08 (5)1:00.55 (13)1:00.00 (16)
14Per-Anders Persson / Rolf ÅkerströmSWE3:59.0958.40 (16)59.99 (14)1:00.99 (=17)59.71 (13)
15Chen Chin-San / Lee Chen-TanTPE3:59.1157.83 (=8)1:00.22 (19)1:00.99 (=17)1:00.07 (18)
16Matt Roy / Jim HerberichUSA3:59.3459.37 (29)1:00.06 (15)1:00.34 (10)59.57 (11)
17Alex Wolf / Georg BeikircherITA3:59.3559.35 (28)59.65 (9)1:00.32 (9)1:00.03 (17)
18Mark Tout / David ArmstrongGBR3:59.3958.10 (12)1:00.31 (20)1:01.11 (20)59.87 (15)
19Ivo Ferriani / Stefano TicciITA4:00.1458.25 (14)1:00.60 (24)1:01.08 (19)1:00.21 (19)
=20Lex Peterson / Peter HenryNZL4:01.0458.65 (20)1:00.87 (29)1:01.25 (22)1:00.27 (21)
=20Yuji Yaku / Toshio WakitaJPN4:01.0458.57 (19)1:00.58 (23)1:01.51 (25)1:00.38 (22)
22Tsvetozar Viktorov / Aleksandar SimeonovBUL4:01.1758.82 (22)1:00.74 (26)1:01.35 (23)1:00.26 (20)
23Angus Stuart / Martin HarlandAUS4:01.2359.21 (26)1:00.15 (18)1:01.38 (24)1:00.49 (24)
24Csaba Nagy Lakatos / Costel PetrariuROU4:02.0258.83 (23)1:00.82 (28)1:01.75 (28)1:00.62 (25)
25Albert, Prince Grimaldi / Gilbert BessiMON4:02.4758.48 (17)1:00.93 (30)1:01.64 (27)1:01.42 (32)
26Adrian Di Piazza / Simon DoddAUS4:02.611:00.03 (33)1:00.94 (31)1:01.23 (21)1:00.41 (23)
27Dorin Degan / Grigore AnghelROU4:02.8058.85 (24)1:01.00 (33)1:01.81 (29)1:01.14 (28)
28Borislav Vujadinović / Miro PandurevićYUG4:03.5059.63 (31)1:00.70 (25)1:02.28 (35)1:00.89 (26)
29Bart Carpentier Alting / Bart DrechselAHO4:03.7359.60 (30)1:00.78 (27)1:01.95 (32)1:01.40 (31)
30Dudley Stokes / Michael WhiteJAM4:03.861:00.20 (34)1:00.56 (22)1:01.87 (31)1:01.23 (30)
31Owen Pinnell / Blair TelfordNZL4:04.161:00.37 (35)1:00.95 (32)1:01.62 (26)1:01.22 (29)
32Todor Todorov / Nikolay BotevBUL4:04.8159.68 (32)1:01.44 (34)1:02.05 (33)1:01.64 (33)
33Sun Kuang-Ming / Chen Chin-SenTPE4:05.0659.25 (27)1:01.54 (35)1:02.26 (34)1:02.01 (35)
34António Reis / João PoupadaPOR4:05.151:00.72 (36)1:01.59 (36)1:01.86 (30)1:00.98 (27)
35Harvey Hook / Chris SharplessISV4:09.091:01.05 (37)1:02.70 (39)1:03.42 (36)1:01.92 (34)
36Jorge Tamés / José TamésMEX4:10.081:01.58 (40)1:02.39 (38)1:03.44 (37)1:02.67 (36)
37Roberto Tamés / Luis Adrián TamésMEX4:10.091:01.56 (39)1:01.84 (37)1:03.76 (38)1:02.93 (38)
38John Reeve / John Foster, Sr.ISV4:11.011:01.11 (38)1:03.06 (40)1:04.14 (39)1:02.70 (37)
DNFBrent Rushlaw / Mike AljoeUSA59.01 (25)1:00.13 (17)1:00.96 (16)– (DNS)
DNFJorge Magalhães / João PiresPOR1:02.85 (41)1:03.18 (41)1:05.19 (40)– (DNS)
DNFTakao Sakai / Naomi TakewakiJPN58.32 (15)1:00.39 (21)– (DNF)