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| Event type

3,000 metres, Women

Date23 February 1988 — 18:00
StatusOlympic
LocationOlympic Oval, Calgary
Participants29 from 16 countries
Olympic Record 4:24.79 / Andrea Schöne GDR / 15 February 1984
StarterUNK
RefereeUNK

The 3,000 m was set to be an all-East German affair. At the five international 3,000 ms held in the 1987-1988 season, five East Germans had divided the medals. Three of them had won a race, and all three of them were racing in Calgary: Gabi Zange, Karin Kania and Andrea Ehrig. In fact, these three women had occupied the podium at the 1984 Olympics, when Ehrig had beaten Kania and Zange for the title. In the present season, Kania had won the World Cup races in Berlin and Butte, while Ehrig had won in Davos and at the European Championships. Zange had won the World Cup in Calgary, en passant breaking the world record and lowering it to 4:16.76. That record had been in the hands of Yvonne van Gennip, who had skated 4:16.85 in Heerenveen the previous season. But van Gennip had suffered from various injuries in the past months, and had recovered only just in time for the Olympics.

The race started dramatically, with Ehrig racing against Kania. The latter took off at an insane pace. Barely half-way through the race, Kania had a five-second advantage on Zange’s world record. Unsurprisingly, she hit the wall, and barely made it to the finish line, needing almost 40 seconds for the final lap. Ehrig, in the meanwhile, had been able to keep her pace, setting a world record of 4:12.09, well below the old mark. Zange herself, riding in the third pair, approximately matched her own world record (4:16.92), which was enough to beat Kania, but not Ehrig. Van Gennip was behind the leading times for the entire race, but not by far. With her final lap, she made up for the 0.63 second deficit, and crossed the line in 4:11.94, for a very surprising gold medal. It would be the first of her three Olympic titles in Calgary, matching the feat of her compatriot Ard Schenk in 1972.

PosPairCompetitorNOCTime
14IYvonne van GennipNED4:11.94GoldWR
21IAndrea EhrigGDR4:12.09SilverWR
33OGabi ZangeGDR4:16.92Bronze
41OKarin KaniaGDR4:18.80
515IErwina Ryś-FerensPOL4:22.59
69OSvetlana BoykoURS4:22.90
=75OSeiko HashimotoJPN4:23.29
=76IYelena LapugaURS4:23.29
96OYelena TumanovaURS4:24.07
1010OJasmin KrohnSWE4:25.06
119IJane GoldmanUSA4:25.26
1212OAnja MischkeFRG4:26.30
137IElena BelciITA4:27.21
144OEmese Nemeth-HunyadyAUT4:27.56
1510IAriane LoignonCAN4:28.55
162OMarieke StamNED4:28.92
1714OHan Chun-OkPRK4:29.16
182INatsue SekiJPN4:29.77
193IMary DocterUSA4:29.93
2012ILeslie BaderUSA4:30.09
218IZhang QingCHN4:30.19
2214IKim Young-OkKOR4:30.60
2313ISong Hwa-SonPRK4:31.05
247OMarie-France van HeldenFRA4:32.34
2513OMinna NystedtNOR4:35.35
268OChantal CôtéCAN4:35.74
2711IStéphanie DumontFRA4:38.03
2815OChoi Hye-SookKOR4:42.26
DQ5IIngrid PaulNED[4:29.53]