The year was 1988.
The Winter Olympics took place in a small city named Calgary.
It was an exciting time, not just for the city, but also for a certain young boy
who still remembers it today.
So, let's talk about it, in German.
This is Lernen und Fahren 2022!
Calgary was once a small and relatively unknown city in western Canada,
near the mountains.
It had made three previous attempts to host the Winter Olympics, without success.
A new attempt was undertaken in 1980.
The competition was tough.
The city of Falun in Sweden and also the city of Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy had also
applied to host the games.
Calgary's proposal was simple:
"Big Ticket Games".
That meant that Calgary would spend a lot of money to make the games more exciting.
And in fact these were the most expensive winter games ever, up to that point.
Calgary's bid won, and now there was less than eight years time to make all
of the preparations.
There was just one problem:
The city didn't have the necessary facilities to host such an event!
The Saddledome!
It's a huge sports stadium that looks like a horse's saddle.
And why is that?
The reason is that there are a lot of cowbows in Calgary!
Calgary has always been a western city, and taht means horses and rodeos and
songs about sad subjects.
For example: "Oh, my girlfriend left me and my poor dog died, yippi ki yi yay,
yippi ki yi yay, yeehaw!"
And so on.
Cowboys were a recurring subject of this event.
The mascots of the event were called Hidy und Howdy.
That's a little play on words.
"Hidy" und "Howdy" are proper names but also friendly greetings
in cowboy slang.
Construction began in 1981 and completed in 1983.
The costs were originally estimated at 60M dollars, but in the end
it cost almost 100M dollars.
That was of course disappointing.
But the stadium still stands today and has gradually become a beloved
tourist attraction.
Now, the games.
There were many interesting stories during these games.
These were the last games in which east Germany participated, and of course the Soviet Union.
These were the first games in which the Jamaican bobsled team participated.
Later, a great film was made that tells this story.
It's called "Cool Runnings", and it's worth it to see this film.
One of the only films made in Calgary.
The famous figure skater Katarina Witt won a gold medal with a great performance.
In total, east Germany won 9 gold medals and also 10 silver medals.
Canada, on the other hand, won only 2 silver medals and sadly no gold medals.
The weather was an unexpected problem.
At the start it was very cold, a situation very familiar to us here in Calgary.
But on the second day it was very warm, up to 25 degrees celsius.
That meant that some of the outdoor competitions had to be postponed.
You need snow to ski.
The next problem was the wind.
160 kilometers per hour!
That caused further delays, namely with the ski jumping.
Eventually the weather went back to normal, and the games were a huge
success despite the delays.
It was long ago, and these games are just a memory now.
But a good memory.
The games were a huge success for Calgary.
Not just the city, but also the province and even the whole country are proud
to have hosted such a successful event.
We look back on this event fondly.
The "small and relatively unknown" city is no longer that way today.
The energy and the enthusiasm that made these games great are
still alive in this city.
And somehow they always will be.
Goodbye!