| Figure skating at the Winter Olympics | |
|---|---|
| Type: | Olympic Games |
| Venue: | Le Stade Olympique de Glace |
| Champions | |
Men's singles:  Wolfgang Schwarz | |
Ladies' singles:  Peggy Fleming | |
Pairs:  Liudmila Belousova / Oleg Protopopov | |
| Previous: 1964 Winter Olympics | |
| Next: 1972 Winter Olympics | |
Figure skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics was held at Le Stade Olympique de Glace in Grenoble, France. Ice dance, then known as "rhythmic skating," was a demonstration event and was won by the team of Diane Towler and Bernard Ford of Great Britain.[1] It became a medal event eight years later in 1976 Innsbruck.[2]
American figure skater Peggy Fleming built up a huge lead after the compulsory figures and won the first-place votes of all nine judges.[3] Her victory marked the first gold medal won by an American after the death of an entire US figure skating team in an air crash in 1961, and heralded an American figure skating renaissance.[4]
- ^ "Rapport Officiel Xes Jeux Olympiques D'Hiver 1968 Grenoble" (PDF). Comité d'organisation des Xemes jeux olympiques d'hiver. LA84 Foundation. 1968. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
- ^ "Figure Skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- ^ Beijing 2008 Archived 1 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ford, Bonnie D. (2011). "Still Crystal Clear". ESPN. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
The plane crash that killed the 1961 U.S. world championship figure skating team decimated families and the sport, but alongside grief came renewal.