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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Guam At The 1988 Winter Olympics

Guam sent a four-member delegation to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada from 13 to 28 February 1988. This is, as of 2022, Guam's only appearance in the Winter Olympic Games. The Guam delegation included only one athlete biathlete, Judd Bankert, who became Guam's first Olympic athlete. In his only event, the sprint, Bankert finished in 71st out of 72 competitors.

Background

The Guam National Olympic Committee was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 1 January 1986. The 1988 Winter Olympics were therefore their debut in Olympic competition; and Judd Bankert the territory's first Olympic athlete. Guam has gone on to participate in every Summer Olympic Games since the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but has yet to make a return trip to the Winter Olympic Games. The 1988 Winter Olympics were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada from 13 to 28 February 1988; a total of 1,423 athletes representing 57 National Olympic Committees took part. The Guamian four member delegation included only a single biathlete, Judd Bankert, who was selected as the flag-bearer for the opening ceremony.

Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.

Sport Men Women Total
Biathlon 1 1
Total 1 0 1

Biathlon

Judd Bankert was 38 years old at the time of the Calgary Olympics. He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and had moved to Guam in 1981. He had suffered a hip fracture in a fall six year earlier and was able to train on skis only four months before the Games. Bankert was the first ever Olympian to represent Guam. On 23 February, he took part in the sprint race, a 10 kilometer race with two shooting rounds. Each missed shot required an athlete to ski a 150-meter penalty loop. Bankert missed four out of five targets in each of the shooting rounds, meaning he had to ski a total of eight penalty loops; he finished the race in 45 minutes and 37.1 seconds. This put him in 71st place out of 72 competitors who finished the race. Frank-Peter Roetsch of East Germany won the gold medal in a time of 25 minutes and 8.1 seconds; the silver and bronze medals were both won by biathletes from the Soviet Union, Valeriy Medvedtsev and Sergei Tchepikov respectively.

Athlete Event Final
Time Pen. Rank
Judd Bankert Sprint 45:37.1 8 71

See also

References

  1. ^ "Guam – National Olympic Committee (NOC)". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  2. ^ "Guam". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics – results & video highlights". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Guam at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  5. ^ Guam at the 1988 Winter Olympics
  6. ^ "Judd Bankert Bio, Stats, and Results". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Judd BANKERT – Olympic Biathlon – Guam". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  8. ^ Patterson, Bruce (15 February 1988). "Lack of Snow No Object for Guam's Shot at Games". The Calgary Herald. p. 88.
  9. ^ Sablan, Jerick (10 July 2016). "Guam's History at the Olympics". Pacific Sunday News. p. A28.
  10. ^ "Biathlon at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games: Men's 10 kilometres Sprint". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  11. ^ "Calgary 1988 10km men – Olympic Biathlon". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2 November 2018.