Sylvette Grassi
Quick Facts
Biography
The Women's singles luge competition at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble was held from 11 to 13 February, at Villard-de-Lans.
After three runs, there were three East German racers Ortrun Enderlein, Anna-Maria Müller and Angela Knösel in the top 4, but they were disqualified when the FIL determined that they had been heating their runners, a banned practice. Italian Erika Lechner, third after three runs, was moved into first place, and won gold after the fourth run was cancelled due to bad weather.
West German media alleged race fixing, while GDR sports officials blamed the West German Luge Association for staging the incident. According to Stasi documents which came to light in 2006, the FIL official who made the decision had allegedly been bribed by the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria to make the allegation. The question of whether the GDR lugers really cheated remains unresolved, with some contemporary media in Germany maintaining that the GDR team were unfairly disqualified.
Results
Rank | Athlete | Country | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Erika Lechner | Italy | 48.76 | 49.39 | 50.51 | 2:28.66 | |
Christa Schmuck | West Germany | 49.15 | 49.84 | 50.38 | 2:29.37 | |
Angelika Dünhaupt | West Germany | 49.34 | 49.88 | 50.34 | 2:29.56 | |
4 | Helena Macher | Poland | 49.55 | 50.02 | 50.48 | 2:30.05 |
5 | Jadwiga Damse | Poland | 49.64 | 50.43 | 50.08 | 2:30.15 |
6 | Dana Beldová-Spálenská | Czechoslovakia | 49.22 | 50.36 | 50.77 | 2:30.35 |
7 | Anna Mąka | Poland | 49.69 | 50.05 | 50.66 | 2:30.40 |
8 | Ute Gähler | West Germany | 49.78 | 49.93 | 50.71 | 2:30.42 |
9 | Leni Thurner | Austria | 49.64 | 50.15 | 50.71 | 2:30.50 |
10 | Marlene Korthals | Austria | 49.72 | 50.31 | 51.30 | 2:31.33 |
11 | Olina Hátlová-Tylová | Czechoslovakia | 50.16 | 50.35 | 51.14 | 2:31.65 |
12 | Linda Crutchfield-Bocock | Canada | 50.64 | 50.54 | 51.28 | 2:32.46 |
13 | Berit Salomonsson | Sweden | 50.89 | 51.35 | 51.31 | 2:33.55 |
14 | Kathleen Ann Roberts-Homstad | United States | 50.62 | 51.04 | 51.94 | 2:33.60 |
15 | Elfriede Wäger | Austria | 51.93 | 50.44 | 52.04 | 2:34.41 |
16 | Ellen Williams | United States | 51.67 | 51.09 | 52.39 | 2:35.15 |
17 | Sheila Johansen | United States | 51.21 | 51.90 | 52.36 | 2:35.47 |
18 | Martha Diplock | Canada | 51.94 | 51.51 | 52.03 | 2:35.48 |
19 | Sylvette Grassi | France | 51.85 | 52.08 | 52.55 | 2:36.48 |
20 | Jacqueline Barasinski | France | 51.96 | 52.39 | 52.44 | 2:36.79 |
21 | Erica Prugger | Italy | 61.90 | 50.91 | 51.40 | 2:44.21 |
- | Ortrun Enderlein | East Germany | 48.74 | 49.34 | 49.96 | DQ |
- | Anna-Maria Müller | East Germany | 48.88 | 49.26 | 49.92 | DQ |
- | Angela Knösel | East Germany | 49.12 | 49.65 | 50.16 | DQ |
- | Cristina Pabst | Italy | ? | DNF | - | - |
- | Phyllis Walter | Canada | DQ | - | - | - |