Exceptionally rare winner’s medal issued for the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics. Gilt silver, 69 mm, 198 gm, by Peter Friedrich. The front depicts combined profiles of a laureated athlete and a First Nations indigenous person whose headdress is formed by winter sporting equipment; the reverse bears the stylized snowflake/maple leaf emblem of the Games and the Olympic rings at center, with surrounding raised bilingual text: "XVes Jeux Olympiques d'hiver, XV Olympic Games, Calgary 1988.” The edge of the medal engraved in English and French with the name of the event: “Biathlon 4 x 7.5 KM Relay.” The medal is suspended from its cyan, red, and blue ribbon, and is accompanied by its original blue velvet case.
The three biathlon events of the Calgary Games were dominated by East and West Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, with the latter securing the most medals with four—the lone gold medal attained by the Soviet Union was in the 4 x 7.5 km relay team event, which featured the skiing and shooting prowess of Valeriy Medvedtsev, who had only days prior won silver medals in the individual and sprint biathlon events. A bona fide Olympic treasure from the first Canadian Winter Olympics.
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