Editing 1968 Winter Olympics (section)

==Venues==
[[File:Finland-Grenoble-1968.jpg|thumb|right|[[Finland at the 1968 Winter Olympics|Finnish Olympic team]] on the opening day]]

{{Main|Venues of the 1968 Winter Olympics}}
*[[Autrans]] – biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping (normal hill)
*[[Chamrousse]] – alpine skiing (men)
*[[L'Anneau de Vitesse]] in [[Paul Mistral Park]] – speed skating
*[[Palais des Sports (Grenoble)|Le Stade de Glace]] in [[Paul Mistral Park]] – figure skating, ice hockey, medal and closing ceremonies
*[[Alpe d'Huez|Piste de Bobsleigh]] – bobsleigh
*[[Villard-de-Lans|Piste de Luge]] – luge
*[[Chamrousse|Recoin de Chamrousse]] – alpine skiing (women)
*[[Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte]] – ski jumping (large hill)
*[[Olympic Stadium (Grenoble)]] – opening ceremonies

There were five other venues surrounding Grenoble used as sporting venues for the Winter Olympic Games in 1968. For the first time in history, the venues were divided into four clusters. Grenoble set a new trend by having venues in different parts of the surrounding areas. Compared to the investments for the infrastructure, the investments for building sports arenas was very small. This investment only contributed nine percent.

Almost half of this investment, 46 million Francs, was used to build the new ice rink ''Stade de glace'' (now ''[[Palais des Sports (Grenoble)|Palais des Sports]]''), the venue where the main [[ice hockey]] matches, the figure skating competition and the closing ceremony were held. The arena has 12,000 seats and is situated in ''[[Parc Paul Mistral]]'', Grenoble's main public park located in the center of the city. The architects were [[Robert Demartini]] and [[Pierre Junillon]]. Construction began in mid-November 1965 and finished in October 1967. The roof was made of two cylindrical which crossed over each other, four columns which could support 10,000 tonnes. Today, the arena is used for concerts, fairs and various other sporting events (among others, [[Six-day racing|six-day races]] since 1971).

Less than 100m away from the ''Stade de glace'', and also in Parc Paul Mistral, the 400m track for the [[speed skating]] events was installed between February and November 1966. The venue ''Patinoire de vitesse'', which does not have a roof and has a practice ice-rink in the middle of it, had a capacity of 2,500. The cooling system was removed after a few years and today the concrete track is used by [[Roller skating|roller skaters]]. The existing was the city's ice-rink ''Patinoire Municipale'', which opened in September 1963, next to the speed skating track, where the [[1964 European Figure Skating Championships]] took place. The arena, which has 2,000 seats and 700 can stand, was the venue for Group B's ice hockey matches.

The venue for the [[alpine skiing]] was [[Chamrousse]], a town 30 kilometres east of Grenoble. The finish line for five out of the six races was in the region of ''Recoin de Chamrousse'', the other was the men's downhill event was in Casserousse. In the construction of the new ski slopes, around 300,000m<sup>3</sup> of rocks had to be blown up or dug away; particularly large movements of the earth and changes to the terrain were necessary in the upper part of the men's downhill section and in the slalom section. In addition, six new chairlifts were installed. In the preparation of the slopes, over 10,000 people were needed, this consisted mainly of soldiers.

In [[Autrans]], 36 kilometres west of Grenoble in [[Vercors Massif]], the [[cross-country skiing (sport)|cross-country skiing]] and [[biathlon]] events took place there. Provisional stands at the finish line were available for spectators, which were to the north and southwest of the village. Also in Autrans, the [[ski jumping]] in the normal hill took place. The ski jumping hill of Le Claret is still in use today. It originally had a [[hill size]] of 70m, but later was made bigger and now measures 90m high.

The 90m hill could have been built without any problems in Autrans, but the organisers decided instead to use [[Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte]], 17 kilometres away from Grenoble, as well as [[Vercors-Massif]]. The relatively small distance to the city and the better accessibility guaranteed a larger audience. The construction period lasted from July 1966 to January 1967. After the games, the Dauphine hill was rarely used and closed down and fell into ruin beginning in 1990. A third Olympic venue in the Vercors-Massif was [[Villard-de-Lans]], 34 kilometres from Grenoble, where the luge competition took place. The track is exactly 1,000m long, has 14 curves and has a drop of 110m. After it temporarily closed down in 1994 it was remodelled. Today, it now has an artificial surface which makes it possible to use all-year-round. It is no longer used for competitions.

The third Olympic venue in Vercors Massif was 34&nbsp;km away from Grenoble in the commune of [[Villard-de-Lans]], where the [[luge]] competition took place. The track for the luge was exactly 1&nbsp;km long, had 14 corners and had a drop of 110m. After the track was temporarily closed in 1994, it was rebuilt at today's location. It has an artificial surface, which makes using the track all year round possible. For competitions it is no longer used.

The furthest distance, which is also the highest, is [[Alpe d'Huez|L'Alpe d'Huez]], 65 kilometres southeast of Grenoble. The [[bobsleigh]] took place at Col de Poutran at a height of around 2,000m. It was 1,500m long, had 13 corners and had a drop of 140m. It was principally a natural course, but three of the corners were exposed to direct sunlight, and was kept artificially frozen by ammonia and liquid nitrogen. In L'Alpe d'Huez, a replacement course was made available for the alpine skiing.