Ice hockey at the 1968 Winter Olympics — 1968 edition of the ice hockey tournament during the Olympic Winter Games
The 1968 Grenoble ice hockey tournament was the last Olympic competition to simultaneously award the Ice Hockey World and European Championship titles.
Key Facts
- Olympic Championship number
- 11th Olympic ice hockey tournament
- World Championship number
- 35th World Championship
- European Championship number
- 46th European Championship
- Soviet Union gold medals
- Third Olympic gold in ice hockey
- Venue
- Palais des Sports, Grenoble
- Non-participating qualifiers
- Poland and Italy qualified but declined
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France provided the occasion for the men's ice hockey tournament, which had since 1920 combined Olympic, World, and European championship status. Fourteen nations qualified, though Poland and Italy declined to participate, and Japan, Austria, and host France were placed directly into a Consolation Group.
The Soviet Union won the gold medal, their third Olympic title, eighth World Championship, and twelfth European Championship. Czechoslovakia claimed silver and Canada took bronze. Games were held at the Palais des Sports, and for the first time not all qualifiers competed for medals, with the lowest-ranked teams placed into a separate Consolation Group.
This tournament marked the end of an era, as it was the last Olympic ice hockey competition to simultaneously serve as the Ice Hockey World and European Championships. Future Olympic tournaments and world championships would be held as separate events, fundamentally changing the structure of elite international ice hockey competition.
Result
at Palais des Sports, Grenoble