At the cutting edge of technology

These included in-competition anti-doping and gender tests, two areas that would be expanded at future Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) carried out its own testing at Grenoble 1968, having founded a Medical Commission seven years earlier in an effort to combat the use of prohibited substances. In all, 86 tests were conducted at the X Olympic Winter Games, all of them negative. Drug testing was in its infancy in the 1960s and has developed significantly since then. At the Olympic Games Rio 2016, for example, 4,913 samples were analysed, with 29 resulting in adverse analytical findings (AAFs).

The 1968 Games were significant in marking the beginning of a controversial period of eligibility regulations for the women’s category, with the IOC trialling a chromosome test known as the Barr body test. At the time, the stated aim was to detect male athletes posing as women, though in practice the test excluded women with naturally occurring chromosomal variations. One such woman was the Austrian downhill skier Erica Schinegger, the women's downhill gold medallist at the 1966 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, who “failed” the test and was prevented from competing in Grenoble. Over the subsequent decades, all women athletes competing at the Olympic Games were required to provide evidence of having undertaken the Barr body test. Though the practice was modified over the years, it received considerable criticism from the scientific community for being an inaccurate test of both sex and “unfair advantage” and was ultimately discontinued after the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The position of the IOC has continued to evolve in the years since, with the 2021 IOC Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations now recognising the importance of safeguarding athletes from intrusive gender verification practices.

Grenoble 1968 saw developments in television coverage, with 90 hours of action broadcast in colour to a global audience of 600 million, despite logistical difficulties faced by the host broadcaster, most notably caused by the distance between some of the venues. Coverage of the Olympic Winter Games has grown exponentially since then. For example, PyeongChang 2018 was broadcast to a global cumulative audience of 1.92 billion, more than a quarter of the world’s population. It was also the most digitally viewed Olympic Winter Games ever.

Innovations in sports timekeeping were unveiled at Grenoble 1968 and have been a feature of the Olympic Games ever since. In the cross-country and speed skating events, split and finish times were displayed on TV and on scoreboards at the venues. These times were relayed to printing machines used by judges. The time recorders used at the Games were accurate to a thousandth of a second, while a new speed recorder calculated race standings at split and finish times. Timekeeping technology has continued to evolve since then. At Rio 2016, official Games timekeeper Omega unveiled a photo-finish camera that can take 10,000 digital images a second.

In the figure skating competitions, judges entered their scores individually on a keyboard, with all scores then being displayed simultaneously on an electronic scoreboard.

Having made their Olympic debut at Tokyo 1964, pictograms were used again at Grenoble 1968 to denote the sports and disciplines on the programme. New designs were created for the X Olympic Winter Games, accurately conveying the unique characteristics of winter sports and inspiring designers at future editions. Stick figures remain a key and distinctive component of the visual and communicative appeal of both the Olympic Summer and Winter Games.

Grenoble 1968 was also notable for the appearance of Schuss, the first official Olympic mascot, a status only conferred on him in 2019. A zig-zag figure on skis with a red head and a blue and white body, he paid tribute to the French flag. Schuss was available on keyrings, pins, magnets and watches, and there was even an inflatable version. Mascots now play an important part in the branding of the Games, helping to create a festive atmosphere and demonstrating Olympic values to young and old alike. They also project the distinctive geographical features, history and culture of the host city.