Grenoble 1968: The “City of the Alps” comes of age

Grenoble remains proud of its status as an Olympic host city, as regular anniversary celebrations and the conservation of its Olympic heritage show. Seven of the nine venues used at Grenoble 1968 remain in use. The three venues in the city itself continue to serve the community, local schools and clubs, and attract competitions and events. Meanwhile, the ski resorts that staged Olympic events in 1968 gained international visibility and developed after the Games, helping the local tourism industry to blossom. The region of Isère is now France’s fourth-most popular tourism destination.

A thriving city

Home to over half a million people, Grenoble is regarded as one of Europe’s leading research, technology and innovation centres. It is renowned for its expertise in IT, biotechnology and alternative energy, and a number of leading companies have offices there. In introducing Grenoble to a global audience, the Olympic Winter Games played their part in attracting these firms to the city.

Key to the city’s growth were the transport improvements made with the years after the Olympic Winter Games in mind. The new motorway to Geneva was a shining example of these improvements, serving as a catalyst for the regional economy. This development of Grenoble’s infrastructure boosted its efforts to promote itself as the “City of the Alps” and to develop its dynamic industrial, scientific and university base. This in turn spurred the local economy.

Keeping the flame alive

At a local level, Grenoble 1968 lives on in the popular imagination thanks to art, anniversary celebrations and other initiatives. The city is home to several outdoor sculptures that were commissioned for France’s first Symposium of Sculpture, held in the summer of 1967, and for the Olympic Winter Games the following year. Many of them feature on three walking routes created in 2018 to celebrate this heritage and to mark the 50th anniversary of the Olympic Winter Games.

The 2018 celebrations ran for six months and featured a wide range of events, including France’s first ever Olympic Festival, which was timed to coincide with the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, and the inaugural ISF Schools Winter Games, an event that brought together 500 young athletes from 19 countries. A giant mural created that year still adorns the side of one of the buildings at the residential area which was used as the Media Centre of Grenoble 1968. The mural features scenes from the Games, including a portrait of the great French skier Jean-Claude Killy, the winner of three Alpine skiing gold medals.

A boost for French cross-country skiing and ice-hockey

The resort of Autrans, the venue for the biathlon, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined events at Grenoble 1968, has since established itself as France’s cross-country skiing capital. Its 180 kilometres of trails are popular with skiers of all levels and provide the venue for the week-long Foulée Blanche, which has been held every year since 1979. Autrans also hosted the 2019 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Skiing World Championships, while its Maison des Sports caters for many other sports throughout the year, such as tennis, mountain biking and hiking.

Grenoble 1968 also provided a springboard for ice hockey in France, where it was very much a minority sport before the Games. Held at the Stade de Glace and the Municipal Ice Rink, the matches in the men’s ice hockey competition attracted sell-out crowds and generated interest across the country as participation numbers rose and new clubs were created. There are now over 80 ice hockey clubs across France. Among them are Grenoble GMH 38, better known as Les Brûleurs de Loups (literally “Wolf Burners”). Founded in 1963, the club plays in France’s top division, the 12-team Ligue Magnus.