Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 500 Forint 1986, KM# 659, Hungary, Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics, Speed Skating
  • 500 Forint 1986, KM# 659, Hungary, Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics, Speed Skating
Description

The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Calgary 1988, was a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to be held for 16 days, like the counterpart Summer Olympic Games. The majority of the contested events took place in Calgary itself. However, the skiing events were held west of the city at the Nakiska ski resort in Kananaskis Country and at the Canmore Nordic Center Provincial Park in the town of Canmore.

In 1988, a record of 57 National Olympic Committees (NOC) that sent the total of 1,423 athletes to these Games. These Winter Olympics would be the last attended one for both the Soviet Union and East Germany NOCs. Just like the 1976 Summer Olympics, Canada failed again to win a gold medal in an official medal event on home soil. The Finnish ski jumper, Matti Nykänen, and the Dutch speed skater, Yvonne van Gennip, won three individual gold medals each. The 1988 Winter Olympics were also remembered for the "heroic failure" of both the British ski jumper, Michael Edwards, and the debut of the Jamaica national bobsleigh team. The both of them became subjects of major feature films about their participation in these Games: Cool Runnings by Disney in 1993 and Eddie the Eagle by 20th Century Studios in 2016.

Engraver: Zoltán Fülöp

Obverse

Depicts a speed skater with the inscription "XV. WINTER OLYMPICS CALGARY 1988" above. The engraver's initials (FZ) on the middle left.

Long-track speed skating has been featured as a sport in the Winter Olympics since the first Winter Games in 1924. Women's events were added to the Olympic program for the first time in 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics.

XV. TÉLI
OLIMPIA
CALGARY
1988
FZ

Reverse

Depicts the Olympic flame, the country name on the left (Hungarian's People Republic), the denomination, the issue year, the mintmark (BP) and the engraver's initials (FZ) on the right.

MAGYAR
NÉPKÖZ-
TÁRSASÁG
BP. ZF
500
FORINT
1986

Edge

500 Forint

People's Republic
KM# 659 Schön# 158 Adamo#  EM98
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Silver
Fineness 0.900
Weight 28 g
Diameter 40 mm
Thickness 2.7 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Budapest Mint (BP)

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