1998 Winter Olympics

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XVIII Olympic Winter Games
Image:1998 wolympics logo.png The emblem represents a flower, with each petal representing an athlete practising a different winter sport. It can also be seen as a snowflake, thus the name, “Snowflower,” was given to it.
Host city	Nagano, Japan
Nations participating	72
Athletes participating	2176 (1389 men, 787 women)
Events	72 in 7 sports
Opening ceremony	February 7, 1998
Closing ceremony	February 22, 1998
Officially opened by	HIM Emperor Akihito
Athlete's Oath	Kenji Ogiwara
Judge's Oath	Junko Hiramatsu
Olympic Torch	Midori Ito
Stadium	Olympic Stadium

The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Other candidate cities were Aosta, Italy; Jaca, Spain; Östersund, Sweden; and Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The selection was held in Birmingham, United Kingdom in 1991.

1 Highlights
2 Medals awarded
3 Venues
4 Medal count
5 Participating NOCs
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Highlights

Ice hockey for women was contested at the Olympic Games for the first time ever, and the U.S. beat the Canadians 3-1 for the gold medal. USA went undefeated in the women's tournament, while the men had just a single win over Belarus and lost every other game. Czech Republic faced Russia for the men's gold medal, while Finland won both the men's and women's bronze medals for ice hockey.
XC skier Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway won three gold medals in Nordic skiing to become the first winter Olympian to earn eight career gold medals and twelve total medals.
Curling returned as an official sport, after having been demoted to a demonstration event after the inaugural Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924
Snowboarding debuted as an official sport and women's ice hockey was introduced to the Olympic program.
Professional players from the NHL were able to compete in men's ice hockey due to a three week suspension of the NHL season.
Tara Lipinski, 15, narrowly beat Michelle Kwan in women's figure skating to become the youngest champion in an individual event in the history of the Winter Olympics.
Alpine skier Hermann Maier (Austria) survived a fall in the downhill and went on to gold in the super-g and giant slalom.
Speed skaters Gianni Romme and Marianne Timmer won two gold medals each for the Netherlands; 5 out of 10 titles in speed skating went to the Netherlands.
Snowboarder Ross Rebagliati won the gold medal, after initially being disqualified for marijuana usage.
Azerbaijan, Kenya, the Republic of Macedonia, Uruguay, and Venezuela made their first appearance at these Olympic Winter Games.

[edit] Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

[edit] Venues

Hakuba

Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium: Ski jumping
Happo One Resort: Alpine skiing (downhill and super G)
Snow Harp, Kamishiro: Cross country skiing

Iizuna

Iizuna Kogen Resort: Freestyle skiing
The Spiral, Asakawa: Bobsled and luge

Karuizawa

Kazakoshi Park Arena: Curling

Nagano

Nagano Olympic Stadium: opening and closing ceremonies
Aqua Wing Arena: Ice hockey
Big Hat: Ice hockey
M-Wave: Speed skating
White Ring: Figure skating and short track speed skating

Nozawaonsen:

Nozawa Onsen Resort: Biathlon

Yamanouchi

Mt. Yakebitai, Shiga Kogen Resort: Snowboarding and alpine skiing (slalom and giant slalom)

[edit] Medal count

(Host nation is highlighted.)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Image:Flag of Germany.svg Germany	12	9	8	29
2	Image:Flag of Norway.svg Norway	10	10	5	25
3	Image:Flag of Russia (bordered).svg Russia	9	6	3	18
4	Image:Flag of Canada (bordered).svg Canada	6	5	4	15
5	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States	6	3	4	13
6	Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	5	4	2	11
7	Image:Flag of Japan (bordered).svg Japan	5	1	4	10
8	Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria	3	5	9	17
9	Image:Flag of South Korea (bordered).svg South Korea	3	1	2	6
10	Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	2	6	2	10

Further information: 1998 Winter Olympics medal count

[edit] Participating NOCs

Articles about Nagano Winter Olympics by nation:

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

IOC Site on 1998 Winter Olympics

Olympic Games v • d • e</div>
Sports • Medal counts • NOCs Medalists • Symbols
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Winter Games: 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940)², (1944)², 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
Athens 2004 — Turin 2006 — Beijing 2008 — Vancouver 2010 — London 2012