1998 Winter Olympics

XVIII Olympic Winter Games

The emblem represents a flower, with each petal representing an athlete practicing a different winter sport. It can also be seen as a snowflake, thus the name "Snowflower" was given to it.
Host city Nagano, Japan
Motto Coexistence with the Nature (Japanese: 自然との共存, Shizen to no Kyōzon)
Nations participating 73
Athletes participating 2,176 (1,389 men, 787 women)[1]
Events 68 in 7 sports (14 disciplines)
Opening ceremony 7 February
Closing ceremony 22 February
Officially opened by Emperor Akihito
Athlete's Oath Kenji Ogiwara
Judge's Oath Junko Hiramatsu
Olympic Torch Midori Ito
Stadium Olympic Stadium

The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games (第十八回オリンピック冬季競技大会 Dai Jūhachi-kai Orinpikku Tōkikyōgi Taikai), was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7-22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan.

72 nations and 2,176 participants contested in 7 sports and 68 events at 15 venues. The Games saw the introduction of women's ice hockey, curling and snowboarding. National Hockey League players were allowed to participate in the men's ice hockey.

The host was selected on June 15, 1991 over Salt Lake City, Östersund, Jaca and Aosta. They were the third Olympic Games and second winter Olympics to be held in Japan, after the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo. Nagano is so far the southernmost city to host a Winter Olympics, next to Squaw Valley, host of the 1960 Winter Olympics. The games were succeeded by the 1998 Winter Paralympics from 5 to 14 March. These were the final Winter Olympic Games under the IOC Presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Host city selection

Other candidate cities for the 1998 Olympics were Aosta, Italy; Jaca, Spain; Östersund, Sweden; and Salt Lake City, United States. The host city selection was held in Birmingham, United Kingdom, on 15 June 1991, at the 97th IOC session. Nagano prevailed over Salt Lake City by just 4 votes. In June 1995, Salt Lake was chosen as the host of the following 2002 Winter Olympics.

1998 Winter Olympics bidding results[2]
City Country Round 1 Round 2 (Run-off) Round 3 Round 4 Round 5
Nagano  Japan 21 — 30 36 46
Salt Lake City  United States 15 59 27 29 42
Östersund  Sweden 18 — 25 23 —
Jaca  Spain 19 — 5 — —
Aosta  Italy 15 29 — — —

Mascots

Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki, also known as the Snowlets are the 1998 Winter Olympic mascots and are four snowy owls. They represent respectively fire (Sukki), air (Nokki), earth (Lekki) and water (Tsukki) and together they represent the four major islands of Japan.

Highlights

Bjorn Daehlie won 3 gold medals in cross-country skiing, making him the Winter Olympic competitor with the most wins ever. Alpine skier Hermann Maier survived a fall in the downhill and went on to win gold in the super-G and giant slalom. Netherlands won 5 of the 10 speed skating events, including 2 each by Gianni Romme and Marianne Timmer. Canada beat Denmark in the women's curling final, securing the latter their first Winter Olympic medal ever.

Events

There were 68 events contested in 7 sports (14 disciplines).

Venues

Hakuba

Iizuna

Karuizawa

Nagano

Nozawaonsen:

Yamanouchi

Calendar

 ● Opening ceremony   Event competitions  ● Event finals  ● Closing ceremony
February 7
Sat		8
Sun		9
Mon		10
Tue		11
Wed		12
Thu		13
Fri		14
Sat		15
Sun		16
Mon		17
Tue		18
Wed		19
Thu		20
Fri		21
Sat		22
Sun		Events
Alpine skiing 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 10
Biathlon 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
Bobsleigh 1 1 2
Cross-country skiing 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 10
Curling 2 2
Figure skating 1 1 1 1 4
Freestyle skiing 2 2 4
Ice hockey 1 1 2
Luge 1 1 1 3
Nordic combined 1 1 2
Short track 2 1 3 6
Ski jumping 1 1 1 3
Snowboarding 1 2 1 4
Speed skating 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10
Total events 3 3 5 7 4 3 4 6 5 6 4 5 5 6 2 68
Cumulative total 3 6 11 18 22 25 29 35 40 46 50 55 60 66 68
Ceremonies ● ●
February 7
Sat		8
Sun		9
Mon		10
Tue		11
Wed		12
Thu		13
Fri		14
Sat		15
Sun		16
Mon		17
Tue		18
Wed		19
Thu		20
Fri		21
Sat		22
Sun

Medal count

The silver, gold and bronze medals

(Host nation is highlighted.)

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Germany 12 9 8 29
2 Norway 10 10 5 25
3 Russia 9 6 3 18
4 Canada 6 5 4 15
5 United States 6 3 4 13
6 Netherlands 5 4 2 11
7 Japan 5 1 4 10
8 Austria 3 5 9 17
9 South Korea 3 1 2 6
10 Italy 2 6 2 10

Participating National Olympic Committees

72 nations participated in the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. The nations Azerbaijan, Kenya, Macedonia, Uruguay, and Venezuela participated in their first Winter Olympic Games.

Participating nations
Participating National Olympic Committees

The following 13 countries registered to take part, but eventually did not send a team.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "The Olympic Winter Games Factsheet" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  3. ↑ The XVIII Olympic Winter Games Official Report

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1998 Winter Olympics.
Preceded by
Lillehammer		 Winter Olympics
Nagano
XVIII Olympic Winter Games (1998) 		Succeeded by
Salt Lake City
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