Winter Olympics
| XVIII Olympic Winter Games | |
 | |
| 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 |
| Official's Oath | Junko Hiramatsu |
| Olympic Torch | Midori Ito |
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.
| Contents |
Highlights
- 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.
- Snowboarding and curling debuted as official sports and women's ice hockey was introduced to the Olympic program.
- NHL players were able to compete in men's ice hockey due to a three week suspension of the competition.
- Tara Lipinski, 15, won the women's figure skating title 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 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Uruguay and Venezuela made their first appearance at these Olympic Winter Games.
Medals awarded
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
- Biathlon
- Bobsleigh
- Curling
- Ice Hockey
- Luge
- Skating
- Skiing
Medal count
Top medal-collecting nations:
(for the full table, see 1998 Winter Olympics medal count)
| 1998 Winter Olympics medal count | 
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 |  Germany | 12 | 9 | 8 | 29 |
| 2 |  Norway | 10 | 10 | 5 | 25 |
| 3 |  Russian Federation | 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 |  Korea | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 10 |  Italy | 2 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
See also
- 1998 Winter Paralympics
- Olympic Games
- Winter Olympic Games
- International Olympic Committee
- AskFactMaster.ComProject Sports Olympics
- IOC country codes
External links
- IOC Site on 1998 Winter Olympics (http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=2&OLGY=1998)
| Olympic Games |
| Summer Olympic Games |
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| Winter Olympic Games |
| 1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1994 | 1998 | 2002 | 2006 | 2010 | 2014 | 2018 |
| *The 1906 Olympic were organised by the IOC, but are currently not officially recognised by the IOC. |
de:Olympische Winterspiele 1998
et:1998. aasta taliolümpiamängud
fr:Jeux Olympiques d'hiver de 1998
it:XVIII Olimpiade Invernale
ja:長野オリンピック
pl:Zimowe Igrzyska Olimpijskie 1998
sv:Olympiska vinterspelen 1998
Categories: 1998 Winter Olympics