1998 Winter Olympics

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"Nagano 1998" redirects here. For the Winter Paralympics, see 1998 Winter Paralympics.
XVIII Olympic Winter Games
1998 Winter Olympics logo.svg
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 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
Winter:
<  Lillehammer 1994 Salt Lake 2002  >
Summer:
<  Atlanta 1996 Sydney 2000  >

The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games (French: Les XVIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver [2]) (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 to 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[edit]

Main article: Bids for the 1998 Winter Olympics

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.

The Nagano Olympic bid committee spent approximately $14 million to entertain the 62 International Olympic Committee members and many of their companions. The precise figures are unknown since Nagano, after the IOC asked that the entertainment expenditures not be made public, destroyed the financial records.[3][4]

1998 Winter Olympics bidding results[5]
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 — — —

Marketing[edit]

Mascots[edit]

Main article: Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki

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.

Sponsors[edit]

Sponsors of the 1998 Winter Olympics
Worldwide Olympic Partners
Gold Sponsors
Official Supporters and Suppliers

Highlights[edit]

Bjørn Dæhlie 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.

  • Women's ice hockey was contested at the Olympic Games for the first time ever, and the United States beat the Canadians 3–1 for the gold medal. United States went undefeated in the women's tournament. The Czech Republic defeated Russia by a score of 1–0 for the men's gold medal, while Finland won both the men's and women's bronze medals for ice hockey.
  • Cross-country 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.
  • 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 (Canada) won the gold medal, after initially being disqualified for testing positive for marijuana.
  • Azerbaijan, Kenya, the Republic of Macedonia, Uruguay, and Venezuela made their first appearance at the Olympic Winter Games.
  • Denmark won their first winter Olympic medal (and only one to date) when they won a silver medal in the women's curling event.
  • Australia won their first individual Winter Olympic medal when Zali Steggall won bronze in the women's slalom.

Events[edit]

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

Venues[edit]

Main article: Venues of the 1998 Winter Olympics

Hakuba

Iizuna

Karuizawa

Nagano

Nozawaonsen:

Yamanouchi

Cost and cost overrun[edit]

The Oxford Olympics Study established the outturn cost of the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics at USD 2.2 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 56% in real terms.[6] This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost and cost overrun for Nagano 1998 compares with costs of USD 2.5 billion and a cost overrun of 13% for Vancouver 2010, and costs of USD 21.9 billion and a cost overrun of 289% for Sochi 2014, the latter being the most costly Olympics to date. Average cost for Winter Games since 1960 is USD 3.1 billion, average cost overrun is 142%.

Calendar[edit]

All dates are in Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
 ●  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 table[edit]

The silver, gold and bronze medals.
Main article: 1998 Winter Olympics medal table

(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[edit]

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.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Olympic Winter Games Factsheet" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 5 August 2012. 
  2. ^ "French and English are the official languages for the Olympic Games.", [1].(..)
  3. ^ Jordan, Mary; Sullivan, Kevin (21 January 1999), "Nagano Burned Documents Tracing '98 Olympics Bid", Washington Post, pp. A1, retrieved 20 August 2016 
  4. ^ Macintyre, Donald (1 February 1999). "Japan's Sullied Bid". Time Magazine. Retrieved 20 August 2016. 
  5. ^ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011. 
  6. ^ Flyvbjerg, Bent; Stewart, Allison; Budzier, Alexander (2016). The Oxford Olympics Study 2016: Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games. Oxford: Saïd Business School Working Papers (Oxford: University of Oxford). pp. 9–13. SSRN 2804554Freely accessible. 
  7. ^ The XVIII Olympic Winter Games Official Report

External links[edit]

  • "Nagano 1998". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. 
  • "Results and Medalists". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. 
  • The Organizing Committee for the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, Nagano 1998 (1998). The XVIII Winter Olympic Games: Official Report. The Organizing Committee for the XVIII Olympic Winter Games.  Downloadable PDF: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Appendix, retrieved on 17 January 2010.
Preceded by
Lillehammer		 Winter Olympics
Nagano
XVIII Olympic Winter Games (1998)		 Succeeded by
Salt Lake City
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