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Where the 1998 Olympic Games took place. Sports Russia

Where the 1998 Olympic Games took place. Sports Russia

16.09.2021

Winter Olympics in Nagano in 1998 - the eighteenth in a row - became truly iconic for world sports. It was on the eve of the Games in Japan that the UN General Assembly in its resolution, for the first time in its history, de facto called on states to suspend not only international, but even internal conflicts. Finally, the unwritten ban on the conduct of wars at the time of the Olympics, known from the annals of Ancient Greece, has finally "earned".

Nagano - medal standings

The Nagano Olympics hosted 2,338 athletes, of which 810 were women. It became the most popular in terms of the number of participants and countries. In total, athletes from seventy-two countries came to Japan, who competed in fourteen sports and sixty-eight disciplines. For the first time, the Olympics in Nagano competed for medals in curling: two sets - for men and women. The Games also made their debut for such snowboarding competitions as giant slalom and half-tube races. Of the seventy-two countries fighting for prizes, only twenty-four have achieved success, having received two hundred and five medals.

In the overall standings, the largest number of awards that the Olympics in Nagano played were won by athletes from Germany: they had twenty-nine awards, including twelve gold, nine silver, eight bronze. The second were the Norwegians with twenty-five, and the third were the Russians with eighteen medals.

First time in Nagano

The last winter games of the century have become a kind of bridge to the future. It was the Olympics in Nagano that opened the way for such sports as snowboarding, without which it is already difficult to imagine modern world competitions of this magnitude, for a somewhat exotic curling and a women's light version of hockey. At these games, the first test was performed for the klapa, which had a breakaway heel and sent the book of previous records to the archive. Both athletes and spectators were truly amazed by the new skates that were developed by the Dutch and introduced by the Canadians. Their idea, like everything ingenious, was simple: the creators decided not to firmly attach the blade to the shoe anymore, but, on the contrary, to make it movable. It was this small revolution that became the reason that all previous records fell and the tables had to be compiled anew.

For the first time on Japanese soil, amazingly reliable and durable Kevlar gear was tested. For two weeks the public watched the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Hockey, played for the first time in the history of the Games by professionals from the NHL, collected packed stadiums.

The Nagano Olympics were the first to host women's ice hockey competitions. The American women became champions, the Canadian team was in second place, and the Finnish team won the bronze. The 1998 Games became a step into the future for the White Olympics, the popularity of which from year to year was more and more inferior to its summer counterpart, and largely due to the lack of new types of competitions. However, the prevalence of debutants still fell short of becoming a competition of this level. Both the ability to hit an ice target with a bat, and women's hockey, and snowboarding were mostly practiced in only a few countries in the world. And their presence at such a large-scale sports forum as the Olympics in Nagano was explained, oddly enough, only by its entertainment.

1998 Olympics mascots

The wise Japanese chose four "snowlets" as mascots: these were the mascots of the Games, such as the owls Sukki, Tsukki, Nokki and Lekki. The word snowlets is formed from two roots: snow - “snow”, and let "s -“ let's. ”And since the Games are held every four years, the mascot consisted of four owls, whose names were chosen from almost fifty thousand ideas and proposals received from sports fans.

Emblem

The emblem was no less interesting. The Olympics in Nagano was represented by a flower, on the petals of which athletes were depicted - representatives of a particular winter sport. The emblem was similar to the snowflake, which symbolizes the Winter Olympic Games. She was also associated with a mountain flower. Thus, the Japanese, great lovers of ecology, have focused on their respect for nature and environmental issues in Nagano Prefecture. The dynamic appearance of this colorful and vibrant emblem, according to experts, was a testament to the atmosphere of enthusiasm in which the Games were held, at the same time symbolizing their magnificence.

Nagano Olympics - ice hockey

The final of this type of competition was called the "dream tournament" by the press. For the first time in history winter games The Nagano Olympics, in which hockey was represented by members of the NHL - the world's strongest players, was advertised by this richest league. Before the start of the Games, the NHL leadership held three exhibition matches in Japan. This was done in order to instill an interest in hockey in the Japanese. After that, according to rumors, impressionable Asians - the hosts of the Olympics - literally "got sick" with a game with a puck and a stick. And although they understood the rules with great difficulty, they maintained the atmosphere at the stadium very effectively.

The NHL management understood that the participation of stars of this magnitude would once again advertise this overseas championship. In addition, it seemed to the Americans and Canadians that they would be able to repeat the 1996 World Cup final, and it was they who would meet in the final match. However, thanks to the Czechs, the North American ice “masters” left Nagano without even winning the “bronze”. And Russia and the Czech Republic reached the final. However, our compatriots did not manage to "print" Hasek's goal in the final match. Moreover, in the third period, the Russians conceded a rather offensive puck, and as a result won

Success of Russian athletes

Cross-country skiing is known to be a staple in the Winter Olympics. And therefore, they are always given great attention. In 1998, already a two-time Olympic relay champion, she won a silver medal in the classic fifteen kilometer individual race. Her compatriot Olga Danilova received the gold. The team of Russian girls - N. Gavrilyuk, O. Danilova, E. Vyalbe and L. Lazutina - once again delighted their fans by winning the 4 x 5 km relay.

The Bure brothers, Alexey Zhamnov, Alexey Gonchar, Andrey Kovalenko, and Sergey Fedorov came to defend the honor of Russian sports. With these guys, Fujiyama was on the shoulder, and knee-deep, and the Olympics in Nagano were up to the strength. Figure skating was represented by a rather powerful team, but the audience was most impressed by the surprisingly complex and clean program of the winner of the "gold".

Has not cost Olympic Games in 1998 and without scandals. Frustrated by their failure, the players of the American hockey team made a brawl, breaking the furniture in their rooms in the sports village, thereby inflicting on the organizers of the competition not only material, but also

Surprisingly, the most "Russian" among all the teams in Nagano turned out to be the national team of Kazakhstan. The Russian national team consisted of one Ukrainian and one Lithuanian, while this Central Asian country sent only ethnic Russians to the Games.

The main surprise of the competition in Nagano was a magnitude five earthquake that occurred on February 20th. Fortunately, none of the participants and spectators were hurt. In ice dancing doubles Olympic champions steel with Evgeny Platov from Russia. And only after the last victorious performance it turned out that the partner was dancing with a broken wrist.

The farewell ceremony for the Games, as well as the opening ceremony, was accompanied by fireworks. It was a fireworks of rare beauty - five thousand high-altitude charges soared into the evening sky in just eight minutes. Participants say that the Winter Olympics in Nagano, one of the most soulful in the history of the World Games, flew just fleetingly. Competitions of this scale were held in Japan, and they simply could not help but amaze with scientific and technical innovations worthy of the coming twenty-first century. Country rising sun more than once she amazed the world with her technologies, and the 1998 Nagano Olympics were no exception.

From 7 to 22 February 1998 - the XVIII Winter Olympic Games were held in Nagano (Japan). The program included 14 sports and 68 disciplines. 72 countries participated (2338 athletes: 1528 men and 810 women).

Long before the start of the 18th Winter Olympic Games, experts predicted that any country would need 11-12 gold medals to win a team victory in Nagano. And this forecast was fully justified. After the end of the competition in all 68 numbers of the program. The assets of the German delegation were 12 medals of the highest standard, Norway - 10, Russia - 9.

Phenomenal, unprecedented in Olympic history Russian skiers achieved success, winning all five races on the most difficult tracks in Hakuba. Three gold - two for victories in individual races and one in the relay, as well as silver and bronze medals was brought from Japan to the town of Odintsovo near Moscow by Larisa Lazutina. This athlete accomplished a real feat, for which, immediately upon her return to her homeland, she was awarded the title "Hero of the Russian Federation" by the decree of the President of the country.

The two-time Olympic champion returned from Japan the representative Vladimir region Olga Danilova. It was she who, ahead of her rivals at a 15-kilometer distance, won the first one played in Nagano gold medal and gave additional confidence to her teammates, with whom she excelled in the relay race.

Yulia Chepalova turned out to be the real discovery of the Games. Victory in the 30 km race of this young Muscovite, who was born in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and studied at the Khabarovsk State Institute physical culture, was, of course, unexpected for many. But only her for the coaches: they saw in Yulia the future leader of our women's ski team.

Elena Vyalbe and Nina Gavrylyuk deserve separate words of gratitude. They failed to win the individual races. But they flashed at their relay stages and deservedly received gold medals. From now on, both Elena and Nina - three times Olympic champions, since Gavrylyuk in 1988 and 1994, and Vyalbe in 1992 and 1994 already shared the joy of victory in relay races with her friends.

Three gold medals were added to the common piggy bank by figure skaters. This is definitely an outstanding achievement. Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev became champions in pair skating, Pasha Grischuk and Evgeny Platov in ice dancing, and in men's singles- Ilya Kulik. All of them showed the highest skill and fortitude. It was only after the end of the competition that it turned out, for example, that Grischuk performed with a broken wrist! She and her wonderful partner were the first in history to win two Winter Olympics in a row.

Photo: AFP

Another gold medal was won for Russia by the biathlete from Tyumen Galina Kukleva. The 7.5 km race she won was one of the most dramatic. Indeed, at the finish line, the champion and the silver medalist were separated by only 0.7 seconds. An elusive moment in which years of painstaking work were concentrated.

So, 11 Russian athletes became champions of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games.

Information provided by the Russian Olympic Committee.

The venue for the 1998 Olympics was determined at a meeting of the International Committee in 1991. Salt Lake City was a strong competitor for Nagano. However, the commission decided that there should not be two games in a row in the United States. After all, the competition took place in 1996 in Atlanta.

In 1998, 72 countries took part. In particular, only athletes from South Africa and Kenya came from Africa. Traditionally, this is less than half of the states that send their teams to summer games... This is primarily due to the high cost of training athletes in many winter disciplines. For example, it requires the construction of several types of tracks. In addition, in many countries there are simply no suitable weather conditions, which makes training even more expensive.

5 countries sent their athletes to the games for the first time - Macedonia, Kenya, Uruguay, Azerbaijan and Venezuela.

By tradition, the game was opened by the head of state - Emperor of Japan Akihito.

There have been changes in the game program compared to earlier competitions. In particular, competitions were organized in two new types - curling and skateboard. And in hockey, not only men's but also women's teams began to compete.

In the unofficial medal standings, Germany took first place, which came as a surprise to sports experts. Athletes from this country have won 29 medals of various denominations. Norway was followed closely by 4 medals. Russia came in third, overtaking Canada and the United States, which can be considered good result taking into account the departure of a part of Soviet athletes to the teams of the former Soviet republics, as well as the general difficult state of the economy, which also affected the financing of sports.

Tip 2: Where the 1998 Winter Olympics were held

The Winter Olympics were first held in 1924, when 4 sports were included and 14 sets of awards were played. By the end of the last century, the games of the XVIII Winter Olympics were already held in 7 sports, and the number of medal sets played increased to 68. This meeting of the Olympians was held in one of the cities of the central island of Japan.

The last of the last century could have taken place in one of three European cities, in the American Salt Lake City or the Japanese Nagano - five applications for its holding were submitted to the International Olympic Committee. Voting required five rounds, at the end of which, by a slight margin of only four votes out of 88, the Japanese city was ahead. This was the third and so far the last competition held in the land of the rising sun. Prior to that, Tokyo hosted the 1964 Games, and in 1972 Sapporo hosted the XI Winter Olympics.

Nagano is a relatively young city, built in 1897 closer to the west coast of the largest of the Japanese islands (Honshu). In 1966, it was enlarged by merging with 8 nearest municipalities and now has almost 400 thousand inhabitants. Later, in 1999, the city became the administrative center of the prefecture with the same name Nagano. It has a university and a Buddhist center, as well as light industry and mechanical engineering enterprises. To this day, Nagano remains the southernmost capital of the Winter Olympics ever held. To host the Games, the city built an indoor ice skating rink M-Wawe, a multi-purpose sports arena "Wakasato" and an indoor ice arena Aqua Wing, which was turned into a water sports center after the Olympics.

The XVIII Winter Olympic Games were held in Nagano from February 7 to 22, 1998 and brought together nearly 2,200 athletes from 72 countries. Emperor of Japan Akihito opened the competition, and awards were raffled off in 14 sports. Most of the medals were won by the teams of Germany (29), Norway (25) and Russia (18). Of the 9 highest awards of our team, 5 were won by skiers. In this sport, the advantage of the Russians was absolute - they took all the first places. Three awards of the highest standard were brought to Russia by figure skaters who lost the championship in only one discipline.

Preparations for the 1998 Winter Olympics

Nagano was and remains the capital of the Winter Olympics closest to the equator.
Before the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, the UN General Assembly called on countries to end all international and domestic conflicts.
Thus, an attempt was made to revive the tradition of the Olympiads of Ancient Greece, when all wars stopped for the duration of the games.

The emblem of the Nagano Olympics is made in the form of a flower, on the petals of which a representative of a winter sport is depicted.

The emblem looks like a snowflake and a sunflower at the same time, symbolizing the splendor and brilliance of the Olympic Games.

Four owls became the mascots of the Games in Nagano: Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki. Four wise birds - according to the number of years between the Olympiads.

Opening of the 1998 Olympics

Emperor Akihito of Japan made an opening speech at the opening ceremony of the XVIII Olympic Winter Games. The Olympic flame was lit by figure skater Midori Ito, and the oath of the athletes was made by the double fighter Kenji Ogiwara.

Results of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano

At the 1998 Games, there were over 2000 athletes from 72 countries, 68 sets of awards were presented, 7 more than in Lillehammer 1994.

The Winter Games program includes:

curling (after years of absence);
snowboard for men and women;
women's hockey;
for the first time professional hockey players were admitted to the competition.

For the first time, teams from Kenya, Azerbaijan, Uruguay, Macedonia, Venezuela took part in the Winter Olympic Games.

Russian national team at the Olympic Games in Nagano 1998

The Russian team included 45 women and 81 men, with an average age of 25 years. The youngest skater Alexei Yagudin - 17 years old, the oldest - skier Alexey Prokurorov, champion of Calgary-88, 33 years old.
He became the standard bearer at the opening ceremony.

Russian athletes did not participate in only three sports: snowboarding, women's hockey, and curling.

In the overall team classification of the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the Russian national team was in third place, after Germany and Norway. The Russians won 9 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals.

Nagano Olympics scandals

The doping scandal arose when Canadian medalist Ross Rebagliati found a small excess of the dose of marijuana in the blood. But the Canadian delegation achieved a mitigation of punishment and the return of the gold medal to the athlete.

The organizational scandal consisted of a brawl that was perpetrated by a drunk Austrian Martin Freinadem, nicknamed Terminator. HE broke a computer and furniture in a hotel room, which he later paid for, but was expelled from Nagano from the Olympics.

A magnitude 5 earthquake struck Nagano 3 days before the end of the Olympics. No harm done.

Presented sports
Biathlon
Bobsled
Skiing
Curling
Skating
Ski nordic
Ski race
Ski jumping
Luge
Snowboarding
Short track
Figure skating
Freestyle
Hockey

The Japanese city of Nagano is located 220 km northeast of Tokyo. Nagano was elected the capital of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games at the 97th session of the IOC, held on June 13-16, 1991 in Birmingham.

2338 athletes took part in the Winter Olympics, including 810 women. The Olympic Games in Nagano became the most massive in terms of the number of participants and the number of participating countries - 72. Athletes competed in 14 sports in 68 disciplines. Curling competitions were included in the Olympic Games. Two sets of medals for men and women were played. Also, the program of the Nagano Olympics included snowboarding competitions - two types of competitions for men and for women: giant slalom and half-pipe competitions. Of the 72 countries that fought for the prizes, only 24 have achieved success, having won 205 medals.

In biathlon competitions, the Norwegian athletes won 5 medals - 2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze. Germany won 5 medals - 2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze. Team Russia 3 medals, one of each dignity. In the 7.5 km race, with one penalty, Galina Kukleva took gold. The Russian team was second in the 4 × 7.5 km relay. Biathlete from Ukraine Elena Petrova won silver in the 15 km race. In the 20 km race, the bronze medal was won by Aleksey Aidarov, Belarus.

In bobsled among the twos, the Italians from the first team became the strongest, the second were the athletes from the Canada-1 team, and the third were Germany-1. Athletes from the Germany-2 team were in the lead in the four-bean competition, followed by Switzerland-1, and Great Britain-1 in third.

In alpine skiing, 10 sets of awards were played. Representatives of 9 countries became winners of 30 medals. 11 medals were taken home by Austrian athletes - 3 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze. German athletes won 6 awards - 3 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze. Athletes of Norway 4 medals - 1 gold and 3 silver. Two medals for athletes from Italy - gold and silver, France - gold and bronze, Switzerland - 2 bronze. Athletes from the USA won a gold medal, Sweden won a silver medal, and Australia won a bronze medal - the only medal at the 18th Winter Olympics in Nagano.

In curling among men, athletes from Switzerland took the lead, in second place were athletes from Canada, in third - Norway. Among women, athletes from Canada took the lead, followed by athletes from Denmark, and third - from Sweden.

Bjerte Engen Vik from Norway became the champion in the Nordic combined event in the 90 m springboard and 15 km race, the second was Sampa Lajunen from Finland, and the third place was won by Valery Stolyarov from Russia. In the discipline of a springboard of 90 m and a relay race of 4 × 5 km, the Norwegian team was in the lead, in second place were athletes from Finland, in third - France.

In cross-country skiing for men, athletes from Norway performed better than others, having won 4 gold and 2 silver medals. Vladimir Smirnov from Kazakhstan showed the third result in the 15 km free style pursuit, and the fourth in the 10 km classic style. Russian Alexei Prokurorov was fourth in the 50 km free style. In the 4x10 km relay, the Russian team showed the fifth result. The Russian women took the lead among women. Larisa Lazutina won 5 Olympic awards - 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal - one medal in each type of competition. Olga Danilova won 2 gold and 1 silver. Yulia Chepalova - 2 gold. Elena Vyalbe - one gold medal. Irina Taranenko-Terelya from Ukraine showed the fourth result in the 10 km race.

In ski jumping, Japanese athletes distinguished themselves, winning 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals. Athletes from Finland won 1 gold and 1 silver medal, Germany - 1 silver, Austria - 2 bronze.

Luge sportsmen conquered Germany, winning 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals. Athletes from the United States won silver and bronze medals, Italy - 1 silver, Austria - 1 bronze.

In speed skating, it was found 5 World Records and 5 Olympic Records!

In snowboarding, four sets of awards (12 medals) were shared by representatives of 8 countries. Athletes from Germany won gold and silver medals, Switzerland - gold and bronze, Norway - 2 silver, USA - 2 bronze; athletes each: Canada and France in gold, Italy - silver, Austria - bronze.

V figure skating Ilya Kulik from Russia was the strongest on skates; Tara Lipinski from the USA; Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev from Russia, in sports pairs; Oksana (Pasha) Grischuk and Evgeny Platonov from Russia, in sports dances.

Johnny Mosley from the USA was in the lead in the men's freestyle mogul discipline. The second and third places were taken by athletes from Finland. In women, Tae Satoya from Japan became the champion, the second place was for the athlete from Germany, the third - for Norway. In men's ski acrobatics Eric Bergust from the USA won gold, the second place went to the athlete from France, the third to the athlete from Belarus Dmitry Dashinsky. Nikki Stone from the USA took the first place among women, the athlete from China took the second place, and Switzerland took the third place. Ukrainian women Tatiana Kozachenko and Alla Tsuper showed the fourth and fifth results, respectively.

Masters from the Czech Republic took the lead in ice hockey among men, the Russian national team took the second place, Finland took the third place, and Belarus took the fifth place. In women, American hockey players became the strongest. The second place was taken by the athletes from Canada, the third - from Finland.

In the men's short track speed skating championship, athletes from Korea won gold and silver medals, Japan and Canada won gold and bronze medals, and China won 2 silver and bronze medals. In women, the strongest were athletes from Korea - 2 gold and 2 bronze, Canada - gold and bronze medal, China - 3 silver coins.

In the overall standings, the greatest number of medals at the XVIII Winter Olympic Games in Nagano was won by athletes from Germany - 29 awards (12 gold, 9 silver, 8 bronze). The second were athletes from Norway with 25 medals (10 gold, 10 silver, 5 bronze). The third in terms of total medals are Russian athletes with 18 medals (9 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze). Ukraine in the overall standings showed 18 results, having won 1 silver medal (biathlete Elena Petrova).