Guinness World Records 2018

Winter Olympics Preview

SPORTS

YOUNGEST
INDIVIDUAL GOLD
MEDALLIST AT A
WINTER OLYMPICS
Tara Lipinski (USA,
b. 10 Jun 1982) won
the ladies’ singles
figure-skating event
in Nagano, Japan,
on 20 Feb 1998, aged
15 years 255 days.
The youngest
Olympic gold
medallist is South
Korea’s Kim Yun-mi
(b. 1 Dec 1980). At
Lillehammer 1994,
she won gold in the
women’s 3,000 m
short-track speed-
skating relay aged
13 years 85 days.

The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Who will join these incredible record-breakers?

Most Winter Olympic

appearances by an athlete

Ski-jumper Noriaki Kasai (JPN) and luger Albert

Demchenko (RUS) both competed at the seven

Games from Albertville 1992 to Sochi 2014.

Demchenko (b. 27 Nov 1971) is the oldest

individual medallist at a Winter Olympic

Games. He won a silver medal on 9 Feb 2014

aged 42 years 74 days.

Most gold medals won at a single

Winter Olympic Games

Eric Heiden (USA) won five speed-skating events

at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in

New York, USA. His victories came in the 500 m,

1,000 m, 1,500 m, 5,000 m and 10,000 m.

The most gold medals won at a single

Winter Olympic Games (female) is four,

achieved by speed-skater Lidiya Skoblikova

(USSR/now RUS) in the 500 m, 1,000 m, 1,500 m

and 3,000 m events at Innsbruck 1964.

Most consecutive

individual Olympic medals

Luge rider Armin Zöggeler (ITA) – known as

Il Cannibale (“The Cannibal”) for the way he

devoured his opposition – won a medal at six

consecutive Winter Olympics from 1994 to 2014.

First Winter Olympic medallist

from the southern hemisphere

At Albertville 1992, New Zealand skier Annelise

Coberger won silver in the women’s slalom.

She became the first medallist from the

southern hemisphere, 68 years after the

first Winter Olympics had taken place.

Most Winter Olympic ice hockey

medals won by an individual

Canada has won every women’s ice hockey final

except the first at Nagano 1998. Forward Jayna

Hefford and centre Hayley Wickenheiser were in all

teams, earning themselves four golds and a silver.

Most Winter Paralympic Games

gold medals won

Ragnhild Myklebust (NOR) won 22 golds between

1988 and 2002 in cross-country skiing, ice-

sledge speed-racing and biathlon. She also

took home three silvers and two bronze.

The most Winter Paralympic Games

gold medals won (male) is 16, achieved

by Gerd Schönfelder (DEU) in alpine

skiing in 1992–2010. He also won four

silvers and two bronze.

Most siblings to compete in

a single Winter Olympic event

At Calgary 1988, Mexico’s two teams in the

two-man bobsled were crewed by four brothers:

Jorge, Eduardo, Roberto and Adrián Tamés.

MOST MEDALS WON AT THE WINTER OLYMPICS

Between 1998 and 2014, Norway’s Ole Einar Bjørndalen won 13 Winter

Olympic medals in the biathlon – an event combining cross-country skiing

and rifle shooting. This tally includes eight golds: the most gold medals

won at the Winter Olympics. Bjørndalen shares this record with cross-

country skiier Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR), whose golds were won in 1992–98.

At Sochi 2014, Bjørndalen triumphed in the biathlon 10-km sprint event

aged 40 years 12 days – making him the oldest individual gold medallist

at a Winter Olympic Games.

Q: Who designed the

opening ceremony of the

1960 Winter Olympics?

A: Walt Disney

FIRST WINTER OLYMPICS

The Winter Olympics were first held in Chamonix, France, between 25 Jan and

5 Feb 1924. The Games were established to support snow- and ice-based

sports not suited to the summer. In front of 10,004 paying spectators, a total

of 247 men and 11 women from 16 nations competed in events including

speed skating, curling and ice hockey (above). On 26 Jan 1924, Charles

Jewtraw (USA) became the first Winter Olympic gold medallist, winning

the 500 m speed-skating competition at the Stade Olympique de Chamonix.

In 2015,

Marit Bjørgen

made history by

winning all three World

Cup crystal globes –

awarded for overall,

distance and sprint – for

a second time. She had

previously achieved

the feat in

2004–05.

MOST MEDALS WON AT THE
WINTER OLYMPICS (FEMALE)
Three female cross-country skiers have
won 10 medals at the Winter Olympics: Raisa
Smetanina (USSR/now RUS, 1976–92), Stefania
Belmondo (ITA, 1992–2002) and Marit Bjørgen
(NOR, right, 2002–14). Six of Bjørgen’s medals
are gold – the most gold medals won at the
Winter Olympics (female). She shares
the record with speed-skater Lidiya
Skoblikova (USSR/now RUS, 1960–64)
and cross-country skier Lyubov
Yegorova (RUS, 1992–94).