Olympic Games of 1998
The Event The staging of the XVIII Winter
Olympiad, an international athletic competition
held every four years
Date February 7-22, 1998
Place Nagano, Japan
The first Winter Olympics held in Japan since 1972, these
Games had a record number of athletes participating.
Events such as ice hockey and women’s figure skating were
among the most watched.
Nagano had been chosen as the site of the 1998
Games, beating bids from Aosta, Italy; Jaca, Spain;
Salt Lake City, Utah; and Östersund, Sweden. Sev-
enty-two nations took part, five more than in the
1994 Games. A record 2,176 athletes participated,
1,389 men and 787 women, about 400 more than in
the previous Winter Games. Sixty-eight events took
place in eight sports. Curling returned to the list of
sports, having been dropped at Lillehammer in
1994, and snowboarding made its debut. There were
32,000 volunteers and 8,329 accredited media per-
sonnel.
Nagano lies two hundred miles northwest of To-
kyo, across a high mountain range called “the roof of
Japan.” Mount Happo’one was chosen for the site of
the downhill races. The Japanese built a new bullet
train track to make the city more accessible and
added new roads, the total investment amounting to
$10 billion. A new stadium was built in the
shape of a cherry blossom.
The Games were officially opened by
Emperor Akihito, with the Olympic Oath be-
ing taken by Nordic skier Kenji Ogiwara and
the Official Oath by figure skater Junko
Hiramatsu. The Olympic torch was lit by
figure skater Midori Ito. There was also a pu-
rification ceremony performed by Japan’s
leading sumo wrestler, Akebono. As in the
Lillehammer Games, the opening ceremony
focused on mythic and folkloric themes.
Outstanding Achievements Norwegian
cross-country skier Björn Daehlie achieved
golds in the 10-kilometer and the 50-kilome-
ter race, then gained another gold in the
team event. He also gained a silver in the
combined pursuit event, bringing his total
number of Olympic medals to twelve, eight of
which were gold, and making him the most success-
ful Nordic skier in Olympic history.
In the downhill, the Austrian favorite, Hermann
Maier, had a spectacular crash on a very difficult
course. The race had been postponed several times
because of snowstorms. However, Maier recovered
to win both the super giant slalom and the giant sla-
lom. Germany’s Katja Seizinger was one of the out-
standing athletes, successfully defending her gold
medal in the women’s downhill. Another was the It-
aly’s Deborah Compagnoni, who won her third
Olympic gold in the giant slalom and super giant sla-
lom events.
Though the host country usually has some advan-
tage over its competition, this was not the case for
Masahiko Harada. Widely expected to win the ski-
jumping competition, he made a poor second jump
and lost all medal chances. This was a repeat of a sim-
ilar loss at Lillehammer. However, Harada did win
bronze in the new large-hill ski jump, which his com-
patriot Kazuyoshi Funaki won. Both skiers took part
in the team event, gaining another gold for Japan.
Japan also won the men’s 500-meter speed skating.
The country that made a name for itself in speed
skating was the Netherlands. The Dutch claimed
that new technology and new clothing gave them a
one-third-second advantage per lap. Results proved
they were right, for example in the men’s 1000-me-
ter and 10,000-meter, in which they made a clean
sweep of all the medals.646 Olympic Games of 1998 The Nineties in America
Leading Medal Winners of the
1998 Winter OlympicsCountry Gold Silver Bronze Medals Won
Germany 12 9 8 29
Norway 10 10 5 25
Russia 9 6 3 18
Canada 6 5 4 15
United States 6 3 4 13
Netherlands 5 4 2 11
Japan 5 1 4 10
Austria 3 5 9 17
South Korea 3 1 2 6
Italy 2 6 2 10