The
1972 Sapporo Games in Japan were the first to be held
outside Europe or the United States. The subject of
amateurism stirred controversy when skier Karl Schranz
was banned for receiving payment from ski product manufacturers
but full-time ice hockey players from communist nations
were allowed to compete. Galina Kulakova of the USSR
won all three cross-country skiing events for women.
Ard Schenk of the Netherlands took three gold medals
in speed skating. In Alpine skiing, little-known Marie-Theres
Nadig of Switzerland won both the downhill and the
giant slalom. Norway’s Magnar Solberg won the
20km race to become the first repeat winner in an individual
biathlon event. Before the Sapporo Games, Japan had
never won a gold medal in the Winter Olympics but in
the hill ski jumping event, three Japanese jumpers,
led by Yukio Kasaya, won medals.
Year
Location
Dates
Participating
Countries
Number
of
Sports
Number
of
Events
Number
of
Athletes
Male
Athletes
Female
Athletes
1976
Innsbruck
Austria
4-15
February
37
6
37
1123
892
231
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The
1976 Winter Olympics were awarded to Denver but the
people of the state of Colorado voted to prohibit public
funds from being used to support the Games. Innsbruck
stepped in and hosted the Games only 12 years after
its last Olympics. Rosi Mittermaier won two of the
three Alpine skiing events and almost became the first
woman to sweep all three events but in the final race,
Kathy Kreiner beat her by 12 hundredths of a second.
The ice hockey team from the USSR won its fourth straight
gold medal. A new figure skating event, ice dancing,
was added to the program and, like the pairs, it was
dominated by Russian couples. The most memorable image
of the Games was Franz Klammer flying wildly down the
downhill course, barely keeping control, on his way
to a gold medal.
Year
Location
Dates
Participating
Countries
Number
of
Sports
Number
of
Events
Number
of
Athletes
Male
Athletes
Female
Athletes
1980
Lake
Placid
USA
13-24 February
37
6
38
1072
840
232
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The
1980 Winter Games, held in Lake Placid, New York, were
filled with impressive performances. Swedish skier,
Ingemar Stenmark won both the giant slalom and the
slalom. Hanni Wenzel did the same in the women’s
races and her nation, Liechtenstein, became the smallest
country to produce an Olympic champion. Ulrich Wehling
won the Nordic combined for the third time and pairs
skater Irina Rodnina did the same in her event. In
the biathlon relay, Aleksandr Tikhonov earned his fourth
straight gold medal. Nikolay Zimyatov earned three
gold medals in cross-country skiing. In an unprecedented
achievement, Eric Heiden of the United States won all
five speed skating races, from 500 m all the way up
to 10.000 m.
Year
Location
Dates
Countries
Sports
Events
Athletes
Male
Athletes
Female
Athletes
1984
Sarajevo
Yugoslavia
8-19 February
49
6
39
1272
988
274
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In
1984, the Winter Games took place in a socialist country
for the first and only time. The people of Sarajevo
gained high marks for their hospitality and there was
no indication of the tragic war that would engulf the
city only a few years later. Skier Jure Franko brought
joy to the host nation by earning Yugoslavia’s
first Winter Olympics medal: a silver in the giant
slalom. Marja-Liisa Hamalainen won all three individual
cross-country races for women. In speed skating, Gaetan
Boucher and Karin Enke each won two gold medals. Biathlete
Eirik Kvalfoss earned a complete set of medals. Twin
brothers Phil and Steve Mahre took first and second
place in the slalom. The highlight of the figure skating
competitions was the free dance performance of Jane
Torvill and Christopher Dean. Their interpretation
of Ravel’s Bolero earned perfect scores across-the-board
for artistic impression.
Year
Location
Dates
Countries
Sports
Events
Athletes
Male
Athletes
Female
Athletes
1988
Calgary
Canada
13-28 February
57
6
46
1423
1122
301
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For
the first time, the Winter Olympics were extended to
16 days, including three weekends. The alpine events
were expanded from three to five with the inclusion
of the super giant slalom and the alpine combined.
Team events were added in Nordic combined and ski jumping.
Jumper Matti Nykanen took advantage of this new program
to win three gold medals. The speed skating races were
held indoors. Yvonne van Gennip surprised the favorites
with three victories. Christa Rothenburger won the
1.000m. Seven months later she earned a silver medal
in cycling to become the only athlete ever to win medals
in the Winter and Summer Olympics in the same year.
Alberto Tomba made his first Olympic appearance, winning
both the giant slalom and the slalom.
Year
Location
Dates
Countries
Sports
Events
Athletes
Male
Athletes
Female
Athletes
1992
Albertville
France
8-23 February
64
7
57
1801
1313
488
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The
1992 Albertville Olympic Games were the last Winter
Games to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games.
Only 18 of the 57 events were held in Albertville itself
while nearby resorts hosted the rest. Freestyle skiing
and short-track speed skating made their debuts as
medal disciplines as did women’s biathlon. Norwegian
skiers won every cross country skiing race and Bjorn
Daehlie and Vegard Ulvang each won three gold medals.
Speed skater Bonnie Blair won the 500m and 1.000m while
Gunda Niemann took both 5.000m and 10.000m. At age
16, ski jumper Toni Nieminen became the youngest male
winner in the Winter Games. Alpine skier Petra Kronberger
won both the combined and the slalom. Ki-hoon Kim earned
gold medals in both short track events.
Year
Location
Dates
Countries
Sports
Events
Athletes
Male
Athletes
Female
Athletes
1994
Lillehammer
Norway
12-27 February
67
6
61
1737
1217
522
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In
1986 the IOC voted to change the schedule of the Olympic
Games so that the Summer and Winter Games would be
held in different years. To adjust to this new schedule,
the Lillehammer Games were held in 1994, the only time
that two Games have been staged two years apart. The
1994 Games were extremely well organized. Local hero
Johann Koss won three speed skating events and set
a world record in every one. Vreni Schneider won a
complete set of medals in alpine skiing and Manuela
Di Centa earned medals in all five cross-country events.
Myriam Bedard won both women's individual biathlon
races. Gustav Weder and Donat Acklin became the first
repeat winners of the two-man bobsled. Pairs skaters
Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov returned to repeat
their Olympic victory of 1988.
Year
Location
Dates
Countries
Sports
Events
Athletes
Male
Athletes
Female
Athletes
1998
Nagano
Japan
7-22 February
72
7
68
2176
1389
787
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In
1998 the Winter Olympic Games returned to Japan after
26 years. Snowboarding and curling debuted as official
disciplines and women’s ice hockey was introduced
to the Olympic program. For the first time, the men's
ice hockey tournament was open to all professionals.
Bjorn Dahlie won three gold medals in Nordic skiing
to become the first winter athlete to earn eight career
Olympic gold medals and twelve total medals. 15-Year
old Tara Lipinski 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 Maier survived a spectacular fall in the downhill,
recovered and earned gold medals in both the super-G
and the giant slalom.
Year
Location
Dates
Countries
Sports
Events
Athletes
Male
Athletes
Female
Athletes
2002
Salt
Lake City
8-24 February
77
7
78
2399
1513
886
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At
the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games the program
was expanded to 78 events, including the return of
skeleton and the introduction of women's bobsleigh.
Athletes from a record 18 nations earned gold medals.
Canadian teams won both the men's and women's ice hockey
tournaments. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen earned gold medals
in all four biathlon events and Samppa Lajunen in all
three Nordic combined competitions. Alpine skier Janica
Kostelic won three gold medals and one silver. Simon
Ammann scored unexpected victories in both individual
ski jump events. Speed skater Claudia Pechstein earned
her third straight gold medal in the 5.000m race and
also won at 3.000m. By taking the silver medal in singles
luge, Georg Hackl became the first person in Olympic
history to earn a medal in the same individual event
five times in a row. Short track speed skater Yang
Yang became the first Chinese athlete to win a gold
medal at the Winter Games. Competing in the women’s
bobsleigh, Vonetta Flowers became the first black athlete
to earn winter gold while ice hockey player Jarome
Iginla followed as the first black male winner.
Year
Location
Dates
Countries
Sports
Events
Athletes
Male
Athletes
Female
Athletes
2006
Torino
Italy
10-26 February
85
7
84
2645
1548
960
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De
Oostenrijkers overheersten in het Alpine skiën
waarbij ze 14 van de 30 medailles in de wacht sleepten.
Zuid-Korea boekte een eenwaardig succes in het short-track
snelschaatsen (10 medailles van de 24). Bij de vrouwen
won Sun-Yu drie gouden medailles en bij de mannen won
Hyun-Soo Ahn drie gouden medailles en een bronzen.
De ander drievoudige gouden medaille winnaar was Michael
Greis in biathlon. Cinty Klassen behaalde medailles
in 5 van de 6 snelschaats evenementen voor vrouwen.
Een andere snelschaatster, Claudia Peschstein, won
een gouden en een zilveren medaille en werd daarmee
de eerste atlete in haar sport die negen medailles
in haar carrière won. Met zijn zege in de Super
G werd G. Kjetil Andre Aamodt de eerste alpine skier
de eerste die vier medailles won in dezelfde discipline
en de eerste die vier gouden medailles in totaal won.
Duff Gibson (39) werd de oudste atleet in de geschiedenis
van de Olympische Winterspelen die een gouden medaille
won in een individuele discipline. Andre Lange reed
in de twee-man bobslee naar de overwinning om dan zijn
Olympisch kampioenschap te verdedigen in de vier-man
bobslee. Tijdens het cross-country ski ploegenevenement
brak de Canadese Sara Renner een van haar stokken.
De Noorse hoofdcoatch, Bjornar Hakensmoen, gaf er haar
eentje van hem ook al was die 12cm te lang. Hierdoor
hielp Renner haar team een zilveren medaille te behalen
waarbij Noorwegen buiten de medailles viel. Bjomar
Hakensmoen’s demonstratie van fair play was een
schoolvoorbeeld van sportiviteit.
