1992 Winter Olympics

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XVI Olympic Winter Games
XVI Olympic Winter Games

The emblem is the Olympic flame
in the colors of the Savoie region.
Host city Albertville, France
Nations participating 64
Athletes participating 1801 (1313 men, 488 women)
Events 57 in 7 sports
Opening ceremony February 8
Closing ceremony February 23
Officially opened by President François Mitterrand
Athlete's Oath Surya Bonaly
Judge's Oath Pierre Bornat
Olympic Torch Michel Platini and
François-Cyrille Grange
Stadium Théâtre des Cérémonies

The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was staged in 1992 in Albertville, France. Other candidate cities were Anchorage, USA; Berchtesgaden, Germany; Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy; Lillehammer, Norway; Falun, Sweden; and Sofia, Bulgaria.

In 1986, the International Olympic Committee voted to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same year since 1924, and place them in alternating even-numbered years, beginning in 1994. The 1992 Winter Games were the last to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games.[1] They were also the first Games where the Winter Paralympics and the Winter Olympics were held at the same site. The opening and closing ceremonies were choregraphed by Philippe Decouflé and were a show in themselves. The information below comes from the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page.

1992 Winter Olympics Bidding Results
City NOC Name Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6
Albertville  France 19 26 29 42 - 51
Sofia  Bulgaria 25 25 28 24 - 25
Falun  Sweden 10 11 11 11 41 9
Lillehammer  Norway 10 11 9 11 40 -
Cortina d'Ampezzo  Italy 7 6 7 - - -
Anchorage, Alaska  United States 7 5 - - - -
Berchtesgaden  Germany 6 - - - - -

Contents

Athletic highlights

  • Freestyle skiing event of moguls and short-track speedskating made their debuts as medal disciplines, as did women's biathlon.
  • Norwegian skiers won every male cross-country skiing race. Bjørn Dæhlie and Vegard Ulvang each won three gold medals.
  • Speedskater Bonnie Blair won both the 500 and 1,000 m events; Gunda Niemann took both of the longest races.
  • Ski jumper Toni Nieminen, 16, became the youngest male gold medalist of a Winter Olympic event.
  • Italian alpine skier Alberto Tomba won the Giant Slalom for the second time in a row.
  • Austrian alpine skier Petra Kronberger won both the combined event and the slalom.
  • Kim Kihoon earned gold medals in both men's short-track events.
  • Annelise Coberger of New Zealand wins the southern hemisphere's first Winter Olympic medal—a silver in the women's slalom.
  • Kristi Yamaguchi and Midori Ito of the United States and Japan respectively, became the first persons of Asian descent to win Olympic medals in figure skating.

Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Demonstration sports

  • Curling - Competed for the first time since 1924. It became a regular discipline in 1998.
  • Freestyle skiing - While moguls skiing was an official discipline, aerials and ski ballet were still considered as demonstration events.
  • Speed skiing - The sport has not made a return to the Winter Olympics program. A tragic death occurred during a training session.

Participating nations

A total of 64 nations sent athletes to compete in these Games. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, six states formed a Unified Team, while the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had their own teams. Croatia and Slovenia, who were making their first appearance at the Winter Olympics, competed as independent nations after leaving Yugoslavia. The UN sanctions against Yugoslavia that saw them miss the 1992 Summer Olympics had yet to come into effect. The German team won most medals in the games, with a total of 10 gold medals, 10 silver and 6 bronze. It was the first time since the 1936 Winter Olympics that Germany competed with a unified team after the reunification.

Making their debuts were Algeria, Bermuda, Brazil, Honduras, Ireland and Swaziland. It would also be the only appearance for both Honduras and Swaziland in Winter Olympics to date.

Venues

The 1992 Games were as of today the last ones where the speed skating venue was outdoors.

Medal count

(Host nation is highlighted.)

 Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Germany 10 10 6 26
2 Unified Team¹ 9 6 8 23
3 Norway 9 6 5 20
4 Austria 6 7 8 21
5 United States 5 4 2 11
6 Italy 4 6 4 14
7 France 3 5 1 9
8 Finland 3 1 3 7
9 Canada 2 3 2 7
10 South Korea 2 1 1 4
Further information: 1992 Winter Olympics medal count

(¹ combined team with athletes from 6 nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States; team only appeared in these Winter Olympics)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Albertville 1992". www.olympic.org. Retrieved on 2008-09-12.

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1992 Winter Olympics


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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Winter_Olympics"

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