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1992 Winter Olympics

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The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Olympics to be held the same year as the Summer Olympics,[1] and the first where the Winter Paralympics were held at the same site. Albertville was selected as host in 1986, beating Sofia, Falun, Lillehammer, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Anchorage and Berchtesgaden. The games were the third Winter Olympics held in France, after Chamonix in 1924 and Grenoble in 1968, and the fifth Olympics overall in the country.

Only some of the skating and the opening and closing ceremonies took place in Albertville, while the rest of the events took place in the villages of Courchevel, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Les Menuires, Les Saisies, Méribel, Pralognan-la-Vanoise, Tignes and Val d'Isère. Sixty-four nations with 1,801 athletes participated in the games, including the Unified Team which represented non-Baltic former Soviet republics. Germany participated as a unified team, while five newly independent European countries debuted, as did six "warm-weather" countries. Short track speed skating, moguls and women's biathlon made their debut as an Olympic sport. The games were the last Winter Games to have demonstration sports, consisting of curling, aerials, ski ballet and speed skiing. It was the last Olympics to have an outdoor speed skating rink. The games were succeeded by the 1992 Winter Paralympics from 25 March to 1 April.

Norwegians won every male cross-country skiing race, with Bjørn Dæhlie and Vegard Ulvang both collecting three gold. Ski jumper Toni Nieminen, 16, became the youngest male gold medalist of a Winter Olympic event. Petra Kronberger won both the combined event and the slalom, while Bonnie Blair won both the 500 m and 1000 m speed skating events and Gunda Niemann took both of the longest races. Kim Kihoon earned gold medals in both men's short track events. Annelise Coberger of New Zealand won the southern hemisphere's first Winter Olympic medal—a silver in the women's slalom. Nicolas Bochatay was killed during a training session. Germany won the most medals and the most gold.

Host city selection

Main article: Bids for the 1992 Winter Olympics

The vote to select the host city of the 1992 Winter Olympics was conducted on 17 October 1986, in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the 91st IOC Session. A record of seven different locales bid for these Games.[2]

1992 Winter Olympics bidding results[3]
City Country Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 (Run-off) 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  United States 7 5 — — — —
Berchtesgaden  West Germany 6 — — — — —

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.
  • Midori Ito becomes the first woman to land a triple axel in Olympic competition.
  • The Swiss speed skier Nicolas Bochatay died on the morning of the speed skiing finals, when he collided with a snow grooming vehicle while skiing on a public slope outside the racing area.

Sports

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Demonstration sports

This was the final time demonstration sports were included in the Winter Olympics programme.

  • Curling – Competed fr 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 – A death occurred during a training session. The sport has not been included in the Winter Olympics program.

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 (as well as the previously mentioned Croatia and Slovenia). It would also be the only appearance for both Honduras and Swaziland in Winter Olympics to date.

Venues

Main article: Venues of the 1992 Winter Olympics

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

Medal count

(Host nation is highlighted.)

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 (host) 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 table

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

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Albertville 1992". www.olympic.org. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ IOC Vote History
  3. ^ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1992 Winter Olympics.
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XVI Olympic Winter Games (1992) 		Succeeded by

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