1992 Winter Olympics

XVI Olympic Winter Games
The emblem is the Olympic flame in the colours of the Savoie region, above stripes representing the colours of France.
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 celebrated in 1992 in Albertville, France. Other candidate cities were Anchorage, Alaska, 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.

Bidding

1992 Winter Olympics Bidding Results
City	NOC Name	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5 (Runoff)	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	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.
• Nicolas Bochatay was a Swiss speed skier who died during the Games. On the morning of the speed skiing finals, Bochatay was killed after colliding with a snow grooming vehicle.

Medals

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 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 - 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

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

• Albertville
  • Halle Olympique - Figure Skating and Short Track
  • Anneau de vitesse - Speed skating
  • Théâtre des Cérémonies - Opening,Awards and Closing Ceremonies
• Les Arcs - Speed skiing
• Courchevel - Ski jumping and Nordic combined
• Les Ménuires - Slalom men
• Méribel - Alpine Skiing Women
  • Méribel Ice Palace - Hockey
• La Plagne - Luge and Bobsled
• Pralognan-la-Vanoise - Curling
• Les Saisies - Nordic skiing and biathlon
• Tignes - Freestyle skiing
• Val d'Isère - Giant, Super G, downhill, combined men

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

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

See also

• 1992 Winter Paralympics
• 1992 Summer Paralympics
• 1992 Summer Olympics
• Olympic games celebrated in France
  • 1900 Summer Olympics – Paris
  • 1924 Summer Olympics – Paris
  • 1924 Winter Olympics – Chamonix
  • 1968 Winter Olympics – Grenoble
  • 1992 Winter Olympics – Albertville

• Winter Olympic Games
• Olympic Games
• International Olympic Committee
• List of IOC country codes

Notes

References

• "Albertville 1992". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Winter/Albertville-1992. 
• "All the Medallists since 1896". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/All-Olympic-results-since-1896/?AthleteName=&Games=1334112&Country=&Sport=&TargetResults=true&resultsPageIPP=30. 
• Olympic Review - Official Results

External links

• "Albertville 1992". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Winter/Albertville-1992. 
• Pins collection on Albertville 1992 Olympic Winter Games
• The program of the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics