Where did the 1998 Olympic Games take place? Sports Russia. The success of Russian athletes

Nagano (Japan)

The Winter Games returned to Japan 26 years after the Sapporo Olympics. In the fight for the right to host the sports forum, Nagano was ahead of the American Salt Lake City, the Swedish Östersund, the Spanish Jaca and the Italian Aosta. The competition on the island of Honshu was accompanied by heavy snow with rain and fog, due to which some of the starts had to be postponed. In addition, on February 20, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 occurred in Nagano Prefecture - the Olympians were very scared, although no one was injured. At the same time, the Games themselves left a pleasant impression. First of all, thanks to the hospitality of the Japanese and the wonderful audience. In addition, the organizers of the Olympics managed to rein in the general sponsors of the IOC, who were very intrusive during the previous Summer Olympics in 1996.

		Z	WITH	B	Total
1	Germany	12	9	8	29
2	Norway	10	10	5	25
3	Russia	9	6	3	18
4	Canada	6	5	4	15
5	USA	6	3	4	13

Venue: Nagano, Japan
February 7 - 22, 1998
Number of participating countries - 72
Number of participating athletes - 2176 (787 women, 1389 men)
Medal sets - 68
Team competition winner - Germany

Three main characters of the Games according to SE

Dominik Hasek (Czech Republic),
hockey
Hermann Mayer (Austria),
skiing
Larisa Lazutina (Russia),
ski race

BURET EXCEEDS GRETSKY

The number of participants in the Nagano Winter Games exceeded 2,000 athletes for the first time. This happened thanks to a new expansion of the competition program. Women's hockey, snowboarding and curling have joined the family of Winter Olympic sports. But the main event was the agreement between the IOC and the NHL, which for the first time in history allowed players from the strongest hockey league in the world to compete at the Olympics. The latest restrictions on the participation of professionals at the Games have been lifted, and a break has been taken in the NHL regular season. The hockey tournament in Nagano broke all possible TV ratings. Although the CBS television company, which paid $375 million for the right to broadcast the Olympics, was still unhappy with the unsuccessful performance of the Americans and Canadians.

The Russian men's ice hockey team in Nagano was composed entirely of NHL players, with the exception of third goaltender Oleg Shevtsov. The main stars of the team were Pavel Bure, Sergei Fedorov and Alexey Yashin. Vyacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Alexander Mogilny, Nikolai Khabibulin, Sergei Zubov and some other famous hockey players refused the invitation to the national team. The refusal was largely caused by the disastrous performance of our “dream team” at the 1996 World Cup, as well as the death in the spring of 1997 of the president of the national hockey federation, Valentin Sych, who fell from a killer’s bullet. Perhaps it was the star refuseniks that were not enough for the Russian team to defeat the Czechs in the final of the 1998 Olympics.

The decisive match of the hockey tournament between the national teams of the Czech Republic and Russia ended with a football score of 1:0 in favor of our opponents. The Czechs, with Dominik Hasek and Jaromir Jagr shining, became Olympic champions. And Russian fans could only console themselves with the phenomenal result of Pavel Bure - in the semi-finals, the captain of the Russian team sent as many as five goals into the Finns' goal.

But the great Canadian scorer Wayne Gretzky, for whom Nagano was the first and last chance to compete at the Olympics, scored only four assists throughout the entire tournament. It got to the point that Canadian national team coach Mark Crawford did not trust the 37-year-old veteran to take the post-match shootout in the semifinals against the Czechs. In that series, Hasek won all five duels against the Maple Leaves, depriving the founders of hockey of a chance for gold. The frustrated Canadian stars were unable to rally in the match for third place with the Finns and were left in Nagano without any medals at all.

TRIUMPH OF SKIERS

In addition to hockey, in February 1998 the whole country watched the Olympic figure skating tournament. In it, Russia won three gold out of four - Ilya Kulik, the couple Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev, as well as the dance duet Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov, did their best. The latter took the second Olympic title in a row in Nagano, despite the fact that Oksana competed with a broken wrist. In addition, two months before the start of the Games, Grischuk unexpectedly announced that she should now be called by the name Pasha (according to one version, so as not to be confused with the Ukrainian singles skater Oksana Baiul). After Nagano 1998, the duo broke up. Grischuk began performing with Alexander Zhulin and returned to her previous name.

The performances of our skiers in Japan turned out to be very successful. Representatives of Russia - Larisa Lazutina, Olga Danilova and Yulia Chepalova collected all the individual gold, in addition, the Russian team won the relay. For 21-year-old Chepalova, this was the first Olympics - it was in Nagano that her star rose. For men, the hero of the cross-country skiing was the Norwegian Bjorn Daly, who, following the results of the 1998 Games, became the most titled athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics - in his collection there are 8 gold and 4 silver medals. Another record was set in the figure skating tournament - 15-year-old American Tara Lipinski became the youngest champion in the individual program in the history of the White Games.

One of the most striking moments of the 1998 Olympics was the incident with the Austrian skier Hermann Mayer. After a terrible fall in the downhill, the Austrian not only returned to the start, but also won gold medals in the super-G and giant slalom. Thanks to this feat, Mayer was given the nickname Herminator, by analogy with the invulnerable movie Terminator. In the luge competition, the public applauded the German Georg Hackl, who won the third Olympics in a row. Hackl's medal turned out to be an important contribution to the German team's treasury - the Germans won the overall standings, ahead of the Norwegians by two golds. Our team dropped to third place for the first time. Even the incredible victory of biathlete Galina Kukleva, who beat the German Uschi Diesl by only 7 tenths of a second in the 7.5 km race, did not help.

CHAMPIONSHIP SPIRIT

The scandal marked the Olympic debut of snowboarding. The first ever Olympic champion in giant slalom, Canadian Ross Rebagliatti, was immediately caught with marijuana. The athlete explained the presence of the drug in his doping test by visiting a party where Ross’s friends allegedly smoked cinsimilla, and Rebagliatti accidentally inhaled the intoxicating smoke. The drug-addicted champion was disqualified but, to everyone's surprise, acquitted two days later. The IOC decided not to escalate the situation and believed the Canadian’s excuses. In addition, it turned out that marijuana is not on the list of prohibited drugs - this misunderstanding was corrected, but the athlete was not punished retroactively.

In general, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch did not like to dwell on the topic of doping and, according to some reports, even thought about legalizing stimulants. But the competition in Nagano was the last Winter Olympics of the Spanish marquis. Soon completely different times will come in sports, and the future of many champions of the Japanese Games will not be as bright as it seemed in 1998. Larisa Lazutina and Olga Danilova will end their careers after doping revelations at the 2002 Olympics; in 2009, Yulia Chepalova will come under the hood of anti-doping services. Another skier - the winner of the 30 km race, Finn Mika Myllula - two years after Nagano would find himself at the center of a high-profile doping scandal, become addicted to alcohol and in 2011 would be found dead in his apartment. The police will conclude that Myllula committed suicide.

German speed skater Claudia Pechstein, who won the 5000 m race at the 1998 Games, will be disqualified at the end of her career on the basis of her “blood passport” data, spend several years in court and eventually prove that her abnormal test results are caused by a hereditary disease. By the way, Pechstein achieved success in Nagano not only thanks to her natural abilities, but also against the background of the technical revolution that occurred in the mid-1990s in this sport. On the eve of the 1998 Games, almost all leading speed skaters began using flap skates with a heel that came off. The novelty, combined with a special running technique, made it possible to increase the length of the skater’s push and his speed. By the time the Olympics began, the Dutch and Germans were the best at using valves. But Russian athletes were not ready for these changes.

This is a city in Japan, in the center of the island of Honshu. The population was 383 thousand inhabitants. Nagano is:

an important transport hub;
the center of an agricultural region;
center of Buddhism and pilgrimage.

Nagano was elected as the capital of the 1998 Olympics at the IOC session in Birmingham in June 1991.
He was ahead of the Swedish Östersund, the Spanish Jaca, the Italian Aosta and the American Salt Lake City.

Preparations for the 1998 Winter Olympics

Nagano was and remains the capital of the Winter Olympics closest to the equator.
Before the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the UN General Assembly called on countries to stop all international and internal conflicts.
Thus, an attempt was made to revive the tradition of the Olympics of Ancient Greece, when all wars stopped during the games.

The emblem of the Nagano Olympics is made in the form of a flower, on the petals of which a representative of a winter sport is depicted.

The emblem simultaneously resembles a snowflake and a sunflower, symbolizing the splendor and beauty of the Olympic Games.

The mascots of the Nagano Games were four owls: Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki. Four wise birds - according to the number of years between Olympiads.

Opening of the 1998 Olympics

Emperor Akihito of Japan delivered the opening speech at the opening ceremony of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games. The Olympic flame was lit by figure skater Midori Ito, and the athletes' oath was pronounced by biathlete Kenji Ogiwara.

Results of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano

At the 1998 Games there were over 2,000 athletes from 72 countries, 68 sets of awards were awarded, 7 more than in Lillehammer 1994.

The Winter Games program included:

curling (after many years of absence);
snowboard for men and women;
women's hockey;
For the first time, professional hockey players were allowed to compete.

For the first time, teams from Kenya, Azerbaijan, Uruguay, Macedonia, and Venezuela took part in the Winter Olympic Games.

Russian team at the Olympic Games in Nagano 1998

The Russian team consisted of 45 women and 81 men, with an average age of 25 years. The youngest skater Alexey Yagudin is 17 years old, the oldest is skier Alexey Prokurorov, champion of Calgary-88, 33 years old.
He became the standard bearer at the opening ceremony.

Russian athletes did not participate in only three sports: snowboarding, women's hockey, and curling.

In the overall team standings at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the Russian team was in third place, after Germany and Norway. The Russians won 9 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals.

Scandals of the Nagano Olympics

A doping scandal arose when a slight excess of marijuana was found in the blood of Canadian medalist Ross Rebagliati. But the Canadian delegation achieved a mitigation of the punishment and the return of the gold medal to the athlete.

The organizational scandal consisted of a brawl perpetrated by a drunken Austrian, Martin Freinademets, nicknamed the Terminator. HE smashed a computer and furniture in a hotel room, which he later paid for, but was expelled from Nagano from the Olympics.

An earthquake of magnitude 5 occurred in Nagano 3 days before the end of the Olympics. No harm done.

From February 7 to 22, 1998, the XVIII Winter Olympic Games were held in Nagano (Japan). The program included 14 sports and 68 disciplines. 72 countries participated (2338 athletes: 1528 men and 810 women).

Long before the start of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games, experts predicted that any country would need 11-12 gold medals to win a team victory in Nagano. And this forecast was completely justified. After the competition in all 68 numbers of the program has ended. The German delegation won 12 medals of the highest standard, Norway - 10, Russia - 9.

Russian skiers achieved phenomenal success, unprecedented in Olympic history, winning all five races on the most difficult tracks in Hakuba. Three gold medals - two for victories in individual races and one in the relay race, as well as silver and bronze medals were brought from Japan to the city of Odintsovo near Moscow by Larisa Lazutina. This athlete accomplished a real feat, for which immediately upon returning to her homeland, by Decree of the President of the country, she was awarded the title “Hero of the Russian Federation.”

Representative of the Vladimir region Olga Danilova returned from Japan as a two-time Olympic champion. It was she who, ahead of her rivals at a 15-kilometer distance, won the first gold medal played in Nagano and gave additional confidence to her teammates, with whom she excelled in the relay race.

The real discovery of the Games was Yulia Chepalova. The victory in the 30-kilometer race by this young Muscovite, who was born in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and studied at the Khabarovsk State Institute of Physical Culture, was, of course, unexpected for many. But only for the coaches: they saw in Yulia the future leader of our women’s ski team.

Elena Vyalbe and Nina Gavrylyuk deserve special words of gratitude. They failed to win the individual races. But they shone in their respective stages of the relay and deservedly received gold medals. From now on, both Elena and Nina are three-time Olympic champions, since Gavrylyuk in 1988 and 1994, and Vyalbe in 1992 and 1994 already shared with their friends the joy of victory in relay races.

The skaters contributed three gold medals to the total. This is certainly an outstanding achievement. Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev became champions in pair skating, Pasha Grischuk and Evgeny Platov in ice dancing, and Ilya Kulik in men's singles. All of them showed the highest skill and fortitude. Only after the end of the competition did it become clear, for example, that Grischuk competed with a broken wrist! She and her wonderful partner were the first in history to win two Winter Olympics in a row.

Photo: AFP

Biathlete from Tyumen Galina Kukleva won another gold medal for Russia. The 7.5 kilometer race, which she won, turned out to be one of the most dramatic. After all, at the finish line the champion and silver medalist were separated by only 0.7 seconds. An elusive moment in which years of painstaking work were concentrated.

So, 11 Russian athletes became champions of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games.

Information provided by the Russian Olympic Committee.

From February 7 to February 22, 1998, the XVIII Winter Olympic Games were held in Nagano (Japan). The program included 14 sports and 68 disciplines. 72 countries participated (2338 athletes: 1528 men and 810 women).

Russian skiers achieved phenomenal success, unprecedented in Olympic history, winning all five races on the most difficult tracks in Hakuba. Three gold medals - two for victories in individual races and one in the relay, as well as silver and bronze medals were brought from Japan to the city of Odintsovo near Moscow by Larisa Lazutina. This athlete accomplished a real feat, for which immediately upon returning to her homeland, by Decree of the President of the country, she was awarded the title “Hero of the Russian Federation.”

So, 11 Russian athletes became champions of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games.

Sports represented
Biathlon
Bobsled
Skiing
Curling
Skating
Nordic combined
Ski race
Ski jumping
Luge
Snowboarding
Short track
Figure skating
Freestyle
Hockey

The Japanese city of Nagano is located 220 km northeast of Tokyo. Nagano was elected as the capital of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games at the 97th session of the IOC, held on June 13-16, 1991 in Birmingham.

2,338 athletes took part in the Winter Olympics, including 810 women. The Olympic Games in Nagano became the largest in terms of the number of participants and the number of participating countries - 72. Athletes competed in 14 sports in 68 disciplines. Curling competitions were included in the Olympic Games. Two sets of medals were played for men and women. Also included in the program of the Nagano Olympics were snowboarding competitions - two types of competitions for men and women: giant slalom and half-pipe competition. Of the 72 countries competing for prizes, only 24 were successful, winning 205 medals.

In biathlon competitions, Norwegian athletes won 5 medals - 2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze. Germany won 5 medals - 2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze. Team Russia 3 medals, one of each value. In the 7.5 km race, with one penalty, Galina Kukleva took gold. The Russian team was second in the 4x7.5 km relay. Biathlete from Ukraine Elena Petrova won silver in the 15 km race. In the 20 km race, Alexey Aidarov, Belarus, won the bronze medal.

In bobsleigh among twos, the Italians from the first team were the strongest, athletes from the Canada-1 team were second, and Germany-1 were third. In the four-man bean competition, athletes from the Germany-2 team were in the lead, Switzerland-1 was in second place, and Great Britain-1 was in third.

In alpine skiing, 10 sets of awards were competed for. Representatives of 9 countries won 30 medals. Austrian athletes took home 11 medals - 3 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze. German athletes won 6 awards - 3 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze. Norwegian athletes 4 medals - 1 gold and 3 silver. The athletes of Italy had two medals each - gold and silver, France - gold and bronze, and Switzerland - 2 bronze. The US athletes received one medal each - gold, Sweden - silver, Australia - bronze - the only award at the XVIII Winter Olympics in Nagano.

In men's curling, athletes from Switzerland took first place, athletes from Canada were in second place, and Norway was in third place. Among women, the leaders were athletes from Canada, athletes from Denmark were in second place, and athletes from Sweden were in third place.

In Nordic combined in the 90 m springboard discipline and the 15 km race, the champion was Bjerte Engen Vik from Norway, the second was Samppa Lajunen from Finland, and the third place was won by Valery Stolyarov from Russia. In the 90 m springboard and 4 × 5 km relay disciplines, the Norwegian team was in the lead, Finnish athletes were in second place, and France was in third place.

In men's cross-country skiing, Norwegian athletes performed better than others, winning 4 gold and 2 silver medals. Vladimir Smirnov from Kazakhstan showed the third result in the 15 km free style pursuit race, and the fourth result in the 10 km classic style race. Russian Alexey Prokurorov was fourth in the 50 km freestyle race. In the 4x10 km relay, the Russian team showed the fifth result. The Russians took the lead in the women's competition. Larisa Lazutina won 5 Olympic medals - 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal - one medal in each type of competition. Olga Danilova won 2 gold and 1 silver. Yulia Chepalova - 2 gold. Elena Vyalbe - one gold. Irina Taranenko-Terelya from Ukraine showed the fourth result in the 10 km race.

Japanese athletes distinguished themselves in ski jumping, winning 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal. Athletes from Finland won 1 gold and 1 silver medal, Germany - 1 silver, Austria - 2 bronze.

Luge sport was conquered by German athletes, winning 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal. US athletes won a silver and a bronze medal, Italy - 1 silver, Austria - 1 bronze.

In speed skating it was established 5 World records and 5 Olympic records!

In snowboarding, four sets of awards (12 medals) were shared by representatives of 8 countries. Athletes from Germany won gold and silver medals, Switzerland - gold and bronze, Norway - 2 silver, USA - 2 bronze; one athletes each: Canada and France - gold, Italy - silver, Austria - bronze.

In figure skating, the strongest were Ilya Kulik from Russia; Tara Lipinski from the USA; Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev from Russia, in sports pairs; Oksana (Pasha) Grischuk and Evgeniy Platonov from Russia, in sports dances.

Johnny Mosley from the USA was the leader in the men's mogul freestyle competition. Second and third places went to athletes from Finland. For women, the champion was Tae Satoya from Japan, second place was taken by an athlete from Germany, and third place by Norway. In men's ski acrobatics, Erik Bergust from the USA won gold, second place went to an athlete from France, and third place went to an athlete from Belarus, Dmitry Dashinsky. Among women, Nikki Stone from the USA took first place, an athlete from China took second, and Switzerland took third. Ukrainians Tatiana Kozachenko and Alla Tsuper showed fourth and fifth results, respectively.

In men's ice hockey, masters from the Czech Republic took first place, the Russian national team took second place, Finland took third place, and Belarus took fifth place. Among women, American hockey players became the strongest. Canadian athletes took second place, Finnish athletes took third place.

In the men's short track speed skating championship, Korean athletes won gold and silver medals, Japan and Canada won gold and bronze medals, and China won 2 silver and a bronze medals. Among the women, the strongest athletes were from Korea - 2 gold and 2 bronze, from Canada - gold and bronze medals, from China - 3 silver.

In the overall standings, the largest number of medals at the XVIII Winter Olympic Games in Nagano were won by German athletes - 29 awards (12 gold, 9 silver, 8 bronze). Athletes from Norway were second with 25 medals (10 gold, 10 silver, 5 bronze). The third in total medals are Russian athletes with 18 medals (9 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze). Ukraine showed 18 results in the overall standings, winning 1 silver medal (biathlete Elena Petrova).