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Overview Of The 1998 Olympics
by Henry Lim The XVIII Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan was excellent! There were many great performances by great athletes. Alpine skiers Katja Seizinger and Hermann Maier and cross-country skiers Bjorn Daehlie and Larissa Lazutina were only a few of the many stars in Nagano. Many world and Olympic records were broken especially in long track speed skating. There were many memorable moments in the Olympics such as skier Hermann Maier's great downhill crash. Who can forget the men's hockey shootout between Canada and the Czech Republic or the thrilling team ski jumping competition. Some bad things happened in Nagano as well. Of course, there was Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati testing postitive for marijuana although he would eventually get his gold medal back. Then there was the unfortunate incident with the U.S. men's hockey team trashing two hotel rooms. Three sports made their Olympic debuts in Nagano. Curling, women's hockey, and snowboarding were added. Curling was relatively unknown, women's hockey included the intense rivalry between Canada and the U.S.A., and snowboarding made headlines with the Rebagliati case. Overall, Germany led all countries with 29 medals. Norways was second followed by Russia and Austria. Canada finished fifth with 15 medals which was two more than the United States. It was the most total medals and gold medals ever won by Canada in a Winter Olympics. COUNTRY GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL ======= ==== ====== ====== ===== Germany 12 9 8 29 Norway 10 10 5 25 Russia 9 6 3 18 Austria 3 5 9 17 Canada 6 5 4 15 |
Sumo Grand Champion Akebono performs a Dohyoiri or ring-entering ceremony during the opening ceremony of the XVIII Winter Olympics at the Minami Nagano Sports Park in Nagano Saturday, Feb. 7, 1998 
Mascots for the Nagano Olympics, the Snowlets head into Minami Nagano Sports Park for the Opening Ceremonies of the 18th Olympic Winter Games |
