In 1988, at the 91st session of the IOC, four candidate cities were considered for hosting the 17th Winter Olympic Games - the Bulgarian capital Sofia, the center of American Alaska Anchorage and two towns in northern Europe - the Norwegian Lillehammer and the Swedish Östersund. The main struggle unfolded between these two representatives of neighboring countries, in which the Norwegians won.
Lillehammer is a fairly old city, the first settlements of which date back to the Iron Age. It can in no way be called a metropolis - the city then had only 25 thousand inhabitants. Until 1994, he had nothing to do with the Olympic movement, unless, of course, we consider that the Israeli intelligence eliminated a waiter in Lillehammer, whom it considered a participant in the terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics.
For the 1994 games, the city built a magnificent ski jump "Lisgardsbakken" with 40 thousand seats, which even received a prestigious architectural award. The opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics were held there. This sports facility is still in excellent condition - in Norway they are again going to use the Lisgardsbakken in the 2016 Youth Winter Olympics.
Most of the competitions were held in Lillehammer, but the organizers took a few starts to neighboring cities. So, skaters competed in Hamar, skiers - in Ayer and Ringebu, several hockey matches were held in Jovik, and a bobsleigh track was located in Handerfossen. All Olympic venues were located at a distance not exceeding 50 kilometers.
At this Olympics, for the first time, the former republics of the USSR participated in the status of independent states, like the republics that previously made up Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. As a result, the total number of participating countries reached the maximum number for the Winter Olympics at that time - 64. But the number of participants turned out to be less than at the previous winter games - 1739. The Olympians from Norway (26 medals), Germany (24), Russia (23) and Italy (20). The Russians won five awards each in figure skating, cross-country skiing, speed skating and biathlon, but could not even break into the top three in the hockey tournament.
