In 1998, for the third time in history, the Olympic Games were held in Japan. The capital of the games was the city of Nagano. These games have become known for their excellent organization and the highest quality sports facilities.
The venue for the 1998 Olympics was determined at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in 1991. Salt Lake City was a strong competitor for Nagano. However, the commission decided that there should not be two games in a row in the United States. After all, the summer competition took place in 1996 in Atlanta.
The 1998 Games were attended by 72 countries. In particular, only athletes from South Africa and Kenya came from Africa. Traditionally, this is less than half of the states that send their teams to the summer games. This is primarily due to the high cost of training athletes in many winter disciplines. For example, toboggers require the construction of several types of trails. In addition, in many countries there are simply no suitable weather conditions, which makes training even more expensive.
5 countries sent their athletes to the games for the first time - Macedonia, Kenya, Uruguay, Azerbaijan and Venezuela.
By tradition, the game was opened by the head of state - Emperor of Japan Akihito.
There have been changes in the game program compared to earlier competitions. In particular, competitions were organized in two new sports - curling and skateboard. And in hockey, not only men's but also women's teams began to compete.
In the unofficial medal standings, Germany took first place, which came as a surprise to sports experts. Athletes from this country have won 29 medals of various denominations. Norway followed closely 4 medals behind. Russia came in third, overtaking Canada and the United States, which can be considered a good result, given the departure of some Soviet athletes to the teams of the former Soviet republics, as well as the overall difficult state of the economy, which also affected the financing of sports.
The most successful athlete of the games can be considered the Norwegian skier Bjorn Dalen, who received three gold medals.
