1998 Olympics

The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games and simply known as Nagano 1998, was a multi-sport winter festival held from 7th to 22nd February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. The games also took place in nearby mountain villages Hakuba, Karuizawa, Nozawa Onsen and Yamanouuchi. Nagano City had previously been a candidate to host the 1940 Winter Olympics, as well as the 1972 Winter Olympics, but Sapporo each time eliminated Nagano at the national level. The games hosted 2,176 athletes from 72 countries taking part in 7 disciplines and 68 events. Around the moment a benchmark was the number of entrants and nations participating. The sports saw the inclusion of female field hockey, curling, and snowboarding. National Hockey League teams were first allowed to play for the children of ice hockey. Five continents have made their Winter Olympic debuts including Belarus, Kenya, Macedonia, Uruguay and Venezuela. The athlete winning the most medals at these competitions was Russian cross-country skier Larisa Lazutina who won five medals including three gold medals. The Norwegian cross- skier Bjørn Dæhlie has won four medals, including three gold medals, taking his overall Olympic medal to 12, including eight gold medals, which is a record for Winter Olympics. Czech men's ice hockey team also won the gold cup. Kazuyoshi Funaki has won two gold medals for host Japan in Ski Jumping and one silver medal. The American Figure Skater Tara Lipinski has been the youngest Olympic champion in history at the age of 15 years and 255 days. Germany topped the Medal table with 29 medals with 12 gold. Norway and Russia led Germany, each receiving 25 and 18, respectively. Canada, who finished fourth with six gold medals at the 15-medal table, has had the most successful Winter Olympics to date. The host was chosen over Salt Lake City, Östersund, Jaca, and Aosta on 15 June 1991. It was the third Olympic and second Olympic Winter to be held in Japan, after the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics and 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics. The games were followed by the 1998 Winter Paralympics from March 5 to 14. These were the last Winter Olympic Games organised by Juan Antonio Samaranch under the IOC presidency. The staging of the games improved the transport networks between Tokyo and Nagano Station, between Takasaki and Miya, by constructing the high-speed Shinkansen, the Nagano Shinkansen, now the Shinkansen Hokuriku. Furthermore, new highways were built, including the Nagano Expressway and the Jōshin-etsu Expressway, and upgrades were made to existing highways. The Olympic stadiums ' construction and property costs totalled 106.6 billion dollars, approximately USD 914 million. The federal government of Japan has invested $51.1 billion for this, the prefectural government of Nagano has spent $29.6 billion, and Nagano cities and towns $23.4 billion; Hakuba $1 billion; and Nozawa Onsen $1.1 billion; the remaining $25.5 billion is divided. M-Wave became the most lavish facility to host events for long-distance speed skating. It has saved $34.8billion. All the ice hockey arenas, Big Hat and Aqua Wing Arena, cost 19.1 and 9.1 billion, respectively. The White Ring, which contained racing figures and short-track speed racing, cost 14.2 billion, cost 10.1 billion for the Loop, which hosted bobsleigh, luge, which skeleton. About $8.6 billion has been invested in the Hakuba Ski Jumping Arena, $7 billion has been invested in Snow Harp – the cross-country skiing venue, and $3 billion has been spent on the biathlon location at Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort. Nagano is situated in a mountainous region of Japan, where there are major snowfalls. Both combined to create a big barrier for the planning committee to fly too. In comparison, the Olympic Village was a 7 kilometre distance from the city centre, and sporting events were spread across five local regions.