1998 Winter Olympics medals
LocationNagano,  Japan
Highlights
Most gold medals Germany (12)
Most total medals Germany (29)
Medalling NOCs24

The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held in Nagano, Japan, from 7 to 22 February 1998.[1] Twenty-four nations earned medals at these Games, and fifteen won at least one gold medal; forty-eight countries left the Olympics without winning a medal. Competitors from Germany earned the highest number of gold medals (12) and the most overall medals (29). With 10 gold medals and 25 overall medals, Norway finished second in both categories.[2] Denmark won its first Winter Olympics medal,[3] while Bulgaria and the Czech Republic won their first Winter Games gold medals.[4][5] Azerbaijan, Kenya, Macedonia, Uruguay, and Venezuela competed for the first time, but none of them won a medal.[6]

Varying statistics are reported for the number of participants at the 1998 Winter Olympics. The Sports-Reference website states that 2,180 athletes from 72 nations participated in 68 events from 14 sports and disciplines.[2] Olympic historian Bill Mallon, in his Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement, agrees with the figure of 2,180 participants.[7] In contrast, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) website reports that 2,176 athletes competed at the Games.[6] The sport of curling returned after a single appearance in the 1924 Olympics, snowboarding was added as a new sport, and women's ice hockey made its first appearance in the Olympics.[6]

The leading medal winner at the Games was Russian skier Larisa Lazutina, who won five medals, including three golds.[2] The only other athlete to win three gold medals was Norwegian skier Bjørn Dæhlie, who won four medals overall, making him the first Winter Olympian to win twelve career medals, eight of which were gold.[2][8] Nine other athletes won three medals, including three Germans.[2] American figure skater Tara Lipinski became the youngest competitor in Winter Olympics history to earn a gold medal in an individual event.[6]

Medal table

The medal table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is consistent with IOC conventional sorting in its published medal tables. The table uses the Olympic medal table sorting method. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won, where a nation is an entity represented by a NOC. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals.[11][12] If teams are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by their IOC country code.[13]

In the two-man bobsleigh competition, a tie meant that two gold medals were awarded, so no silver medal was awarded for that event.[14] A tie for second in the men's Super G skiing competition meant that a pair of silver medals were given out, so no bronze medal was awarded for that event.[15] In the four-man bobsleigh, a tie for third resulted in the awarding of two bronze medals.[16] Due to these ties, the number of gold medals awarded was one more than the number of silver or bronze medals. In snowboarding, Canadian Ross Rebagliati won the gold medal in the men's Giant Slalom, but it was briefly stripped by the IOC after he tested positive for marijuana. After the Canadian Olympic Association filed an appeal, however, the IOC's decision was overturned.[17]

  *   Host nation (Japan)

1998 Winter Olympics medal table
RankNOCGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Germany129829
2 Norway1010525
3 Russia96318
4 Canada65415
5 United States63413
6 Netherlands54211
7 Japan*51410
8 Austria35917
9 South Korea3126
10 Italy26210
11 Finland24612
12 Switzerland2237
13 France2158
14 Czech Republic1113
15 Bulgaria1001
16 China0628
17 Sweden0213
18 Denmark0101
 Ukraine0101
20 Belarus0022
 Kazakhstan0022
22 Australia0011
 Belgium0011
 Great Britain0011
Totals (24 entries)696868205

References

General
Specific
  1. The Organizing Committee for the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, Nagano 1998 (1998). The XVIII Olympic Winter Games Official Report – Volume I (PDF). Nagano, Japan: LA84 Foundation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 May 2010.
  2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "1998 Nagano Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009.
  3. Chase, Chris (2 February 2018). "The USA hasn't won the Winter Olympic medal count in 86 years (and 21 other crazy Olympic facts)". USA Today. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018.
  4. "The big chill: Heavy snow shuffles schedule; luger wins third gold". CNN Sports Illustrated. 9 February 1998. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
  5. Druzin, Randi (23 February 1998). "The XVIII Winter Games: Ice Hockey; In Prague, 70,000 Fans Gather to Savor Moment". The New York Times.
  6. "Nagano 1998". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 2 June 2011.
  7. Mallon and Heijmans, p. 407.
  8. "Dahlie claims 12th medal; Czechs take hockey gold". Amarillo Globe-News. Associated Press. 23 February 1998. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011.
  9. Clarey, Christopher (20 February 1998). "Two Gold, One Stunning Crash: Now Maier Is Fast and Familiar". The New York Times.
  10. Newberry, Paul (20 February 1998). "Teammate Grabs Gold From Niemann-Stirnemann". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012.
  11. Ostlere, Lawrence (11 August 2024). "Olympic medal table: USA beat China to top spot at Paris 2024". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024.
  12. Araton, Harvey (18 August 2008). "A Medal Count That Adds Up To Little". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023.
  13. Cons, Roddy (10 August 2024). "What happens if two countries are tied in the Olympic medal table? Tiebreaker rules explained". Diario AS. Archived from the original on 11 August 2024.
  14. "Highs and lows: Japanese jumpers soar; Canadian curlers fumble gold". CNN Sports Illustrated. 23 February 1998. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
  15. Clarey, Christopher (16 February 1998). "The XVIII Winter Games: Alpine Skiing; Three Days After Spectacular Crash, Maier Wins Gold". The New York Times.
  16. Olson, Lisa (22 February 1998). "Tough Sledding As Medal Slips, U.S. Hits Skids". New York Daily News.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  17. Gross, George (21 February 2006). "Ross Rebagliati: 1998 – Nagano, Japan". Sun Media Corporation. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012.