1998 Winter Olympics

Highlights

Bj�rn D�hlie, won three gold medals in Nordic skiing to become the first winter athlete to earn eight career gold medals and twelve total medals.
Snowboarding and curling debuted as official sports and women's ice hockey was introduced to the Olympic program.
NHL player were able to compete in men's ice hockey due to a three week suspension of the competition.
Tara Lipinski, 15, won the women's figure skating title to become the youngest champion in an individual event in the history of the Winter Olympics.
Hermann Maier survived a fall in the downhill and went on to gold in the super-g and giant slalom.
Gianni Romme and Marianne Timmer win two gold medals each for the Netherlands; 5 out of 10 titles in speed skating go to the Netherlands.
Snowboarder Ross Rebagliati wins the gold medal, after initially being disqualified for marijuana usage.
Azerbaijan, Kenya, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Uruguay and Venezuela made their first appearance at these Olympic Winter Games.

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Pos Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Germany 12 9 8 29
2 Norway 10 10 5 25
3 Russian Federation 9 6 3 18
4 Canada 6 5 4 15
5 United States of America 6 3 4 13
6 Netherlands 5 4 2 11
7 Japan 5 1 4 10
8 Austria 3 5 9 17
9 Korea 3 1 2 6
10 Italy 2 6 2 10
11 Finland 2 4 6 12
12 Switzerland 2 2 3 7
13 France 2 1 5 8
14 Czech Republic 1 1 1 3
15 Bulgaria 1 0 0 1
16 China 0 6 2 8
17 Sweden 0 2 1 3
18 Ukraine 0 1 0 1
19 Denmark 0 1 0 1
20 Belarus 0 0 2 2
21 Kazakhstan 0 0 2 2
22 Great Britain 0 0 1 1
23 Belgium 0 0 1 0
24 Australia 0 0 1 1

Games of the XVIII Winter Olympiad
Nations participating	72
Athletes participating	2,302 (814 women, 1,488 men)
Events	68 in 7 sports
Opening ceremonies	February 7, 1998
Closing ceremonies	February 22, 1998
Officially opened by	HIM Emperor Akihito
Athlete's Oath	Kenji Ogiwara
Judge's Oath:	Junko Hiramatsu
Olympic Flame	Midori Ito