1994 Winter Olympic Games

The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Having lost the bid for the 1992 Winter Olympics to Albertville in France, Lillehammer was awarded the 1994 Winter Games on 15 September 1988, at the 94th IOC Session in Seoul, South Korea. This was the only Winter Olympics to take place two years after the previous edition of the Winter Games, and the first to be held in a different year from the Summer Olympics. This was the second Winter Games hosted in Norway — the first being the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo — and the fourth Olympics overall to be held in a Nordic country, after the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, and the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Lillehammer is the northernmost city ever to host the Olympic Games. This was the last of three consecutive Olympics held in Europe, with Albertville and Barcelona in Spain hosting the 1992 Winter and Summer Games, respectively.

Although many of the events took place in Lillehammer, the skating events were held in Hamar, some ice hockey matches were played in Gjøvik, and the Alpine skiing events were held in Øyer and Ringebu. Sixty-seven National Olympic Committees and 1,737 athletes participated in six sports and sixty-one events. Fourteen countries made their Winter Olympic debuts, of which nine were former Soviet republics. The Games also saw the introduction of stricter qualifying rules, reducing the number of under-performing participants from warm-weather countries. New events were two new distances in short track speed skating and aerials, while speed skating was moved indoors. Almost two million people spectated at the Games, which were the first to have the Olympic Truce in effect. The Olympics were succeeded by the 1994 Winter Paralympics from 10 to 19 March.

Manuela Di Centa and Lyubov Yegorova dominated women's cross-country skiing, taking five and four medals for Italy and Russia respectively. A crowd of more than 100,000 saw Italy beat Norway by 0.4 seconds in the men's 4 × 10 km relay. Vreni Schneider won a complete set of medals for Switzerland in Alpine skiing, while Norway took a podium sweep in the men's combined competition. Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan won silver in ladies' singles, despite being attacked a few weeks before the Games by Tonya Harding's associate Shane Stant; 16-year-old Oksana Baiul edged Kerrigan to win the gold medal, marking the first time the Ukrainian national anthem was played at the Olympics. Johann Olav Koss won three speed skating golds for Norway, while 13-year-old Kim Yun-mi from South Korea became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medalist. Sweden defeated Canada in a dramatic penalty shootout in the ice hockey final. Russia won the most events, with 11 gold medals, while Norway collected the highest number of medals overall, winning 26.

Host city selection

Planning for the Lillehammer bid started in 1981, following Sweden's failed Falun bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics, which lost out to Calgary. The bid was supported by the Swedish government, largely to help stimulate the economy of the inland counties. Lillehammer originally bid for the 1992 Games but came fourth in the voting, with the Games ultimately awarded to Albertville, France. In 1985, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to separate the Summer and Winter Games (which had been held in the same year since the inception of the Winter Olympics in 1924) and arrange for them to take place in alternating even-numbered years. Lillehammer subsequently launched another bid, now for the 1994 Games, with some drastic modifications of the project, such as a new indoor speed skating venue and an additional ice hall in Lillehammer. Supplementary government guarantees and funds were secured for the new bid.

Three other locations put in bids for the 1994 Games: Anchorage (United States), Östersund (Sweden), and Sofia (Bulgaria). Lillehammer was elected to host the 1994 Winter Games at the 94th IOC Session, held in Seoul on 15 September 1988, two days before the start of the 1988 Summer Olympics. Until 2018, the Lillehammer Games were the last Winter Olympics to be held in a town, rather than centered in a city.

Organization

The overall responsibility for the games was held by the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee, which was created on 14 November 1988 and led by Gerhard Heiberg.LOOC (I): 19 It was reorganized several times with various subsidiaries, but from 1993 consisted of a single company owned 51% by Lillehammer Municipality, 24.5% by the Government of Norway and 24.5% by the Norwegian Olympic Committee. The government had issued a guarantee for the games, and also covered the expenses related to infrastructure. The total costs of the games was 7.4 billion Norwegian krone (NOK), of which NOK 0.95 billion was expenditure by the ministries, NOK 4.48 billion was for operations and event expenses, and NOK 1.67 billion was for investments. The games had a revenue of NOK 2.71 billion, of which NOK 1.43 billion was from television rights, NOK 0.65 billion was from sponsors, and NOK 0.15 billion was from ticket sales.

Production of the broadcasting, which costs NOK 462 million, was the joint responsibility of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK),the CTV (Canada) (CTV) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). NRK had 1,424 people working at the Olympics, while international broadcasters sent an additional 4,050 accredited broadcasting personnel. The transmission rights for the games were held by EBU in Europe, CBS in the United States, NHK in Japan, CTV in Canada, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, Nine Network in Australia, as well as other broadcasters in other countries. The total transmission rights price was 350 million United States dollars, 310 of which were paid by CBS. In part because of the Harding–Kerrigan affair, the viewership in the United States is still the highest ever for Winter Olympics.

NOK 460 million was used on information technology,LOOC (II): 5 with the main system running on an IBM AS/400. 3,500 terminals were in use during the game based on the Info '94 system; it was the first Olympics to have terminals installed abroad. Seiko delivered the time-keeping devices. Telecommunications were delivered by Telenor, including signal transmission. This included a mobile radio network with nine base stations.

Cost and cost overrun

''The Oxford Olympics Study'' established the outturn cost of the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympics at US$2.2 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 277% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) ''operational costs'' incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) ''direct capital costs'' incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are ''not'' included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost and cost overrun for Lillehammer 1994 compares with costs of US$2.5 billion and a cost overrun of 13% for Vancouver 2010, and costs of US$51 billion and a cost overrun of 289% for Sochi 2014, the latter being the most costly Olympics to date. Average cost for Winter Games since 1960 is US$3.1 billion, average cost overrun is 142%.

Events

There were 61 events contested in 6 sports (12 disciplines).

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held at the ski jumping hill Lysgårdsbakken. Artistic content was made to present a range of Norwegian culture, included Sami joik, Telemark skiing, fiddlers and folk dancing, simulations of traditional events and their processions, and the figure of vetter from Norse mythology. After speeches by Heiberg and IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, the games were officially declared opened by King Harald V. The Olympic Flame was to be skied down the skijump before lighting the cauldron. Originally this task had rested upon Ole Gunnar Fidjestøl, but after he was injured in a practice jump, his back-up Stein Gruben received the honor.The cauldron was lit by Crown Prince Haakon Magnus. The Olympic oaths were issued by Vegard Ulvang for the athletes and Kari Kåring for the officials.

Alpine skiing

Since the 1992 Games, the rules for combined changed, where the winner was determined by total time instead of points. The women's downhill was originally scheduled for Hafjell, but after protests it was moved to Kvitfjell, which also hosted the men's downhill and super-G. In the men's events, Germany's Markus Wasmeier won two disciplines, giant slalom and super-G, finishing ahead of the United States's Tommy Moe on the super-G. Moe won the downhill ahead of Norway's Kjetil André Aamodt, who came in third in the super-G. Austria's Thomas Stangassinger won the slalom ahead of Italy's Alberto Tomba. In the combined, Norway took a medal sweep, with Lasse Kjus winning ahead of Aamodt and Harald Christian Strand Nilsen.

In the women's events, Switzerland's Vreni Schneider was the most successful, winning the slalom, taking silver in combined and taking bronze in giant slalom. The only other athlete to take multiple medals was Italy's Isolde Kostner, who took a third place in both downhill and super-G. The downhill was won by Germany's Katja Seizinger, super-G by the United States' Diann Roffe, the giant slalom by Italy's Deborah Compagnoni, and the combined by Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg.

Biathlon

Russia and Germany split all the individual men's medals. In the 10 km sprint, Russia's Sergei Tchepikov won ahead of Ricco Groß, both with a clean sheet. Bronze winner Sergei Tarasov won the 20 km individual ahead of Germany's Frank Luck and Sven Fischer. Germany easily revenged itself by winning the 4 × 7.5 km relay ahead of Russia and France. In the women's class, Canada's Myriam Bédard won both the individual events, finishing ahead of Belarus' Svetlana Paramygina on the 7.5 km sprint and ahead of France's Anne Briand on the 15 km individual. In the 4 × 7.5 km relay, the format since 1992 was changed from three to four participants. Russia, with a clean sheet, won ahead of Germany, who made six misses, with France taking the bronze.

Bobsleigh

In two-man, Switzerland took the top two places, with Gustav Weder, Donat Acklin winning 0.05 seconds ahead of Reto Götschi and Guido Acklin, who were again 0.15 seconds ahead of Italy's Günther Huber and Stefano Ticci placing third. In four-man, Germany-II, consisting of Harald Czudaj, Karsten Brannasch, Olaf Hampel and Alexander Szelig, finished 0.06 seconds ahead of Switzerland-I and 0.23 ahead of Germany-I.

Cross-country skiing

Participants from five countries took all the medals of the ten events. Starting in 1994, the Olympics alternated which of the medium-distance and long-distance races had classical and freestyle. men's 4 × 10 km relay was watched by a crowd of nearly 150,000. Norway, Italy and Finland followed each other tightly for three and a half rounds, with the second and third exchange of the three talking place within 1.1 seconds of each other. Finland fell behind in the end, and Norwegian Bjørn Dæhlie and Italian Silvio Fauner battled to the end, with Italy beating Norway by 0.4 seconds. Dæhlie won the 10 km classical and 15 km freestyle pursuit, while taking silver in the 30 km freestyle. Kazakhstan's Vladimir Smirnov won the 50 km classical, in addition to silver in the 10 km and the 15 km. Norway's Thomas Alsgaard won the 30 km, while Finland's Mika Myllylä took an individual silver and a bronze.

Italy's Manuela Di Centa and Russia's Lyubov Yegorova dominated the women's events. They took five and four medals each, respectively, and between them winning all the races. Yegorova finished ahead of Di Centa on the 5 km classical and the 10 km pursuit, while Di Centa finished ahead of Yegorova on the 15 km freestyle, and also won the 30 km classical ahead of Norway's Marit Wold. Finland's Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi took two bronze medals, in 5 km and 30 km. In the 4 × 5 km relay, Norway and Russia kept up with each other until the final stage, in which Anita Moen lost to Yegorova, with Italy finishing third. With Yegorova's sixth career gold, she was tied as the most-winning Winter Olympic participant.

Figure skating

On 6 January, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly and his friend Shawn Eckdardt, conspired with Shane Stant to club fellow female figure skater Nancy Kerrigan in the knee. Both Harding and Kerrigan were selected for the Olympic team. After Harding admitted to helping to cover up the attack, the United States Olympic Committee initiated proceedings to remove her from the Olympic team, but Harding retained her place after threatening legal action. In the ladies' singles, Ukraine's Oksana Baiul won ahead of Kerrigan and Chen Lu, with Harding finishing eighth. In the men's singles, Russia's Alexei Urmanov won ahead of Canada's Elvis Stojko and France's Philippe Candeloro. Relaxation of the amateurism rules led to several former stars returning, such as ice dancing 1984 Champions Great Britain's Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who took a bronze behind Russians Oksana Grishuk and Evgeny Platov, and Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin. In pair skating, the Russians also took a double, with Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov winning ahead of Natalia Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev.

Freestyle skiing

Aerials was added as a discipline, after it had been a demonstration sport at the previous two games. Ski ballet, which had been a demonstration sport in 1992, was dropped. Canada dominated the men's events, with Jean-Luc Brassard winning the men's moguls ahead of Russian Sergey Shupletsov. In the men's aerials, Switzerlands's Andreas Schönbächler won ahead of Canada's Philippe LaRoche won the moguls ahead of the United States' Liz McIntyre. In the aerials, Lina Cheryazova won, claiming Uzbekistan's only medal,LOOC (IV): 65 ahead of Sweden's Marie Lindgren

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