Cyprus sent a delegation to compete at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

in Nagano,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

from 7–22 February 1998. This was Cyprus' sixth appearance at a Winter Olympics. Their delegation to Nagano consisted of a single alpine skier, Andreas Vasili. In the men's slalom competition on the penultimate day of the games, he failed to finish his first run and was eliminated.

Background

The Cyprus Olympic Committee was first recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1978, and the nation has participated in every

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

and Winter Olympic Games since their debut in 1980. The Nagano Olympics were therefore their sixth appearance at a Winter Olympics. Cyprus has won only one medal in Olympic competition, in sailing at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. The 1998 Winter Olympics were held from 7–22 February 1998; a total of 2,176 athletes represented 72 National Olympic Committees. The Cypriot delegation to Nagano consisted of one alpine skier, Andreas Vasili. He was the flag bearer for the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.

Alpine skiing

Andreas Vasili was 26 years old at the time of the Nagano Olympics, and was making his second Olympic appearance, having previously represented Cyprus at the 1992 Winter Olympics. On 21 February, he was one of 66 competitors in the men's slalom, a two-run race where the total of an athlete's times determined their final position. Vasili failed to finish the first run, and was eliminated from the competition. The gold medal was won later in the day by

Hans Petter Buraas Hans Petter Buraas (born 20 March 1975 in Bærum) is a Norwegian Alpine skier. He won the slalom gold medal at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. He has raced 10 seasons in the World Cup (per 2005), and he obtained one victory in a World Cup ...

and the silver by

Ole Kristian Furuseth Ole Kristian Furuseth (born 7 January 1967) is a retired Norwegian Alpine skiing, alpine skier. He scored his first Alpine Skiing World Cup, World Cup victory in Furano Ski Resort, Furano in 1989 and his final World Cup victory in Bormio in 2000, ...

, both of Norway; bronze was won by

Thomas Sykora Thomas Sykora (born 18 May 1968) is a former alpine skier from Austria. Biography Thomas comes from a sporting family: his father Ernst Sykora was a ski instructor, and his aunts Liese Prokop and Maria Sykora were both successful athletes. ...

of Austria.

References

{{Nations at the 1998 Winter Olympics Nations at the 1998 Winter Olympics

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

Winter Olympics