Olympic Program The 1998 Winter Olympics featured a record 68 medal events over 14 disciplines in seven sports. In relation to the
1994 Winter Olympics, seven new events were added to the Winter Olympic program. Officially absent since the
1924 Winter Olympics, curling returned to the Olympic program (the sport was demonstrated in 1932,1988 and 1992) with 2 events (one tournament for men and one for women). For the first time, an ice hockey tournament for women was included. Another change was the addition of another discipline in alpine skiing: snowboarding with 4 events.
Biathlon of Germany, won one gold, one silver, and one bronze in the biathlon. The
biathlon competitions took place at
Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort, north of Nagano City. The six events were the sprint, individual, and relay, for both men and women. In all, 183 athletes took part, including 96 men and 87 women from 32 countries.
Norway and
Germany each won five medals, with
Uschi Disl from the latter country winning one gold, one silver, and one bronze. The first event was the women's 15 km individual race that took place in falling snow on 9 February. The surprise gold medalist was
Ekaterina Dafovska from
Bulgaria, who had been ranked 51st at the previous
Biathlon World Cup. Her gold medal was the first-ever Bulgarian gold medal at a Winter Olympics. Her time was 54:52.0, with only one target missed.
Olena Petrova from
Ukraine won the silver, 17.8 seconds behind, and Uschi Disl won the bronze, 25.9 seconds behind Dafovska. The first men's event, the 20 km individual race, took place on 11 February. The
Norwegian Halvard Hanevold missed his second-last target, but finished first in a time of 56:16.4. The
Italian Pieralberto Carrara, who missed no targets, target, won the silver, 5.05 seconds behind. The
Belarusian Alexei Aidarov was 30.1 seconds behind the Norwegian, and won the bronze.
Bobsleigh The
bobsleigh competitions took place at
the Spiral, in
Iizuna, just north of Nagano City. The Spiral course measured 1700 m in length, with fifteen curves, descended 113 m from start to finish, and included two short uphill sections. The two events were the two-man and four-man, for men only. Female competitors would begin competing in the
two woman events at the subsequent Winter Olympics, the
2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. In all, 156 athletes took part from 28 countries. The bobsleigh events resulted in two ties, for the two-man gold and for the four-man bronze. This was the first time in Olympic bobsleigh history that there were ties for the medal positions.
Christoph Langen and
Markus Zimmermann won bronze in the two-man competition and were part of the winning four-man team. In all,
Germany win one gold and one bronze;
Italy and
Canada also won one gold each when the two-man team. Six team in all won medals. The first time since the
1968 Winter Olympics did more than four countries win bobsleigh medals. In addition, Germany and Switzerland were the only two countries to place two sleds in the top ten of either event. The 1996 and 1997
Bobsleigh World Champions were teams from Germany and Italy respectively. However,
Günther Huber and
Antonio Tartaglia from Italy tied with the two-man team from Canada,
Pierre Lueders and
Dave MacEachern for the gold medal, each with combined times of 3:37.24. No silver medal was awarded. The German team of Christoph Langen and Markus Zimmermann were 0.65 seconds behind, and were awarded the bronze. In the four-man event, bad weather restricted the competition to three runs only. The German team of Christoph Langen, Markus Zimmermann,
Marco Jakobs and
Olaf Hampel completed the three runs in 2:39.41 for the gold medal. The Swiss team of
Marcel Rohner,
Markus Nüssli,
Markus Wasser, and
Beat Seitz finished second with a time of 2:40.01. Two teams, were awarded bronze medals after completing the three runs in 2:40.06. These were the team from Great Britain, made up of
Sean Olsson,
Dean Ward,
Courtney Rumbolt, and
Paul Attwood; and the team from France, composed of
Bruno Mingeon,
Emmanuel Hostache,
Éric Le Chanony, and
Max Robert.
Curling Curling was included in the program for the Nagano Olympics in 1993 following discussions that had begun in 1992. At the time, it was considered that curling was making its official Olympic debut following its appearance as a
demonstration sport at the
1932,
1988, and
1992. At the Games in Nagano, both the men's and the women's curling tournament took place at
Kazakoshi Park Arena in
Karuizawa, Nagano, 30 minutes by
bullet train (shinkansen) south of Nagano City. Eight teams played a total of seven games in the round robin in both tournaments, with the four best teams going to the semifinals.
Canada won gold in the women's competition and silver in the men's;
Switzerland won the gold in the men's tournament. In the men's tournament, the
Mike Harris team from Canada easily completed the
round-robin tournament winning six of its seven games, only losing to the
Eigil Ramsfjell team from Norway. In the semi-finals, the Canadian team defeated
Tim Somerville's team from the
United States by a score of 7–1; and in the other semi-final, the team from
Switzerland led by
Patrick Hürlimann defeated Norway 8–7. In the gold medal game, Switzerland shocked Canada by winning 9–3. In the bronze medal game, Eigil Ramsfjell's team from Norway defeated Tim Somerville's USA team by a score of 9–4. In the women's tournament, the
Sandra Schmirler team from Canada and the
Elisabet Gustafson team from Sweden easily completed the
round-robin tournament, with both teams winning six of their seven games. Canada only lost to the
Dordi Nordby team from Norway, and Sweden's only loss was to Canada. In the semi-finals, the Canadian team defeated the team led by
Kirsty Hay representing
team Great Britain by a score of 6–5; and in the other semi-final, the team from
Denmark led by
Helena Blach Lavrsen defeated Sweden 7–5. In the gold medal game, Canada defeated Denmark by a score of 7–5. In the bronze medal game, Elisabet Gustafso's team from Sweden defeated Kirsty Hay's GB team by a score of 10–6.
Ice hockey The
ice hockey matches took place at two purpose-built arenas in Nagano City,
Big Hat and
Aqua Wing Arena. The ice hockey events were significant for two reasons: the first Olympic ice hockey tournament for women and the participation of players from the
NHL, which scheduled its first ever mid-season break. The
Czech Republic defeated
Russia in the gold medal game for the men's title, and the
United States defeated
Canada in the gold medal game for the women's title. The men's competition began on 7 February with eight teams playing in two groups of four, Group A and B, with each team playing three games. The winners of these two groups,
Kazakhstan and
Belarus, advanced to join Groups C and D, composed of the six highest ranked men's national ice hockey teams in the world.
Russia,
Czech Republic, and
Finland were joined by Kazakhstan in Group C;
Canada,
Sweden, and the
United States were joined by Belarus in Group D. On 22 February, with 10,010 spectators in attendance at
Big Hat, the Czech Republic defeated Russia in the gold medal game, 1–0, with the lone goal of the match scored with 12 minutes remaining. Finland defeated Canada for the bronze medal by a score of 3–2. The first
women's ice hockey world championship, a biennial tournament, took place in
1990. Discussions to include women's ice hockey at the 1998 games began in 1992, and it was decided to include them in the program in 1993. The tournament included six teams playing in a one-group round-robin tournament. The top two team advanced to the gold medal game, and the teams ranked third and fourth played in the bronze medal match. The favorites were the
Canadians, who had won the three previous world championships, with the
Americans finishing second each time. In the round-robin tournament, the Americans finished first, with the Canadians second. In the last round-robin game, the United States handily defeated Canada, 7–4, with the two teams scoring nine goals in the third period. In the gold medal match, with 8,626 fans in attendance at
Big Hat, the U.S. again defeated Canada, 3–1. Team
Finland defeated Team
China 4–1 for the bronze medal.
Luge , seen here during competition at
Oberhof, Germany in 2005, won gold in the men's singles luge competition. The
luge competitions took place in
Iizuna, Nagano, at the
Spiral (Nagano Bobsleigh-Luge Park), the first purpose-built permanent bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in
Asia. In all, 24 nations took part in the luge events, with four countries,
India,
South Korea,
New Zealand, and
Venezuela making their Olympic debut in luge events. There were three events, men's single, women's single, and doubles.
Germany won all three gold medals, one silver, and one bronze. The
United States won one silver and one bronze.
Italy and
Austria rounded out the medal table. The first event with 24 lugers was the men's singles. Each athlete completed four runs over two days, 8 and 9 February. The
German athlete,
Georg Hackl, who had won gold at the
1992 Winter Olympics and
1994 Winter Olympics, had entered the competition winless in the 1997–1998 season. Hackl raced in a newly designed luge and aerodynamic shoes. Several team protested but these protests were rejected. Hackl dominated all four races, and finished with a time of 3:18.436, half a second ahead of the
Italian Armin Zöggeler. Zöggeler finished .154 seconds ahead of
Jens Müller of Germany, who had won gold at the
1988 Winter Olympics when he competed for
East Germany. On 10 and 11 February, the women's singles event took place, with each athlete completing four runs. In all, 29 athletes took part. The race for gold was very tight between two
German athletes,
Silke Kraushaar and
Barbara Niedernhuber, with Kraushaar winning by .002 seconds, with a total time of 3:23.779 – the smallest margin of victory ever at the Olympics.
Angelika Neuner of
Austria won the bronze, 0.474 seconds behind the gold medalist. The two-race doubles competition, which in theory were open to females, consisted of 17 male pairs. The event took place 13 February. The
Germans Stefan Krauße and
Jan Behrendt, who had competed together for 14 years, won the gold medal with a time of 1:41.105. Two
American teams won silver and bronze, with
Chris Thorpe and
Gordy Sheer finishing .022 seconds behind the gold medalists and
Brian Martin and
Mark Grimmette a further .09 seconds behind. The win by Krauße and Behrendt was their four medal at the Olympics since they won silver at the
1988 Winter Olympics when they competed for East Germany. This was the first time since the introduction of luge at the
1964 Winter Olympics that athletes other than those from Austria, Germany, Italy, and the
Soviet Union won medals.
Skating Figure skating The
figure skating events took place at the
White Ring (arena), an indoor arena built for the Games in Nagano City. Medals were awarded in four events: men's and women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The pairs event took place from 8–10 February, followed by the men's singles from 12 to 14 February, the ice dance from 13 to 16 February, and the women's singles from 18 to 20 February. The exhibition gala took place on 21 February.
Russia won five medals, including three gold and two silver. The
USA won one gold and one silver.
France won two bronze medals.
Canada won one silver, with
China and
Germany each winning one bronze.
American figure skater
Tara Lipinski became the youngest competitor in Winter Olympics history to earn a gold medal in an individual event.
Short track speed skating Six
short track speed skating events took place at the
White Ring (arena) from 17 to 21 February. A total of 18 nations were representing among the skaters. Four countries won medals.
South Korea won six medals, including three gold.
Canada won four medals, including two gold. Host
Japan won one gold and one silver; and
China won five silver and one bronze medal. The 14th ranked
Japanese skater
Takafumi Nishitani beat the
Olympic record in the 500m semi-finals. In the final, he led from the start and won the gold medal with a time of 42.862 seconds. The
Canadian Marc Gagnon, who was in second place, fell with two laps remaining. The
Chinese skater
An Yulong won the silver with a time of 43.022, 0.5 seconds of the Japanese skater
Hitoshi Uematsu. In the 1000 meters, world record holder Marc Gagnon was disqualified for obstruction in the quarter-finals. The Chinese skater
Li Jiajun, who led for most of the final, was passed by the
South Korean skater,
Kim Dong-sung, in the final corner. Kim won with a time of 1:32.375, 0.053 seconds ahead of the silver medalist. The Canadian
Éric Bédard won the bronze, .223 seconds further behind. In the 5000m relays, world-title holders from
Italy led at the beginning of the relay but were passed by the Canadians, and fell. With about one-quarter of the race left, a Chinese skater fell, bringing down with him a South Korean skater, allowing the Canadians to easily win the gold, with a time of 7:06.075. The South Koreans were .701 seconds behind, with the Chinese finishing with the bronze a further 4 seconds back. The Japanese team won the B-Final with a time that was five seconds faster than the gold medalists. In the women's 500m final, the
Canadian Isabelle Charest collided with the
Chinese Wang Chunlu, and both fell. Charest was disqualified and Wang, angry, never finished the race. The Canadian
Annie Perreault won the gold with a time of 46.568 seconds, 0.059 seconds ahead of
Yang Yang (S) of China. Because these were the only two to finish the race, the bronze medal went to the winner of the B-Final, the
South Korean Chun Lee-kyung. In the 1000m race, the Chinese skater
Yang Yang (A) led the race but was passed by the 500m bronze medalist, Chun, in the last straight away to the finish line. Chun won the race with a time of 1:42.776 seconds. Yang Yang (A) was disqualified for using her elbow to try to block Chun. Yang Yang (S) won the silver, 0.567 seconds behind the gold medalist from South Korea.
Won Hye-kyung, also of South Korea, won the bronze a further 0.18 seconds behind. In the 3000m relay, the Chinese team led for most of the race but the South Korean skater
Kim Yun-mi passed Yang Yang (A) in the last changeover. Both teams beat the
World Record, with the South Koreans finishing with a time of 4:16.260, and the Chinese were 0.123 seconds behind. The Canadian team won bronze with a time of 4:21.205.
Speed skating won two gold medals for the Netherlands in speed skating. From 8–20 February 171 athletes from 25 countries took part in the long-track
speed skating events that were held in Nagano City at
M-Wave, Japan's first indoor, long-track speed skating venue. In all, eight countries won medals. The
Netherlands won 11 medals, including five gold and four silver.
Canada, host
Japan, and the
USA also won multiple medals. Twelve
Olympic records and five
World records were established at the Games on the ice at M-Wave.
Gianni Romme and
Marianne Timmer, both of the Netherlands, each won two gold medals. The Nagano Olympics were the first where athletes wore
clap skates. On the men's side, the world record holder in the men's 500m was the
Japanese skater
Hiroyasu Shimizu. Shimizu was the smallest skater at the Games, 1.62m tall. The 500m was run over two races for the first time at these Games. Shimizu was fastest in both races becoming only the second ever Japanese to win a singles title at the Olympic Games. Finishing in second and third were the
Canadian skaters,
Jeremy Wotherspoon and
Kevin Overland, who are 1.91m and 1.84 m tall, respectively. Shimizu's combined time was 1:11.35, 0.49 seconds ahead of Wotherspoon, and another 0.02 seconds ahead of Overland. The 1500m was won by
Norwegian Ådne Søndrål with a
world record time of 1:47.87. Søndrål was 0.26 and 0.65 seconds ahead of two
Dutch skaters,
Ids Postma, and
Rintje Ritsma. In the 1000m, Postma won gold, with a time of 1:10.64, followed by another Dutch skater
Jan Bos, who was 0.07 seconds behind, and Shimizu who won the bronze with a time of 1:11.00. In the 5000m, the Dutch skater
Gianni Romme won gold, with a world record time of 6:22.20, followed by Ritsma, who was 6.04 seconds behind, and Bart Veldkamp, representing
Belgium who won the bronze with a time of 6:28.31. Finally, in the 10,000m, three Dutch skaters won medals. Romme won gold with a world record time, 15 seconds ahead of the world record, of 13:15.33,
Bob de Jong won silver, and Ritsma won bronze. On the women's side, the 500 m title was won by the Canadian
Catriona Le May Doan, the favorite, who beat or equalled the world record four times before the Games. Her teammate,
Susan Auch, finished second. Both were coached by Susan's brother, Derrick Auch.
Tomomi Okazaki, of host Japan, won the bronze medal. In the 1500m,
Dutch skater
Marianne Timmer won gold with a world record time of 1:57.58. The
German skater
Gunda Niemann was second, 1.08 seconds behind, and the
American skater
Chris Witty won bronze with a time of 1:58.97. In the 1000m, Timmer won gold again, with a time of 1:16.51. Witty won silver, 0.26 seconds behind, and Le May Doan won bronze with a time of 1:17.37. The
German skater
Franziska Schenk, one of the favorites, fell during the second lap. In the 3000m, German skaters won all three medals. Niemann won gold with a time of 4:07.29; Claudia Pechstein won silver, 1.18 seconds back; and
Anni Friesinger won bronze with a time of 4:09.44. Finally, in the 5000m, Pechstein won gold with a world record time of 6:59.61; Niemann was 0.04 seconds back for silver, and the
Kazakh skater
Lyudmila Prokasheva won bronze, with a time of 7:11.14. Prokasheva's medal was the first medal by a female Kazakh athlete at any Winter Olympics.
Skiing Alpine skiing The
Alpine skiing events took place at Hakuba Happoone Winter Resort in
Hakuba village, 50 kilometers west of Nagano City, and at
Mount Higashidate in the
Shiga Highlands in
Yamanouchi, Nagano, 30 kilometers northeast of Nagano City. In all, 249 athletes, 141 males and 108 females, from 49 countries, took part in the 10 Alpine skiing events, men's and women's downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined.
Austria won 11 medals, including three gold.
Germany also won three gold, and six medals in total. Seven other countries also won medals, including
Australia, whose
Zali Steggall won that countries first ever individual
Winter Olympics medal. The most successful athletes at these Games were
Katja Seizinger from Germany, who won two gold medals and one bronze; and
Hermann Maier, from Austria, who won two gold medals.
Cross-country skiing , pictured in January 2011 The
cross-country skiing events took place at
Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort, in the town of
Nozawaonsen, approximately 50 kilometers north of Nagano. In all, 228 athletes, including 126 men and 102 women, from 37 countries took part.
Russia won eight medals, including all the women five gold medals, and
Norway won nine medals, including four gold medals. Six other countries also won medals, including
Finland with one gold and two bronze, and
Italy with two silver and two bronze.
Larisa Lazutina from Russia won five medals, including three gold; and
Bjørn Dæhlie from Norway won four medals, including three gold.
Freestyle skiing The
freestyle skiing competition was held at the
Iizuna Kogen Ski Area, 12 kilometers north of Nagano, from 8 to 18 February. It was the third consecutive Games that freestyle skiing events took place. The four events, men's and women's moguls and aerials, involved 110 athletes from 25 countries . The
United States won three gold medals. Host
Japan won one gold medal. Athletes from
Finland won a silver and a bronze medal. Six other countries took home either one silver or one bronze medal. In men's moguls, the
American Jonny Moseley was first after the qualifications. Two cousins from
Finland,
Janne Lahtela and
Sami Mustonen, who had never medalled at the
FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup, were ranked second and third behind Moseley. Moseley easily won the final with a score of 26.93. Lahtela was .93 points behind, and Mustonen was another .24 points behind. The
Canadian,
Jean-Luc Brassard, gold medalist from the
1994 Winter Olympics, finished in fourth. In men's aerials, the American
Eric Bergoust, who had fallen during training, overtook the other competitors with a score of 255.64 points. The
Frenchmen,
Sébastien Foucras, and the
Belarusian,
Dmitri Dashinski, were second and third. The Canadian,
Nicolas Fontaine,
world champion in 1997, only managed 10th place after falling on his second jump. The
Japanese moguls skier,
Tae Satoya, 11th after qualifications, surprised everyone by winning the gold medal with a score of 25.06. She was the first female Japanese Olympic champion. The
German,
Tatjana Mittermayer scored 24.62 points and won the silver medal. The
Norwegian,
Kari Traa, won the bronze with a score of 24.09 points. In women's aerials,
American Nikki Stone won the gold medal with a score of 193.00 points. The ex-gymnast,
Xu Nannan from
China won silver with a score of 186.97, and
Colette Brand from
Switzerland won bronze with a score of 171.83.
Nordic combined skiing The
Nordic combined events were held at the
Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium and the
Snow Harp, both in
Hakuba village, 50 kilometers west of Nagano City. In all, 53 athletes from 14 countries, took part in the two events, individual and team.
Norway won both gold medals.
Finland won both silver medals.
France and
Russia each won one of the bronze medals. The first event was the individual competition that took place on 13 and 14 February. In all, there were 48 athletes. The silver medalist from the
1994 Winter Olympics, the
Norwegian Bjarte Engen Vik, was the
1997–98 FIS Nordic Combined World Cup leader. At the Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium, Vik led after the first two jumps. He was followed by the
Russian Valeri Stoliarov. The following day, the skiers left, in order of the placement following the ski jump, along te 15 kilometer cross-country race at the Snow Harp. The race was skied in the rain. Vik led throughout and finished with a 27.5 second lead over second place. With three kilometers to the finish line, the
Finnish athlete, 18-year-old
Samppa Lajunen, who was sixth after the jumps, caught up with Stoliarov. The skied together until the stadium, and 60 meters from the finish line, Lajunen passed the Russian and picked up the silver medal 0.7 seconds ahead of Stoliarov who won the bronze. The fastest athlete on the course was the
Swiss skier,
Marco Zarucchi, who was 43rd after the jumps, finished in 25th place. Eleven nations took part in the team event on 19 and 20 February. At previous Olympics, the team event involved three athletes per team, with the completing a 3x10 kilometer relay. At Nagano, the team was enlarged to four athletes who completed a 4x5 kilometer relay. After the jumps, the team from Finland led by four seconds ahead of the
Austrians, eight seconds ahead of the Norwegians, nine ahead of the
Czechs, and 29 seconds ahead of the
Japanese. The relay took place in rain. The Norwegians quickly took the lead and never looked back. The last Norwegian skier had the time to grab his country's flag with 500 meters from the finish line, and they won gold with more than one minute lead over the team from Finland. The
French team, sixth after the jumps, won the bronze medal ahead of the Austrians. The Japanese, gold medalists at the
1992 Winter Olympics and
1994 Winter Olympics finished in fifth.
Ski jumping (pictured in 2014) won two gold medals and one silver for host Japan. The
ski jumping competitions took place at the
Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium in
Hakuba village, 50 kilometers west of Nagano City. In all, 68 athletes from 19 countries participated. For the first time, the top 30 jumpers qualified for the second round. Host
Japan won the most medals, including two gold in the large hill and large hill team.
Finland,
Germany, and
Austria rounded out the medal table.
Kazuyoshi Funaki from
Yoichi, Hokkaido in
Japan won two gold and one silver for the host country. The normal hill jumps took place on 11 February in front of 45,000 spectators. The Japanese, who had dominated the
1997–98 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup season, were the favorites. With a jump of 91.5 meters,
Masahiko Harada led after the first round ahead of the Finnish jumper,
Jani Soininen Kazuyoshi Funaki, who was fourth after the first round, took the lead with a jump of 90.5 meters in the second round. After a delay caused by strong wind, Soininen took the lead with only Harada still to jump. A sidewind blew when Harada jumped, and only managed 84.5 meters to finish in fifth place overall. Soininen won gold with 234.5 points, Funaki was second with 233.5, and the Austrian
Andreas Widhölzl finished third with 232.5 points. On 15 February, the large hill jump competition took place. 60,000 spectators gathered at Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium. Normal hill bronze medalist Widhölzl led after the first round, ahead of the Japanese jumper
Takanobu Okabe, Jani Soininen et Funaki. In the second round, Funaki jumped 132.5 m, and, for the first time at the Olympics, received perfect points for his style. He jumped into first place and won the gold medal with 272.3 points overall. It was the first Japanese gold medal in ski jumping since the
1972 Winter Olympics in
Sapporo. Harada jumped next. Unfortunately, the measurement system was installed between 95 and 135 meters and his jump was beyond that. He was measured manually to be 136 meters. He also had good points but only managed to win the bronze medal with 258.3. meters. Soininen won the silver with a combined score of 260.8 points. At the
1994 Winter Olympics, the Japanese team were the favorites but Harada jumped poorly, costing the Japanese the gold medal. Again, in 1998, the Japanese were the favorites. The team event took place on 17 February. The start was slowed by 30 minutes because of heavy falling snow. The first two Japanese jumpers, Okabe at
Hiroya Saitō, jumped Japan into first place. Harada completely missed his jump, jumping only 79.5 meters, and despite Funaki having a good jump, Japan drop from first to fourth after the first round behind Austria, Germany, and Norway. Okabe jumped 137 meters, which was an Olympic record. Saitō followed this with a good jump. Harada was next, and like Okabe, jumped 137 meters. The last jumper was Funaki who jumped 125 meters, and the Japanese team became Olympic champions with 933.0 points. The Germans won silver with 897.4 points, and the Austrians finished with 881.5 points for the bronze.
Snowboarding (pictured in 2007) won the first-ever gold medal in men's giant slalom, before being disqualified, and then having his medal reinstated. (pictured in 2015) won the gold medal in women's halfpipe. In the decade leading up the games, snowboarding had become popular in both North America and Europe, as well as Japan, and as a result, in August 1994, the
NAOC received a request from the IOC president Samaranch to consider including snowboarding at the 1998 Winter Olympics. To reduce costs, NAOC asked the host community to cover a portion of the costs – the town Yamanouchi agreed – and
FIS was expected to support financially as well. In November 1995, the NAOC executive board agreed to add snowboarding, and this was approved by the IOC at their December meeting the following month in
Karuizawa. This was the first Winter Olympics with
snowboarding events. The events took place at
Mount Yakebitai and Kanbayashi Snowboard Park in
Yamanouchi, Nagano, 30 kilometers northeast of Nagano City, from 8 to 12 February. In all, 125 athletes from 22 countries participated in the men's and women's halfpipe and giant slalom. Athletes from
Germany won two medals, including one gold. Athletes from
Switzerland,
France, and
Canada also won gold medals. In the men's giant slalom, the
Canadian Jasey-Jay Anderson won the first race with a half-second lead ahead of Rebagliati. During the second race, the event was temporary delayed because of snow and fog.
Ross Rebagliati finished with a combined time of 2:03.96, 0.02 seconds ahead of the
Italian Thomas Prugger, and another 0.10 seconds ahead of the
Swiss Ueli Kestenholz. Controversy occurred when three days after the men's giant slalom, the International Olympic Committee determined that gold medalist Rebagliati from Canada, was disqualified after testing positive for
marijuana. It was the first time in Olympic history that an athlete was disqualified for marijuana. The
Canadian Olympic Committee lodged a protest and the case quickly went to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport where it was ruled that because marijuana was not classified as a "banned" substance, the medal should be returned to the Canadian athlete. In the halfpipe, the gold medal went to the
Swiss Gian Simmen, who had the highest score, 85.2, despite a heavy rain. The
Norwegian Daniel Franck won the silver with a score of 82.4, and the
American Ross Powers won the bronze with a score of 82.1. The women's giant slalom was delayed one day because of a snowstorm. The big favorite, the
Frenchwoman Karine Ruby won the first race with almost two seconds ahead of her compatriot
Isabelle Blanc. Ruby won the second race, with Blanc missing the last gate and falling. Ruby's combined time was 2:17.34. The
German Heidi Renoth won the silver with a time of 2:19.17, and the
Austrian Brigitte Köck won the bronze with a time of 2:19.42. In the halfpipe, the
Norwegian Stine Brun Kjeldaas won the qualification round. However, in the finals, the
German Nicola Thost, a former gymnast, finished second in both legs, scored 74.6 points, which was enough for the gold medal. Stine Brun Kjeldaas finished fourth in the first leg and first in second, winning the silver with 74.2 points. The
American Shannon Dunn-Downing won the first leg, but finished seventh in the second leg, leaving her with the bronze with a score of 72.8. ==Mascots==