1992 Winter Olympics

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"Albertville 1992" redirects here. For the Winter Paralympics, see 1992 Winter Paralympics.

XVI Olympic Winter Games
1992 Winter Olympics logo.svg
Emblem of the 1992 Winter Olympics[a]
Host cityAlbertville, France
MottoSavoie en Fête
(English: Party in Savoie) [1]
Nations64
Athletes1,801 (1313 men, 488 women)
Events57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines)
Opening8 February
Closing23 February
Opened by
President François Mitterrand
Cauldron
François-Cyrille Grange
Michel Platini
StadiumThéâtre des Cérémonies
Winter
← Calgary 1988 Lillehammer 1994 →
Summer
← Seoul 1988 Barcelona 1992 →
1992 Winter Olympics

The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games (French: Les XVIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Olympics to be held the same year as the Summer Olympics,[2][3] and the first where the Winter Paralympics were held at the same site. Albertville was selected as host in 1986, beating Sofia, Falun, Lillehammer, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Anchorage and Berchtesgaden. The games were the third Winter Olympics held in France, after Chamonix in 1924 and Grenoble in 1968, and the fifth Olympics overall in the country.

Only some of the skating and the opening and closing ceremonies took place in Albertville, while the rest of the events took place in the villages of Courchevel, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Les Menuires, Les Saisies, Méribel, Pralognan-la-Vanoise, Tignes and Val d'Isère. Sixty-four nations with 1,801 athletes participated in the games, including the Unified Team which represented non-Baltic former Soviet republics. Germany participated as a unified team following reunification in 1990, while five newly independent European countries debuted, as did six "warm-weather" countries. Short track speed skating, moguls and women's biathlon made their debut as an Olympic sport. The games were the last Winter Games until 2014 to have demonstration sports, consisting of curling, aerials, ski ballet and speed skiing. It was the last Olympics to have an outdoor speed skating rink. The games were succeeded by the 1992 Winter Paralympics from 25 March to 1 April.

Norwegians won every male cross-country skiing race, with Bjørn Dæhlie and Vegard Ulvang both collecting three gold. Ski jumper Toni Nieminen, 16, became the youngest male gold medalist of a Winter Olympic event. Petra Kronberger won both the combined event and the slalom, while Bonnie Blair won both the 500 m and 1000 m speed skating events and Gunda Niemann took both of the longest races. Kim Kihoon earned gold medals in both men's short track events. Ye Qiaobo of China won the country's first medal in the Winter Olympics, a silver in women's 500 metres speed skating. Annelise Coberger of New Zealand won the southern hemisphere's first Winter Olympic medal—a silver in the women's slalom. Nicolas Bochatay was killed during a training session. Germany won the most medals and the most gold.

Host city selection[edit]

Mexican sculptor Abel Ramírez Águilar working on his gold medal piece in snow sculpture competition related to the Games
Main article: Bids for the 1992 Winter Olympics

The vote to select the host city of the 1992 Winter Olympics was conducted on 17 October 1986, in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the 91st IOC Session. A record of seven different locales bid for these Games.[4]

1992 Winter Olympics bidding results[5]
City Country Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Run-off Round 5
Albertville  France 19 26 29 42 — 51
Sofia  Bulgaria 25 25 28 24 — 25
Falun  Sweden 10 11 11 11 41 9
Lillehammer  Norway 10 11 9 11 40 —
Cortina d'Ampezzo  Italy 7 6 7 — — —
Anchorage  United States 7 5 — — — —
Berchtesgaden  West Germany 6 — — — — —

Opening ceremony[edit]

Main article: 1992 Winter Olympics opening ceremony

Legacy[edit]

The 1992 Olympic Winter Games marked the last time both the Winter and Summer games were held in the same year. The 1992 Olympics also marks the last time France hosted the Olympics. Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Cost and cost overrun[edit]

The Oxford Olympics Study established the outturn cost of the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics at US$2.0 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 137% in real terms.[6] 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 Albertville 1992 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,[7] 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%.

Mascot[edit]

Main article: Magique (mascot)

Magique (Magic) was the Olympic mascot of these Games, and was a little imp in the shape of a star and a cube. It was created by Philippe Mairesse and was presented in 1989. His star shape symbolises dreams and imagination. His colours come from the French flag, with a red hat and a blue costume.

Notable events[edit]

  • Freestyle skiing moguls, short-track speedskating and women's biathlon made their debuts as medal disciplines.
  • Norwegian skiers won every male cross-country skiing race. Bjørn Dæhlie and Vegard Ulvang each won three gold medals.
  • Speedskater Bonnie Blair won both the 500 and 1,000 m events; Gunda Niemann took both of the longest races.
  • Ski jumper Toni Nieminen, 16, became the youngest male gold medalist of a Winter Olympic event.
  • Italian alpine skier Alberto Tomba won the Giant Slalom for the second time in a row.
  • Austrian alpine skier Petra Kronberger won both the combined event and the slalom.
  • Kim Kihoon earned gold medals in both men's short-track inaugural events at this Olympics.
  • Ye Qiaobo of China won the country's first medal in the Winter Olympics, a silver in women's 500 metres speed skating (she added another silver in 1000 metres).
  • Annelise Coberger of New Zealand won the southern hemisphere's first Winter Olympic medal—a silver in the women's slalom.
  • Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States and Midori Ito of Japan became the first persons of Asian descent to win Olympic medals in figure skating.
  • Midori Ito became the first woman to land a triple Axel in Olympic competition.
  • The Swiss speed skier Nicolas Bochatay died on the morning of the speed-skiing finals, when he collided with a snow-grooming vehicle while skiing on a public slope outside the racing area.

Sports[edit]

There were 57 events contested in 6 sports (12 disciplines). See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Demonstration sports[edit]

This was the final time demonstration sports were included in the Winter Olympics programme.

  • Curling – Competed for the first time since 1924. It became a regular discipline in 1998.
  • Freestyle skiing – Although moguls skiing was an official discipline, aerials and ski ballet were still considered demonstration events.
  • Speed skiing – A death occurred during a training session. The sport has not been included in the Winter Olympics program.

Participating nations[edit]

A total of 64 nations sent athletes to compete in these Games. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, six states chose to form a Unified Team, while the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had their own teams. Croatia and Slovenia, who were making their first appearance at the Winter Olympics, competed as independent nations after leaving Yugoslavia. The UN sanctions against Yugoslavia that saw them miss the 1992 Summer Olympics had yet to come into effect. The German team won most medals in the games, with a total of 10 gold medals, 10 silver and 6 bronze. It was the first time since the 1936 Winter Olympics that Germany competed with a unified team after the reunification.

Making their debuts were Algeria, Bermuda, Brazil, Honduras, Ireland and Swaziland (as well as the previously mentioned Croatia and Slovenia). It would also be the only appearance for both Honduras and Swaziland in Winter Olympics to date.

Participating National Olympic Committees

Venues[edit]

Main article: Venues of the 1992 Winter Olympics

The 1992 Games are (as of today) the last ones where the speed skating venue was outdoors.

Medal table[edit]

(Host nation is highlighted.)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Germany1010626
2 Unified Team¹96823
3 Norway96520
4 Austria67821
5 United States54211
6 Italy46414
7 France3519
8 Finland3137
9 Canada2327
10 South Korea2114
Totals (10 nations)534940142
Further information: 1992 Winter Olympics medal table

(¹ combined team with athletes from 6 nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States; team only appeared in these Winter Olympics)

Podium sweeps[edit]

Date Sport Event NOC Gold Silver Bronze
10 February Cross-country skiing Men's 30 kilometre classical  Norway Vegard Ulvang Bjørn Dæhlie Terje Langli
17 February Speed skating Women's 5000 metres  Germany Gunda Niemann-Kleemann Heike Warnicke Claudia Pechstein

Broadcasting Rights[edit]

ORF

Ten Australia

CBC

CCTV

DR1

EBU, Eurosport

Yle

TF1, France 2, France 3

ARD ZDF

RÚV

RAI

TVNZ

NRK

TVR

SVT1

SRG SSR

BBC, ITV

CBS Sports,[8][9][10] Turner Sports[citation needed]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

Notes

  1. ^ The emblem is the flag of Savoy region in the shape of the Olympic flame, dancing above stripes representing the flag of France.

Citations

  1. ^ "Slogans", The Olympic Design, 22 September 2019
  2. ^ "Albertville 1992". www.olympic.org. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  3. ^ "The Olympic Winter Games Factsheet" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  4. ^ IOC Vote History
  5. ^ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  6. ^ Flyvbjerg, Bent; Stewart, Allison; Budzier, Alexander (2016). The Oxford Olympics Study 2016: Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games. Oxford: Saïd Business School Working Papers (Oxford: University of Oxford). pp. 9–13. SSRN 2804554.
  7. ^ "Sochi 2014: the costliest Olympics yet but where has all the money gone?". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  8. ^ Stewart, Larry (9 February 1992). "The Olympic Winter Games at Albertville: With CBS in Charge, McKay Will Be Among the Missing". Los Angeles Times.
  9. ^ Carter, Bill (3 February 1992). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: Albertville 92; CBS Gambling Heavily On Success of Olympics". The New York Times.
  10. ^ Sandomir, Richard (2 February 1992). "ALBERTVILLE '92; CBS Winter Vacation Ends After 32 Years". The New York Times.

External links[edit]

Preceded by
Calgary 		Winter Olympics
Albertville
XVI Olympic Winter Games (1992) 		Succeeded by
Lillehammer
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