The1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as theXVII Olympic Winter Games (Norwegian:De 17. olympiske vinterleker;Nynorsk:Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known asLillehammer '94, were an international wintermulti-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and aroundLillehammer, Norway. Having lost the bid for the1992 Winter Olympics toAlbertville in France, Lillehammer was awarded the 1994 Winter Games on 15 September 1988, two days before the1988 Summer Olympicsopening ceremonies at the 94thIOC Session inSeoul, South Korea. Due to the calendar changes made in 1986, this was the only time that theWinter Olympics took place two years after the previous Winter Games, and the first to be held in a different year from theSummer Olympics. This meant that from now on, the Olympic Games are held on every even-numbered year instead of every four years. This was the first Winter Olympics that took place in a year with theAsian Games,Commonwealth Games, andFIFA World Cup. This was the second Olympic Games of any type hosted in Norway — the first being the1952 Winter Olympics inOslo — and the fourth Olympics overall to be held in aNordic country, after the1912 Summer Olympics inStockholm, Sweden, and the1952 Summer Olympics inHelsinki, Finland. Lillehammer is the northernmost city ever to host theOlympic Games.
Although Lillehammer Municipality was the main host, some events were held in neighboring municipalities, and the speed skating events were held inHamar Municipality, someice hockey matches were played inGjøvik Municipality, and theAlpine skiing events were held inØyer Municipality andRingebu Municipality. Sixty-sevenNational Olympic Committees and 1,737 athletes participated in sixsports and sixty-one events.[1] Fourteen countries made their Olympic debuts, of which nine were formerSoviet republics. The Games also saw the introduction of stricter and more rigid qualifying rules, reducing the number of under-performing participants. Six new events were introduced into the Olympic programme: new distances inshort-track speed skating andaerials, andspeed skating events were held indoors. Almost two million people spectated at the Games, which were the first to have theOlympic Truce in effect. The Olympics were followed by the1994 Winter Paralympics from 10 to 19 March.
The idea for an Olympic bid for Norway was born in 1981, whenFalun in neighbouringSweden was defeated byCalgary inCanada to host the1988 Winter Olympics. Along with the Norwegian government, the bid was also publicly encouraged and supported by theSwedish government, largely to help stimulate the economy of their inland counties.[3] Lillehammer originallybid for the 1992 Games but came fourth in the voting, with the Games ultimately awarded toAlbertville, France.[4] In 1986, at the 91st IOC Session inLausanne, the IOC announced the intent to separate the Summer and Winter editions (which had been held in the same year since the inception of the Winter Olympics in 1924) after the 1992 Games. The two editions of the Olympics had alternated every two years during the four-year cycle.[5][6] 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.[7]
Three other locations put in bids for the 1994 Games:Anchorage (United States),Östersund (Sweden), andSofia (Bulgaria). Lillehammer was elected to host the 1994 Winter Games at the 94th IOC Session, held inSeoul on 15 September 1988, two days before the start of the1988 Summer Olympics.[8] Until2018, the Lillehammer Games were the last Winter Olympics to be held in atown, rather than centered in acity.
The overall responsibility for the games was held by the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee, which was created on 14 November 1988 and led byGerhard Heiberg.[10] Between 1989 and 1993, the committee was reorganized several times with various subsidiaries. On 11 February 1993, it became a joint venture owned 51% by Lillehammer Municipality (as main stakeholder), 24.5% by the Government of Norway, and 24.5% by theNorwegian Olympic Committee. This model was also used for the Lillehammer Paralympic Organizing Committee.[11] The Norwegian government had issued a guarantee for the Games and also covered the expenses related to infrastructure.[10] The total cost of the Games was 7.4 billionNorwegian krone (NOK), of which NOK 0.95 billion was expended by the ministries, NOK 4.48 billion was for operations and event expenses, and NOK 1.67 billion was for investments.[12] 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.[13]
Production and execution of the broadcasting, which cost NOK 462 million,[14] was a joint venture of theNorwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), theCTV (Canada) (CTV), and theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) (the NRK is part of the collaboration of EBU members).[15] NRK and EBU 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 theUnited States,NHK in Japan,CTV in Canada, theAsia-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 million of which were paid only by CBS. This value was attributed in part to the Harding–Kerrigan affair.[16] As of 2010, the viewership in the United States was still the highest ever for the Winter Olympics.[17]
NOK 460 million was used on information technology,[18] with the main system running on anIBM AS/400.[19] 3,500 media terminals were in use during the games based on the Info '94 system; it was the first Winter Olympics to have terminals installed abroad.[18]Seiko delivered the time-keeping devices.[20] Telecommunications were delivered byTelenor, including signal transmission.[21] This included a mobile radio network with nine base stations.[22]
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.[23] 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 arenot 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[24] 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%.
Mexican artistAbel Ramírez Águilar with an ice sculpture he created before the start of the Lillehammer Games
As the 1988 Winter Games, the Organizing Committee decided not to build a specific Olympic Stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies and opted to conduct them at the ski jumping hill,Lysgårdsbakken. Artistic content presented a range of Norwegian and Nordic cultures, including elements such asSamijoik,Telemark skiing, fiddlers and folk dancing,[25] simulations of Norwegian traditional events, such as wedding processions, and the figure ofvetter fromNorse mythology.[26] After speeches by Heiberg and IOC presidentJuan Antonio Samaranch, the Games were officially declared opened byKing Harald V.[27] and theOlympic Anthem was performed by the lyrical singer,Sissel Kyrkjebø. After, theOlympic Flame was to be carried down the ski jump before lighting the cauldron. Originally this task had rested uponOle Gunnar Fidjestøl, but after he broke an arm in a practice jump, his back-up,Stein Gruben, received the honor. The cauldron was lit byCrown Prince Haakon Magnus. TheOlympic oaths were taken byVegard Ulvang for the athletes andKari Kåring for the officials.[28]
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 NorwegianBjørn Dæhlie and ItalianSilvio Fauner battled to the end, with Italy beating Norway by 0.4 seconds.[36] Dæhlie won the10 km classical and15 km freestyle pursuit, while taking silver in the30 km freestyle. Kazakhstan'sVladimir Smirnov won the50 km classical, in addition to silver in the 10 km and the 15 km. Norway'sThomas Alsgaard won the 30 km, while Finland'sMika Myllylä took an individual silver and a bronze.[37]
Italy'sManuela Di Centa and Russia'sLyubov 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 the5 km classical and the10 km pursuit, while Di Centa finished ahead of Yegorova on the15 km freestyle, and also won the30 km classical ahead of Norway'sMarit Wold. Finland'sMarja-Liisa Kirvesniemi took two bronze medals, in 5 km and 30 km.[37] In the4 × 5 km relay, Norway and Russia kept up with each other until the final stage, in whichAnita Moen lost to Yegorova, with Italy finishing third. With Yegorova's sixth career gold, she was tied as the most-winning Winter Olympic participant.[38]
Twelve teams participated in the ice hockey tournament, divided into two groups. Each played as asingle round robin, with the four best advancing to the single elimination medal tournament.[51] Group A saw Finland win all five matches, while the host nation lost all theirs. Also Germany, the Czech Republic and Russia advanced from the group, all with three victories. Group B was won by Slovakia ahead of Canada, Sweden and the United States.[52] The quarter-finals saw the Czech Republic, the United States, Germany and Slovakia eliminated.[53] In the semi-finals, Canada beat Finland 5–3, while Sweden beat Russia 4–3.[54] After the final period of the final, the match was a 2–2 tie, resulting in a shoot-out. After six shots, it was tied 2–2 until Sweden'sPeter Forsberg beatCorey Hirsch, making the Swedes win afterPaul Kariya missed his shot. This led toTomas Jonsson,Håkan Loob andMats Näslund becoming the first three members of theTriple Gold Club.[55]
Italy, Germany and Austria collected all the medals in the luge events. Germany'sGeorg Hackl won themen's singles, making him the first to defend an Olympic title in the event in thirty years. He finished ahead of Austria'sMarkus Prock and Italy'sArmin Zöggeler. In thedoubles, the two Italian teams finished on top, withKurt Brugger andWilfried Huber winning ahead ofHansjörg Raffl andNorbert Huber. In thewomen's singles, Italy'sGerda Weissensteiner won ahead of Germany'sSusi Erdmann and Austria'sAndrea Tagwerker.[56] The own debuts was start Nedžad Lomigora from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marco Feder from Liechtenstein, Sminon J. Payne from Bermuda, Paul Hix from United Kingdom, Josef Svarek from Slovakia, Roger White from Australia.
Although the events were the same, since the 1992 Games there was a rule change so that instead of jumping three times and taking the points for the best two, the competitors only jumped twice. In theindividual normal hill/15 km, Japan'sKenji Ogiwara had only lost a single event in the season'sWorld Cup, but came in sixth on the hill, which was won by Norway'sFred Børre Lundberg. He won the event after finishing eight-best in the skiing, ahead of Japan'sTakanori Kono, Norway'sBjarte Engen Vik and Ogiwara in fourth.[57] In theteam normal hill/3 x 10 km, Japan finished first, third and fifth among the jumpers, giving them a 5:07 minute lead over Norway and finishing 4:49 minutes ahead. Switzerland took the bronze.[58]
Short track speed skating was dominated bySouth Korea, who won four of the six events. After the discipline's debut in 1992, 1994 featured two new events, themen's 500 meters and thewomen's 1000 meters.[59] South Korea'sChae Ji-Hoon won themen's 500 meters, while taking silver on the1000 meters behind countrymanKim Ki-Hoon, who defended his 1992 gold. The bronze was won by Canada'sMarc Gagnon, who won the B final. In the A final, countrymanDerrick Campbell was obstructed by Great Britain'sNicky Gooch, who was disqualified. Campbell got up and started celebrating his bronze medal, when he discovered he had not completed the race.[60]
In themen's 5000 meter relay, South Korea did not enter after a fall in the sole qualifying event, which took place in March 1993. Canada fell during the final, which saw Italy take a clear victory ahead of the United States, who were marginally ahead ofAustralia. The United States'Eric Flaim became the first to take Olympic medals in both short track and long track speed skating, while Australia took its first Winter Olympic medal ever.[61] Six people took the individual medals in the women's events, with the United States'Cathy Turner defending her 1992 gold on the500 meters[62] and South Korea'sChun Lee-Kyung taking the gold in 1000 meters.[59] South Korea won the3000 meter relay with a team of four girls under 19. At 13,Kim Yoon-Mi became the world's youngest Olympic gold medalist.[63]
Norway won three of the six individual medals, with Norway'sEspen Bredesen winning thenormal hill ahead of Norway'sLasse Ottesen and Germany'sDieter Thoma. In thelarge hill, Germany'sJens Weißflog won ahead of Bredesen and Austria'sAndreas Goldberger.[64] In thelarge hill team, the 1994 Games introduced new rules whereby all four jumps in each round counted, and not just the best three. Neither Norway nor Finland, who between them had won all but one former Olympic team jump, managed to collect a medal. The event became a duel between Germany and Japan, with only a point separating them after the first round of jumps.Masahiko Harada had the last jump, and would secure a gold if he managed 105 meters but lost his 'cool' mistiming his leap and landed at 97.5 meters, giving the gold to the Germans.[65]
In 1989, the International Skating Union mandated that, from the 1994 Olympics onwards, speed skating events would be held indoors to avoid interference from wind and weather conditions in the competitions. The 1994 Games also introduced a new system of qualification rules, limiting the number of participants in themen's 5000 meters andwomen's 3000 meters to 32, and only allowing the 16 best in each of these events to participate in themen's 10000 meters and thewomen's 5000 meters.
At the closing ceremonies, also held at Lysgårdsbakken, all spectators were handed a flashlight with the inscription "Remember Sarajevo"—the host of the1984 Winter Olympics which was at worst moment of theBosnian War, theSiege of Sarajevo. The first entrants on the stage wereLiv Ullmann andThor Heyerdahl,[67] followed by the athletes' precession. After the Olympic flag had been transferred toNagano mayorTasuka Tsukada, speeches were held by Lillehammer mayorAudun Tron, Heiberg and Samaranch. The latter used his speech to remind about Sarajevo's situation,[68] before giving Heiberg IOC's gold medal.[69] Artistic presentations followed with many of the themes from the opening ceremony.At the 15-minute presentation as the next host city, Nagano was presented to world as a modernYama-uba, also the1998 Winter Olympics mascots, theSnowlets, was also presented on a public eye for the first time. Of the 2,200 people performing in the opening and closing ceremonies, only 50 were professionals.[70]
The games were spread out over ten venues in fivemunicipalities in twocounties,Oppland andHedmark.Lillehammer, with 25,000 inhabitants, andHamar andGjøvik, both with 27,000 inhabitants, are all situated on the lakeMjøsa. Gjøvik and Hamar are located 45 and 54 kilometers (28 and 34 mi) south of Lillehammer. Hunderfossen is located 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) north of Lillehammer, but lies within the municipality. Øyer and Ringebu, both with just under 5,000 inhabitants, are located 18 and 50 kilometers (11 and 31 mi) north of Lillehammer, in the valleyGudbrandsdalen. Lillehammer had four venues, Hamar had two venues, while Hunderfossen, Gjøvik, Øyer and Ringebu had one venue each.[71]
In Lillehammer,Lysgårdsbakken features twinski jumping hills. The large hill has a hill size of 138 and a critical point of 120, while the normal hill has a hill size of 100 and a critical point of 90. The hill has capacity for 35,000 spectators and hosted, in addition to the ski jumping events, the opening and closing ceremonies.[72]Birkebeineren Skistadion featured cross-country skiing and biathlon, with the stadium itself having a capacity for 31,000 spectators during cross-country skiing and 13,500 during biathlon. In addition, spectators could watch from along the tracks.[73]Kanthugen Freestyle Arena featured a capacity for 15,000 spectators.[74] All the outdoor skiing arenas had free areas, which saw up to 25,000 extra spectators at the team jump and 75,000 extra spectators at the 50 km.[75]
Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track is located atHunderfossen. It had a capacity for 10,000 spectators and is the only bobsleigh and luge track in theNordic countries.[76] Ice hockey was played at two venues, inHåkons Hall in Lillehammer andGjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall in Gjøvik. Håkons Hall has a capacity for 10,500 spectators, and also features theNorwegian Olympic Museum. The Cavern Hall is built as a man-made cave and had a capacity for 5,300 spectators.[77][78] Skating events took place at two venues in Hamar.Vikingskipet had a capacity for 10,600 spectators and featured speed skating events,[79] while figure skating and short-track speed skating were held atHamar Olympic Amphitheatre.[80] Alpine skiing was split between two ski resorts:Hafjell in Øyer andKvitfjell in Ringebu. The former was used for the slalom and giant slalom, while the latter hosted downhill and super-G.[81]
Spectators relied heavily on the use of buses and trains for transportation. Downtown Lillehammer and the axis between Lillehammer and Oslo were the most limiting areas, and theNorwegian State Railways ran up to 22 trains per day between Oslo and Lillehammer. Trains were also used northwards towardsTrondheim, while other areas were served by bus. All the venues were located along railway lines, making use of spectators walking from the stations to the venues to limit road congestion, although special services were available for disabled people. Shuttle buses were established between venues and also connected topark and ride facilities.[82]
A record 67 nations participated in the 1994 Winter Olympics. These Games were the first to implement stricter qualifying standards that prevented low-performing athletes from competing without meeting minimum requirements. As a consequence, eleven "warm-weather countries" that signed up to take part in the Games were mostly absent because very few of their athletes succeeded in qualifying; the number of African athletes fell from nineteen in 1992 to three in 1994. These rules were, however, not applied to bobsled events, enabling theU.S. Virgin Islands,Trinidad and Tobago andJamaica to compete in that sport.[83] On 25 October 1993, theUnited Nations General Assembly urged its members to observe theOlympic truce, lasting from seven days before the start of the Games until seven days after the close, making the Lillehammer Olympics the first to observe the truce.[84] The IOC appealed for a truce in the ongoingBosnian War and theSiege of Sarajevo, the city that had hosted the1984 Winter Olympics.[85]
The former Soviet republics ofArmenia,Belarus,Georgia,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Moldova,Ukraine andUzbekistan participated as independent nations. This was the first time since the1912 Summer Olympics thatRussia competed independently at the Olympic Games. Athletes of these countries previously competed in the Winter Olympics as part of theSoviet Union team until 1991. TheCzech Republic andSlovakia participated for the first time, after the break-up ofCzechoslovakia in 1993.Bosnia and Herzegovina made their Olympic debut, following their independence fromYugoslavia in 1992; the composition of their four-man bob team was one Croat, two Bosniaks and a Serb, mirroring the ethnic diversity of the country. This was alsoIsrael's first appearance at the Winter Olympics and a member of theEuropean Olympic Committees.American Samoa participated for the first time, as did Trinidad and Tobago.
Russia won the most golds, while Norway won the most medals overall. The following table presents the top ten nations, sorted by gold medals, with the host nation highlighted.[49]
^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.SSRN2804554.
Hove-Ødegård, Arne; Celius, Sten; Brun, Ivar Ole (2004)."An Olympic Fairy Tale". Lillehammer Municipality. Archived fromthe original on 12 December 2010. Retrieved11 December 2010.
