1992 Winter Olympics

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XVI. winter Olympics
1992 Winter Olympics logo
Venue: Albertville ( France )
Opening ceremony: February 8, 1992
Closing ceremony: February 23, 1992
Opened by: François Mitterrand (President)
Olympic oath : Surya Bonaly (athlete)
Pierre Bornat (referee)
Disciplines: 12 (6 sports)
Competitions: 57
Countries: 64
Athletes: 1801, including 488 women
← Calgary 1988
Lillehammer 1994 →
Medal table
space country G S. B. Ges.
1 GermanyGermany Germany 10 10 6th 26th
2 United teamUnited team United team 9 6th 8th 23
3 NorwayNorway Norway 9 6th 5 20th
4th AustriaAustria Austria 6th 7th 8th 21st
5 United StatesUnited States United States 5 4th 2 11
6th ItalyItaly Italy 4th 6th 4th 14th
7th FranceFrance France 3 5 1 9
8th FinlandFinland Finland 3 1 3 7th
9 CanadaCanada Canada 2 3 2 7th
10 Korea SouthSouth Korea South Korea 2 1 1 4th
... ... ... ... ... ...
14th SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 1 - 2 3
Complete medal table

The 1992 Winter Olympics (also called the XVI Winter Olympics ) were held from February 8 to 23, 1992 in Albertville in the French department of Savoie . After the Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924 and in Grenoble in 1968, the Winter Olympics were held in France for the third time . As 24 years earlier, the games were characterized by decentralization and the distribution of the competition facilities across the entire region. The expenditures for these winter games were the highest to date and led to the discussion about whether future winter games could only be held across borders.

64 participating nations, including an all-German Olympic team for the first time after reunification , set a new participant record. The most successful athlete was the cross-country skier Lyubow Jegorowa , who represented the confederation of the former Soviet republics acting as a " United Team ". In the team competition, Germany was the most successful with ten Olympic victories and a total of 26 medals.

The comparatively high costs for the television companies ultimately meant that the Winter Games were held for the last time in the same year as the Summer Games . When the American companies pointed out that they would no longer pay several million dollars within one year for the broadcasting rights for two major events, the IOC decided together with the award of these Winter Games at its 91st session on October 14 and 17, 1986 in Lausanne , to change the then rule 5 of the Olympic Charter . It stipulated that the Winter Olympics should always be held in the year of the Summer Games. With 78: 2 votes in favor and five abstentions, it was decided, beginning in 1994, to open a separate cycle and to hold the Winter Games "in the second calendar year following that in which the Olympiad Games are held". (compare: Olympic Winter Games 1994 ).

canditature

On December 5, 1981, the three-time Olympic champion in alpine skiing from 1968, Jean-Claude Killy , and the Member of the French National Assembly Michel Barnier agreed to bring the 1992 Winter Games to the Savoy Alps . As in the case of Grenoble in 1968 , the background to the application was to make an economically underdeveloped region of France more accessible to tourism with the Winter Games and to give it a boost with state subsidies.

Other candidate cities were Anchorage (USA), Berchtesgaden (Germany), Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy), Lillehammer (Norway), Falun (Sweden) and Sofia (Bulgaria). The decision was made on October 17, 1986 at the 91st IOC session in Lausanne in the fifth ballot. The small town in the French Alps won the last ballot with 51 votes against Sofia and Falun, who received 25 and 9 votes respectively. The French NOK applied in Lausanne in parallel with Paris to host the 1992 Summer Olympics , with the vote on hosting the Winter Games being carried out first. With the popularity of the Winter Games at Albertville, the choice of the Summer Games was influenced in favor of Barcelona , as the choice of Paris over the Catalan capital would have resulted in a double award of the Games to France, which the IOC did not want.

The Organizing Committee (COJO) was formed on February 24, 1987 and was led by Killy and Barnier as co-presidents. After allegations by various French authorities, who feared that Val-d'Isère as home municipality Killys would benefit from the distribution of the funds, the latter resigned after only 13 days. Only a year later, on March 30, 1988, the former ski star took over the office of co-president again after the French President François Mitterrand and Juan Antonio Samaranch were able to persuade him to do so. The IOC President Killy invited the Spanish King Juan Carlos I as one of two personal guests to the Winter Games in Calgary to award him the Olympic medal there. The COJO was divided into 27 specialist departments and employed 9,310 people during the Winter Games. Of these, 610 were paid workers and 8,700 were assigned to volunteers .

The logo of the Olympic Winter Games was already used for the application campaign. It represents a combination of the Olympic flame with the cross in the coat of arms of Savoy and the colors of France. It was designed by Bruno Quentin , a member of the application committee.

Choice of the venue for the 91st IOC session in Lausanne on October 17, 1986
city country Ballot 1 Ballot 2 Ballot 3 Ballot 4 Runoff Ballot 5
Albertville FranceFrance France 19th 26th 29 42 - 51
Sofia Bulgaria 1971Bulgaria Bulgaria 25th 25th 28 24 - 25th
Falun SwedenSweden Sweden 10 11 11 11 41 9
Lillehammer NorwayNorway Norway 10 11 9 11 40 -
Cortina d'Ampezzo ItalyItaly Italy 7th 6th 7th - - -
Anchorage United StatesUnited States United States 7th 5 - - - -
Berchtesgaden Germany Federal RepublicFederal Republic of Germany BR Germany 6th - - - - -

Medals and mascots

For the first time rock crystal was used as a material for the medals. The medals with a diameter of 92 millimeters showed the Olympic rings in front of the relief of a mountain range. In the lower part they bore the inscription "Albertville 92 XVI Olympic Winter Games" in French and English. A total of 330 were made, 110 of them in gold, 111 in silver and 109 in bronze.

The mascot of the games was the half-human star "Magique" by Philippe Mairesse . It symbolizes the dream and the imagination as an emotional alternative to the technical nature of the Olympic Games. Originally, a mountain goat "Chamoise" was planned as the mascot, which could not prevail among the population and was discarded two years before the games.

Olympic facilities

As with the 1968 Winter Games, the organizing committee pursued the strategy of dividing the Olympic competitions into as many locations as possible. This concept of decentralizing and distributing the Olympic facilities to no fewer than nine locations became the biggest problem, as many competition venues could only be reached through narrow mountain roads. In addition, many protests by environmentalists accompanied the construction of the facilities. Due to the serious interventions in nature, they demonstrated, especially when building the jumping facilities in Courchevel and the bobsleigh and toboggan run in La Plagne .

The Olympic stadium was called “Le théatre des cérémonies”. The arena in which the opening and closing ceremonies took place was built especially for the games and then demolished again. It took up an area of ​​9,200 m² and had a 1783-ton, 15-meter-high steel structure for the spectator stands with 35,000 seats. The grandstand parts of the Olympic Stadium were dismantled after the Games and six months later they were partly reused at various competition venues at the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. Only the bronze-colored, 53-meter-high mast, which was used for the opening and closing ceremonies and was integrated into the "Parc Olympique" of Albertville, which was built after the games, remained. Right next to the temporary Olympic stadium, an Olympic hall with 9,000 seats for figure skating and short track competitions and a 400-meter speed skating rink for 10,000 spectators was built. The latter was also dismantled after the Winter Games and converted into a grass pitch. Since it was an open-air track and there was consistently drizzle, fog and strong sunlight, no new records were set in speed skating for the first time in the history of the Olympics.

The center of cross-country and biathlon competitions was the Les Saisies ski area northeast of Albertville at an altitude of 1604 meters. The ski jumping competitions for specialists and Nordic combined athletes were held in Courchevel. The Tremplin du Praz ski jumping facility , consisting of a normal hill with a K point of 90 meters and a large hill with a K point of 120 meters, was built with a ski stadium for 23,000 spectators. The cost of the installation was about 118 million francs.

The construction of the bobsleigh and toboggan facility in La Plagne was considerably more expensive, at 213 million francs. So far it is the only artificial ice rink for both sports in France. The men's start for the toboggan competitions was at an altitude of 1670 meters and for women and doubles at 1652 meters and leads to the finish line with an average gradient of 8.9% in 15 and 14 corners. The height difference of the men's route is 92 meters. The start for the bobsleigh competitions is at 1684 meters. The track has a height difference of 124 meters, is 1,507 meters long and leads over 19 curves.

The alpine competitions were also split up. The venue for the men's competitions was Val-d'Isère with the La face de Bellevarde downhill run designed by Bernhard Russi . The very winding and steep slope was literally blasted into the rock and was an extreme challenge for downhill skiers at the time. Méribel was the center of the women's competitions and was also the venue for the ice hockey tournament. In the Palais de Glaces with a capacity of 6,420 seats every 46 ice hockey games were held.

In Tignes , the Freestyle mogul slope competition, which was part of the Olympic program for the first time, was held in the ski stadium designed for this purpose at an altitude of 2100 meters; the freestyle competitions ballet and jump also took place there as demonstration sports. The venue for the curling tournament as a demonstration competition was Pralognan-la-Vanoise ; the speed rides, also a demonstration sport, were held in Les Arcs .

Due to the widely scattered competition facilities, there were several Olympic villages, which were mostly built at the respective competition site. For the athletes in Albertville, the Olympic village in the thermal spa town of Brides-les-Bains was built for 75 million francs. The main press center in La Léchère was also separated from the television and radio center in Moûtiers .

In total, the expenses for the staging of the Games were 4.201 billion francs, while the income amounted to 3.931 billion francs. The income came mainly from the marketing of television rights, government subsidies, tickets and coin operated programs. The deficit of 270 million francs was divided up after the games; three quarters was borne by the French state, the rest was taken over by the Savoy region .

Torch relay

Course of the torch relay

The torch relay began on December 13, 1991 in Olympia, Greece with the lighting of the Olympic flame. With the help of a Concorde , the transport to Paris took place in a miner's lamp . A total of 5597 runners between the ages of 15 and 20 took part in the torch relay over 5500 kilometers through all 22 regions and 60 departments . The race started on December 14, 1991 in Paris and initially headed southwest to La Rochelle and the Atlantic coast. The race reached Lille on December 31, 1991 via Nantes and Le Havre . To the southeast via the cities of Metz and Strasbourg , he then crossed again France to Bordeaux , which was reached on January 18, 1992. The route continued over the southern part of the country to Montpellier . After the incorporation of Corsica , the flame reached the mainland again on January 28, 1992 in Nice . Coming via Marseille , Lyon and the Olympic city of 1968 Grenoble , the Olympic flame hit Albertville on the opening day of the Games. The famous French designer Philippe Starck designed the Olympic torch . She was 41 centimeters high and weighed 1.3 kilograms.

The total cost of the torch relay and the supporting program amounted to 30 million francs, which was taken over by the French company La Poste as the organizer of the run. The event was intended to involve the people of France in the games and to convey the Olympic ideals.

Attendees

The outstanding political event due to the reunification of Germany was the first participation of a joint German Olympic team since 1964. The merger of the NOKs of the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany took place on November 17, 1990 in the Berlin Reichstag under the name NOK for Germany. The former country code GER has been reactivated. The then NOK General Secretary Walther Tröger acted as Chef de Mission for the German Olympic team . Without the participants in the demonstration competitions, the German Olympic team comprised 112 athletes, divided between 75 men and 37 women.

The extensive political changes brought about further serious changes in the composition of individual Olympic teams. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Union of Independent States was formed , with the five former Union republics Russia , Ukraine , Belarus , Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan agreeing to compete as a “ United Team ”. The official name was "Équipe Unifiée" with the country code EUN. The Olympic flag and the Olympic hymn acted as flags at award ceremonies and national marches. The Baltic republics of Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania were recognized by the IOC executive in Berlin in 1991 as independent NOKs and formed their own teams.

Croatia and Slovenia , as the former republics of Yugoslavia, also took part with their own teams. The NOCs of the two countries were only accepted into the IOC shortly before the Winter Games on January 17, 1992.

Europe (1,130 athletes from 34 nations)
America (342 athletes from 14 nations)
Asia (154 athletes from 9 nations)
Oceania (27 athletes from 2 nations)
Africa (19 athletes from 4 nations)
Other (129 athletes)
(Number of athletes) * Participation in winter games for the first time

With 64 participating countries, these Winter Games set a record at the time. This was benefited by the financing of three athletes and one functionary per NOK via Olympic Solidarity . However, this meant that some participants did not achieve the internationally accustomed performance criteria. Cross-country skier Jenny Palacios was the only representative of her country in Albertville for Honduras and is so far the only participant of this country in the winter games. She always came last in the three competitions over 5 kilometers, the hunting race and over 15 kilometers. In particular, the alpine decisions had very unusual starters with two athletes from Senegal and one participant from the Philippines and Swaziland . Due to the different capabilities of the participants, there were serious time delays and thus inevitably considerable organizational problems in the implementation of individual decisions. In the giant slalom, some runners were overtaken despite the 40-second start interval and hindered each other. For future winter games, the IOC therefore decided to introduce certain minimum requirements for athletes in order to circumvent these difficulties and better limit the large fields of participants.

Competition program

57 competitions (32 for men, 23 for women and 2 mixed competitions) in 6 sports / 12 disciplines were held. That was 11 competitions and 2 more disciplines than in Calgary in 1988 - the number of sports remained the same. Freestyle-Skiing Aerials (German: Skikunstspringen) celebrated their Olympic debut as a demonstration competition alongside curling and speed skiing . After 1992 there are no more such unofficial competitions.

The changes to the previous Winter Games are detailed below:

  • Women's debut in biathlon with a 7.5 km sprint, 15 km and a 3 × 7.5 km relay.
  • Short track became part of the Olympic program. For men, the 1000 m and a 5000 m relay were Olympic - for women there was the 500 m and a 3000 m relay. In 1988, short track was only included as a demonstration sport.
  • Freestyle skiing was included in the Olympic program with moguls for men and women. Freestyle skiing was only a demonstration sport in 1988.
  • In cross-country skiing , the men's program was extended by 10 km - and the women added 15 km. In addition, the 10/15 km pursuit replaced 15 km cross-country skiing for men - for women the 5/10 km pursuit replaced 10 km cross-country skiing and the 30 km replaced 20 km.

Olympic sports / disciplines

Number of competitions in brackets

Time schedule

Time schedule
discipline Sat
8.		 Sun.
9.		 Mon.
10.		 Tuesday
11th		 Wed.
12.		 Thursday
13.		 Fri.
14.		 Sat.
15.		 Sun
16.		 Mon.
17.		 Tuesday
18		 Wed.
19.		 Thursday
20		 Fri.
21.		 Sat.
22.		 Sun.
23.		 Decision-
disk-
applications		 spectator
February
Olympic rings without rims.svg Opening ceremony 30.103
Biathlon pictogram.svg biathlon 1 1 1 1 1 1 6th 50,692
Bobsleigh pictogram.svg bob 1 1 2 31,433
Ice hockey pictogram.svg ice Hockey 1 1 166.206
Ice skating Figure skating pictogram.svg figure skating 1 1 1 1 4th 74,683
Speed ​​skating pictogram.svg Speed ​​skating 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 74,244
Short track speed skating pictogram.svg Short track 2 2 4th 21,705
Luge pictogram.svg Luge 1 1 1 3 29,894
Skiing Freestyle skiing pictogram.svg Freestyle skiing 2 2 54,320
Alpine skiing pictogram.svg Alpine skiing 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 217.168

Nordic skiing		 Nordic combined pictogram.svg Nordic combination 1 1 2 141.907
Cross country skiing pictogram.svg Cross-country skiing 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 10
Ski jumping pictogram.svg Ski jumping 1 1 1 3
Olympic rings without rims.svg Closing ceremony 21,113
Demonstration competitions
Freestyle aerials 2 2
Curling 2 28,182
Speed ​​skiing 2
decisions 4th 3 3 5 5 4th 5 5 3 5 2 5 2 5 1 57
Sat
8.		 Sun.
9.		 Mon.
10.		 Tuesday
11th		 Wed.
12.		 Thursday
13.		 Fri.
14.		 Sat.
15.		 Sun
16.		 Mon.
17.		 Tuesday
18		 Wed.
19.		 Thursday
20		 Fri.
21.		 Sat.
22.		 Sun.
23.
February

Color legend

  • Opening ceremony
  • Competition day (no decisions)
  • Competition day (x decisions)
  • Exhibition running (figure skating gala)
  • Closing ceremony

    • Ceremonies

    Opening ceremony

    The opening ceremony at Parc Olympique began on February 8, 1992 at 5 p.m. 33,000 spectators at the Albertville stadium and approximately two billion people on television watched the two-hour event, designed by Philippe Decouflé . The first step was a greeting given by two people in French and English. Then the flight squadron Patrouille de France drew the colors of the Olympic rings on the blue evening sky. To the sound of the bells of all the churches in the Savoie department , the welcome greeting was repeated in the form of sign language, inviting people of all races to Albertville in brotherhood and friendship. 64 roller skaters brought all participating country flags into the stadium and to the sounds of Beethoven's 9th Symphony , twelve living golden stars were displayed on the blue stadium floor as a symbol of the then twelve member states of the European Union as the venue.

    The two presidents of the Organizing Committee with equal rights, Michel Barnier and Jean-Claude Killy , together with the President of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch , awaited the French President François Mitterrand and accompanied him to the official gallery in the first official part of the ceremony.

    Traditionally led by Greece, with the biathlete Athanasios Tsakiris as the standard bearer, the invasion of the nations followed. The respective nations were also presented with stylized snow globes and nameplates. In third place was the entry of the German team with bobsleigh driver Wolfgang Hoppe at the top. Skiers Anita Wachter and Vreni Schneider took on this task for Austria and Switzerland . The standard bearer for the USA was with Bill Koch the silver medalist over 30 kilometers of cross-country skiing at the 1976 Winter Games in Innsbruck. Koch had retired from his active career in 1986 and celebrated his comeback in Albertville with a 42nd place over the 30 kilometers in the completely new skating technique . The host country France , whose flag was carried around the stadium by the Nordic combined athlete Fabrice Guy , formed the end.

    In the second official part, Jean-Claude Killy thanked the community and the nation for their support. Michel Barnier highlighted the power of the Olympic flame, which makes it possible for a multitude of nations to come together and to respect one another. Juan Antonio Samaranch then traditionally asked the head of the host country to open the games.

    With the sound of alphorns , eight mountain hunters, firefighters and police officers from the Albertville area carried the flag with the five Olympic rings into the stadium. Michel Platini carried the Olympic flame into the stadium and, together with François-Cyrille Grange , an eight-year-old boy, carried it up several steps. The young alpine skier lit the Olympic flame above the venue using a string. Shortly afterwards, the figure skater Surya Bonaly took the Olympic oath for the athletes and Pierre Bornat for all competition judges. The Marseillaise was sung a cappella by a young French singer in traditional costume from the Savoy region . She was standing on a platform that rose about 30 meters into the air.

    In a concluding show , 250 artists presented several jugglers , jugglers and other figures in predominant red and white colors. Folklore performances from the area and artistic interludes on a specially designed tower device rounded off the opening ceremony.

    Before the opening ceremony, the dancers threatened to strike the event due to inadequate conditions in their accommodation.

    Award ceremonies

    Immediately after each decision, a "Flower Ceremony" took place in the area of ​​the competition site. The medal handover took place in the afternoon at a location that was as easily accessible as possible near the competition site. Only for the award ceremonies for the decisions in Albertville and Méribel was the medal handed over directly after the competition in the respective sports facility.

    Closing ceremony

    Precisely at 7 p.m. on February 23, 1992, the closing ceremony began in Parc Olympique, which in turn was staged by Philippe Decouflé. For the Kyrie of the Petite Messe solennelle by Gioachino Rossini , 36 ice skaters performed pirouettes and concentric circles on an ice surface .

    When the nations marched in afterwards, only 38 of the 64 participating nations were still represented by their athletes, so that the flag bearers of individual countries had to be replaced by hostesses. For the German team, Antje Misersky wore the German flag on behalf of the 20 German Olympic participants who were still present as an additional award for their successes at these Winter Games.

    After the official part, consisting of the raising of the flags for Greece, France and Norway as hosts of the following winter games, the "Oslo flag" from the 1952 Winter Olympics was passed on by Henri Dujol to the mayor of Lillehammer ( Audun Tron ). The place in Gudbrandsdalen then presented itself with an interpretation of the Norwegian fairy tale “The polar bear and King Valemon”. For this purpose, an oversized polar bear made of real ice led a following of 24 birch legs , who in turn pulled a Viking ship onto the round ice surface.

    After the acceptance speeches by the two co-presidents of the organizing committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch emphasized that the organization had mastered the challenge of holding the Olympic Games in 13 different venues without any problems. He called on the world's youth to meet again in two years to attend the XVII. In Lillehammer in 1994 . Celebrating Winter Olympics .

    The Olympic flag was brought down and a cultural and show program followed, which compared to the opening ceremony offered less futuristic and more homely aspects of the Savoy region. Finally, an angel put out the Olympic flame and fireworks ended the 1992 Albertville Games.

    Outstanding athletes and achievements

    Most successful athlete at the 1992 Winter Olympics
    athlete team Sports gold silver bronze total
    Lyubov Egorova United teamUnited team United team Nordic skiing 3 2 0 5
    Bjørn Dæhlie NorwayNorway Norway Nordic skiing 3 1 0 4th
    Vegard Ulvang NorwayNorway Norway Nordic skiing 3 1 0 4th
    Mark Kirchner GermanyGermany Germany biathlon 2 1 0 3
    Toni Nieminen FinlandFinland Finland Nordic skiing 2 0 1 3
    Gunda Niemann GermanyGermany Germany Speed ​​skating 2 0 1 3
    Bonnie Blair United StatesUnited States United States Speed ​​skating 2 0 0 2
    Kim Ki-hoon Korea Sud 1949South Korea South Korea Short track 2 0 0 2
    Petra Kronberger AustriaAustria Austria Alpine skiing 2 0 0 2
    ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
    Jelena Välbe United teamUnited team United team Nordic skiing 1 0 4th 5

    The two most successful athletes at the Albertville Winter Games are still the most successful winter athletes in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. Bjørn Dæhlie won in addition to the three gold medals from Albertville at the subsequent games in Lillehammer and Nagano a total of five other gold medals. With eight gold and four silver medals, he is the most successful winter sportsman. Lyubow Jegorowa took part in the Games in Lillehammer after the Games in Albertville and was also able to celebrate three Olympic victories there. With six gold and three silver medals, she is the most successful winter athlete.

    The speed skater Bonnie Blair repeated her Olympic victory over 500 meters from 1988 in Albertville. Since she also won this distance in 1994, she is the only athlete besides Claudia Pechstein who was able to repeat an Olympic victory in an individual discipline twice. Claudia Pechstein, winner of the bronze medal over 5000 meters, was then three times Olympic champion and won the silver medal over this distance in Turin in 2006.

    The oldest Olympic champion of the Winter Games was the biathlete Fritz Fischer at 35 years and 146 days. The oldest Olympic champion was Raissa Smetanina (EUN), who took part in her fifth Winter Games in Albertville and always won medals. She won the 4 × 5 km relay at the age of 39 and 354 days and received her fourth gold medal at the Olympic Games. So far, no winter athlete of an older age has become an Olympic champion.

    The youngest Olympic champion from Albertville was Toni Nieminen . At 16 years and 256 days, the Finnish ski jumper was the youngest ever Olympic champion at winter games, whose record has not yet been beaten. In the Olympic season he dominated his competition almost at will and, in addition to the Four Hills Tournament after the Olympic Games, he was able to win the World Cup in ski jumping. During the games he was the idol, especially among young autograph hunters, and mountains of fan mail from his mostly female fans threatened to suffocate him. After the general conversion of ski jumpers to the V-style in the 1992/93 season, Nieminen lost the advantage that had given him the pioneering role in the new jumping technique. The poor results and the high expectations of his fans finally led the hero of Albertville into a deep personal crisis. He could never repeat the sporting successes from the Olympic season. He took part in the Olympic Games 10 years later and was 16 on the normal hill in Salt Lake City .

    The youngest Olympic champion, Corinne Niogret , had been active in the World Cup since 1988 and achieved her first major success with her triumph in the biathlon relay, which was to remain the only Olympic victory for the French biathlete. In Lillehammer she won bronze in the relay competition in 1994 and was able to win a total of 15 medals at world championships.

    Age records from the 1992 Winter Olympics
    athlete team sport Age
    youngest participant Krisztina Czakó HungaryHungary Hungary figure skating 13 years 064 days
    oldest participant Michael Juhlin American Virgin IslandsAmerican Virgin Islands American Virgin Islands Bobsleigh 46 years 125 days
    youngest medalist Nicole Ziegelmeyer United StatesUnited States United States Short track 16 years 149 days
    oldest medalist Maurilio De Zolt ItalyItaly Italy Nordic skiing 41 years 150 days
    youngest Olympic champion Corinne Niogret FranceFrance France biathlon 19 years 085 days
    youngest Olympic champion Toni Nieminen FinlandFinland Finland Nordic skiing 16 years 259 days
    oldest Olympic champion Raissa Smetanina United teamUnited team United team Nordic skiing 39 years 354 days
    oldest Olympic champion Fritz Fischer GermanyGermany Germany biathlon 35 years 146 days

    Competitions

    biathlon

    For the first time biathlon competitions for women were on the competition program. In the premiere competition with heavy snowfall on February 11th over the 7.5 kilometers, the Argentinean Fabiana Lovece was the first to start and was 68th and last in the final classification with nine shooting errors. The competition developed into a duel between Anfissa Reszowa and Antje Misersky . Despite her three shooting errors, Anfissa Reszowa, who had won gold in the 4 × 5 km relay in 1988 and silver over 20 kilometers in cross-country skiing, was able to keep the German biathlete in check with her outstanding mileage and thus the first Olympic gold medal in women's biathlon win. Over the 15 kilometers, Antje Misersky was able to secure first place with a shooting error ahead of Swetlana Pechorskaja from the United Team and Myriam Bédard . For the Canadian, the success in Albertville was the start of a great biathlon career, which culminated with the two-time Olympic victory in 1994 in Lillehammer. The winner in the relay competition over 3 × 7.5 km was the French team with Corinne Niogret , Véronique Claudel and Anne Briand . The German team won silver with Uschi Disl , Antje Misersky and Petra Schaaf as the final runner before the EUN relay, for which Jelena Bjelowa , Anfissa Reszowa and Jelena Melnikowa competed . Antje Misersky became the most successful biathlete of the games with her Olympic victory and the two silver medals.

    In the men's competitions, Mark Kirchner shone , winning over 10 kilometers and in the extremely dramatic relay race. Starting runner Ricco Groß , silver medalist over 10 kilometers, fell and was only able to hand over to Jens Steinigen in 13th place , who fought his way up to fifth. With the third runner Mark Kirchner, who showed an outstanding mileage, the lead was achieved for the first time. Fritz Fischer was able to defend this against the final runner of the EUN relay Sergei Tschepikow with an unbelievable shooting performance of five hits in eleven seconds to the target. For Fritz Fischer, who won bronze in Sarajevo in 1984 and silver in the relay in Calgary in 1988 , the Olympic victory was the culmination of his active career as a biathlete. At the same time, at 35 years and 146 days, he was the oldest Olympic champion in biathlon until he was surpassed by Ricco Groß at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, when Ricco Groß was 41 days older than him when he won the season. Jauhen Redskin, who started for the EUN countries, won over 20 kilometers with zero errors due to his brilliant shooting performance . Mark Kirchner allowed himself three penalty minutes and was ultimately only 6.4 seconds behind the Olympic champion second in front of the Swede Mikael Löfgren .

    Bobsleigh

    By defining a standard bobsleigh for all participants, the technology discussion held in the run-up to the games was ended. The track in La Plagne was classified as technically difficult and selected the large starting field (46 two-man and 31 four-man bobs) in both competitions.

    After the first two rounds, there was no later medal winner in the first three places in the two. The best times in round three and four secured Switzerland I with Gustav Weder and Donat Acklin ultimately the Olympic victory ahead of Germany I with Rudi Lochner and Markus Zimmermann . The two Berchtesgadeners only just lost to the Olympic champions in each run and were at the same time as the Swiss in the last run. Third place went to Bob Germany II with Christoph Langen and Günther Eger , whose third-best time in the last run ultimately enabled them to win a medal. For Langen it was the first big success as a bobsleigh pilot.

    Ingo Appelt ended up with his pusher Thomas Schroll and the Bobsleigh Austria II extremely unlucky with only five hundredths of a second behind the medal places. In the four-man bobsleigh, Appelt and his crew Austria I secured the Olympic victory ahead of Germany I with Wolfgang Hoppe , Bogdan Musiol , Axel Kühn and René Hannemann . The race between the two bobsled was extremely dramatic. The Austrians had a lead of nine hundredths of a second before the last round, which was reduced to three hundredths of a second due to a bad start. During the course of the second time control they fell behind their competitors, were able to catch up again until the finish and were ultimately two hundredths of a second ahead of Bob Germany I. Bronze went to Bob Switzerland I with Gustav Weder as the pilot and his team, consisting of Donat Acklin , Lorenz Schindelholz and Brakeman Curdin Morell .

    Bob Canada II's run in the third run was bizarre. When pushing, the second man failed to get in and ended up with his back to the direction of travel in the bob. The team was then disqualified.

    ice Hockey

    Extensive changes took place at the ice hockey tournament. In order to achieve a more exciting final phase, a knockout system with quarter-finals and semi-finals was played out after the preliminary round with two groups of six . For the first time at the Olympics there was the Sudden Death rule , which automatically leads to the game being abandoned if a goal is scored in extra time. The introduction of knockout rounds resulted in a real final for the first time since the Games of 1920 in Antwerp, when ice hockey was still integrated into the summer games.

    The course of the quarter-finals between Canada and Germany turned out to be extremely exciting. Ernst Köpf managed to equalize 3: 3 in the last third 2:24 minutes before the end. It also meant the final score after 60 minutes and led to a ten-minute extension that brought no more goals. For the first time in Olympic history there was a penalty shootout. Even the first group of five for each team did not bring a decision. Eric Lindros then brought Canada 6: 5 in the penalty shootout, while Peter Draisaitl brought the puck between the legs of goalkeeper Sean Burke , who remained directly on the goal line. The referees decided on no goal and Canada reached the semifinals against the eventual bronze medalist Czechoslovakia.

    The final between the EUN and Canada was only decided in the final phase after two goalless periods. The team of the former Soviet republics, which had to give up numerous top players in the NHL professional league due to political changes and was significantly younger than in 1988, finally won 3-1.

    At the award ceremony of the ice hockey tournament, 23 instead of the usual 22 gold medals were available. IOC President Samaranch presented the surplus medal to Viktor Tikhonov , who thus became the only ice hockey coach to receive an Olympic medal. It is worth mentioning the departure of Udo Kießling , who won the bronze medal with the German team in Innsbruck in 1976 and participated in a total of five Olympic ice hockey tournaments.

    figure skating

    For the first time at the Olympic Games, compulsory individual competitions were waived. For women and men as well as for pair skating, initially only an original program of 2 minutes and 40 seconds was presented. The freestyle was set to four minutes and thirty seconds for the men and the couples and four minutes for the women. Only the ice dance remained in three parts, consisting of two compulsory dances, the original dance and the freestyle.

    The first decision was pair skating. The world and European champions Natalja Mischkutjonok and Artur Dimitrijew were able to secure the gold medal despite some technical difficulties with their freestyle after Franz Liszt's "love dream" . Technically somewhat more difficult in the freestyle, but clearly inferior to the Olympic champions in their charisma, the second pair of the EUN Jelena Betschke and Denis Petrow landed on the silver rank. The Canadians Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler started the competition with great expectations and were just able to save the bronze medal with their freestyle, which was interspersed with many small mistakes.

    The men's decision did not offer any outstanding performance. Thanks to successful jump combinations, Wiktor Petrenko (EUN) was able to place in front of the jumping miracle from the USA, Paul Wylie . The reigning European champion, the bronze medalist Petr Barna from Czechoslovakia, showed the first fourfold jump. The reigning world champion from Canada, Kurt Browning , went out empty . The world champion from 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993 and runner-up world champion from 1992 was only sixth and could not win a medal in his Olympics in 1988 with eighth place and 1994 with fifth place.

    A clear contrast to the men's competition was the competition among women, which overall can be seen as the top-class figure skating decision at these Winter Games. Kristi Yamaguchi , Californian of Japanese descent, enchanted the audience with her Japanese charm and was the only one in the freestyle to remain without a fall. The Japanese Midori Itō , also considered a jumping miracle, was able to intercept Nancy Kerrigan (USA), who was initially placed in front of her, through an outstanding performance in her freestyle and thus win the silver medal. The colored Surya Bonaly from France was the only one to show a quadruple toe loop , but fell twice and dropped from third place after the short program to sixth. The $ 50,000 costume she wore in her freestyle caused a stir. The only 13-year-old Krisztina Czakó could only start with a special permit, as she was under the minimum age of 14 for the Olympic Games. The Hungarian was the youngest participant of all competitions in Albertville.

    The ice dance competition was an absolute magnet for spectators and sold out months in advance of a possible French triumph. Marina Klimowa / Sergei Ponomarenko (EUN) won ahead of the undisputed crowd favorites Isabelle Duchesnay and Paul Duchesnay . The siblings from France showed a completely unconventional style, but overall fell victim to their nerves and could only show the second best freestyle with an interpretation of the “ West Side Story ”. The bronze medal was won by the couple Maja Ussowa and Alexander Shulin (EUN), who were still in second place after the compulsory and the short program.

    Speed ​​skating

    Former speed skating stadium from 1992 (2007)

    The speed skating competitions were also characterized by a strong increase in the number of participants. The competitions were dominated mainly by the German athletes, who were able to secure five out of ten gold medals. This balance could never be repeated at later Olympic Winter Games.

    On the first day of competition, the women had to decide over 3000 meters. In a direct duel, Heike Warnicke was able to prevail against the Austrian Emese Hunyady , which ultimately meant the silver and bronze medals. Gunda Niemann , seen as a big favorite, was able to undercut Heike Warnicke's time by almost three seconds and secured the first gold medal for the German team. The second decision was also for the women and brought about another favorite victory over the 500 meters with Bonnie Blair , who was able to repeat her Olympic victory in Calgary in 1988. The Chinese Ye Qiaobo secured second place ahead of Christa Luding . Four years earlier, Luding was second behind Blair on the sprint track under the name Rothenburger. For China it was the first medal at the Winter Games.

    Over the 1000 meters, the first two places were identical to the sprint course. Here Monique Garbrecht was able to secure third place. Jacqueline Börner won over the 1500 meters ahead of Gunda Niemann, who ultimately led the triple triumph of the German speed skaters over the 5000 meters from Heike Warnicke and Claudia Pechstein .

    For the men, German and Asian sprinters dominated the short distances, while the Norwegian and Dutch athletes won all the medals in the medium and long distances. After Yevgeni Grischin (1956 and 1960) and Erhard Keller (1968 and 1972) , Uwe-Jens Mey was the third speed skater to successfully defend an Olympic victory over 500 meters . Over the 1000 meters, Olaf Zinke won sensationally , who already achieved his best time in an early starting group, which the rest of the competition was hard on.

    In the middle distance with Johann Olav Koss as well as over the 5000 meters with Geir Karlstad a Norwegian could win. Only over the 10,000 meters, Bart Veldkamp, a representative of the very strong Dutch team, won four of the possible nine medals in the medium and long distances.

    The competition highlighted the power of television and its impact on transmission times. Due to the strong sunshine, it was necessary to postpone it to the later hours of the afternoon, which had to be approved by the television company CBS. The cost of the broadcast was $ 250,000, and the broadcaster aimed to broadcast at prime time.

    Freestyle skiing

    The men's and women's mogul piste races were held for the first time in the Olympic program, after the Calgary competitions in 1988 had already been part of the demonstration program. The slope in Tignes was 253 meters long, 20 meters wide and had an average incline of 29 degrees.

    The men's competition was extremely successful for the hosts. Edgar Grospiron was able to secure the Olympic victory in front of his compatriot Olivier Allamand . The bronze medal went to Nelson Carmichael from the United States . In the women's competition, the 1991 world champion Donna Weinbrecht from the USA won ahead of Jelisaweta Koschewnikowa (EUN) and Stine Lise Hattestad (NOR). Tatjana Mittermayer from Rosenheim only got the thankless fourth place.

    Luge

    The first competition on the artificial ice rink in La Plagne was the decision for the men in singles. The 1988 Calgary silver medalist , Georg Hackl , tried out a new sled during training at the Olympic facility. He could not keep up with the training times of the competition and decided again for the silver sled from 1988. With the old toboggan he achieved three best times with third place except in the second run and was thus able to secure his first Olympic victory. The other medals went to the two Austrians Markus Prock with silver and Markus Schmid , who won bronze.

    The double competition was also clearly dominated by the German sleds. Stefan Krauße and Jan Behrendt achieved the best time in both races and won confidently. The second German sled with Yves Mankel and Thomas Rudolph was able to relegate the actual favorites of the competition, the Italians Hansjörg Raffl and Norbert Huber , to third place.

    The decision for the women was a competition between two sisters who were far superior to the other 22 participants. The younger sister Doris Neuner achieved a true dream time in the first run, which her sister Angelika could not make up in the three following runs. Susi Erdmann from Germany drove the fastest time in the fourth run and thus secured the bronze medal. Andrea Tagwerker was still in third place after three rounds. However, she missed her last run, ended up in seventh place in the end result and thus prevented a total triumph for the Austrian luge riders.

    Short track

    During the 1988 IOC session in Seoul, four speed skating competitions on the 111-meter long short track were included in the Olympic program for 1992, after the demonstration competitions in Calgary in 1988 had already been rated as extremely attractive for spectators. In addition to the two relay decisions (3000 m for women and 5000 m for men), the program included a competition over 500 meters for women and over 1000 meters for men.

    As expected, the competitions were dominated by athletes from North and South Korea and North America. The first gold medal winner in the short track competitions was the American Cathie Turner , who won the silver medal together with the US relay and thus became the most successful athlete in the short track . Her success over the individual route was extremely narrow, as the Chinese Li Yan was able to catch the North American on the finish line. The US athlete already felt like an inferior athlete and behaved unsportingly by throwing her skates angrily into the crowd. A little later, the evaluation of the target photo showed that she was able to save a wafer-thin lead of four hundredths of a second into the target.

    The Olympic victory in the relay competition went to the Canadian team. The EUN relay was third and thus secured the only medal for the association of the former republics of the Soviet Union in speed skating.

    The South Korean Kim Ki-hoon , who was able to leave the competition behind with his strong final pace, became Olympic champion in the men's 1000 meter discipline . He literally only sprinted over the silver medalist Frederic Blackburn (CAN) and his compatriot Lee Yoon-ho in the final sprint. He was able to use this quality in the relay competition, when he also left the final runner of Canada four hundredths of a second behind. Bronze went to the relay of Japan. Kim Ki-hoon's gold medal in the 1000 meters is the first by a Korean athlete at the Winter Olympics.

    Alpine skiing

    In the men's downhill race, Patrick Ortlieb with start number 1 already drove a time that was not beaten by any subsequent runner. He achieved his first big win (had never won a World Cup race before). Thanks to Günther Mader's bronze medal , the opening race was already the most successful decision in the men's category for the Austrian team. Markus Wasmeier from Schliersee , who started the race directly behind the Olympic champion, could at least hope for a bronze medal for a long time in the course of the race. With the high starting number 23, the Frenchman Franck Piccard managed to upset the final standings again when he secured silver with five hundredths of a second behind the best time and pushed Wasmeier into fourth place. Paul Accola from Switzerland, who started as the clear favorite due to his training results, fell within sight of the finish with a clear interim fastest time.

    The combined competition was characterized by a large number of non-favorites. The failures were aided by a slalom slope that was too difficult and, according to many racers, was poorly prepared. The Austrian Hubert Strolz retired in the second slalom run - on the way to a safe gold medal.

    Ultimately, there was an Italian double success for the athletes Josef Polig and Gianfranco Martin , behind whom the Swiss Steve Locher achieved third place. The French Ski Federation protested against Polig and his compatriot for violating the FIS advertising guidelines . A re-measurement of the logo showed that none of the advertising spaces exceeded the maximum size.

    The decision in the Super-G was also characterized by the failures of the favored drivers. The Norwegian riders were able to triumph here, placing three runners in the top four. Only Marc Girardelli , who started for Luxembourg, managed to penetrate the phalanx of Norwegians with his silver medal . Olympic champion was Kjetil André Aamodt , who dominated this competition at the subsequent Olympic Winter Games with third place in 1994, fifth place in 1998 and the Olympic victories in 2002 and 2006.

    The only favorite victory was achieved by Alberto Tomba in the giant slalom with a two-time fastest time. It was the first time he successfully defended his title at the Olympic Games in alpine ski racing. The order after the first round with Alberto Tomba in front of Marc Girardelli and Kjetil André Aamodt was not changed by the second round.

    In the second technical discipline, the special slalom, Tomba secured his second medal with silver and thus became the most successful male athlete. The Olympic victory on the penultimate day of the Games went to Norwegian Finn Christian Jagge , who celebrated the greatest success of his career with it.

    The outstanding athlete in the women's competitions was the Austrian Petra Kronberger . She competed in all five competitions and, with the exception of the giant slalom, which she did not finish, was always in the top five of the ranking. Kronberger, who comes from St. Johann im Pongau , was a two-time Olympic champion in the special slalom and in the combination, as well as fourth in the Super-G (where she missed bronze by 1/100 of a second) and fifth in the downhill race. The latter, which was somewhat affected by light snowfall, was won by Kerrin Lee-Gartner in the tightest alpine women's decision in the history of the Winter Olympics . The Canadian only had a lead of 18 hundredths of a second on fifth, Petra Kronberger. The victory also meant the first downhill gold for a non-German-speaking sportswoman.

    Annelise Coberger won the first winter sports medal for her country in the special slalom. Coberger, who comes from Christchurch in New Zealand , had risen to the world's elite only a few weeks before the Winter Games with a World Cup victory in slalom. She set the fastest time in the second run, which after eighth place in the first run ultimately meant silver. The bronze medal went to the leader of the first round, Blanca Fernández Ochoa for Spain, whose brother Francisco was Olympic champion in slalom at the 1972 Sapporo Games.

    In the giant slalom, world champion Pernilla Wiberg was able to claim the Olympic victory with the best time in the second round. The American Diann Roffe and the Austrian standard-bearer at the opening ceremony, Anita Wachter , won the silver medal at the same time. For the Austrian, this was the second medal win after silver in the combination. The Austrian Ulrike Maier was still two tenths of a second ahead of the eventual Olympic champion after the first run, fell five hundredths of a second behind the two silver places in the second run and came away empty-handed. Ulrike Maier had a fatal accident two years later on a World Cup downhill run in Garmisch-Partenkirchen .

    Katja Seizinger won the only medal for a German starter with bronze in the Super-G. The competition was initially postponed by one day due to bad weather and could therefore be held under ideal conditions. Deborah Compagnoni from Italy managed with the high start number 16 to catch the French Carole Merle , who was already enthusiastically celebrated at the finish .

    Nordic skiing

    In the cross-country skiing competitions , the competition program has been expanded compared to the last games to include hunting races for both women and men. The other routes were partly held over different distances. With these comprehensive program changes, a better attractiveness in the cross-country area was aimed for. For men, the 15 kilometers have been shortened to 10 kilometers, the women's routes have been extended from 10 to 15 kilometers and from 20 to 30 kilometers. In addition, the relay routes were re-divided, which is still valid today, and which had to be mastered on the first two routes in a classic manner and then in a free style . The routes were generally judged to be extremely difficult.

    The men were dominated by the Norwegian athletes Vegard Ulvang , who won the 10 and 30 kilometer distances in the classic style, and Bjørn Dæhlie , who won the hunting race and the 50 kilometers in the free style. The Norwegian quartet with Terje Langli , Vegard Ulvang, Kristen Skjeldal and Bjørn Dæhlie were also successful in the 4 × 10 km relay ahead of Italy and Finland. The best cross-country skiers not from Norway were two Italians. Maurilio De Zolt won silver over the 50 km route and in the relay. At over 41 years of age, he was the oldest medalist at the 1992 Winter Games. The games were similarly successful for Marco Albarello , who won silver over 10 kilometers and also in the relay decision. The remaining individual medals went to the Italian Giorgio Vanzetta and the Swede Christer Majbäck with bronze in the hunting race and over 50 kilometers . He also won bronze over 10 kilometers.

    The medals of the four individual disciplines in the women were distributed among only four athletes. Outstanding and best athlete of the entire Albertville Winter Games was Lyubov Jegorowa with victories in the hunting race and 15 kilometers classic and the two second places over 5 kilometers classic and 30 kilometers freestyle . Together with Jelena Välbe , who won the bronze medal in all four individual disciplines, she booked a total of five medals with the relay victory with the EUN relay. The other individual medals went with gold over the 5 kilometers and silver over the 15 kilometers to Marjut Lukkarinen and Stefania Belmondo , who won the 30 kilometers and came second in the hunting race.

    Fabrice Guy won one of the three gold medals for the host country France in the individual Nordic combined competition. The silver medal from Sylvain Guillaume , also from France, contributed to the fact that this competition was celebrated frenetically by the spectators. Japan's victory in the team competition was sensational. Reiichi Mikata , Takanori Kōno and Kenji Ogiwara were clearly ahead of Austria and Germany after the jumping. They lost only a little of this lead over the other teams and were able to defend a clear lead against the Norwegians who were strong on the cross-country ski run and were only sixth after the ski jumping.

    The jumping competitions in Albertville were still characterized by the two competing techniques in ski jumping - classic with parallel ski position on the one hand and the aerodynamically advantageous V-style with spreading of the jump skis on the other. The inventor of the V-style, Jan Boklöv , only landed in the back third of the field on the normal hill. However, all winners of the jumping competitions already jumped the new jumping method and helped the V-style to make its final breakthrough.

    Toni Nieminen from Finland was the outstanding athlete among ski jumpers in the early 1990s and was a favorite in the Albertville jump decisions due to his success at the Four Hills Tournament . He was able to confirm this role. He became the superior Olympic champion on the large hill with top laps in the first and second rounds ahead of the Austrians Martin Höllwarth and Heinz Kuttin . This victory meant the youngest gold medalist of all Olympic Winter Games at the age of 16, as he had won the team competition two days earlier on the same hill together with Ari-Pekka Nikkola , Mika Laitinen and Risto Laakkonen in front of Austria. Only on the small hill he was denied the Olympic victory. Here he was able to prevent the triple triumph for the very strong Austrian team by securing third place ahead of Heinz Kuttin. Ernst Vettori won the competition with an outstanding jump in the second round. The leader of the first round, Martin Höllwarth, on the other hand, benefited from his top distance in the second round and was thus able to just about secure the silver medal.

    Demonstration sports

    The competitions were not an official part of the Winter Games. The participants were not accommodated in the Olympic village and the medals were different from the official version. The differentiation in freestyle caused extensive confusion among the spectators. The decisions on the moguls were included in the official program, while the ballet and jump competitions were only part of the demonstration competitions. Just two years later, in 1994 in Lillehammer, the jumping competitions found their way into the official program.

    The races on the high-speed track in Les Arcs were very much criticized by the public. This dangerous fringe sport, burdened with a dead person in the run-up to the Games, can be seen as a bow by the IOC to the Organizing Committee. The latter was given more leeway in the implementation of the games than any previous host. On an extremely steep slope, free of all obstacles, the average speed was measured over a distance of 100 meters between two light barriers. The speed determined by the French winner Michael Prufer from two runs was 229.299 km / h.

    Switzerland won the men's curling competition, while Germany was victorious in the women’s. Curling was included in the official program at the 1998 Winter Games six years later .

    doping

    In the run-up to the Winter Games, a commission headed by Manfred von Richthofen tried to come to terms with the sporting past of the FRG and the GDR. At that hearing, senior sports officials like Joseph Keul were linked to doping. Keul has held the position of chief physician of the Olympic team of the FRG since 1980 and should not be nominated before the start of the games in Albertville due to the findings of the Richthofen Commission. The then NOK President Willi Daume took note of the recommendation, but the functionary was not replaced. Keul remained responsible for the medical care of the German team until his death in 2000. Former biathlete Frank Ullrich was also accused before the commission. During his time as assistant coach of the GDR national team, he is said to have ordered doping and controlled the use of anabolic steroids . A NOK press release published on January 28, 1992 refuted the allegation. Among other things, it was said that the suspicion expressed against him had not been corroborated. Another accusation by the former GDR biathlete Jürgen Wirth in March 2009 rekindled this discussion. In Albertville, today's German national biathlon coach was responsible for the running area.

    Of the 522 doping tests conducted on athletes in Albertville, not a single one was positive.

    reporting

    The Organizing Committee (COJO) awarded a total of 7,407 accreditations , of which 4948 were for press, radio and television journalists, 596 for photographers and 170 for news agencies. On May 24, 1988, the COJO in Lausanne signed an exclusive contract with the US television company CBS for 243 million dollars (66 million less than ABC had to pay for 1988). The rights for television broadcasts in Europe went to the EBU for 27 million Swiss francs. The cumulative viewership was given as 8 billion, including 5.11 billion in Europe.

    The acquisition of the television rights included the use of the transmission provider of COJO, called ORTO '92, which was a subsidiary of the French broadcasters Antenne 2 , France 3 , Radio France and TDF . In order to be able to use already acquired experience in the area of ​​sports broadcasts, the responsibility for broadcasting individual sports was given to foreign television companies. The Scandinavian institutions YLE , NRK and SVT took over the competitions in Nordic skiing. In addition, a comprehensive test of the high-definition television HDTV was carried out during the games . 300 ORTO'92 employees were commissioned to produce high-resolution images from the competitions in Courchevel, Méribel and Albertville. These could be received at 68 different HDTV receiving stations in the Savoy region and in Europe. In addition, the use of information technology (IT) at major events to support production and editing began with the Winter Olympics in Albertville . The digitization of the transmission of data, command lines or FAX also resulted in great cost savings in production.

    The winter games were broadcast in Germany by ARD and ZDF as representatives of public television . A 49-person team from France reported for ORF , supported by a special editorial office based in Vienna. With a total expenditure of around 30 million schillings, the ORF broadcast around 200 hours from Albertville on television and 30 hours on the radio. The special interest broadcaster Eurosport also reported on the Winter Olympics for the first time from Albertville .

    The official film "Le Marche du Siècle Albertville Le Rêve Olympique" consisted of two parts and is one hour and 43 minutes long. During the Games, a 16-issue Olympic magazine and the Olympic Bulletin were published from February 5 to 23, 1992 with a circulation of 3,000.

    marketing

    A total of twelve French companies formed the “Club Coubertin” and received exclusive rights from the organizing committee in return for their sponsorship, such as their own viewing areas with a hospitality program. This provision of own sponsor villages celebrated its premiere in Albertville. On the one hand, existing buildings were used for this, as in Méribel, or tent constructions with a total area of ​​4500 m 2 were erected, as in Albertville . In order to increase the popularity of the Winter Games, COJO organized a “Train de Club Coubertin” together with the companies. The TGV was an ideal ambassador for the Winter Games by driving all over France over a period of 27 days and presenting an exhibition about the Games and their organization to the population in the 23 stations.

    In addition, a Swiss marketing company coordinated sponsorship programs with the Summer Games in Barcelona, ​​with which another 175 million dollars could be made available for both major events. A total of 24 companies were allowed to advertise with the words "Official Supplier" and the Winter Games emblem. Other special projects consisted of coin, medal and philately programs.

    The income from ticket sales was greater than expected. From the originally expected calculation of 144 million francs, the sale of a total of 900,000 tickets resulted in income of 200 million francs.

    aftermath

    Because of the aggressive commercialization and the lack of sensitivity to the environment, the IOC had to deal with severe criticism after the games. It was also noted that the games were essentially designed for television viewers and that it was not possible to integrate the visitors into the games on site. The analysis of the major event finally moved the organizers of the 1994 Games to correct the basic principles of implementation in the direction of smaller, more natural and more sensible ones and, above all, to focus on ecological aspects.

    The use of the Olympic facilities for other major events after the Olympic Games was very low. For a long time no World Cup event was scheduled on the downhill run of the men, La face de Bellevarde, which was laid out with great effort . The route was only reactivated to host the Alpine World Ski Championships in 2009 , although numerous route changes had to be made due to the further development of the ski material.

    The artificial ice rink in La Plagne is now mainly used for tourist events. The facility, which is only used sporadically for World Cup events after the games, was last featured in bobsleigh in the 2002/03 season . An event scheduled for 2004 has been canceled. In total, only three Luge World Cups were held in La Plagne. The facility for Annecy’s application was included in the planning for the 2018 Winter Olympics .

    It is similar with the use of the ski jumping hills in Courchevel. The last World Cup had to be canceled in the 2004/05 season due to lack of snow. Events in the Summer Grand Prix and the Continental Cup for ski jumpers are regularly held on the mats covered hills . World Cup events for the combined athletes were only held before the Winter Games. In addition, the hill is primarily used as a training facility in summer. The approval of the FIS for international events runs until 2011.

    The Olympic hall for figure skating and short track competitions , which has now been converted, is of great recreational value for the residents of Albertville . The multi-purpose hall operated by the Communauté de communes de la Région d'Albertville now has 6500 seats and a capacity of 9000 people for concerts. In addition to an ice rink, it houses two tennis courts and one of the largest climbing walls in Europe. It is used for numerous events and as a training center.

    Others

    As early as December 1990, one year before the Games, the prices in the eight higher-lying Olympic locations (out of a total of 22 winter sports locations in this region) were three times as high as in middle locations. A week's holiday in Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse cost 9,000 French francs, in Méribel (1,700 m altitude) 27,000 FFr were required.

    literature

    Web links

    Commons : 1992 Winter Olympics  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ Karl Adolf Scherer: 100 Years of the Olympic Games . Harenberg, Dortmund 1995, p. 426.
    2. ↑ Medal statistics of the German team ( Memento from February 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
    3. ^ "Now fix: New mode for the Olympics" in "Tiroler Tageszeitung" No. 239 of October 15, 1986, page 15; POS .: Column 3, below
    4. ↑ "Olympic winter moves out" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna October 15, 1986, p. 22 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized version).
    5. ↑ Volker Kluge, Olympic Winter Games, The Chronicle . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 771.
    6. ↑ Volker Kluge: Olympic Winter Games - The Chronicle . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 688.
    7. ↑ Volker Kluge: Olympic Winter Games, The Chronicle . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 690.
    8. ↑ Volker Kluge: Olympic Winter Games, The Chronicle . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 749.
    9. ↑ Volker Kluge, Olympic Winter Games, The Chronicle . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 697.
    10. ↑ Description of the 1992 Winter Games mascot . Retrieved June 7, 2009.
    11. ↑ Environmental and cost problems in the run-up to the games ( memento from March 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on www.zeit.de from March 15, 1991. Accessed June 7, 2009.
    12. ^ Homepage of the city of Albertville with a description of the Olympic Park . Retrieved November 3, 2013.
    13. ^ Official report of the Winter Games p. 93
    14. ↑ Jens Hungermann: Danger of falling: World Cup slope in Val d'Isere scares skiers. In: welt.de . February 5, 2009, accessed August 22, 2019 .
    15. ^ New York Times with description of the Olympic torches . Retrieved June 7, 2009.
    16. ↑ Description of the Olympic ideals (PDF; 1.0 MB) on olympic.org. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
    17. ↑ official report of the Winter Games p. 421 (PDF; 60.9 MB)
    18. ↑ Marcel Reif, commentary on the ZDF broadcast on February 8, 1992.
    19. ↑ official report of the Winter Games p. 462 (PDF; 60.9 MB)
    20. ^ Gerd Rubenbauer, Jörg Wontorra, commentary on the ARD broadcast on February 23, 1992.
    21. ↑ Description of the fairy tale on www.zeno.org . Retrieved June 7, 2009.
    22. ↑ Rupert Kaiser, Olympia-Almanach der Winterspiele, Agon Verlag, Kassel 2002, p. 270.
    23. ↑ The rise and fall of a hero at www.skispringen.com.rtl.de . Retrieved June 7, 2009.
    24. ^ Rupert Kaiser, Olympic Almanac of the Winter Games, Agon Verlag, Kassel 2002, p. 278.
    25. ↑ Rupert Kaiser, Olympic Almanac of the Winter Games, Agon Verlag, Kassel 2002, p. 291.
    26. ↑ Rupert Kaiser, Olympic Almanac of the Winter Games, Agon Verlag, Kassel 2002, p. 292.
    27. ^ Rupert Kaiser, Olympic almanac of the Winter Games, Agon Verlag, Kassel 2002, p. 284.
    28. ↑ Rupert Kaiser, Olympic Almanac of the Winter Games, Agon Verlag, Kassel 2002, p. 290.
    29. ↑ Volker Kluge, Olympic Winter Games, The Chronicle . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 752 Note 49
    30. ^ Rupert Kaiser, Olympic almanac of the Winter Games, Agon Verlag, Kassel 2002, p. 281.
    31. ↑ Rupert Kaiser, Olympic Almanac of the Winter Games, Agon Verlag, Kassel 2002, pp. 273–274.
    32. ^ Karl Adolf Scherer, 100 Years of the Olympic Games . Harenberg, Dortmund 1995, p. 425.
    33. ↑ Volker Kluge, Olympic Winter Games, The Chronicle . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 745.
    34. ↑ Article Die Zeit from September 22, 2009 . Retrieved June 7, 2009.
    35. ↑ Article Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of March 23, 2009 . Retrieved June 7, 2009.
    36. ↑ Volker Kluge, Olympic Winter Games, The Chronicle . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 693.
    37. ↑ Volker Kluge, Olympic Winter Games, Die Chronik , Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 696 Original statement million corrected to billion
    38. ^ "Seen - heard - noted", penultimate article. In "Salzburger Nachrichten" No. 174 of July 28, 1988, page 14
    39. ↑ official report of the Winter Games p. 257 (PDF; 60.9 MB)
    40. ↑ technical challenge soccer World Cup on ZDF yearbook. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
    41. ↑ Media archive of the ORF 1991–1992 ( Memento from June 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved June 7, 2009.
    42. ↑ Volker Kluge, Olympic Winter Games, Die Chronik , Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 697.
    43. ↑ official report of the Winter Games p. 247 (PDF; 60.9 MB)
    44. ↑ Volker Kluge, Olympic Winter Games, The Chronicle . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, p. 691.
    45. ↑ official report of the Winter Games p. 207 (PDF; 60.9 MB)
    46. ↑ Back to the future . In: Der Spiegel . No. 2 , 1994 ( online ).
    47. ↑ Halle Olympique. In: Website of Co.RAL . Archived from the original on December 18, 2015 ; Retrieved November 29, 2015 (French).
    48. ^ "'Priceless skiing pleasure in France's Olympic centers'" in "Salzburger Nachrichten" of December 27, 1990; Page 21; POS .: bottom right
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