1998 Nagano Olympic Winter Games Quiz

Answer: Salt Lake City, USA

The selection for the host city of the 1998 Olympics was made in 1991 in Birmingham, England. The reason Nagano was selected, it was said, was because of the "Atlanta factor" - Atlanta, Georgia had already won the privilege of hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics.

The Olympic Committee did not want to have two consecutive Olympics in the United States. Aosta and Ostersund were two other cities that were considered to host the 1998 Games, and Jaca, Spain was the fifth. Salt Lake City, of course, hosted the next Winter Olympics, in 2002.

Answer: First time the NHL took an Olympic break

1998 was not the first time that professionals were allowed to compete. 1994 (Lillehammer Games) was the first for professionals. However, the National Hockey League did not take a break for the Olympics in 1994, and NHL teams did not release their players to allow them to compete internationally. Some people thought that this was a huge disadvantage for Canada and the USA, because in Europe there are plenty of top calibre hockey players who play only in their home country and not in NHL. In North America, however, the majority of excellent professional players play in the NHL. So, while Russia and Sweden, for example, had teams stacked with pros, Canada and the US could not have the best of the best on their Olympic teams.

Starting in 1998, the NHL takes a three week break in Olympic years so that their players may compete. As a result, Canada and the US went into the 1998 Games heavily favoured. As it turns out, the NHL break didn't necessarily work in their favour. After all, the European teams now had NHL players too, and the gold-medal winning Czech Republic was certainly helped by the stellar goaltending of Dominik Hasek who, at that time, was playing for the Buffalo Sabres.

Answer: True

It was more or less assumed that the final game would come down to Canada and the USA, as no other country had beaten them in international play before. The 1998 women's tournament did indeed feature Canada and the US in the gold medal game, and the US won by a score of 3-1. Finland won the bronze.

The Canadian and American women's teams met again in the gold medal game in 2002, with Canada winning 3-2 that time. Canada won again in 2006, but against Sweden. Team USA took the bronze medal in women's hockey in 2006.

Answer: Curling

Medals had been awarded in curling in the 1924 Chamonix Olympics, but after that, curling was a demonstration-only event until 1998. There were two tournaments, men's and women's. In men's curling, Switzerland, Canada, and Norway won the gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively. In women's curling, Canada, Denmark, and Sweden were the top finishers.

Answer: Tara Lipinski

Tara Lipinski won the gold medal by three votes over Michelle Kwan. 15-year old Lipinski became the youngest single champion in Olympic history with her win in 1998. 17-year old Kwan received the silver medal, and Chen Lu, of China, won bronze.

Answer: Snowboarding

Specifically, Ross Rebagliati won the gold medal in the Giant Slalom snowboarding event. After winning, he was disqualified after a drug test found he had marijuana in his system. The decision was overturned later though, on the grounds that marijuana isn't a performance-enhancing drug, and Rebagliati was awarded his medal.

Answer: Cross-country skiing

Daehlie won three gold medals in 1998, which set a new record for the most medals won by a Winter Olympian, eight gold and 12 in total. He was given much kudos for his show of good sportsmanship after winning the 10 km event. He waited at the finish line for everyone else to finish.

The last competitor, Philip Boit of Kenya, finished a little more than 20 minutes later, and received a hug from Daehlie when he crossed the finish line.

Answer: Russia

Russia came away from the 1998 Olympics with three gold and two silver medals in figure skating. Ilia Kulik won gold in men's singles; Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev won gold in pairs' skating, and Elena Bereznaya and Anton Sikharulidze won silver in pairs' skating. Oksana Grishuk and Evgeny Platov won gold in ice dancing, and Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov won silver in ice dancing.

Answer: Hermann Maier (Austria)

During the downhill event, Hermann Maier went flying and landed far off the course, tumbling over a few times. A picture of the airborne Maier appeared on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" on February 23, 1998. He not only survived his crash and burn, he made a great comeback to take gold in both the Super-G and Giant Slalom events.

Answer: Wayne Gretzky

The Nagano Games were the only ones in which The Great One competed on the ice. Prior to 1998, NHL players were not released from their teams to compete in the Olympics, and he retired from playing in 1999. Some people were bothered right off the bat by the fact that Gretzky was not named captain of Team Canada, nor was Steve Yzerman, another veteran player and longtime leader of his team. Team manager Bobby Clarke instead chose Eric Lindros for the captaincy. Bobby Clarke also worked with Lindros on the Philadelphia Flyers at the time.

Gretzky, to the shock and dismay of many fans, also was not chosen as one of Canada's shooters in the shootout match in the semi-final game against the Czech Republic. None of the five chosen shooters could beat Dominik Hasek, and Canada went on to play for the bronze medal, rather than the gold. They lost the bronze medal to Finland. Wayne Gretzky was part of the gold-medal winning Team Canada in 2002, however, as the team's Executive Director.

Team USA didn't fare any better at the 1998 Olympics. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals and then got in trouble for trashing their rooms in the Olympic village. Team captain Chris Chelios, though not even present in the hotel when the damage occurred, paid for the damage and publicly apologized for the behavious of his teammates.