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From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow
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Nagano Olympics full of winter games firsts
The Nagano Olympics, for starters, turned out to be the biggest winter sports spectacular ever in terms of gold medals won and number of athletes and countries taking part. They were also the southernmost winter games ever.
But once the 16-day games got under way Feb. 7, the athletes took over for the organizers and began adding their own ''firsts'' and ''mosts'' to the annals of the winter Olympics.
Perhaps the most amazing feat was accomplished by Norwegian cross country skier Bjorn Daehlie, who became the most decorated winter sports athlete ever after winning three gold medals in the men's 50-kilometer freestyle, 10-km classical and the 4 x 10-km relay events.
The 30-year-old national hero, who also finished runner-up in the pursuit race, has accumulated a total of eight gold and four silver medals over three Olympics, beating the all-time record of six gold medals won by an individual.
Denmark won its first-ever winter games medal as the women's curling squad from Hvidovre near Copenhagen finished behind winner Canada while Bulgaria claimed its first gold with Ekaterina Dafovska's victory in biathlon.
Danish skip Helena Blach Lavrsen, 34, a member of the team that won the world championships back in 1982, led her countrywomen to the silver medal after posting five wins in the eight-nation round robin preliminaries and beating European titlist Sweden in the semifinals.
The 22-year-old Dafovska was a surprise winner in the women's 15-km biathlon, coming to the Olympics ranked only 51st on the World Cup circuit this winter.
Bulgaria's lone previous Olympic medal was the bronze won by cross country skier Ivan Levanov in the men's 30-km race at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid.
Australia, which took third place in the 5,000-meter men's short track speed skating relay four years ago to become the first country from the southern hemisphere to win a winter medal, claimed another bronze -- this time in skiing.
Zali Steggall, who became the first Australian woman to win a World Cup Alpine skiing title when she won a slalom race in the United States last November, picked up the bronze in the same event at the resort town of Yamanouchi in Nagano Prefecture.
China, meanwhile, came close to winning its first gold medal of the winter games on several occasions but faltered -- collecting six silver and two bronze medals instead.
In freestyle skiing, Chinese aerialist Xu Nannan raised her country's gold hopes when she cleared the elimination round atop the 24-woman field but had to settle for the silver behind 1995 world champion Nikki Stone of the United States.
And on Saturday, short track skater Yang Yang (A) was just about to cross the finish line first in the women's 1,000 when South Korea's Chun Lee Kyung kicked her right foot forward to beat the Chinese by half a boot.
Yang (A) was later disqualified for cross-tracking, allowing teammate Yang Yang (S) to win the silver.
In snowboarding, which made its Olympic debut, Ross Rebagliati of Canada took the first-ever gold medal in the sport when he won the men's giant slalom event on the second day of the games.
But the celebratory mood did not last long for the new champion.
Three days later, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) demanded the medal back after Rebagliati tested positive for marijuana.
A panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which heard the Canadian Olympic Association's appeal, however, overturned the IOC's decision.
For host Japan, it was the most successful winter games yet, with its athletes hauling in an unprecedented 10 Olympic medals -- half of them gold. Previously, the country had never won more than one gold at a single winter Olympics.
Freestyle skier Tae Satoya became the first Japanese woman to clinch a winter Olympic gold, with a surprise victory in moguls, while 19-year-old dark horse Takafumi Nishitani stole the spotlight in the men's 500-meter short track event to become the youngest Japanese winter games champion.
The winter games were broadcast for 17 days for the first time in North America as the opening ceremony was held in the morning, allowing the U.S. and Canadian rights holders to air the event at night locally.
The Nagano Winter Games featured 68 sports events -- seven more than the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics -- with 72 national Olympic committees (NOCs) participating, for an increase by five over four years ago.
Five NOCs -- those of Azerbaijan, Kenya, Macedonia, Uruguay and Venezuela -- took part in the winter games for the first time.
Finally, the number of athletes competing vaulted from the previous high of 1,801 in Albertville six years ago to 2,339, including 827 women.
In addition to snowboarding, women's ice hockey and curling were given official medal status for the first time. (Kyodo News)
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Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun