X-Nico

unusual facts about Winter Olympics



192nd Military Police Battalion

The 2/192nd Field Artillery Battalion was mobilized in April 2002 in support of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Agostino Lanfranchi

Competing in two Winter Olympics, he finished fourth in the men's skeleton event at St. Moritz in 1928, and Lake Placid, New York in 1932, he finished fifth in the four-man event and eighth in the two-man event (misspelled Agostini in the two-man event).

Albert I. Prettyman

Prettyman was the head coach for 1936 United States Hockey Team in the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Albert Pudas

In 1936 Pudas coached the Port Arthur Bearcats who represented Canada in the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany.

Aleksandr Belyakov

Competing in two Winter Olympics, he won the silver medal in the men's doubles event at Sarajevo in 1984.

Aleksei Zelensky

Competing in two Winter Olympics, he earned his best finish of seventh in the men's doubles event at Lillehammer in 1994.

Andrea Mead Lawrence

She competed in three Winter Olympics (and two world championships) and was the first American alpine skier to win two Olympic gold medals.

Australia men's national ice hockey team

Australia's ice hockey team has participated in just one Winter Olympics: the 1960 Games in Squaw Valley, California.

Bill Hewitt

In the mid fifties, Hewitt began substituting on Maple Leafs broadcasts when his father was given other assignments by the CBC, such as covering the Ice Hockey World Championships or Winter Olympics.

Charles Jewtraw

Charles Jewtraw (5 May 1900 in Clinton County, New York – 26 January 1996 in Palm Beach, Florida) was an American speed skater, best known for being first recipient of a gold medal at the first Winter Olympics.

Chepelare

Chepelare is also popular for being the birthplace of biathlete Ekaterina Dafovska, Bulgaria's only Winter Olympics gold medal winner.

Chris Lori

Competing in four Winter Olympics, he earned his best finish of fourth in the four-man event at Albertville in 1992.

Chuck Pandolph

A native of Saranac Lake, New York, Pandolph also competed in two Winter Olympics, earning his best finish of sixth in the four-man event at Innsbruck in 1964.

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2007

First run on the World Cup circuit in 2005 at Wengen, the "super-combi" format (SC) made its debut at the Winter Olympics in 2010.

Garmisch Classic

The area hosted the World Championships in 2011 and 1978, and alpine skiing debuted at the Winter Olympics here in 1936.

Giulio Capitanio

Competing in three Winter Olympics in the 4 x 10 km relay, he earned his best finish of sixth at Lake Placid, New York in 1980.

Günther Lemmerer

Competing in two Winter Olympics, Lemmerer earned his best finish of fifth in the men's doubles event at Sarajevo in 1984.

Hein Vergeer

He had also competed in those same three distances at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo four years earlier, but did not do much better than with a tenth place as his best result.

Ingrīda Amantova

Competing in two Winter Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the women's singles event at Lake Placid, New York in 1980 and finished fourth in the same event at the following Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

Jan Ykema

Jan Jelte Ykema (born 18 April 1963) is a former ice speed skater from the Netherlands, who represented his native country at two consecutive Winter Olympics, starting in 1984 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

Jason Myslicki

Competing in two Winter Olympics, he earned his best finish of 41st in both the 7.5 km sprint and 15 km individual events at Turin in 2006.

Jeffrey Jost

Competing in two Winter Olympics, Jost earned his best finish of fifth in the four-man event at Sarajevo in 1984.

José Roberto Espinosa

He also participated commenting NBA (80's-2004), NHL (1997–98 and 1998-99 seasons) and College Football ( BCS ) games while in TV Azteca, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympic Games from Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 and Winter Olympics from Nagano 1998 and Salt Lake 2002.

Karin Säterkvist

Competing in two Winter Olympics, she had her best finish of seventh in the 4 x 5 km relay at Albertville in 1992 and her best individual finish of 25th in the 15 km event at Nagano in 1998.

Karlos Kirby

A fierce competitor, Kirby picked up five U.S. National Push Championships on his way to competing in two Winter Olympics - Albertville in 1992 and Lillehammer in 1994.

Kerry Lynch

Despite his doping controversy Lynch competed in two Winter Olympics, earning his best finish of 13th at Sarajevo in 1984.

Laura Orgué

Competing in two Winter Olympics, she earned her best finish of 27th in the 15 km mixed pursuit at Vancouver in 2010.

Louis Balsan

Competing in two Winter Olympics, Balsan earned his best finish of ninth in the four-man event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936.

Marie-Louise Rainer

Competing in four Winter Olympics, Rainer had her best finish of sixth in the women's singles event at Sarajevo in 1984.

Martin Schützenauer

Competing in four Winter Olympics,and two (Summer Olympics) Schützenauer earned his best finish of sixth in the four-man event at Lillehammer in 1994.

Mathilde-Amivi Petitjean

She was contacted by Togolese Ski Federation in March 2013 via Facebook to compete for the country at the Winter Olympics.

Mats Wallberg

Mats Wallberg (born February 21, 1949 in Gunnarskog) is a former ice speed skater from Sweden, who represented his native country in two consecutive Winter Olympics, starting in 1972 in Sapporo, Japan.

Monika Auer

Competing in two Winter Olympics, Auer earned her best finish of 13th in the women's singles event at Sarajevo in 1984.

Nepal at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Dachhiri Sherpa will represent the country again (like he did the previous two Winter Olympics) as the only athlete.

Oleg Bozhev

Competing for the Soviet Union, Oleg Bozhev had his best year in 1984 when he won a bronze medal on the 1,500 m at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, became World Allround Champion ten days later, became Soviet Allround Champion two weeks after that and skated a world record on the 1,500 m another two weeks later.

Raschau

Ortrun Enderlein (b. 1943), two-time Women’s World Champion and first women’s Olympic gold medallist in luge (1964).

Roland Thöni

His best year was 1972, which he opened with a bronze medal in the slalom at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, finishing behind his cousin Gustav and Francisco Fernández Ochoa, the gold medalist from Spain.

Sarah Schleper

Schleper also competed in four Winter Olympics, earning her best finish of tenth in the slalom event at Turin in 2006.

Sergey Danilin

Competing in four Winter Olympics, he earned the silver medal in the men's singles event at Sarajevo in 1984.

Smiggin Holes, New South Wales

During the 2002 Winter Olympics Roy and HG on their Ice Dream television program ran a mock campaign for Smiggin Holes to host the next available Winter Olympics (see Smiggin Holes 2010 Winter Olympic bid).

Susan Corrock

From 194880 the Winter Olympics also served as the World Championships for alpine skiing.

Vonetta Flowers

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, she, along with driver Jill Bakken, won the gold medal in the two-woman event, becoming the first black person to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics.

Wilhelm Henie

Henie managed to get Sonja enrolled at the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924, and followed her to preparaions in St. Moritz prior to the games.

Yevgeny Vladimirovich Belousov

Competing in two Winter Olympics, he won the silver medal in the men's doubles event at Sarajevo in 1984.

Zintis Ekmanis

Competing in four Winter Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the two-man event at Sarajevo in 1984.


see also

1984 Winter Olympics medal table

The host nation, Yugoslavia, collected its first-ever medal at the Winter Olympics: a silver by alpine skier Jure Franko in the men's giant slalom.

1998 Winter Olympics medal table

Denmark won its first Winter Olympics medal, while Bulgaria and the Czech Republic won their first Winter Games gold medals.

Adelboden

Marlies Oester, former alpine skier who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Anneliese

Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf (born 1922), Austrian former alpine skier who competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics

Béla Szepes

At the 1924 Winter Olympics he participated in the 18 kilometre cross-country skiing event and in the Nordic combined but did not finish either of the races.

Bjørn Wirkola

He also competed at three Winter Olympics: in 1964 he finished eleventh in the Nordic combined, in 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, he achieved his best finish with a fourth place in the individual normal hill, 0.6 points behind the bronze medalist Baldur Preiml of Austria, and the 1972 Winter Olympics, where he finished 37th in the wind-ravaged event in the Okurayama large hill.

Bonnie Blair

She also was the only American to have 6 medals at any Winter Olympics, which record stood until Apolo Ohno tied it and then surpassed it at the 2010 Winter Olympics when he won a silver and two bronze medals in short track speed skating for eight career medals.

Chile at the 1984 Winter Olympics

Chile competed at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia after missing the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Christoffer Svae

It was Svae who selected Loudmouth Golf's colorful argyle pants (Dixie and Red & Gray) as Team Norway's uniform at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics because they came close to matching the Norwegian flag colors – red, white and blue.

Debi Thomas

She was also selected by President George W. Bush to be part of the U.S. Delegation for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin Italy along with other former Olympians: Dorothy Hamill, Eric Heiden, Kerri Strug, and Herschel Walker.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics held in Calgary, she and Katarina Witt engaged in a rivalry that the media dubbed the "Battle of the Carmens", as both women skated their long programs to the music of Bizet's opera Carmen.

Ernesto Fonseca

Fonseca kept a busy schedule competing in winter Olympics and Loretta Lynn's amateur motocross championships where he met his long-time friend Ricky Carmichael.

Eskil Ervik

In "Top Gear Winter Olympics Special" Jeremy Clarkson raced with Jaguar XK8 against Ervik in a 1500m (three lap) race around a speed-skating track.

Franci Žbontar

His brother, Marjan Žbontar, played for the Yugoslav national ice hockey team at the 1976 Winter Olympics.

Galina Kulakova

He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Winter Olympics, along with Ard Schenk of the Netherlands.

Gerda Weissensteiner

She finished seventh in the 2-woman bobsleigh (with the former biker Antonella Bellutti, gold medalist in cycling) at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Gillis Grafström

Together with Eddie Eagan he is the only athlete to have won a gold medal at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, having the further distinction of being the only person to have won an individual gold medal in both the Summer (1920) and Winter Olympics (1924, 1928), although Eagan remains the only one to have managed the feat in different disciplines.

Ginban Kaleidoscope

Her goal is to compete in the Winter Olympics in Torino (Turin, Italy).

IceWorks Skating Complex

Currently, Olympic athletes Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto (USA), and Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin (Russia) are training at the facility in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Isaac Menyoli

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that he had been "voted the day's best Olympian overnight", and described him as a Winter Olympics' version of Eric the Eel.

Jackie Lockhart

Lockhart missed out on selection for the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, and had to watch from afar as the team skipped by Rhona Martin won plaudits for becoming the winners of Great Britain's first gold medal in any sport at the Winter Olympics since ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean in 1984.

Jamaica at the 1988 Winter Olympics

The story of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the 1988 Winter Olympics was turned into the 1993 movie Cool Runnings.

Japanese Olympic Committee

Japan has held the Olympic Games three times: the Summer Olympics once (1964 Summer Olympic Games, Tokyo) and the Winter Olympics twice (1972 Winter Olympics, Sapporo, and the 1998 Winter Olympic Games, Nagano).

Jeannette Altwegg

Her achievement as a British female individual Winter Olympics gold medalist was not matched until the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver when Amy Williams won gold in Skeleton.

Lalm

Håkon Brusveen (Olympic champion in 15 km at (Winter Olympics 1960)

Marit Mikkelsplass (Winter Olympics 1988, Winter Olympics 1994, Winter Olympics 1998)

Leinweber

Judi Leinweber (born 1950), Canadian alpine skier who competed in the 1968 Winter Olympics References

Lilehammer Olympics

1994 Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics celebrated in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway

Louis Balsan

At the 1932 Winter Olympics he and Daniel Armand-Delille finished eleventh in the two-man event

Madrid bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics

They then bid for the Winter Olympics in 2002, 2010 and 2014 but failed to become a candidate for those three games.

Marjan Žbontar

His brother, Franci Žbontar, played for the Yugoslav national ice hockey team at the 1972 and 1976 Winter Olympics.

New Egypt, New Jersey

Rocky Marval (born 1965), pairs figure skater who finished 10th at the 1992 Winter Olympics together with partner Calla Urbanski.

Nicolas Bochatay

Bochatay was the third athlete to die at a Winter Olympics, after British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski and Australian skier Ross Milne who both died at Innsbruck 1964.

Oliver, British Columbia

Julie Skinner, 2002 Bronze Medal at Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah (Kelly Law team)

Olympic Sports Complex

Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex in the United States, created following the 1980 Winter Olympics

Pat Rupp

In 1968, he was selected for his second Winter Olympics in Grenoble in France; the US team gained sixth place.

He was selected as a member of the US team for the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Hohenlohe founded the Mexican Ski Federation in 1981 and first skied for Mexico at a Winter Olympics at the 1984 games in Sarajevo.

Ryan Davenport

Ryan Davenport started coaching the U.S. Olympic Skeleton team in 1999, during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City three members of his team achieved medals: Jim Shea, gold; Tristan Gale, gold and Lea Ann Parsley, silver.

Shelby, Nebraska

Curtis Tomasevicz, 2006 and 2010 U.S. Olympic bobsledder, won gold medal in 2010 Winter Olympics

Speed skating at the 1964 Winter Olympics

North Korea's Han Pil-Hwa was the first medalist for her country in the Olympics, and the first Asian woman to win a medal in the Winter Olympics.

Surya Bonaly

Georges and Suzanne initially told the media that their daughter had been born on the island of Réunion, because, as David Wallechinsky's Complete Book of the Winter Olympics explains, they thought this origin sounded more "exotic".

Tajikistan at the Olympics

To date, Andrei Drygin is the only person ever to have represented Tajikistan at the Winter Olympics, being his country's sole competitor in 2002, 2006, and 2010.

Tanglewood Festival Chorus

In February 1998, singing from the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations, the chorus represented the Americas when Seiji Ozawa led the Winter Olympics Orchestra with six choruses on five continents, all linked by satellite, in the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony to close the Opening Ceremonies of the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Thailand at the Olympics

To date, only one person, Prawat Nagvajara, has represented Thailand at the Winter Olympics.

The Porridge Men

In 2005, team GBR Figure-Skaters John and Sinead Kerr (from Scotland) chose three tracks from Planet Porridge as the soundtrack to their performances at the British Championships, the European Championships and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.