1998 Winter Olympics Medal Table
Varying statistics are reported for the number of participants at the 1998 Winter Olympics. The Sports-Reference website states that 2,180 athletes from 72 nations participated in 68 events from 14 sports and disciplines. Olympic historian Bill Mallon, in his Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement, agrees with the figure of 2,180 participants. In contrast, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) website reports that 2,176 athletes competed at the Games. The sport of curling returned after a single appearance in the 1924 Olympics, snowboarding was added as a new sport, and women's ice hockey made its first appearance in the Olympics.
The leading medal winner at the Games was Russian skier Larisa Lazutina, who won five medals, including three golds. The only other athlete to win three gold medals was Norwegian skier Bjørn Dæhlie, who won four medals overall, making him the first Winter Olympian to win twelve career medals, eight of which were gold. Nine other athletes won three medals, including three Germans. American figure skater Tara Lipinski became the youngest competitor in Winter Olympics history to earn a gold medal in an individual event.
Medal table
![A man wearing a black shirt and hat.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/HMaier2.jpg/220px-HMaier2.jpg)
![A hockey game between two teams; one is wearing red uniforms, and the other has white jerseys, red pants, and blue helmets.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Nagano_1998-Russia_vs_Czech_Republic.jpg/220px-Nagano_1998-Russia_vs_Czech_Republic.jpg)
![A female speed skater turns around a curve. She is wearing a black and blue body suit.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Claudia_Pechstein_2008.jpg/220px-Claudia_Pechstein_2008.jpg)
The medal table is based on information provided by the IOC and is consistent with IOC convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won; a nation is an entity represented by a National Olympic Committee. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically.
In the two-man bobsleigh competition, a tie meant that two gold medals were awarded, so no silver medal was awarded for that event. A tie for second in the men's Super G skiing competition meant that a pair of silver medals were given out, so no bronze medal was awarded for that event. In the four-man bobsleigh, a tie for third resulted in the awarding of two bronze medals. Due to these ties, the number of gold medals awarded was one more than the number of silver or bronze medals. In snowboarding, Canadian Ross Rebagliati won the gold medal in the men's Giant Slalom, but it was briefly stripped by the IOC after he tested positive for marijuana. After the Canadian Olympic Association filed an appeal, however, the IOC's decision was overturned.
* Host nation (Japan)
Rank | NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 12 | 9 | 8 | 29 |
2 | ![]() | 10 | 10 | 5 | 25 |
3 | ![]() | 9 | 6 | 3 | 18 |
4 | ![]() | 6 | 5 | 4 | 15 |
5 | ![]() | 6 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
6 | ![]() | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 |
7 | ![]() | 5 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
8 | ![]() | 3 | 5 | 9 | 17 |
9 | ![]() | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
10 | ![]() | 2 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
11 | ![]() | 2 | 4 | 6 | 12 |
12 | ![]() | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
13 | ![]() | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
14 | ![]() | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
15 | ![]() | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
16 | ![]() | 0 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
17 | ![]() | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
18 | ![]() | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
![]() | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
20 | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
22 | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Totals (24 entries) | 69 | 68 | 68 | 205 |