1998 Winter Paralympics

The 1998 Winter Paralympics (Japanese: 1998年冬季パラリンピック, Hepburn: 1998-Nen Tōki Pararinpikku), the seventh Paralympic Winter Games, were held alongside the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan from 5 to 14 March 1998. They were the first Paralympic Winter Games to be held outside Europe. 571 athletes competed in Nagano; as 2022 it remains the highest number of athletes competing at any Winter Paralympics.[1]

VII Paralympic Winter Games
Host cityNagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
MottoFureai and Inspiration
(Japanese:ふれあいと感)
Nations32
Athletes571
Events122 in 4 sports
Opening5 March
Closing14 March
Opened by
Crown Prince Naruhito
Cauldron
Naoya Maruyama
StadiumM-Wave
Winter
Summer
1998 Winter Olympics

Sports

The games consisted of 122 events in five sports: alpine skiing, ice sledge hockey, ice sledge racing, and Nordic skiing. The sport of Nordic skiing comprised two disciplines, the biathlon and cross-country skiing.[2][3]

Venues

In total seven venues were used at the 1998 Winter Olympics around four cities and towns.[4]

Nagano City

Hakuba

Nozawaonsen

Yamanouchi

Medal table
Main article: 1998 Winter Paralympics medal table

The top 10 NPCs by number of gold medals are listed below. The host nation (Japan) is highlighted.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Norway1891340
2 Germany14171344
3 United States1381334
4 Japan*12161341
5 Russia1210931
6 Switzerland105823
7 Spain8008
8 Austria7161134
9 Finland75719
10 France59822
Totals (10 entries)1069595296

Participants

Thirty-one National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) entered athletes at the 1998 Winter Paralympics. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants from each NPC.[5]

Mascot
Parabbit
Mascot of the 1998 Winter Paralympics (Nagano)

The 1998 Winter Paralympics Mascot was Parabbit. Parabbit is a white rabbit with one green and one red ear. Parabbit was chosen to compliment the logo of the 1998 winter Paralympics. A vote held by students to decide on the name, resulted in Parabbit getting 3,408 votes.[6]

Opening ceremony

The theme of the Opening Ceremony was Hope, and inspired by a painting by George Frederic Watts. The theme also signifies it was the first Winter Paralympics held in Asia and the last Paralympics of the 20th century.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Winter Games Overview". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  2. "Nagano 1998". International Paralympic Committee. 4 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009.
  3. "Nagano 1998". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  4. "Schedule of the Nagano Paralympics". Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  5. "Nagano 1998 - ParticipantNumbers".
  6. "Nagano 1998 Paralympic Mascot Parabbit - Photos & History". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
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