The , 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.
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. Alpine skiing Sledge hockey Ice sledge racing Nordic skiing Biathlon Cross-country skiing
Venues
In total seven venues were used at the 1998 Winter Olympics around four cities and towns.
Nagano City
M-Wave – opening/closing ceremonies, ice sledge racing
Aqua Wing Arena – ice sledge hockey
Hakuba
Happo'one Resort: Alpine skiing (Downhill and Super-G) Snow Harp, Kamishiro: Cross-country skiing
Nozawaonsen
Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort: Biathlon
Yamanouchi
Mount Higashidate: Alpine skiing (giant slalom) Mount Yakebitai, Shiga Kogen Resort: Alpine skiing (slalom)
Medal table
The top 10 NPCs by number of gold medals are listed below. The host nation (Japan) is highlighted.
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.
(8) (4) (34) (5) (3) (33) (6) (3) (15) (21) (25) (40) (21) (2) (21) (67) (1) (4) (3) (5) (43) (26) (35) (18) (1) (1) (14) (24) (19) (11) (49)
Mascot
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.
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.
See also
1998 Winter Olympics
References
External links
International Paralympic Committee
The event at SVT's open archive
The event at Nagano Shinano Mainich Shimbum
Paralympics
Winter Paralympics
Paralympics
Winter Paralympic Games
Sports competitions in Nagano (city) Multi-sport events in Japan March 1998 sports events in Asia Winter sports competitions in Japan
