Contents

1998 Winter Paralympics

VII Paralympic Winter Games

Host city	Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Motto	Fureai and Inspiration (Japanese: ふれあいと感)
Nations	32
Athletes	571
Events	122 in 4 sports
Opening	5 March
Closing	14 March
Opened by	Crown Prince Naruhito
Cauldron	Naoya Maruyama
Stadium	M-Wave
Winter ← Lillehammer 1994 Salt Lake 2002 → Summer ← Atlanta 1996 Sydney 2000 → 1998 Winter Olympics

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 OlympicsinNagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan from 5 to 14 March 1998. They were the first Paralympic Winter Games to be held in Asia. 571 athletes competed in Nagano; as 2022 it remains the highest number of athletes competing at any Winter Paralympics.^[1]

Sports[edit]

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]

• Alpine skiing
• Sledge hockey
• Ice sledge racing
• Nordic skiing
  • Biathlon
  • Cross-country skiing

Venues[edit]

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

Nagano City[edit]

• M-Wave – opening/closing ceremonies, ice sledge racing
• Aqua Wing Arena – ice sledge hockey

Hakuba[edit]

• Happo'one Resort: Alpine skiing (Downhill and Super-G)
• Snow Harp, Kamishiro: Cross-country skiing

Nozawaonsen[edit]

• Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort: Biathlon

Yamanouchi[edit]

• Mount Higashidate: Alpine skiing (giant slalom)
• Mount Yakebitai, Shiga Kogen Resort: Alpine skiing (slalom)

Medal table[edit]

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

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway	18	9	13	40
2	Germany	14	17	13	44
3	United States	13	8	13	34
4	Japan*	12	16	13	41
5	Russia	12	10	9	31
6	Switzerland	10	5	8	23
7	Spain	8	0	0	8
8	Austria	7	16	11	34
9	Finland	7	5	7	19
10	France	5	9	8	22
Totals (10 entries)		106	95	95	296

Participants[edit]

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]

 Australia (4)

 Austria (34)

 Belarus (5)

 Bulgaria (3)

 Canada (33)

 Czech Republic (6)

 Denmark (3)

 Estonia (15)

 Finland (21)

 France (25)

 Germany (40)

 Great Britain (21)

 Iran (2)

 Italy (21)

 Japan (67)

 Kazakhstan (1)

 South Korea (4)

 Netherlands (3)

 New Zealand (5)

 Norway (43)

 Poland (26)

 Russia (35)

 Slovakia (18)

 Slovenia (1)

 South Africa (1)

 Spain (14)

 Sweden (24)

 Switzerland (19)

 Ukraine (11)

 United States (49)

Mascot[edit]

Parabbit
Mascot of the 1998 Winter Paralympics (Nagano)

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2023)

The 1998 Winter Paralympics Mascot was Parabbit. Parabbit is a white rabbit with one green and one red ear. Parabbit was chosen to complement 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[edit]

The theme of the Opening Ceremony was Hope, and inspired by a paintingbyGeorge 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[edit]

• 1998 Winter Olympics

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• International Paralympic Committee
• The event at SVT's open archive (in Swedish)
• The event at Nagano Shinano Mainich Shimbun Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine