1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics

Also called: XVII Olympic Winter Games, 1994 Winter Olympics

The first Winter Olympics held two years after the last, out of step with the Summer Games; Lillehammer, Norway, became known for its environmentally minded Games.

With the Winter Games now staggered two years from the Summer Games, 67 nations gathered in the small Norwegian town of Lillehammer from 12 to 27 February, only two years after Albertville. The United Nations passed a resolution for an “Olympic Truce” during the Games, and venues built to spare the environment earned them the name “Green Games”. Norway’s Johann Olav Koss won three speed-skating events in world-record times and gave his bonuses to help children in war-torn Sarajevo and elsewhere. Before the Games, the attack on US figure skater Nancy Kerrigan by associates of her rival Tonya Harding also drew wide attention.

South Korea won four golds in short track: Kim Ki-hoon retained the men’s 1000 m, Chae Ji-hoon won the men’s 500 m, Chun Lee-kyung the women’s 1000 m, and Korea also took the women’s 3000 m relay.