1992 Olympics

The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a multi-sport, ice festival that was played from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Games that took place in the same year as the Summer Olympics, and the first at the same arena where the Winter Paralympics were held. Albertville was chosen as host in 1986, and defeated Sofia, Falun, Lillehammer, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Anchorage and Berchtesgaden. The games were the 3rd Winter Olympics in France, after Chamonix in 1924 and Grenoble in 1968 and the 5th Olympics overall in the area. In Albertville only some of the skating and opening and closing ceremonies took place while the other competitions took place in the villages of Courchevel, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Les Menuires, Les Saisies, Méribel, Pralognan-de-Vanoise, Tignes and Val d'Isère. Sixty-four nations and the Joint Team of former non-Baltic Soviet republics played in the games. Upon reunification in 1990, Germany returned as a single body after five newly independent European countries, along with six 'warm-weather' states, appeared. Short track sprint cycling, women's and mogul biathlon mark their debut as an Olympic event. The competitions became the first Winter Games to feature exhibition activities up to 2014, consisting of curling, aerials, dance skiing, and sprint skiing. Outdoor speed skating arena was the last Games to have. The 1992 Winter Paralympics were followed by the Olympics from March 25 to April 1. Norwegians won every male ski race in the cross country, picking up three golds from both Bjørn Dæhlie and Vegard Ulvang. Ski jumper Toni Nieminen, 16, became the youngest male gold medallist at an Olympic Winter event. Petra Kronberger won both the mixed race and the slalom, with Bonnie Blair winning both the 500-meter and 1000-meter speed skating events and Gunda Niemann taking the fastest heats. In all men's short-track events Kim Kihoon won gold medals. In the Winter Olympics, China's Ye Qiaobo won first prize, a women's speed skating silver in 500 metres. New Zealand's Annelise Coberger has won the first Winter Olympic gold in the southern hemisphere — a silver in women's slalom. During one training session Nicolas Bochatay has been killed. Germany has won most the more gold medals. Following a six-Olympic stint with the American Broadcasting Corporation, CBS became the telecast network for the USA's Winter Games. The 1992 Olympic Winter Games marked the last time that the same year's Winter and Summer games were held. Indirect building costs for road, rail or airport facilities, hotel renovations or other industry improvements are not considered for the Games preparation and are not specifically linked to the Games. The budget and investment shortfall for Albertville 1992 were equal to a deficit of US$ 2.5 billion and a cost overrun of 13 per cent for Vancouver 2010, and a cost overrun of US$ 51 billion and 289 per cent for Sochi 2014, the latter becoming the most expensive Olympics to date. Winter Games 'total loss since 1960 has been US$ 3.1 billion, and the average cost savings is 142 per cent. The Games of 1992 still mark the final time that France hosted the Olympics. France is scheduled to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The Oxford Olympics Report projected the construction expense of the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics in 2015-dollars at US$ 2.0 billion and a real-life revenue surplus at 137 per cent. This contains only sport-related expenditure, i.e. logistical expenditure incurred by the organising committee for the purposes of hosting the Games, e.g. expenditure on travel, logistics, staff, infrastructure, lodging, ceremonies and medical facilities, and direct capital expenditure incurred by the host city and government or private donors to build, e.g. competition stadiums.