Media "sport-express Internet" founder of JSC "sport-express" editor-in-chief Maximov M. a

Team OK. As a team without a flag and an anthem put an end to

Gold with three misses, an interesting nightmare, the last gold of the "Red Machine" and terrible organization - what were the Games in Albertville.

Reviewer of the "Championship" Lev Rossoshik in reminisces about the Games in France, which were not like either the previous ones or the next ones.

OK and white flag with five rings

A quarter of a century is a significant date: anniversary, symbolic, memorable. Moreover, the sporting action that took place in February 1992 in France under the name of the XVI Winter Olympic Games differed from all the previous fifteen more than significantly. This was influenced by many circumstances, mostly political. If we analyze the events in chronological order, then this is the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the unification of Germany, the complete collapse of the USSR and the separation of a number of republics from the SFRY, in the common people of Yugoslavia.

The most surprising thing is that the Olympic starts in France and the collapse of a great power, which was the Soviet Union, were less than two months apart. It is clear that many questions arose about the status of the team, its financing, staffing, equipment ...

I already wrote in an essay about an outstanding figure in the international Olympic movement Vitaly Smirnov, as it happened, on the one hand, the delimitation of countries, and on the other, the unification of their Olympic committees for performances in Albertville and Barcelona.

The initiative belonged to the then President of the IOC Juan Antonio Samaranch, who was able to negotiate with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who supported the initiative of the Spanish baron. And Smirnov came up with an option in which all the newly formed Olympic bodies in the new states continued for some time - until the next 101st IOC session in Monaco in 1993 - under the control of Moscow. And in Albertville, and later in Barcelona, ​​the United Team (with the abbreviation OK) performed. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia sent their national teams to France and Spain. For the first time since 1936, Germany competed at the Games as a single team (do not confuse it with the WGC that participated in the Olympics from 1956 to 1964), and the former Yugoslav, but already independent states of Croatia and Slovenia also entered the Games on their own.

The first Russian to see the light at the end of the tunnel

Honorary President of the ROC and member of the IOC Vitaly Smirnov is celebrating his 80th birthday today. "Championship" reminds you how great this person is.

And the white flag with five intertwined Olympic rings at the opening ceremony in Albertville was entrusted to carry the five-time world champion in skating Igor Zhelezovsky from Belarus.

Thus, the 1992 Winter Olympics brought together a record number of participants and countries in the entire history of the Winter Games - 1801 athletes (488 of them women) from 64 countries.

First and last

An increase in the number of participants, and, accordingly, other members of the Olympic family, including journalists, who came to France almost 7 thousand (one and a half times more than in Calgary), the expansion of the competition program and, in connection with all this, the increased popularity did their job : it became necessary to separate the time of the winter and summer Olympics, which had previously been held exclusively in leap years. So the Games in Albertville were the last organized in a year with 366 days. Actually, this wise decision was made by the IOC back in 1986, although at that time it was hardly believed that such global changes would take place on the globe.

Since then, the Olympic Games began to be held on leap years, as before, summer, and between them winter.

For the first time at the Games, sets of awards in short track, freestyle and women's biathlon were played. Finally, for the last time, the skaters competed for medals in an open-air stadium. All subsequent Olympic competitions of runners were held under the roof.

Terrible organization: they grab you by the hand, lead you somewhere, you can’t understand anything. I did not like.

And in Albertville, in conjunction with the traditional Olympics, the Paralympic Games were held. And from that moment on, all subsequent Olympics, both summer and winter, were marked by such a tandem.

A curious story happened to the author of these lines. In mid-August 1991, a new daily newspaper, Sport-Express, began to be published in our country, based on journalists who had left Soviet Sport on the same day, a month and a half earlier. Of course, by the time the new edition was released, the accreditation deadlines for the 1992 Games had already passed and there was no way to get an additional quota. Fortunately, two of the journalists who left, by the way, since 1924 - the year of the first Winter Games - the publication of journalists were accredited from him in Albertville.

One question was removed. On the other hand, finding money for the trip was more difficult. But by hook or by crook it was possible to solve it, largely thanks to the Honored Master of Sports Vasily Machuga, the then head of the Russian State Committee for Sports.

The French colleagues also helped, who made an advance payment for us for living in a small chalet room, located even higher in the mountains near the press center (the name was forgotten over the years), about 20 minutes away by minivan.

Olympics or World Championships?

Now, after so many years and with the opportunity to compare with other similar white Olympics on different continents, the Games in Albertville seem somehow awkward. First of all, because they were too geographically scattered in this part of the French Alps called Savoy. Actually, only a third of the 57 sets of awards were played in Albertville itself - in skating, figure skating and short track. Competitions in other disciplines took place in different winter resorts, not at all nearby. So, skiers competed in Val d'Isere and Meribel, a hockey tournament was also held in Meribel, a stadium for biathlon and ski racing was built in Leu.

Cesi, a bobsleigh and sledge track was built in La Plan, Nordics and ski jumpers argued among themselves, probably in the most attractive, however, much later, for the Russian oligarchs, Courchevel, and freestylers made their debut in Tignes. But what can I say, if the main press center, from where, in fact, all the materials were transmitted then (neither laptops nor mobile phones existed at that time) was at a fairly decent distance from Albertville in the town of La Lecher - either indoors the former station, or locomotive depot.

In short, in order to get to the moment of start, say, to the ski and biathlon stadium in Le Cezy, it was necessary to rise neither light nor dawn - no later than five in the morning. In general, there were many problems with transport for the press at all Winter Games, except for Sochi. The most surprising thing is that this did not bother the organizers at all.

On the very first day of the competition, February 9, when the skiers competed at a distance of 15 km, having already arrived at Le Cezy, I suddenly discovered that the last scheduled bus leaves for the GPC half an hour before the announced press conference with the winners of the competition. There was no doubt that our girls would be on the podium. I had to make a small scandal to the local organizers. As a result, they didn’t change the shuttle schedule, and in order to get rid of the annoying Russian, I was given a personal car, and I comfortably got to La Lecher, after talking with our skiers, who won gold in the first race ( Lyubov Egorova) and bronze ( Elena Vyalbe) medals, and a great Raisa Smetanina, for which the Games in France were already the fifth in a row and a week after they ended, the skier turned 40 years old, turned out to be the fourth.

First gold OK

Smetanina started second, and everyone who ran behind was guided by her time in the segments. But we really wanted Raya to cling to the medal. Until the very end, they believed it was possible. Alas, it wasn't quite enough. “It was very disappointing,” he wrote in a report from Le Cesi at the time. - Needless to say, Smetanina deserved a medal - for her hellish work, for patience, for love and devotion to skiing.

But I want to believe that she will not return to her homeland without a reward, and this time - there are still many races ahead, and a successful performance in the first one almost guarantees her a place in the relay team. And so it happened.

After the finish, having cast a cursory glance at the scoreboard, where the results of the racers on the last control segment were still glowing, Raisa instantly assessed the situation: “Lyuba must win today.”

When Yegorova finished and they rushed to congratulate her, the skier asked not to rush, saying that the main rivals were still on the track. Fortunately, everything ended for us as well as possible.

At the press conference, meticulous Western colleagues got into politics a lot: how do you feel in the new environment, when the once powerful empire collapsed? But they also asked in the case:

- How long did you train at altitude before this race?
- 12 days in Austria and a week here in Le Cezy?

- How do you assess the organization of competitions at the Games?
- Terrible organization: they grab you by the hand, lead you somewhere, you can’t understand anything. I did not like.

- Did you encounter technical difficulties during the race?
- I went as planned. I knew that the test was not easy, but the information was delivered clearly.

- Could you add at the end of the distance, if the opponents stepped on your heels?
- Hardly. Finished the distance with the last of her strength.

- Where did you beat your rivals today?
- Probably on the rise. In general, I love such a hard crust as here. I love to push with sticks.

- How do you rate your first Olympic gold medal?
- Very high. Maybe this is my first and last Olympics.

Lyuba was cunning, today we know: she will also perform at the Games in Lillehammer, and in total her collection will have as many as six highest Olympic awards, not to mention medals of other dignity.

First gold in women's biathlon

Two days after the skiers, the biathletes entered the Olympic distance for the first time - 7.5 km and two firing lines. I already mentioned that this species made its debut in the program of the Winter Games. And most of the participants were not lucky: by the time the first numbers finished (including our Elena Belova, which eventually turned out to be the third), such snow fell - you can’t see it, a snowstorm began. But he did not interfere with the Olympic champion Calgary in the ski (not biathlon, no, but ski) relay Anfisa Reztsova cleanly and quickly shoot the “laying”. Of course, all rivals lost to her along the way.

When Bykov's trio played a classic combination and the score became 3:2, a lump came up to my throat - it reminded me so much of the good old days.

But at the second line in the "stand" the shooting of the newly-minted biathlete did not work out - as a result, three misses, and she went to the distance only fourth, yielding almost 20 seconds to the Czech Irzhina Adamichkova and two seconds for Bulgarian Nadezhda Aleksieva and German Antje Mizersky. But on the remaining two and a half kilometers, Reztsova added so much that her time at the finish line turned out to be almost 16 seconds better than Mizersky, who won silver.

Happy - no words, - Reztsova admitted after the finish. - I was at the Olympic Games for the second time in a row, but I didn’t win a personal victory: I was the relay champion and won silver for second place in the top twenty. Today's success is doubly expensive, because in general she became the very first Olympic champion in biathlon. But I have been doing this sport for only the second year - since the summer of 1990. The husband persuaded me - she herself would never have dared to change her sports specialty. He is a former biathlete, and now a coach.

She worked with men all the time. At first, under the guidance of her husband, then she got into the first team. It is very important that I went through shooting training with the guys - I learned a lot from them.

Actually, for me, an example was the act of a famous Norwegian skier Greta Nukelmo, which after the Olympics in Calgary moved to biathlon. When I saw her in action last year, she prophesied victory in the sprint at the World Championships in Lahti. She won, and also won silver at 15 kilometers. Then I thought: what am I worse?

As you can see, everything turned out well. True, I still attribute three misses in the "stand" to instability in shooting. In addition, a terrible snowfall was very disturbing. Actually, for me, the more difficult the conditions, the better. Snow on the track is not a problem. True, the terrain here is very difficult, especially on the way to the shooting range. Usually, at this point in the distance, a gentle descent is made so that you can catch your breath a little before shooting. Here, on the contrary, there is a long steep slope. They say that by the time you have to throw up a rifle, the heartbeat reached 180 beats per minute. Nightmare! But interesting…

The last gold of hockey players

To the national team Viktor Tikhonov no one set. At first. Indeed, literally on the very eve of the Games, a whole galaxy went to the NHL - either eight or nine - leading players. And according to the rules that existed at that time, they were ordered to go back, not to their native country, but to the Olympic Games. Only in 1998, in Nagano, for the first time, professionals played in a hockey tournament.

And the great coach went to Albertville, in fact, with young people, talented, of course, and stubborn, striving to prove by all means that they were no worse than others, those who had already gone to North America, and to get on the pencil of NHL scouts. Even in individual pre-Alberville interviews with Tikhonov, one could catch the idea of ​​​​this: his guys will strive to show themselves brighter at the Olympics in order to later get a more profitable contract as a professional. And along with the youth there were two unconditional accomplished masters - Vyacheslav Bykov and Andrey Khomutov who preferred Switzerland to North America.

To be honest, I got to Meribel only to the semi-finals: in fact, it was not realistic to be in time everywhere, therefore I postponed visiting hockey for the last time, especially since the distances in Savoy, as you have already read, were not close (one of the colleagues was not too lazy - he calculated that spent on buses during the Games a total of almost a hundred hours). And then the semi-finals. Yes, even some - with the Americans.

Before the start of the game, I spoke with Vladislav Tretiak, I wanted to know a competent opinion about the upcoming meeting. And he, as well as many around, remembered the final match lost to the Americans 12 years ago at the White Olympics in Lake Placid. And only then, with confidence and some pathos, he remarked: "The current generation of our hockey players is quite capable of becoming champions."

This was not a direct answer to the question posed, which, however, implied that the Americans should be beaten unambiguously. It happened anyway. Although after two periods, the numbers 2:2 were on the scoreboard.

He did not even begin to be interested in what the coaches said during the break (this time Tikhonov was helped Igor Dmitriev), but our hockey players started the third period in such a way that it became clear: there would be no extra time, and even less shootouts this time. On the poor Ray Leblanca, a great goalkeeper, by the way, from the first seconds such a hail of shots fell that he did not have time to work with a stick and a trap, he was forced to beat off the pucks even with a helmet and a mask. The result is 5:2.

The next day was the final against the Canadians. “We will beat them tomorrow, you'll see,” he assured Evgeny Mayorov, by that time already a popular TV commentator, but actually a wonderful hockey player, Olympic champion in 1964. - Frankly, such a game as with the Americans has not been commented on for a long time. When Bykov's trio played a classic combination and the score became 3:2, a lump came to my throat - it reminded me of the good old days.

Before the start of the final, they were struck by empty seats in the stands, although there was a sign “All tickets sold out” at the box office, and a lot of Canadian flags - wherever you look. We didn’t even have a flag of our own - you can’t put up, in fact, a standard with five Olympic rings.

From the very beginning, the game started to be kind of boring: the opponents did not take much risks, they acted strictly on the defensive, preferring counterattacks. Nevertheless, our team had some territorial advantage. But how the wall stood at the gate Sean Burke.

After two periods, as well as the day before with the Americans, a draw. Only this time the scoreboard showed zeros. But as the end of the match approached, the tension increased. And if the outwardly calm Tikhonov sometimes broke into falsetto, this was another confirmation of the situation on the ice and around, heated to the limit.

It was possible to soak the score just a minute and one second after the start of the third segment - Evgeny Davydov With Vyacheslav Butsaev rolled out against Bourque. The first one threw - did not hit. The second puck that bounced off the side without hesitation sent past the goalkeeper who did not have time to stand up.

We had to wait more than 15 minutes for the next goal. Did it in the 56th minute Igor Boldin. But even one and a half minutes did not pass, as the rivals managed to close the gap - 1:2. And the tribunes, which were depressed, revived. And the Canadians fussed on the ice - here it is, the opportunity to recoup! They all rushed to our gates, and Bykov and Khomutov caught the opponents on the counterattack and scored the decisive goal. Everything.

Exactly everything, everything in general: more than any other Games - neither in Lillehammer, nor in Nagano, nor in Salt Lake City, nor in Turin, nor in Sochi, did domestic hockey players manage to win.

Outcome of Strange Games

At the end of each Olympic Games - whether summer or winter - the President of the IOC in his final speech thanks the organizers and certainly calls them the best in history. True, this time we did not hear the speech of Samaranch - we were already on the train to the French capital. We didn’t go to the closing: we were already bored with these so-called strange Games. Since the audience almost yawned at the opening ceremony, one could assume what happened at the farewell party.

These were the worst Games of all in which I participated, - the Spanish alpine skier, Olympic medalist of Albertville Blanca Fernandez-Ochoa, for whom this Olympics was the fourth, admitted at a press conference after the award. - You see, the Olympic spirit is not felt here at all, as it was before. Rather, it is a World Cup or even a World Cup stage. Six Olympic villages at a terrible distance from each other. We could not even cheer for our compatriots.

And she was echoed by all, without exception, the athletes who started at these Games.

But for OK, a team assembled in a fire order, 23 awards won, of which 9 were gold, it was an undoubted success that no one could have predicted. Only the Germans performed better. So it probably should have been. But they also had only one gold more than ours. Russian (namely Russian, this is not a mistake) skiers distinguished themselves (3 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze), the skaters had 3 highest awards and one silver and one bronze medal, biathletes had two awards of each value. Even in a completely new short track for us, we managed to win bronze in the women's relay.

For OK, a team assembled in a fire order, 23 awards won, of which 9 gold, it was an undoubted success that no one could have predicted.

By the way, abstracting from OK, I note that 22 medals are purely Russian, only one gold for Ukraine was won by figure skater Viktor Petrenko.

And I will not reproach representatives of other disciplines for the failures, mindful of the political and economic situation in which the newly formed countries of the former and just collapsed Union found themselves. After all, the same Russia was left without bases once erected in the republics of a great country - in the Baltic states, in Ukraine, in the Caucasus, in the same Kazakhstan (I mean Medeo).

Two years later, the OC no longer existed in Lillehammer, the teams from each of the countries arrived on their own. But that's a completely different story.

From February 8 to February 23, 1992, the XVI Winter Olympic Games were held in Albertville (France). France has already hosted the Winter Olympics twice: Chamonix in 1924 and Grenoble in 1968. This Winter Olympics was the last to be held in a leap year.

At the same time, the French Olympic Committee applied to host the 1992 Summer Olympics in Paris. When Albertville won the election, he robbed Paris of any chance, since the rules of the IOC do not allow the Olympics to be held twice in a row in the same country.

Olympic symbols Albertville 1992

The emblem of the Winter Olympics in Albertville 1992 depicted the Olympic flame in the colors of the Savoie region. The emblem showed the originality of the games in Albertville and performed three main functions: to show the highlands, modernity and sports, to highlight.

The talisman is a half-man, half-deity whose figure combines dream and imagination through its unusual star shape.

The stadium where the opening and closing of the 1992 Winter Olympics took place was specially built for them.

At the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, athletes from 6 CIS countries participated. The CIS team at the 1992 Olympics was the Unified Team. In the CIS team at the 1992 Olympics, almost all the medals were won by athletes from Russia, athletes from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan did not receive a single medal.

For the first time at the Winter Olympics in Albertville in 1992, medals were awarded in 3 disciplines: women's biathlon, short track, freestyle skiing (skating) style.
BUTNfisa Reztsova became the only athlete in the world to win gold in both biathlon and cross-country skiing.

Difficult situation stood out with hockey. As now, many venerable Soviet hockey players were not allowed to play in the NHL from professional teams. Young hockey players were able to take part, not counting Vyacheslav Bykov and Andrey Khomutov. The team was not among the favorites.

In the group, the team of coach Viktor Tikhonov lost to the Czechs, reaching the playoffs from second place, but after the combined hockey players made the USA (5-2) and defeated Canada in the final, becoming Olympic champions.

Viktor Tikhonov and his "Red Machine" Until the next such success will have to wait 26 years.

The youngest champion of the 1992 Winter Olympics was ski jumper 16-year-old Finn Toni Nieminen, who won two gold and one bronze medal.

The Norwegian national team received all the gold in the men's cross-country skiing, and also took all the prizes in the men's 30 km cross-country skiing.

The New Zealand team won the silver medal, the first and so far the last time an athlete from the southern hemisphere won the medal at the Albertville Winter Games.

Team standings at the Winter Olympics in Albertville

Croatia and Slovenia participated for the first time in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville as independent states, and Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - after a long break.

Featured sports
Biathlon
Bobsled
Skiing
Skating
Nordic combined
Ski race
ski jumping
luge
Short track
Figure skating
Freestyle
Hockey
Demo Views
Acrobatics and freestyle ballet
Speedskiing

On the XVI Winter Olympic Games 1804 athletes arrived in Albertville, including 492 women representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of 65 countries. This was a record number of participants in the history of the Winter Olympics.

The competition program was also record-breaking. Medals were played in 57 types of competitions in 12 sports. For the first time, sets of awards were played in 15 types of competitions: women in biathlon - 7.5 km, 15 km and 3 x 7.5 km relay race; in cross-country skiing for 30 km, instead of the previous race for 20 km; in freestyle - mogul; short track 1000 and 5000 m; in ski jumping from a 120-meter springboard, instead of a 70-meter one; in curling.

Acrobatics and ballet in freestyle and speed skiing were included as demonstration numbers of the program, both male and female. 1992 Olympics convincingly demonstrated the ever-increasing popularity of winter sports. Only in comparison with the previous Olympics in Calgary, the number of participating countries increased by 12, the number of athletes - by 123. There were about 7 thousand representatives of the media - one and a half times more than in Calgary, four times more than athletes. Two new sports have appeared - short track and freestyle, and the number of competitions has increased by 11.

Changes in the political situation in the world could not but affect the alignment of forces in the international sports arena. In connection with the unification, Germany was represented by a single team. At the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988, the athletes of the GDR and the FRG won a total of 33 medals - 11 gold, 14 silver, 8 bronze, and 235 points in the unofficial team standings. Therefore, there was every reason to think that the German Olympians would take first place in the team wrestling.

The Olympic Games in Albertville were held two months after the USSR ceased to exist as a single state. Questions immediately arose about the status of the team, its financing, staffing, preparation and participation in the Olympics. Finally, after lengthy discussions and negotiations, it was decided that the Olympic team of the former USSR would act as a united team of the Commonwealth of Independent States - CIS under the Olympic flag. In honor of the winners and prize-winners from the CIS team, the Olympic flag was also to be raised. The CIS team did not have a guarantee money contribution to make it to the French NOC for participation in the Olympic Games, as well as to send it to Albertville. In the end, these problems, which had never arisen before, were resolved and the team of the former USSR ended up at the 1992 Olympics.

The results of the Olympic Games reflected the intensification of rivalry in winter sports in the international sports arena. Compared to the 1988 Games in Calgary, the number of countries whose athletes managed to win gold medals increased from 11 to 14. Among the medalists were athletes from 20 countries, while at the previous Games there were 17. Among the champions and prize-winners of the Winter Olympic Games, athletes appeared countries that have never had achievements in winter sports - the Republic of Korea, Spain, Italy, New Zealand.

Many outstanding athletes were invited to the Olympic Games in Albertville, who wrote glorious pages in the history of the Winter Olympics. Among them was the two-time Lake Placid Olympic champion in 1932 in speed skating. Jack Shea who was in his 84th year. First Olympic Winter Olympic champion Charles Juthrow, who was in his 95th year, could not attend this meeting.

Norwegian athletes achieved outstanding success in men's cross-country skiing: they were the first in all distances, in the 4 × 10 km relay, they received five gold medals. The hero of the 1992 Olympics was the Norwegian skier Vegard Ulvang, who was awarded three gold and one silver medals. Among women, athletes from the CIS team performed most successfully, having managed to win three gold medals. The most striking was the performance of Lyubov Egorova, who won two gold medals in the individual championship and one in the 4 × 5 km relay. Italian skiers finished the competition with pretty good results. For example, Stefania Belmondo was the winner in the 30 km race. In addition, the Italians won 5 silver and bronze medals.

In biathlon, three gold medals went to German athletes - a 10 km race for men, a men's 4 × 7.5 km relay, a 15 km race for women, two medals for athletes from the CIS team - a 7.5 km race for women and 20 km in men, and one award, in the women's relay race 3 × 7.5 km, was received by French athletes.

In speed skating, German athletes had a clear advantage. In addition to the two gold medals won by men at distances of 500 m and 1000 m, women managed to add three more. The most successful was Gunda Nieman, who won two gold medals in the 3000 m and 5000 m, and one silver medal in the 1500 m. Two gold medals went to athletes from the USA and Norway.

In 10 types of alpine skiing competitions, gold medals were distributed as follows: Austria - 3, Italy - 3, Norway - 2, Sweden - 1, Canada - 1. The real sensation of the competition was the sharpest struggle between the representatives of the Alpine countries and the Olympians of Norway, Sweden, Canada .

In the men's short track competitions, both gold medals were won by athletes from the Republic of Korea.

In figure skating, three gold medals went to athletes of the CIS team. To the already traditional victories in pair skating and ice dancing, a gold medal was added in single skating among men, won by Ukrainian athlete Viktor Petrenko.

In the men's luge competition, the first two places were taken by German athletes. Doris Neuner from the Austrian team won gold among women.

The crews of Switzerland (two) and Austria (four) won gold medals among bobsledders.

A difficult situation has developed in ice hockey competitions. The composition of the participants was quite even. The CIS team was filled with young little-known players, as all the leading players went overseas to play for various professional NHL clubs. As a result of the preliminary competition, in which 12 teams took part, teams from the USA, Sweden, Canada and the CIS managed to get into the semifinals. Athletes of the CIS hockey team unexpectedly easily outplayed the leader of the first preliminary group in the semi-finals the US team with a score of 5:2, and in the final of the Canadians with a score of 3:1.

The Olympic Games in Albertville, perhaps more than any of the previous ones, abounded in surprises and surprises, unpredictable results in many types of competitions. The matter was not limited to the success of the representatives of the northern countries in alpine skiing, and Italy - in cross-country skiing. No less surprising was the success of the “flying skiers” from Austria, who won 4 medals out of 6, and the luge sisters Doris and Angelika Neuner. The success of the French biathletes in the relay did not go unnoticed - the first place, as well as the appearance among the winners of the Winter Olympic Games of the representatives of China in speed skating, New Zealand and Spain in alpine skiing.

The team championship was won by German athletes who won 26 medals - 10 gold, 10 silver, 6 bronze and 181 points in the unofficial team standings. In second place were the athletes of the CIS team, who received 163 points and 23 medals - 9 gold, 6 silver, 8 bronze. These results were quite natural and were not unexpected either for specialists or for lovers of winter sports. The third place of the Norwegian Olympians, who won 193 points and 20 medals - 9 gold, 6 silver, 5 bronze, was the sensation of the Winter Olympic Games. After all, Norway has long lost its former glory as a winter sports power and was content with modest results: in 1988, 42 points and 5 medals - 3 silver and 2 bronze; in 1984, 71 points and 9 medals - 3 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze; in 1980 72 points and 10 medals - 1 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze and in 1976 50.5 points and 7 medals - 3 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze. The significant increase in the performance of Norwegian athletes in recent years is primarily due to two factors. The first of these is undoubtedly the rich tradition of winter sports in this country. The excellent material base, the popularity of winter sports among the population, the availability of good specialists naturally create favorable conditions for the training of outstanding athletes. However, the practice of the 70-80s showed that these factors were not enough in the absence of a coherent system for training the most talented athletes. Already in the first half of the 1980s, Norwegian specialists were convinced that without changing the organizational and methodological foundations for training the strongest athletes, it would not be possible to return to leading positions in winter sports. As the president of the NOC of Norway, Arne Mürwald, noted, after an unsuccessful performance at the 1984 Winter Olympics, it was decided to abandon the approach that previously existed in Norway to the preparation of high-class athletes. The main organizational and methodological provisions of the training of Norwegian Olympians were undoubtedly borrowed from the experience of training athletes in the countries of Eastern Europe and, above all, in the GDR. The first thing that was done was to identify a group of especially gifted athletes, and it was for them that the necessary conditions for full-fledged training were created. Previously, it was considered unacceptable to put some athletes in a privileged position in relation to others. Secondly, the entire system of training, all other competitions were subordinated to the main task - systematic, without forcing, preparation for the Olympic Games. Previously, training planning was mainly carried out in the interests of successful performance at the World Championships and World Cup competitions. The third is the use of modern means and methods of training, options for planning the training process. For example, in preparation for the Olympics in Albertville, Norwegian skiers made extensive use of mid-mountain training, training in the Alps at an altitude of 2000 m above sea level. All this not only explains the success of the Norwegian athletes at the XVI Winter Olympic Games, but allows us to say that they are able to achieve high results in the biggest competitions of subsequent years.

In 1992, the Winter Olympics were last held in the same year as the Summer ones. The IOC decided to continue to hold the Winter and Summer Olympic Games alternately with an interval of 2 years.

Applications for hosting the 1992 Olympics were submitted by several cities: Brisbane, Belgrade, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, ​​Birmingham. On October 17, 1986, it was decided to choose the capital of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​home of President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Mascot of the 1992 Summer Olympics

The puppy turned out to be of an indeterminate breed, and is recognized as the most elegant mascot: dressed in a dark blue suit and tie.

At the closing of the Games, the puppy Kobe, like the Moscow bear cub Misha, was sent into the sky in a balloon.

Symbols of the 1992 Olympics

We have developed four collections of: official, design, art and photo posters of various sports.

On the emblem of the Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​​​the figure of a man who jumps over a barrier of 5 Olympic rings.

Opening of the 1992 Summer Olympics

The ceremony took place on July 25, 1992 at the Montjuïc stadium in the capital city of Barcelona. According to estimates, more than 2 billion viewers saw it.
The main theme of the colorful show was the foundation of the city of Barcelona and the exploits of the legendary Hercules. Two musical themes were written specially for the opening:

• "Barcelona", for the duo Montserrat Caballe and Freddie Mercury;
• "AmigosParaSiempre" (Friends for life) for Sarah Brightman and José Carreras.

Since Mercury died, the first song was recorded, and the second live.

After the parade of athletes from 171 countries, the President of the IOC and the President of the Organizing Committee of the Games spoke. Juan Carlos I, King of Spain declared the 1992 Olympic Games open and the Olympic flag was raised.

The fire of the Games was lit very spectacularly by Antonio Rebolho, a Spanish archer, who shot a burning arrow into the bowl directly from the center of the stadium.

United team of the former republics of the USSR

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, they did not have time to submit applications for participation in the Games and, by decision of the IOC, they came to perform as a united team of the Commonwealth of Independent States - OC CIS. Only Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania arrived on their own.

At the opening ceremony, delegations from each country in the Joint Team marched together, but under the national flags of Belarus, Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia and Uzbekistan.

The flag of the team with the Olympic rings was carried by the famous wrestler Alexander Karelin.
He became the flag bearer at three Olympics, Seoul, Barcelona, ​​Atlanta, and won gold medals at all.

It was the athletes of the Joint Team who became the first in the team event: 112 medals, including 45 gold, 38 silver, 29 bronze. The second place was taken by athletes from the USA, the third place went to Germany.

Athletes, shooters, swimmers, wrestlers, gymnasts and weightlifters won the most medals.

The most outstanding result was shown by a gymnast from Belarus Vitaly Shcherbo - 6 gold medals. The 20-year-old athlete from Minsk made history with his victories at the 1992 Olympic Games. He became the first in Olympic history to win 4 gold medals in one day.

The sensation of the swimming competition was 3 gold medals for Yevgeny Sadovoy and 2 for Alexander Popov, who later received 2 more silver ones.

Closing of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona

The ceremony was held as standard: a colorful show and a parade of all participating countries. Then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch congratulated Spain on the successful hosting of the 1992 Olympic Games and traditionally called them the best in history.

The flag was lowered, the Olympic fire was extinguished. At the end there was a grand fireworks display.

The Albertville Olympics were held from 8 to 23 February 1992. It became the sixteenth Winter Olympics in a row. More than 1.8 thousand athletes from 64 countries of the world came to the games. 57 sets of medals were played in 13 disciplines.

At the official competition, the Olympic flame flaunted, which was painted in the colors of the French region of Savoy. The mascot of the Games in Albertville was a fictional character named Magik - half human, half deity. The French themselves positioned him as a fabulous elf. It was shaped like a star. In Albertville, for the first time in the history of the modern Olympic movement, the original mascot was replaced. At first, mountain chamois was approved in this capacity, but this image did not become popular, so it was decided to replace it.

Albertville can be considered the capital of the Olympics with a big stretch. In this city, less than a third of all sets of medals were played. This is because the sports facilities were not concentrated in one place, but scattered across the 12 villages and towns closest to Albertville. In this regard, not one large Olympic village was built, but six small ones. After the competition, the local municipality found proper use for them, but the impressive size of the "Theatre of Ceremonies", where the opening and closing of the Olympics took place, was soon dismantled to the very foundation as unnecessary. The torch with fire was delivered to the opening ceremony on a supersonic Concorde.

For the first time, competitions in short track, freestyle and women's biathlon appeared in the Olympic program. Curling, speed skiing, as well as ski acrobatics were included in the demonstration program of these games.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the so-called unified team came to Albertville for the Olympics. It had an unofficial name - the CIS team and performed under the anthem and banner of the International Olympic Committee. This team included six states: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia. Athletes of the united team were able to win 23 medals, 9 of which were of the highest value.

The Baltic republics of the former USSR: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania performed separately. The former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia and Croatia also preferred to perform solo. The German national team, on the contrary, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, arrived in Albertville as a united team.

In men's cross-country skiing, the Norwegians had no equal. They were able to become the first at all distances. The skier Vegard Ulvang, who won three golds and one silver, was especially distinguished. In women's cross-country skiing, athletes from the combined team performed most successfully. The heroine was Lyubov Yegorova. In biathlon, the leaders were seized by athletes from Germany, France and the CIS team. In speed skating, the Germans had a great advantage. The athletes of the CIS team were triumphant in figure skating.

Athletes from Germany won the team championship. The CIS Olympians took the second position, and Norway took the third one.