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1998 Winter Paralympics

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VII Paralympic Winter Games
LocationNagano, Japan
MottoFureai and Inspiration
(Japanese: ふれあいと感)
Nations32
Athletes571
Events122 in 4 sports
Opening5 March
Closing14 March
Opened by
Cauldron
Naoya Maruyama
StadiumM-Wave
Winter
Summer
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 Olympics in Nagano, 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]

Bidding Process

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On June 15, 1991, when the city of Nagano was chosen as the host city of the 1998 Winter Olympics, it was decided that the Paralympic Winter Games, “other Olympic Games”, would be held at the same time. to make this a reality.It was also informally decided that the previously known "other Olympic Games" would also be held in the city. But, for this to happen, the recently founded International Paralympic Committee (IPC) would have to choose the city separately and independently, opening a possibility that other cities around the world could compete for interest with Nagano.[2][3][3]

The bidding board was chaired by the president of the Japan Sports Association for the Physically Disabled and consisted of 13 committee members and two observers.At the same time,a local Nagano welfare director was appointed, in charge of promoting various projects.[4]

On November 8, 1991, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) invited Nagano to host the VII Winter Paralympic Games, and on July 30, 1992, the Nagano 1998 Paralympic Winter Games bidding committee was established and a final presentation to the Executive Board from the IPC was held on General Assembly in September 1993 and the host city contract was signed on the 7th March 1994 during the 1994 Winter Paralympics.[5]

Preparations

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A series of public events were held to envolve the city and their citizens about the Paralympics and the disability persons rights.The first of then was Paralympic flag welcoming ceremony, held on 22 March 1994.At the same day,a access for disabled people opened at the Kawanakajima Historic Park.In addition, several citizen groups have promoted people-friendly community development projects.During some time, the local authorities and a team of voluntaries held a survey and poll to find out what problems people with various disabilities face in living a safe and comfortable life in Nagano, and as results they recommend countermeasures.However, the first specific action made by Nagano Prefecture for the Paralympics was a investment of 1.2 billion yen specifically for the NAPOC operational demands,such as specific training for firefighters and other public services actions.This also involved the absorption of the Bidding Committee employees into the Organizing Committee into the NAPOC staff.[4]

In June 17, 1996,when when there were 600 days left until the Games.the city hall announced that the 8 common sectors of the two committees would be merged in view of the fact that this operational model was the same as that used by Lillehammer for the 1994 Winter Paralympic Games with the 8 common areas of the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games were and the then mayor Tasuku Tsukada assumed the chair of the two Organizing Committees, while the city hall announced that the same programs developed by local authorities for the Olympic Games such as "One School, One Country" and the cultural and creative competitions were expanded to the Paralympic Games, in the same way as "Happy Nagano Project",also also included.Another actions were planed to holding specific events and making souvenirs and also another particular events specific for the Paralympics.In particular, the Nagano Paralympic Athletes Association was created.This association was made mainly by organizations of people with disabilities and volunteer groups that support them. This group was unique for its unique activities centered on the city of Nagano, with the aim of “clarifying people's needs”.[4]

The Organizing Committee also held countdown public celebrations between 1994 to 1998, while public relations and awareness activities liven up the event and increase the feeling of participation among citizens,which ended up working,as they understand and managed to get involved and took on the main public relations role for the event.[4]

Visual Identity

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The philosophy of the Nagano Paralympic Winter Games was to "bring together people with physical disabilities from all over the world, expand friendships and international goodwill through sport, which is a shared culture of humanity, discover new possibilities and create bright hopes".Creating an event that the stakeholders can feel brave and courageous”, and the main concept of the event was “Interaction and Inspiration”. Through a public contest, the main slogan was determined to be “Spreading excitement, excitement, excitement”, and the sub-slogans were “You shine in the winter of 1998 in Nagano” and “Nagano shines now, the joy of living.” The main mark is an abbreviation of the character ``cho in Nagano and represents a snow bunny running happily on snow and ice being part of that whole. The mascot was created based on this mark and was called ``Pararabit``[4]

Mascot

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Parabbit
Mascot of the 1998 Winter Paralympics (Nagano)
CreatorSadahiko Kojima
SignificanceA white rabbit resembling the Games logo

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.[6] It was created by Sadahiko Kojima.[7] A nationwide competition was held among students to decide on the name, which drew 10,057 entries suggesting 3,408 different names.[8]

Torch Relay

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The Nagano 1998 Winter Paralympic Games torch was lit on February 25, 1998 by tradicional methods at the Yoyogi Park and visited Kanagawa,Yokohama,Shizuoka,Aichi,Nagoya,Gifu and entered Nagano Prefecture on February 26, 1998, through the city of Iida on February 26th.From there, the fire was transported to the city of Nagano by relay teams from all 125 prefectural municipalities on two routes from east to west and were merged at Nagano City Central Square at March 4 evening.During next day in the morning, the torch left the square and 24 teams of 3 people took turns until it entered during the end of the protocol part at M-Wave when the two cauldrons were lit.[4][9]

Opening ceremony

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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.[10]

The cauldron

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This was the last time that the organization of the Paralympic Games did not use the official Olympic cauldron, as the locations of the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies were different.A scenographic cauldron was used during the opening ceremonies and thus,outside the M-Wave the organizers decided to build a second cauldron who reproduced the cauldron that is annually set up in Nozawaonsen village for the Sagichō Fire Festival.[11]

Closing Ceremonies

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The closing ceremonies of the Nagano Paralympic Games was held on M-Wave on March 14, 1998, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. With the theme “Hope and Legacy”, the event took place without distinguishing between protocolar acts and the Noh culture. Approximately 1,150 athletes, officials and approximately 8,000 spectators participated in the event who finished with the protocolar segments and the handover of the Paralympic flag to Salt Lake City and the extinguishing of the Paralympic cauldron.[4]

Sports

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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.[12][10]

Venues

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In total seven venues were used at the 1998 Winter Olympics around four cities and towns.[13]

Calendar

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In the following calendar for the 1998 Winter Paralympics, each blue box represents an event competition. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport were held. The number in each yellow box represents the number of finals that were contested on that day.[13]

   ●    Opening ceremony    ●    Event competitions    ●    Event finals    ●    Closing ceremony
March 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th
Ceremonies    ●                       ●   
Alpine Skiing      ●       ●       ●       ●         ●       ●       ●       ●   
Biathlon      12                   
Cross-country skiing          ●         ●         ●       ●   
Ice sledge hockey    ●       ●       ●       ●       ●       ●       1   
Ice sledge speed racing        8       4       4     

Medal table

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

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Norway1891340
2 Germany14171344
3 United States1381334
4 Japan*12161341
5 Russia1210931
6 Switzerland105823
7 Spain8008
8 Austria7161134
9 Finland75719
10 France59822
Totals (10 entries)1069595296

Participants

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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.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Winter Games Overview". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ a b [2]
  4. ^ a b c d e f g [3]
  5. ^ [4]
  6. ^ "Nagano 1998 Paralympic Mascot Parabbit - Photos & History". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Olympic Museum-Nagano 1998, Parabbit, the Paralympic Games' mascot". Musée Olympique. 16 April 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Nagano 1998 Paralympic Winter Games". National Paralympic Heritage Trust. 7 March 1994. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  9. ^ [5]
  10. ^ a b "Nagano 1998". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  11. ^ パラリンピック: 地上最強のピンバッジ情報. nagano1998.way-nifty.com (in Japanese). January 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  12. ^ "Nagano 1998". International Paralympic Committee. 4 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009.
  13. ^ a b "Schedule of the Nagano Paralympics". Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  14. ^ "Nagano 1998 - ParticipantNumbers".
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Preceded by Winter Paralympics
Nagano

VII Paralympic Winter Games (1998)
Succeeded by