1.
1998 Winter Paralympics
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The 1998 Winter Paralympics, the seventh Winter Paralympics, were held alongside the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan from March 5 to March 14,1998. They were the first Paralympic Winter Games to be held outside Europe,571 athletes competed in Nagano, it still remains the highest number of athletes competing at any Winter Paralympics. The games consisted of 34 events in four sports, alpine skiing, ice hockey, Ice sledge racing. The sport of Nordic skiing comprised two disciplines, the biathlon and cross-country skiing, alpine skiing Sledge hockey Ice sledge racing Nordic skiing Biathlon Cross-country skiing In total 7 venues were used at the 1998 Winter Olympics around 4 cities and towns. 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. 1998 Winter Olympics International Paralympic Committee The event at SVTs open archive The event at Nagano Shinano Mainich Shimbum
2.
Nagano, Nagano
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Nagano is the capital city of Nagano Prefecture in the Chūbu region of Japan. As of 1 October 2016, the city had an population of 375,234. Its total area was 834.81 square kilometres, during the Sengoku period, the area was hotly contested between the forces of the Uesugi clan based in Echigo Province and the Takeda clan based in Kai Province. The several Battles of Kawanakajima between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen were fought near here, during the Edo period, much of the area came under the control of the Sanada clan based at Matsushiro Domain. The area suffered from flooding in 1742, and from a earthquake in 1847. Following the Meiji restoration and the creation of the system on April 1,1889. Nagano was elevated to city status on April 1,1897 and it was the first city founded in Nagano Prefecture and the 43rd city in Japan. The city borders expanded on July 1,1923, with the annexation of the town of Yoshida and villages of Sarita, Miwa. The city again expanded on April 1,1954 by annexing neighbouring villages of Asahi, Furusato, Yanagihara, Wakatsuki, Asakawa, Naganuma, Amori, Odagiri, Imoi and Mamejima. In 1959, due to the flooding of Chikuma River,71 people died or were missing and 20,000 homes were flooded. On October 16,1966, the city expanded by annexing the neighbouring towns of Kawanakajima, Matsushiro and Wakaho, and villages of Shinonoi, Kohoku, Shinko. During the 1985 Matsushiro earthquake,27 people died and 60 homes were destroyed or badly damaged due to landslides, in 1998, Nagano hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics and the Paralympics. It was elevated to a city with increased local autonomy in 1999. Nagano continued to expand on January 1,2005, by absorbing the municipalities of Toyono, and the village of Togakushi, and Kinasa, Nagano hosted the 2005 Special Olympics World Winter Games. On January 1,2010, Nagano absorbed the town of Shinshūshinmachi, as of 2010, Nagano was the southernmost host of the Winter Olympic Games. The Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon is held annually to commemorate the occasion, Nagano is located in north-central Nagano Prefecture, near the confluence of the Chikuma River and the Sai River. The city receives heavy winter snow totaling 2.57 metres from December to March, the city has 12 public high schools operated by the Nagano Prefectural Board of Education, one public high school operated by the city government, and five private high schools. In addition, the city has four special education schools, the citys main railway hub, Nagano Station, and the smaller Shinonoi Station, were expanded for the Olympics
3.
Japanese language
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Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, whose relation to language groups, particularly to Korean. Little is known of the prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, during the Heian period, Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese saw changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language, the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region in the Early Modern Japanese period. Following the end in 1853 of Japans self-imposed isolation, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, English loanwords in particular have become frequent, and Japanese words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or make questions. Nouns have no number or gender, and there are no articles. Verbs are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice, but not person, Japanese equivalents of adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener. Japanese has no relationship with Chinese, but it makes extensive use of Chinese characters, or kanji, in its writing system. Along with kanji, the Japanese writing system uses two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. Latin script is used in a fashion, such as for imported acronyms. Very little is known about the Japanese of this period, Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. Through the spread of Buddhism, the Chinese writing system was imported to Japan, the earliest texts found in Japan are written in Classical Chinese, but they may have been meant to be read as Japanese by the kanbun method. Some of these Chinese texts show the influences of Japanese grammar, in these hybrid texts, Chinese characters are also occasionally used phonetically to represent Japanese particles. The earliest text, the Kojiki, dates to the early 8th century, the end of Old Japanese coincides with the end of the Nara period in 794
4.
Olympic sports
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Olympic sports are sports contested in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The 2016 Summer Olympics included 28 sports, with five additional sports due to be added to the 2020 Summer Olympics, the 2014 Winter Olympics included seven sports. The number and kinds of events may change slightly from one Olympiad to another, each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing body, namely an International Federation. The International Olympic Committee establishes a hierarchy of sports, disciplines, according to this hierarchy, the Olympic sports can be subdivided into multiple disciplines, which are often assumed to be distinct sports. Examples include swimming and water polo, or figure skating and speed skating, in their turn, disciplines can be subdivided into events, for which medals are actually awarded. The IOCs requirements reflect participation in the Olympic Games as well—more stringent toward men, previous Olympic Games included sports which are no longer present on the current program, like polo and tug of war. These sports, known as discontinued sports, were removed either because of lack of interest or absence of an appropriate governing body. Archery and tennis are examples of sports that were competed at the early Games and were dropped by the IOC. Demonstration sports have often included in the Olympic Games, usually to promote a local sport from the host country or to gauge interest. Some such sports, like baseball and curling, were added to the official Olympic program, baseball, however, was discontinued after the 2008 Summer Olympics. The term sport in Olympic terminology refers to all the events that are sanctioned by one international sport federation, one sport, by Olympic definition, may be divided into several disciplines, which are often regarded as separate sports in common language. Skating is a winter Olympic sport represented by the International Skating Union, and includes four disciplines, figure skating, speed skating, short track speed skating, and synchronized skating. The sport with the largest number of Olympic disciplines is skiing, with six, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, nordic combined, snowboarding, other notable multi-discipline sports are gymnastics, cycling, volleyball, wrestling, canoeing, and bobsleigh. The disciplines listed here are only those contested in the Olympics—gymnastics has two disciplines, while cycling and wrestling have three each. It should also be noted that the IOC definition of a discipline may differ from that used by an international federation, for example, the IOC considers artistic gymnastics a single discipline, but the International Federation of Gymnastics classifies mens and womens artistic gymnastics as separate disciplines. An event, by IOC definition, is a competition that leads to the award of medals. The number of events per sport ranges from a minimum of two to a maximum of 47 in athletics, which despite its number of events and its diversity is not divided into disciplines. The only summer sports that have never been absent from the Olympic program are athletics, aquatics, cycling, fencing, the only winter sports that were included in all Winter Olympic Games are skiing, skating, and ice hockey
5.
Emperor of Japan
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The Emperor of Japan is the head of the Imperial Family and is the ceremonial head of state of Japans system of constitutional monarchy. According to the 1947 constitution, he is the symbol of the State, in Japanese, the Emperor is called Tennō, which means heavenly sovereign. In English, the use of the term Mikado for the Emperor was once common, currently, the Emperor of Japan is the only remaining monarch in the world reigning under the title of Emperor. The Imperial House of Japan is the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world, in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, it is said that Japan was founded in 660 BC by Emperor Jimmu. He acceded the Chrysanthemum Throne upon the death of his father, Emperor Shōwa, the role of the Emperor of Japan has historically alternated between a largely ceremonial symbolic role and that of an actual imperial ruler. Since the establishment of the first shogunate in 1192, the Emperors of Japan have rarely taken on a role as supreme battlefield commander, Japanese Emperors have nearly always been controlled by external political forces, to varying degrees. In fact, between 1192 and 1867, the shoguns, or their shikken regents in Kamakura, were the de facto rulers of Japan, although they were nominally appointed by the Emperor. After the Meiji Restoration in 1867, the Emperor was the embodiment of all power in the realm. His current status as a figurehead dates from the 1947 Constitution, since the mid-nineteenth century, the Imperial Palace has been called Kyūjō, later Kōkyo, and is located on the former site of Edo Castle in the heart of Tokyo. Earlier, Emperors resided in Kyoto for nearly eleven centuries, the Emperors Birthday is a national holiday. Unlike most constitutional monarchies, the Emperor is not the nominal Chief Executive, article 65 of the Constitution explicitly vests executive power in the Cabinet, of which the Prime Minister is the leader. The Emperor is also not the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, the Japan Self-Defense Forces Act of 1954 also explicitly vests this role with the Prime Minister. The Emperors powers are limited only to important ceremonial functions, article 4 of the Constitution stipulates that the Emperor shall perform only such acts in matters of state as are provided for in the Constitution and he shall not have powers related to government. It also stipulates that the advice and approval of the Cabinet shall be required for all acts of the Emperor in matters of state, article 4 also states that these duties can be delegated by the Emperor as provided for by law. Article 6 of the Constitution delegates the Emperor the following ceremonial roles, Appointment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as designated by the Cabinet. Dissolution of the House of Representatives, proclamation of general election of members of the Diet. Attestation of the appointment and dismissal of Ministers of State and other officials as provided for by law, attestation of general and special amnesty, commutation of punishment, reprieve, and restoration of rights. Attestation of instruments of ratification and other documents as provided for by law
6.
Akihito
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Akihito is the reigning Emperor of Japan. He is the 125th emperor of his line according to Japans traditional order of succession, Akihito succeeded his father Shōwa and acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne on 7 January 1989. There has been ongoing coverage of his possible abdication due to age,31 December 2018 and 1 January 2019 has been mentioned as possible dates of such abdication. In Japan, the Emperor is never referred to by his given name, in writing, the Emperor is also referred to formally as The Reigning Emperor. The Era of Akihitos reign bears the name Heisei, and according to custom he will be renamed Emperor Heisei by order of the Cabinet after his death, at the same time, the name of the next era under his successor will also be established. Akihito was born in the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Tokyo City, Japan, and is the elder son and the fifth child of the Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun. Titled Prince Tsugu as a child, he was raised and educated by his private tutors, unlike his predecessors in the Imperial family, he did not receive a commission as an army officer, at the request of his father, Hirohito. During the American firebombing raids on Tokyo in March 1945, Akihito and his younger brother, during the American occupation of Japan following World War II, Prince Akihito was tutored in the English language and Western manners by Elizabeth Gray Vining. He briefly studied at the Department of Political Science at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, Akihito was heir-apparent to the Chrysanthemum Throne from the moment of his birth. His formal Investiture as Crown Prince was held at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on 10 November 1952, in June 1953 Akihito represented Japan at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London. Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko made official visits to thirty-seven countries, upon the death of Emperor Hirohito on 7 January 1989, his eldest son the Crown Prince Akihito succeeded to the throne, with an enthronement ceremony taking place on 12 November 1990. In 1998, during a visit to the United Kingdom. Emperor Akihito underwent surgery for cancer on 14 January 2003. Since succeeding to the throne, Emperor Akihito has made an effort to bring the Imperial family closer to the Japanese people, the Emperor and Empress of Japan have made official visits to eighteen countries and to all forty-seven Prefectures of Japan. The Emperor and Empress also made a visit on Wednesday,30 March 2011 to a temporary shelter housing refugees of the disaster and this kind of event is also extremely rare, though in line with the Emperors attempts to bring the Imperial family closer to the people. Later in 2011 he was admitted to suffering from pneumonia. In February 2012 it was announced that the Emperor would be having a coronary examination, however, senior officials within the Imperial Household Agency have denied that there is any official plan for the monarch to abdicate. A potential abdication by the Emperor would require an amendment to the Imperial Household Act, on 8 August 2016, the Emperor gave a rare televised address, where he emphasized his advanced age and declining health, this address is interpreted as an implication of his intention to abdicate
7.
Midori Ito
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Midori Ito or Midori Itō is a Japanese former figure skater. She is the 1989 World champion and the 1992 Olympic silver medalist and she is the first woman to land a triple-triple jump combination and a triple axel in competition. At the 1988 Calgary Olympics, she became the first woman to land seven triple jumps in a skating competition. Ito started skating at age four at a rink in Nagoya and approached Machiko Yamada and she landed her first triple jump at age 8. She went to live with her coach after her parents divorce when she was 10, Ito made her first appearance at a major international competition at the 1981 World Junior Championships. She placed 20th in the figures but won the free skating with a triple loop, a triple salchow. She finished 8th in the overall standings, at this event, the 11-year-old Ito was only 311 tall and weighed 53 pounds. She was nicknamed the Jumping Flea due to her diminutive size, at the 1982 World Junior Championships, Ito won both the short program and free skating, but again weak compulsory figures kept her off the podium, in 6th place overall. Her free skating at this event included a triple flip and a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, Ito did not compete at the 1983 World Junior event, which took place in December 1982, after having sustained a broken ankle earlier that year. She finished second to Katarina Witt, who went on to win the Olympic title a few months later, itos free skating included six triple jumps—flip, lutz, loop, salchow, and two toe loops—and she also completed a double loop-triple loop combination in the short program. At the 1984 World Junior Championships, she won both the program and free skating but finished third overall due to a low placement in the compulsory figures. Ito also competed at the 1984 World Championships, where she finished 7th, Ito won her first national championship in the 1985 season, but was unable to compete at that years World Championships after again breaking her ankle. Ito placed 5th at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada and she received 75.9 marks for technical merit, despite skating before the final flight. She became the first woman to land seven triples in a free skating, later that same year, she perfected the triple Axel, which she had been working on since her early teens, and landed it at a regional competition in the Aichi prefecture. She became the first woman to land it in competition at the 1988 NHK Trophy. She then repeated the feat at the World Championships in 1989 and her win at the 1989 World Championships was the first world title in the sport for an Asian competitor. She received five 6. 0s for technical merit, at the 1990 World Championships, Ito was 10th after the compulsory figures but placed first in both the short program and the free skating and won the silver medal, second to Jill Trenary. Compulsory figures were eliminated from competitions following that season, Ito commented, In training, I spend about two-thirds of my time on the figures
8.
Olympic Stadium
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Olympic Stadium is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies, many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words Olympic Stadium as part of their names. Olympic Stadium may also be named a stadium which hosts Olympic sports. In the case of the Summer Olympics, athletics competitions and the final are traditionally held in the Olympic Stadium. Exceptions to this have occurred though at the 1900,1996 and 2016 Summer Olympics as well as at the 2010 and 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, early Winter Games often used figure skating venues as focal points. These were often designated as the Olympic Stadium, usually hosting the opening and closing ceremonies, a number of stadiums have been used in more than one Olympics, in those cities that have held the Games more than once. Lysgårdsbakkene was the stadium of a Winter Olympics and a Winter Youth Olympic Games. Bergiselschanze was the stadium of two Winter Olympics and one Winter YOG. Olympiahalle jointly shared the Olympic Stadium role with Bergiselschanze during the two Winter Olympics, but not during the Winter YOG, only one stadium, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, has been the main stadium of two Summer Olympics. In addition to the inaugural Summer Olympics, Panathinaiko Stadio was also the stadium of the only Intercalated Games held. A number, including both the Panathinaiko Stadio and the Vélodrome de Vincennes, have hosted events at subsequent Olympics. The London Games of 2012 were not opened and closed at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium, the site of the 1948 Olympic Stadium, Wembley was, however, the venue for some 2012 Olympic football matches. Likewise, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was the stadium for the 1956 games. Lake Placids 1930 Olympic Stadium was utilized in the 1980 Lake Placid games as the speed skating venue, olympiahalle hosted figure skating and short-track speed skating during the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics. Stockholm Olympic Stadium hosted equestrian events for the 1956 Summer Olympics, Olympic Past & Future Stadiums - BALLPARKS. com Summer Olympic Stadiums 1896 - on Google Maps
9.
Nagano Olympic Stadium
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Nagano Olympic Stadium is a baseball stadium in Nagano, Nagano, Japan. It was used for the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1998 Winter Olympics, the stadium is the finishing point for the annual Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon
10.
1994 Winter Olympics
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The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event, Lillehammer was awarded the 1994 Winter Olympics in 1988, after beating Anchorage, United States, Östersund, Sweden, and Sofia, Bulgaria. Lillehammer is the northernmost city to ever host the Winter Games, while many events took place in Lillehammer, skating took place in Hamar, some ice hockey matches were placed in Gjøvik, while Alpine skiing was held in Øyer and Ringebu. Sixty-seven countries and 1,737 athletes participated in six sports, fourteen countries made their debut in the Winter Olympics, of which nine were former Soviet republics. The Games also saw the introduction of stricter qualifying rules, reducing the number of under-performing participants from warm-weather countries, new events were two new distances in short track speed skating and aerials, while speed skating was moved indoors. Nearly two million people spectated the games, which were the first to have the Olympic truce in effect, the games were succeeded by the 1994 Winter Paralympics from 10 to 19 March. Manuela Di Centa and Lyubov Yegorova dominated womens cross-country skiing, taking five and four medals, a crowd of over 100,000 saw Italy beat Norway by 0.4 seconds on the mens 4 x 10 km relay. Vreni Schneider won a set of medals in Alpine skiing. Nancy Kerrigan had, before the games, been clubbed by Tonya Hardings associate, Johann Olav Koss won three speed skating events, while 13-year-old Kim Yoon-Mi became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medalist. Sweden beat Canada in a penalty shootout in the ice hockey final. With 11 gold medals, Russia won the most events, while with 26, planning of the Lillehammer bid started in 1981, following Falun, Swedens failed bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics. It was supported by the government largely to help stimulate the economy of the inland counties, Lillehammer originally bid for the 1992 Games, but came fourth in the voting. A new bid was launched for the 1994 Games, modified with an speed skating venue. Three other locations bid for the games, Östersund, Anchorage, the 94th IOC Session, held in Seoul on 15 September 1988, voted Lillehammer the host for the Games. The Lillehammer Olympics were the last Winter Games to date to be held in a town,1.21 million tickets were sold for the games. LOOC estimated that an additional 500,000 viewed the games for free along the courses, in addition,180,000 seats were used by the media and VIPs. The overall responsibility for the games was held by the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee, the government had issued a guarantee for the games, and also covered the expenses related to infrastructure. The games had a revenue of NOK2.71 billion, of which NOK1.43 billion was from television rights, NOK0.65 billion was from sponsors, and NOK0.15 billion was from ticket sales
Japan
United States
Sweden
Spain
Italy
Austria
ORF
Australia
Seven Network
China
CCTV
Denmark
DR1
France
TF1, FTV
Finland
Yle
Germany
ARD
ZDF
Iceland
RÚV
Netherlands
NOS
Norway
NRK
United Kingdom
BBC
Biathlon (6) ()
Bobsleigh (2) ()
Curling (2) ()
Ice hockey (2) ()
Luge (3) ()
Figure skating (4) ()
Short track speed skating (6) ()
Speed skating (10) ()
Alpine skiing (10) ()
Cross-country skiing (10) ()
Freestyle skiing (4) ()
Nordic combined (2) ()
Ski jumping (3) ()
Snowboarding (4) ()
Ceremonies
Alpine skiing
Biathlon
Bobsleigh
Cross country skiing
Curling
Figure skating
Freestyle skiing
Ice hockey
Luge
Nordic combined
Short track
Ski jumping
Snowboarding
Speed skating
Germany
Norway
Russia
Canada
United States
Netherlands
Austria
South Korea
Italy
