They featured giant slalom and halfpipe events for both men and women. The Nagano Games was the first time snowboarding was an official medal sport. And the show went on despite a minor earthquake (Opens in a new tab) that shook one of the ski venues.īut a few special events stand out from all the rest and still hang in the back of our minds 20 years later. Curling returned as an official medal sport for the first time in over 70 years. Women's hockey made its debut, and NHL players were allowed to play for the first time. Magda Julin won the next gold medal at the 1920 Games in Antwerp, Belgium, and the incomparable Sonja Henie won the last of her three consecutive gold medals just before her 24th birthday at the 1936 Winter Games.With the next edition of the games getting ready to start, it's a perfect time to look back 20 years to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The oldest women’s Olympic champion in history was Madge Syers, who was 27 when she won the very first gold for Britain at the 1908 Games in London. “I think there’s a lot to say about experience you can tap into and really use to your advantage in a lot of situations, and I definitely have that,” Chen said, “but I also don’t feel like it’s gotten any easier.” That’s where experience, and age, can be beneficial.īut the way the International Skating Union’s scoring system is currently set up, those awe-inspiring jumps make a lot more difference than beautiful choreography - much to the chagrin of many figure skating purists. Jumping is only supposed to be one part of the equation a separate set of component scores allow judges to reward skill, transitions, performance, composition and interpretation of the music.

Old ice skating game for windows 98