I cannot believe it was 30 years ago! This was the best Olympic Games of all time - Summer or Winter. Apart from the great sport and the blue skies every day, it was the Norwegian people who made it special. Their support for all the athletes was amazing. Anybody who watched it will never forget Lillehammer 1994.
@Fmaack I remember the Lillihammer games so well too. It was showing on tv at the time I bought my FIRST big screen tv. I got to see the games in full 52" screen glory. .and I tell ya. . .it was like an IMAX experience. Flying over the glacier mountains of Norway to the brilliant colors of the Olympic games was a real treat even for those who couldn't actually make it to the games. And the culture of downtown Lillihammer looked great. Remind me of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. lol
To my Finnish friends, yes we are part of Fenno-Scandinavia. If you listen to the opening song it has a split-second of Sami voice in there. They are as you know spread througout Scandinavia, Finland and even Kola in Russia. The Lillehammer olympics was great fun, I was there doing service as traffic poilce. What a great experience. The "stimmung" as the germans would put it was wonderful all through the days.
Even if you dont like winter-sports you cant disagree with the fact that lillehammer hosted great winter olympics. And its a bit sad to think that it can never be olympics like that in norway again. It was the perfect timing and the perfect place.
I can't believe it's actually thirty years ago! I remember vividly watching the opening ceremony and ever since I've loved and listened to "Nåde" by Iver Kleive and Knut Reiersrud, the musical masterpiece played during that magnificent segment when the Vätter danced and brought up and opened the Tellus Egg, containing a peace dove. So lovely and touching!
@aatox I'm actually too young to remember the games itself, as I was very young then. But for those who remember it, it must have been something great to experience. And most of all, a great moment in history of Norwegian sport. This was actually the second time time Norway hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first time was in Oslo in 1952.
And I'm absolutely with you! I don't know if it is because the fact that both of us are Nordic, but I do agree cordially! This opening ident with its music and the animation sequence was just perfect in every sense. And it still feels so fresh, though thirteen years have passed! :)
@Kalinho83 I did have a 52" screen. It was one of those projection tv's and this show the 94 Olympics were great on it. Flying over the snow covered mountains felt IMAX[y] and the camera pans with the speed skaters felt like you were right there with them. Of course back then we didn't have HDTV. I would love to experience that today on an HD system. I'd record it. I may even have some of the 94 olympic games on tape somewhere. Hopefully I didn't record over them.
I'm not sure I understand your question correctly, but all IOC member countries may participate in the Winter Olympics, of course! Naturally the dominating countries are the ones from the nothern hemisphere, but there are several participating countries normally not associated with snow and winter. For instance Australia, Brazil, Cyprus and even African countries like Senegal and South Africa. Philippines has participated on three occasions, by the way. The last time in 1992. :)
nidaros1112; On the other hand Finland was the eastern part of the Swedish kingdom for hundreds of years and still has a Swedish speaking minority, so Finland does indeed share quite a part of that common history too. And like Wikipedia says: "Finland is often considered a Scandinavian country in common English usage, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes also included". Fmaack is from Canada and obviously uses "Scandinavia" in this manner.
@nidaros1112 Kalmar Union according to Wikipedia: "The Kalmar Union (Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish: Kalmarunionen) is a historiographical term meaning a series of personal unions (1397-1523) that united the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway (with Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland, and Orkney), and Sweden (including a part of modern day Finland) under a single monarch, though intermittently and with a population less than 3,000,000."
You should have seen the opening ident for the 2007 Osaka Athletics World Championship. Granted, not olympics, but still a fantastic ident (I am Norwegian, so it's not that I'm biased, like the Lillehammer one too)
Yes, I know how the weather is in Philippines. I was in Manila for ten days last summer and it was really humid and hot! But maybe you guys could do like Jamaica and participate in the bobsled competitions! :)
@nidaros1112 But as I pointed out in my earlier comment - during the days of the Kalmar Union and for hundreds of years before and after, Finland was indeed a part of the Swedish kingdom - "Den östra riksdelen", "Österland" - and thus was and is still a part of that common history. Swedish is still one of the two official languages in Finland and Swedish ancestry is present everywhere. In fact, some of the most unilingually Swedish towns are in Finland, not Sweden! Just look it up!
@aceflex Ah, I see! Didn't know that about the cellphone verification! And please do upload that broadcast, sounds interesting indeed. Language is not any problem, jag är ju från Sverige! :)
I just noticed that the user rockies77 has closed his account and effectively erased all the Lillehammer opening and closing ceremony videos he had previously uploaded. What a pity! Anyone who has them stored somewhere? I especially loved the last section of the closing ceremony, the wonderful touching choral piece with the white clad trolls and also the Nagano 1998 presentation with that Japanese ice queen and the lovely folk music. I want to have them!!
@aceflex Wow, that's great! And in such good quality too. Thanks! How come you're allowed to upload the entire broadcast without splitting it up in 10 min long sections? Do you by any chance have the closing ceremony too? That would be awesome! :)
@aatox It's because I verified my youtube account with my cellphone number. I'm sorry, but I do not have the closing ceremony. I have a two hour long videotape with a recap of every day made by NRK though, if you want me to upload that? =) But I have to warn you, it is in norwegian.
@ihaveairlockers Finland is not a Scandinavian country! Scandinavia consist of the three countries; Norway, Sweden and Denmark! Norden consist of the five countries Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Estoinia is a part of the region of Balticum! Anyway - 1994 Lillehammer was the best olympic wintergames EVER! ;)
