Editing 1998 Winter Olympics (section)

====Nordic combined skiing====
{{main| Nordic combined at the 1998 Winter Olympics}}
The [[Nordic combined]] events were held at the [[Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium]] and the [[Snow Harp]], both in [[Hakuba, Nagano|Hakuba]] village, 50 kilometers west of Nagano City. In all, 53 athletes from 14 countries, took part in the two events, individual and team. [[Norway at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Norway]] won both gold medals. [[Finland at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Finland]] won both silver medals. [[France at the 1998 Winter Olympics|France]] and [[Russia at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Russia]] each won one of the bronze medals.

The first event was the individual competition that took place on 13 and 14 February. In all, there were 48 athletes. The silver medalist from the [[1994 Winter Olympics]], the [[Norway at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Norwegian]] [[Bjarte Engen Vik]], was the [[1997–98 FIS Nordic Combined World Cup]] leader. At the Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium, Vik led after the first two jumps. He was followed by the [[Russia at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Russian]] [[Valeri Stoliarov]]. The following day, the skiers left, in order of the placement following the ski jump, along te 15 kilometer cross-country race at the Snow Harp. The race was skied in the rain. Vik led throughout and finished with a 27.5 second lead over second place. With three kilometers to the finish line, the [[Finland at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Finnish]] athlete, 18-year-old [[Samppa Lajunen]], who was sixth after the jumps, caught up with Stoliarov. The skied together until the stadium, and 60 meters from the finish line, Lajunen passed the Russian and picked up the silver medal 0.7 seconds ahead of Stoliarov who won the bronze. The fastest athlete on the course was the [[Switzerland at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Swiss]] skier, [[Marco Zarucchi]], who was 43rd after the jumps, finished in 25th place.

Eleven nations took part in the team event on 19 and 20 February. At previous Olympics, the team event involved three athletes per team, with the completing a 3x10 kilometer relay. At Nagano, the team was enlarged to four athletes who completed a 4x5 kilometer relay. After the jumps, the team from Finland led by four seconds ahead of the [[Austria at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Austrians]], eight seconds ahead of the Norwegians, nine ahead of the [[Czech Republic at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Czechs]], and 29 seconds ahead of the [[Japan at the 1998 Winter Olympics|Japanese]]. The relay took place in rain. The Norwegians quickly took the lead and never looked back. The last Norwegian skier had the time to grab his country's flag with 500 meters from the finish line, and they won gold with more than one minute lead over the team from Finland. The [[France at the 1998 Winter Olympics|French]] team, sixth after the jumps, won the bronze medal ahead of the Austrians. The Japanese, gold medalists at the [[1992 Winter Olympics]] and [[1994 Winter Olympics]] finished in fifth.