Albertville in the context of "Communes of France"

The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (Norwegian: De 17. olympiske vinterleker; Nynorsk: Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Having lost the bid for the 1992 Winter Olympics to Albertville in France, Lillehammer was awarded the 1994 Winter Games on 15 September 1988, two days before the 1988 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies at the 94th IOC Session in Seoul, South Korea. Due to the calendar changes made in 1986, this was the only time that the Winter Olympics took place two years after the previous Winter Games, and the first to be held in a different year from the Summer Olympics. This meant that from now on, the Olympic Games are held on every even-numbered year instead of every four years. This was the first Winter Olympics that took place in a year with the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and FIFA World Cup. This was the second Olympic Games of any type hosted in Norway — the first being the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo — and the fourth Olympics overall to be held in a Nordic country, after the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, and the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Lillehammer is the northernmost city ever to host the Olympic Games.

Although Lillehammer Municipality was the main host, some events were held in neighboring municipalities, and the speed skating events were held in Hamar Municipality, some ice hockey matches were played in Gjøvik Municipality, and the Alpine skiing events were held in Øyer Municipality and Ringebu Municipality. Sixty-seven National Olympic Committees and 1,737 athletes participated in six sports and sixty-one events. Fourteen countries made their Olympic debuts, of which nine were former Soviet republics. The Games also saw the introduction of stricter and more rigid qualifying rules, reducing the number of under-performing participants. Six new events were introduced into the Olympic programme: new distances in short-track speed skating and aerials, and speed skating events were held indoors. Almost two million people spectated at the Games, which were the first to have the Olympic Truce in effect. The Olympics were followed by the 1994 Winter Paralympics from 10 to 19 March.

The 2024 Summer Olympics (French: Les Jeux Olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (French: Jeux de la XXXIIIe olympiade de l'ère moderne) and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events starting from 24 July. Paris was the host city, with events (mainly football) held in 16 additional cities in metropolitan France, including the sailing centre in the second-largest city of France, Marseille, on the Mediterranean Sea, as well as one subsite for surfing in Tahiti, French Polynesia.

Paris was awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017. After multiple withdrawals that left only Paris and Los Angeles in contention, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics to the two remaining candidate cities; both bids were praised for their high technical plans and innovative ways to use a record-breaking number of existing and temporary facilities. Having previously hosted in 1900 and 1924, Paris became the second city ever to host the Summer Olympics three times (after London, which hosted the games in 1908, 1948, and 2012). Paris 2024 marked the centenary of the 1924 games and the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix (the first Winter Olympics), as well as the sixth Olympic Games hosted by France (three Summer Olympics and three Winter Olympics) and the first with this distinction since the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville. The Summer Games returned to the traditional four-year Olympiad cycle, after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games (French: XVI Jeux Olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Arpitan: Arbèrtvile '92), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and around Albertville, France. Albertville won the bid to host the Winter Olympics in 1986, beating Sofia, Falun, Lillehammer, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Anchorage, and Berchtesgaden. The 1992 Winter Olympics were the last winter games held in the same year as the Summer Olympics. The next Winter Olympics were held two years after this one instead of the usual four, which allowed the Olympic Games to take place on every even-numbered year instead of every four years. The Games were the fifth Olympic Games held in France and the country's third Winter Olympics, after the 1924 Winter Games in Chamonix and the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble. This games was the first of two consecutive Olympic games to be held in Western Europe, preceding the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

18 events in Figure skating, short track speed skating, speed skating, and the opening and closing ceremonies took place in Albertville. The 39 other events were held in the nearby 9 villages and resorts around Savoie: Courchevel, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Les Menuires, Les Saisies, Méribel, Pralognan-la-Vanoise, Tignes, and Val d'Isère. Sixty-four National Olympic Committees and 1,801 athletes participated in six sports and fifty-seven events. This included both the Unified Team, representing the non-Baltic former Soviet republics, and Germany, newly consolidated again as a team following the reunification of the former East and West Germany in 1990. The event also saw the debut of eight nations in the Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympic program has grown this time with the addition of 11 new events. While sports that were already on the program received 5 new events (2 new events in cross-country skiing, at the same time women were allowed to compete in biathlon for the first time and won 3 events exclusive to them.) Another 6 events were added with the implementation of 2 sports that were demonstrated 4 years earlier (freestyle skiing and short track speed skating). These were the last Winter Olympics to include demonstration sports, consisting of curling, aerials and ski ballet, and speed skiing. Due to a rule change implemented in 1986, this was the last edition in the history of the Winter Olympic Games in which all speed skating events were held in an open-air venue.

Short-track speed skating has been a contest at the Winter Olympics since the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. Prior to that, it was a demonstration sport at the 1988 games. The results from the 1988 demonstration competition are not included in the official Olympic statistics. The sport has been dominated by South Korea] . That countries have won all 195 medals awarded since 1992. South Korea leads the medal tally, with 53 medals including 26 golds since 1992. The majority of medals that South Korea have won at the Winter Olympics come from short-track speed skating.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Haralds Silovs of Latvia became the first athlete in Olympic history to participate in both short track (1500m) and long track (5000m) speed skating, and the first to compete in two disciplines on the same day. After winning the 500m event at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Viktor Ahn became the first short track speedskater to have won gold medals in all four short track disciplines (500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m-relay). He had won 3 golds in 2014 representing Russia, and 3 in 2006 representing South Korea.

Freestyle skiing has been contested at the Winter Olympic Games since the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France.

Biathlon debuted at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Olympic Valley, California with the men's 20 km individual event. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, the men's 4 × 7.5 km relay debuted, followed by the 10 km sprint event at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Beginning at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, women's biathlon debuted with the 15 km individual, 3 × 7.5 km relay (4 × 7.5 km during 1994–2002, and 4 × 6 km in 2006), and 7.5 km sprint. A pursuit race (12.5 km for men and 10 km for women) was included at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The top 60 finishers of the sprint race (10 km for men and 7.5 km for women) would qualify for the pursuit event. The sprint winner starts the race, followed by each successive biathlete at the same time interval they trailed the sprint winner in that event. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, a mass start (15 km for men and 12.5 km for women) was introduced where the top 30 biathletes from the previous four events were allowed to start together for the competition.

Slovenia first participated as an independent nation at the Olympic Games at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and the country has sent athletes to compete at every Games since then. The Olympic Committee of Slovenia was established in 1991 and was recognised by the International Olympic Committee on 5 February 1992.

Slovenian athletes first competed at the Olympics in Stockholm, at the 1912 Summer Olympics, as part of the Austrian team. There, Rudolf Cvetko became the first Slovene to win an Olympic medal, a silver in the men's team sabre. Then, until Slovenia's independence, they competed as part of Yugoslavia. Before the Second World War, all of the Olympic medals for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were won by Slovene gymnasts (with the exception of Croatian Dragutin Ciotti who was a member of the bronze medal-winning men's gymnastics all-around team at the 1928 Summer Olympics). Leon Štukelj was the most prominent pre-war athlete, winning three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals, and he is still the most decorated Slovenian Olympian. Among post-war Olympians, Miroslav Cerar won two gold and one bronze medals, also in gymnastics. All of Yugoslavia's Winter Olympic medals (three silver and one bronze) were won by Slovenians with the first being the silver medal of Jure Franko in alpine skiing, won at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, when Yugoslavia hosted the Games.

The figure skating events at the 1992 Winter Olympic Games were held at the Halle Olympique located next to the Théâtre des Cérémonies, two kilometres southwest of downtown Albertville.

The final placements were decided by factored placements. In the men's singles, ladies' singles and the pairs event, the short program (SP) was factored by 0.5, one-third (33.3%) of the total score, while the free skating (FS) was factored by 1.0, two-thirds (66.7%) of the total score. In ice dance, the two compulsory dances (CD) were factored by a total of 0.4 (0.2 each dance), which was 20% of the total score (10% each dance). The original dance (OD) was factored by 0.6 (30% of the total score), while the free dance (FD) was factored by 1.0 (50% of the total score). In the result of factored placements being tied, the free skating was the tie-breaker.

Short track speed skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics was held from 18 to 22 February. Four events were contested at La halle de glace Olympique, located next to the Théâtre des Cérémonies, a couple of kilometers west of downtown Albertville. This was the first time short track speed skating was contested at the Winter Olympics.

Les Saisies is a ski resort located in the Savoie department of France. It is 30 km (19 mi) from Albertville, host of the 1992 Winter Olympics. For those games, the resort hosted the biathlon and cross-country skiing events.

The resort also has alpine skiing trails for use and forms part of the Espace Diamant skiing region.

Pralognan-la-Vanoise (French pronunciation: [pʁalɔɲɑ̃ la vanwaz]) or simply Pralognan (Arpitan: Pralonyan) is an alpine commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. In 2022, it had a population of 700. The commune is located within Vanoise National Park.

The Patinoire olympique was the curling venue for the 1992 Winter Olympics hosted in Albertville and surroundings in the French Alps.

Val-d'Isère (French pronunciation: [val dizɛʁ], literally Valley of Isère) is a commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region) in southeastern France. It lies 5 km (3 mi) from the border with Italy. It is on the border of the Vanoise National Park created in 1963, with good transport links in and out of Lyon, Geneva and Chambéry.

During the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics, the Face de Bellevarde was the site of the men's downhill race. Other alpine skiing events held during those games included men's giant slalom and alpine combined. Val d'Isère regularly hosts World Cup alpine events, usually for the men in early December, and hosted the World Championships in 2009. The ski area of Val d'Isère and Tignes forms the Espace Killy, named after the triple Olympic champion Jean-Claude Killy who grew up in Val d'Isère. There are two mountain huts (called “refuges” in French) owned by the Vanoise National Park on the territory of Val d'Isère: le Refuge du Prariond and le Refuge du Fond des Fours.

The Unified Team at the 1992 Winter Olympics (Russian: Объединенная команда на Зимних Олимпийских играх 1992) in Albertville was a joint team consisting of five of the fifteen former Soviet republics: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Uzbekistan that made a decision to collaborate and created a united team. The Unified Team's only other appearance was at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. It competed under the IOC country code EUN (from the French Equipe Unifiée).

The team finished second in the medal rankings, narrowly losing to a re-unified Germany.

Germany competed at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. It was the first time that the nation had competed at the Olympic Games following reunification in 1990 and for the first time as a single nation since 1936. Previously, West Germany and East Germany had sent independent teams to the Games.

Curling was a demonstration sport at the 1992 Winter Olympics. The competition was held in the patinoire olympique of Pralognan-la-Vanoise, a venue about 50 km from the host city, Albertville. The 1992 Winter Games was the third time curling was a demonstration sport at the Winter Olympics.

Freestyle skiing was an official sport discipline for the first time at the 1992 Winter Olympics, with medals awarded in the moguls event. The venue was Tignes about 85 km from host city Albertville.

Speed skiing was a demonstration sport at the 1992 Winter Olympics. The venue was in Les Arcs, about 60 km from the host city, Albertville. Michael Prufer, a 31-year-old medical doctor from Savoie, improved his own 1988 world record by 5.558 km/h. Philippe Goitschel, the nephew of French ski champion Marielle Goitschel, was second and the American Jeffrey Hamilton was third. The competition was, however, marred by the death of Nicolas Bochatay from Switzerland, who died while free skiing the morning of the finals.

Tarja Mulari from Finland achieved a top speed of 219.245 kilometres per hour (136.233 mph), breaking the previous women's world record of 214.723 km/h (133.423 mph).

The 1992 Paralympic Winter Games (French: Jeux paralympiques d'hiver de 1992) were the fifth Winter Paralympics. They were the first Winter Paralympics to be celebrated with the International Olympic Committee cooperation. They were also the first ever Paralympics or a Winter Parasports event held in France. They were held at the resort of Tignes as a support venue of the main host city Albertville, France, from 25 March to 1 April 1992. For the first time, demonstration events in Alpine and Nordic Skiing for athletes with an intellectual disability and Biathlon for athletes with a visual impairment were held.

The Unified Team (Russian: Объединённая команда) was the name used for the sports team of the former Soviet Union (except the Baltic states) at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The IOC country code was EUN, after the French name, Équipe unifiée. The Unified Team was sometimes informally called the CIS Team (Commonwealth of Independent States, as a counterpart of CIS national football team taking part in Euro 1992 of the same year), although Georgia did not join the CIS until 1993.

The team finished second in the medal table at the 1992 Winter Games, and first at the 1992 Summer Games, edging its old rival the US in the latter.