1998 Winter Paralympics

The, the seventh Paralympic Winter Games, were held alongside the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan from 5 to 14 March 1998. They were the first Paralympic Winter Games to be held in Asia. 571 athletes competed in Nagano; as 2022 it remains the highest number of athletes competing at any Winter Paralympics.

Sports
The games consisted of 122 events in five sports: alpine skiing, ice sledge hockey, ice sledge racing, and Nordic skiing. The sport of Nordic skiing comprised two disciplines, the biathlon and cross-country skiing.
 * Alpine skiing - Paralympic pictogram.svg Alpine skiing
 * Ice sledge hockey - Paralympic pictogram.svg Sledge hockey
 * Ice sledge speed racing - Paralympic pictogram.svg Ice sledge racing
 * Nordic skiing
 * Biathlon - Paralympic pictogram.svg Biathlon
 * Cross-country skiing - Paralympic pictogram.svg Cross-country skiing

Venues
In total seven venues were used at the 1998 Winter Olympics around four cities and towns.

Nagano City

 * M-Wave – opening/closing ceremonies, ice sledge racing
 * Aqua Wing Arena – ice sledge hockey

Hakuba

 * Happo'one Resort: Alpine skiing (Downhill and Super-G)
 * Snow Harp, Kamishiro: Cross-country skiing

Nozawaonsen

 * Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort: Biathlon

Yamanouchi

 * Mount Higashidate: Alpine skiing (giant slalom)
 * Mount Yakebitai, Shiga Kogen Resort: Alpine skiing (slalom)

Medal table
The top 10 NPCs by number of gold medals are listed below. The host nation (Japan) is highlighted.

Participants
Thirty-one National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) entered athletes at the 1998 Winter Paralympics. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants from each NPC.


 * (8)
 * (4)
 * (34)
 * (5)
 * (3)
 * (33)
 * (6)
 * (3)
 * (15)
 * (21)
 * (25)
 * (40)
 * (21)
 * (2)
 * (21)
 * (67)
 * (1)
 * (4)
 * (3)
 * (5)
 * (43)
 * (26)
 * (35)
 * (18)
 * (1)
 * (1)
 * (14)
 * (24)
 * (19)
 * (11)
 * (49)

Mascot
The 1998 Winter Paralympics Mascot was Parabbit. Parabbit is a white rabbit with one green and one red ear. Parabbit was chosen to complement the logo of the 1998 winter Paralympics. A vote held by students to decide on the name, resulted in Parabbit getting 3,408 votes.

Opening ceremony
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.