1998 Winter Paralympics
The 1998 Winter Paralympics (Japanese: 1998年冬季パラリンピック, Hepburn: 1998-Nen Tōki Pararinpikku), 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
 Sledge hockey
 Ice sledge racing
Nordic skiing
 Biathlon
 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.
== 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. It was created by Sadahiko Kojima.
A nationwide competition was held among students to decide on the name, which drew 10,057 entries suggesting 3,408 different names.
== 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.1998 Winter Olympics

== External links ==
International Paralympic Committee
The event at SVT's open archive (in Swedish)
The event at Nagano Shinano Mainich Shimbun Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine