The
1994 Winter Olympics (Norwegian:
Vinter-OL 1994), officially known as the
XVII Olympic Winter Games (French: Les
XVIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), was a winter
multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around
Lillehammer,
Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the
1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the 1994 Winter Olympics in 1988, after beating
Anchorage,
United States;
Östersund,
Sweden; and
Sofia,
Bulgaria. Lillehammer is the northernmost city to ever host the Winter Games. The Games were the first to be held in a different year from the Summer Olympics, the first and only one to be held two years after the previous winter games, and the most recent to be held in a small town. The Games were the second winter event hosted in Norway, after the
1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, and the fourth Olympics in the
Nordic countries, after the
1912 Summer Olympics in
Stockholm, Sweden, and the
1952 Summer Olympics in
Helsinki,
Finland.