To call these Games the Albertville Olympics is misleading at best. In yet another nod to commerce, the French organizing committee determined it would be best to divvy up the 12 venues among seven other towns, thereby appeasing those towns' respective business leaders. All well and good for the money men, less so for fans and athletes who had to cope with traffic jams and the Games' lack of intimacy. As usual, though, the athletes managed to transcend their surroundings: U.S. speed skater Bonnie Blair (above, left) won the 500- and 1,000-meter races (to go along with a gold and a bronze from 1988) and became the first U.S. woman to win three gold medals in the winter Olympics.

* With the collapse of the Soviet Union, countries such as Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia competed under their own flags for the first time in more than 50 years.

* The Unified Team, composed of athletes from five nations that were part of the former U.S.S.R., won the gold medal in hockey. The team took the gold for the sixth time in the last seven Olympics, including the Soviet era.

* After receiving words of encouragement from her childhood idol, Dorothy Hamill, U.S. figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi skated just well enough to win the gold. Yamaguchi was aided by the fact that each of her main rivals fell during their free skate.

cover photograph by Heinz Kluetmeier

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