Winter Olympic Games champion, while Kerrigan won the silver medal. Johann Olav Koss of Norway won three gold medals, coming first in all of the distance speed skating events. 13-year-old Kim Yoon-Mi became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medallist when South Korea won the women's 3,000 meter speed skating relay. Russia won the most events, with eleven gold medals, while Norway achieved 26 podium finishes, collecting the most medals overall on home ground. Juan Antonio Samaranch described Lillehammer as "the best Olympic Winter Games ever" in his closing ceremony speech. The 1998 Winter Olympics were held in the Japanese city of Nagano and were
1994 Winter Olympics medal table nations won their first Winter Olympic medals: Australia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Four of these, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, won their first Winter Olympic gold medals. The four first-time gold medalist nations and Belarus were all competing in their first Olympic Games as independent National Olympic Committees following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Italian cross-country skier Manuela Di Centa led all athletes with five medals, two gold, two silver, and one bronze. Russian cross-country skier Lyubov Yegorova, after winning five medals two years prior in Albertville won four medals in Lillehammer. The medal table is