Back to Olympic Wednesday we are today, checking in on the 1992 Olympiad in wintertime France: Albertville, the city no one had ever heard of until it hosted the Games. Over 1,800 athletes from 64 countries converged there to compete in 57 medal events across 12 disciplines. These were the last Winter Olympics to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games, as staggering began in 1994. Gold rush?!

The end of the Cold War and the fall of the Eastern communist bloc also led to many changes in geopolitical organization: the top medal-winning nation was a unified Germany, for example, with 26 medals. The Unified Team of former Soviet republics won 23 medals, while Austria (21) and Norway (20) fought to a close finish for third place overall. The host nation failed to achieve double digits (9) despite its noble efforts.

Most Outstanding Male Athlete: Bjørn Dæhlie, Norway

Two men outdid everyone else in Albertville with four medals—and both were Norwegian cross-country skiers. However, one of them just missed a fifth medal, and he’s our choice here: Bjørn Dæhlie. He took fourth in the 10km event, while winning golds in the 50km, 10/15km Pursuit, and the 4x10km relay competitions. His silver came in the 30km race. That’s some impressive range, for sure, and deserving here.

Most Outstanding Female Athlete: Lyubov Yegorova, Unified Team

Russian cross-country skier Lyubov Yegorova was the only person to win five medals at these Games: competing for the Unified Team, she won golds in the 15km, 5/10km Pursuit, and 4x5km Relay events, while taking silver medals in the 5km and 30km races. Like the competitor above (and more so), she demonstrated amazing range in winning medals in all the varying distances across her chosen discipline.

Most Outstanding Male Team: Norwegian Cross Country

In addition to Dæhlie, of course, his teammate Vegard Ulvang took golds in the 10km, 30km, and 4x10km relay, while winning silver in the 10/15km pursuit. Between these two rock stars, Norway won all the golds possible in the discipline, while nabbing three of the other eight available medals, too—Terje Langli won bronze in the 30km event. We always expect(ed) the Scandinavian nations to do well in the Winter Games.

Most Outstanding Female Team: German Speed Skating

We don’t think the doping that plagued the East German women in the past Games was an issue in this Olympiad, due to reunification. Therefore, we can give this honor with semi-confidence. The German women won nine medals out of possible 15 in the discipline: three golds, three silvers, and three bronzes. In the 5,000m race, the German women swept all: Gunda Niemann, Heike Warnicke, Claudia Pechstein.