B1-34 · Nagano 1998: The Tournament of the Century

Nagano 1998: The Tournament of the Century

Ask any Czech who was alive in February 1998 where they were on the morning of the 22nd, and most of them will remember. That day, the Czech ice hockey team won the Olympic gold medal in Nagano, Japan. Many people still call it "the tournament of the century".

A tournament full of stars. Nagano was the first Olympics where players from the NHL, the North American professional league, were allowed to play. Canada, the USA and Russia came with teams full of famous names. The Czech team had stars too, such as Jaromír Jágr and the goalkeeper Dominik Hašek, but nobody expected them to win. Experts thought they might reach the semifinals, if they were lucky.

The quarterfinal. First, the Czechs beat the USA 4–1. The Americans should have been stronger on paper, but they played badly, and after their defeat some of their players damaged their rooms in the Olympic Village. It was not their finest moment.

The semifinal. The game against Canada was the most dramatic match of the tournament. After sixty minutes and ten minutes of overtime, the score was 1–1, so the game went to a shootout. Robert Reichel scored for the Czechs. Then Hašek stopped all five Canadian players, one after another. The whole country jumped from their sofas. Canadians still argue about one decision: their coach didn't choose Wayne Gretzky, perhaps the greatest player in hockey history, to take a shot. "He should have chosen Gretzky," many fans said. Others answered that it wouldn't have mattered: nobody could have beaten Hašek that day.

The final. In the final against Russia, the Czechs scored only once: Petr Svoboda shot from the blue line in the third period, and it was enough. Russia had many chances, and they could have scored several goals, but Hašek was unbeatable again. When the game ended 1–0, the Czech Republic exploded with joy. Because of the time difference, it was early morning in Prague, but people ran out into the streets to celebrate. When the team came home three days later, about 100,000 fans welcomed them on Old Town Square. Some fans even shouted "Hašek to the Castle!", as if the goalkeeper should become president.

Why it still matters. The Czech Republic was a young country, only five years old. For many people, the victory in Nagano was proof that a small nation could beat the giants. The team must have felt huge pressure, but they stayed calm. Today, almost thirty years later, the players are legends, and an opera, Nagano, was even written about the tournament.