Luxembourg at the Winter Olympics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Luxembourg at the Olympic Games
Flag of Luxembourg
IOC code:	LUX
NOC:	Comité Olympique et Sportif Luxembourgeois external link (French)
Summer Olympic Games appearances
1896 • 1900 • 1904 • 1908 • 1912 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004
Winter Olympic Games appearances
1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1994 • 1998 • 2002 • 2006

Luxembourg first competed at the Winter Olympics in 1928, and has taken part in a total of seven Winter Games. Thus, despite having been one of the earliest countries to take part, Luxembourg has competed in relatively few of the Games. In the seven Games, Luxembourg has won a total of two medals: both silver, and won by Marc Girardelli in 1992.

After Luxembourg's first appearance, in St. Moritz, and the country's second appearance, at the 1936 Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Luxembourg did not compete at the Olympics for another five decades. As a low-lying country, whose highest peak (the Kneiff) lies only 560 metres (1,837 ft) above sea level, Luxembourg had little pedigree in most Winter Olympic sports.

However, the naturalisation of Marc Girardelli, an Austrian-born alpine skier, saw Luxembourg return to the Games in 1988. In the following Winter Olympics, in 1992 in Albertville, Girardelli won Luxembourg's first two Winter Olympic medals, scooping silver in both the Giant Slalom and Super G.

Neither Girardelli, nor Luxembourg, has won another Winter medal since 1992, but the country's return to the Winter world stage has been maintained by the appearance of two ice skaters in subsequent Games: Patrick Schmit in 1998 and Fleur Maxwell in 2006.