It was the last Winter Olympics with an outdoor speed skating rink which led to weather issues for three of the ten events.
Albertville is part of the Rhône-Alpes region in France that had hosted the Winter Olympics twice with Chamonix in 1924 and Grenoble in 1968.
[12][13] Jean-Claude Killy, the triple gold medalist in the men's alpine skiing event at the 1968 Grenoble Games, had become a successful businessman when he suggested the idea of the 1992 Winter Olympics in December 1981 to Michel Barnier, a politician in the Savoie department.
[13] Presentation and media operations for the bid took place from 1983 to its awarding in 1986 by the International Olympic Committee.
In the women's 500 m on 10 February, the start of the event was delayed one hour the let the outdoor oval ice harden.
[21] Norway's Geir Karlstad, the gold medalist in the men's 5000 m, commented in the post race press conference that "I didn't like soft ice up to now, but now I do".
[22] Further making the women's downhill a challenge was an impending snowstorm that forced race officials to move up the start time and send the skiers out at shorter-than-usual intervals.
[25] Meanwhile, the women's event was won by Donna Weinbrecht of the United States while skiing to an accompaniment of The Ramones' "Rock 'n' Roll High School" in a snowstorm.