ansen finally won a gold
medal, breaking the world record in the 1,000 meters.
(AP, Internet, 2/18/99)
1994 Feb 19, American
speedskater Bonnie Blair won the fourth Olympic gold medal of her
career as she won the 500-meter race in Lillehammer, Norway.
(AP, Internet, 2/19/99)
1994 Feb 25, At the Winter
Olympics in Norway, Oksana Baiul of Ukraine won the gold medal in
ladies' figure skating while Nancy Kerrigan won the silver and Chen
Lu of China the bronze; Tonya Harding came in eighth.
(AP, Internet, 2/25/99)
1994 Feb 27, The Winter Olympic
Games ended in Lillehammer, Norway.
(AP, Internet, 2/27/99)
1994 May 7, Norway's most
famous painting, "The Scream," by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost
three months after it was stolen from an Oslo museum. Another
version was stolen in 2004.
(AP, 5/7/99)(WSJ, 8/24/04, p.A1)
1994 Nov 28, Norwegian voters
narrowly rejected European Union membership.
(WSJ, 4/8/96, p.A-14)(DT internet 11/28/97)
1994 Olav Koss announced that
he would donate Olympic awards from the Norwegian government,
totaling over $100,000, to an organization called Olympic Aid,
dedicated to helping children worldwide.
(SFC, 2/14/06, p.A11)
1995 Jan 25, A team of
Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII
four-stage sounding rocket from the Andoya Rocket Range off the
northwest coast of Norway to study the aurora borealis over
Svalbard. Nuclear forces in Russia were put on alert, and the
nuclear-command suitcase was brought to President Boris Yeltsin, who
then had to decide whether to launch a nuclear barrage against the
United States. This became known as the Norwegian rocket incident or
Black Brant scare.
1996 Mar 10, A Norwegian member
of the Bandidos motorcycle gang was shot and wounded at the Oslo
(SFEC, 8/11/96, p.A13)
1996 Aug 29, A Russian Tu-154
plane with 141 passengers crashed on a desolate arctic island 6
miles from Spitsbergen where they were returning to jobs in a
Russian-run coal mine. It was the worst crash in Norway’s history.
(SFC, 8/30/96, p.A14)(SFC, 7/4/01, p.A10)
1996 Sep 19, The Arctic Council
was founded to promote joint scientific research and to study
pollution, conservation and mapping. The Ottawa Declaration named
eight members of the Arctic Council: Canada, Russia, Norway,
Denmark, Iceland, the United States, Sweden and Finland. The first
step towards the formation of the Council occurred in 1991 when
eight Arctic countries signed the Arctic Environmental Protection
1996 The prime minister of
Norway is Gro Harlem Brundtland.
(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-14)
1996 Aug 27, The 29 stave
churches left were under government protection and threatened by
arsonists of a Satanic movement.
(WSJ, 8/27/96, p.A12)
1996 Oct 23, Gro Harlem
Brundtland announced her resignation as prime minister. Thoerbjorn
Jagland, leader of the Labor Party, was expected to replace her.
(SFC, 10/24/96, p.C3)
1996 Nov 1, Norway announced a
$24 million donation to educate girls in 19 African countries. The
gift went to UNICEF’s African Education for All program.
(SFC, 11/2/96, p.C1)
1997 Jan 18, Norwegian Boerge
Ousland completed a solo crossing of Antarctica that began Nov 15.
He used a parachute and skies to help pull himself across the 1695
miles from Berkner Island to Scott Base.
(SFC, 1/18/96, p.C1)
1997 Jun 4, In Drammen a car
bomb destroyed the headquarters of the Bandido motorcycle gang. One
passerby was killed and 4 people were injured.
(SDUT, 6/6/97, p.A26)
1997 Sep 2, The US demanded
exemptions to a proposed global ban on land mines at an int’l
meeting in Oslo, Norway. The exemptions were for mines on the Korean
peninsula and for certain types of mines.
(SFC, 9/3/97, p.C2)
1997 Sep 14, It was reported
that Norway is the world’s 2nd largest oil exporter and that the
government sets aside nearly $8.3 billion into a fund for the
(SFEC, 9/14/97, p.A24)
1997 Sep 15, Prime Minister
Thorbjoern Jagland said he would step down after support in national
elections reached only about 35%.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 18, In Norway an
explosion at a Russian-operated coal mine in the Svalbard islands
killed 23 Russian