The Stamp Art Liechtenstein 1983 – Winter Olympic Games – Sarajevo 1984 – SG 772/4 issue – Full Sheets – MINT. The Stamp Art Liechtenstein showcase presents an infomative and educational review of Liechtenstein Postage Stamp issues which are unique in their display of story telling, presented in Artwork Layouts with a selected number of ‘Limited Edition’ Fine Artwork prints available for sale in the Stamp Art Gallery Shop.
Sarajevo 1984 Olympic Winter Games, athletic festival held in Sarajevo, Yugos., that took place Feb. 8–19, 1984. The Sarajevo Games were the 14th occurrence of the Winter Olympic Games.
The awarding of the 14th Winter Olympics to Sarajevo (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina) caught many by surprise, including the host country, which went to work building new facilities and making improvements to others in order to accommodate the Games. The choice of Sarajevo proved appropriate, however, as the 1984 Games were highlighted by the appearance of smaller countries. In order to encourage participation, the International Olympic Committee agreed to pay the expenses of one male and one female participant from each country.
Olympics by the International Ski Federation (FIS) for accepting promotional payments directly, rather than through the national ski federation. Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden was also banned; both were double gold medalists in 1980.
Much of the Games’ excitement occurred in the figure skating events. Gold-medal-winning ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (U.K.) redefined the sport with their mesmerizing interpretation of Maurice Ravel’s Boléro.
Liechtenstein is the smallest country in the world by population and the second smallest by area (after Bermuda) to have won an Olympic gold medal, although San Marino is the smallest country to have won any medal.Athletes from Liechtenstein have won a total of ten medals, all in alpine skiing. It is the only country to have won medals at the Winter, but not Summer, Olympic Games. Liechtenstein has the most medals per capita of any country, with nearly one medal for every 3,600 inhabitants. Seven of its ten medals have been won by members of the same family: siblings Hanni and Andreas Wenzel, and Hanni’s daughter Tina Weirather.
The Stamp Art Leichenstein ‘Sarajevo’ project display the exquisite designs of the 1984 Winter Olympic stamp sheet issues for a games filed with controversy and a cross roads in Olympic history which caused a new wave of sponsorship to become accepted into these amature games, when it later became the norm for campions and expert sportsmen and women to be able to support themselves while keeping their amature status.
Hannelore (Hanni) Wenzel – Born in West Germany at Straubing, Bavaria, Wenzel moved to Liechtenstein at an early age. After she and her younger brother Andreas had success in ski racing – Hanni won the gold medal in slalom and silver in the combined at the 1974 World Championships – the family was granted Liechtenstein citizenship.
Winning the slalom title on 8 February 1974, she did become the youngest female Alpine Skiing World Champion in the Slalom discipline (17 years, 1 month, 25 days) – ousting Esme Mackinnon who was the first female Alpine Skiing Champion in 1931; the British racer was 17 years, 2 month and 17 days young when she was victorious in the slalom race on 19 February 1931. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, she won the country’s first Olympic medal, a bronze in the slalom at Axamer Lizum, and also picked up another world championship medal in the combined.
After winning the World Cup overall title in 1978, Wenzel’s best year came in 1980. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, she won gold medals in the slalom and giant slalom, and just missed out on a sweep by taking the silver in the downhill at Whiteface Mountain. She also easily won the world championship gold medal in the combined event, its final edition as a “paper race” and her fourth world championship medal in that event. At the same Olympics, her brother also won a silver medal, placing Liechtenstein high in the medal ranking of the games. In addition to her Olympic success, she won nine World Cup races in 1980 and captured the overall, giant slalom, and combined season titles, and brother Andreas won the men’s overall for a Wenzel family sweep of the overall titles.
Conclusion
Hanni Wenzel trails only Vreni Schneider and Katja Seizinger as the most successful of all women Olympic Alpine skiers. After winning a bronze medal in the slalom in 1976, Wenzel won gold in the slalom and giant slalom and a silver in the giant slalom in 1980.
Born in Germany, Wenzel moved to Liechtenstein as an infant and was granted citizenship after winning the slalom at the 1974 World Championships. Both her brother and sister were Olympic Alpine skiers.
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