Lillehammer '94

You know the feeling. High on caffeine and sugar after lunch, you go online and buy yet another domain name that made you and your colleagues laugh. After all it's not that expensive to be the only one in the world to claim ownership of a certain sweet web address.

Fast forward a few hours and say welcome to Mr. Sugar Dotcom Hangover. Yeah, the name is cool, but let's face it: I don't need it. Still worse, I don't have the remotest idea of what to do with it. And the $30 (for two years) are making their way out of my Visa card.

Why this name is cool? For Norwegians it's obvious, but maybe you forgot about Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding's cat fight? Johan Koss' world records? Ski jumper Ole Gunnar Fidjestøl crashing with the Olympic torch during the dress rehearsal for the opening ceremony? Oh, well. I'll explain.

The Olympic Winter Games of 1994 in the small town of Lillehammer hold a very important place in Norway's modern history, comparable to the independence from Sweden in 1905 and the end of the German occupation in 1945. Sports-wise, it made us Norwegians believe that the world at large actually care about the sports we love. While tv audiences around the globe watched spoiled American figure skaters being beaten by the Ukrainian Oksana Bajul, the entire Norwegian population dressed up in clothes from the mid-19th century and overpriced Olympic pins to freeze in the woods together with the best cross-country skiers in the world. They were, of course, Norwegian.

More important, the Norwegian culture was highly influenced by the games. We, a young nation of 4.5 million people with lack of self-confidence, could actually host a world-class event. Even the semi-fascist leading the International Olympic Committee said that it was "The best Olympic Winter Games ever". So Norwegians started to believe that we could be better than the rest of the world at almost anything. Like pumping up oil (true), making peace in the Middle-East (false) and being human (false, I guess?). Not unlike me being high on sugar and caffeine.

So that's Lillehammer '94 in a nutshell. Am I cool or what? I own this domain name.

Geir Arne Brevik, March 2005