Four years earlier, Ole Einar Bjørndalen had won gold in the 10km and silver in the relay, so the world already knew that the Norwegian was a fine biathlete. Those successes had merely heightened his sense of ambition, and he arrived in Salt Lake City eyeing a place among the very greatest biathletes of all time.

Kati Wilhelm had made her Olympic debut at Nagano 1998, competing as a cross country skier. She had been left disappointed after finishing a lowly 16th in the 30km, though she did help the German team achieve a 7th place in the 4x5km relay. In search of greater success, she decided to switch to a whole new sport – and duly reinvented herself as a biathlete.

Norway’s Thomas Alsgaard took up cross country skiing at an early age. When he was just three years old, he entered a race for five-year-olds and won. Legend has it that the following year his parents thought he had got lost but instead found him at the local ski track, about to start a third lap of the 9km course.

Olympic glory is not always about smooth success. It’s also about grit, determination and a refusal to bow to setbacks. And sometimes that means dealing with both mental and physical pain. The USA’s Kerri Strug was a key member of the American gymnastics team which went to Atlanta 1996 in pursuit of the country’s first ever gold medal in the sport.

Italian cross-country skier Manuela Di Centa was considered an Olympic veteran by the time she began her preparations for Lillehammer in 1994.

Norway totally dominated the men’s cross-country skiing events in Albertville, completing a clean sweep of the gold medals. Leading the charge was Vegard Ulvang. He came from a remote mining town and had a taste for adventure, enjoying marathon skiing trips and mountain climbing.

In the years since the 1992 Games, Norway’s Bjørn Dæhlie has been recognised as winter sports legend. But these were the Olympics where he first burst on to the biggest international stage, and announced himself to the wider world.