NAGANO 98 could be remembered as the year the Olympics really came to the Web. All the big sports sites, owned mostly by major American media players, are in there providing coverage. Who though is really likely to do a good job? Who will really deliver the goods?

Never fear, with our guide to Nagano, you won't have to flounder around the Web looking for the site you want to find.

The sites below are not ranked in order, but appear as they would in an alphabetical listing.

XVIII Olympic Winter Games

The official site is an IBM sports effort. Wonderful use of Javascript, very nice interface and some real cool stuff happening here make this site exceptionally busy. Sometimes entry can be slow and it is prone to timing-out. Maybe IBM should provision a bit more juice for the servers. It would make our lives easier at least.

But apart from these considerations the site should be absolutely compulsory to visit. A triumph of design and execution. Great stuff for Kids too under the section labelled Fun. And here's me thinking it was for the adults ...

CBS Sportsline

They did the smart thing early and secured the most intuitive URL but in reality that destination takes you to the rather unattractive address that hangs off their main site.

The CBS coverage is built on their familiar Sportsline interface. Some attention to detail is missing on the front page but the site is still fairly rewarding once you drill down a few layers.

CNN/SI

Pretty much what you'd expect from CNN teamed up with Sports Illustrated. Familiar feel to the interface with menu of sports down the left hand side and the CNN designers ongoing infatuation with grey as a background colour. (Hello Netscape 1.0!)

Very newsy emphasis. Good for getting another view of what is happening at the games but definitely not the only source. Like the attwention to detail in some places and the friendlt design.

ESPN SportsZone

The site that scores huge among college students in the States has not really over-extended itself when it comes to Nagano.

ESPN's coverage is feed-based meaning little editorial intervention. Archived stories are the previous day's wire features. Check CNN/SI before you use this site.

Mountain Zone

The rebels of the media crew are definitely Mountain Zone. Knowing their audience are not likely to be "au fait" with all things Olympic the site includes guides to Olympic sympbolism and is focussed on the snowboarding and skiing events.

Simple design means fast loading times and depending on how they go with their live coverage, Mountain Zone could surprise a lot of mediaphiles out there this time.

MSNBC

An extension of their Sports site, the MSNBC coverage is pretty thin on the ground. With no pictures and a very long introductory article, I was not keen to hang around and register for MSNBC Fantasy Golf ...

Shinano Mainichi Shimbun

Local Nagano newspaper with their perspective on this huge event. Mostly news-driven and not too many surprises (apart from the odd amusing spelling slip-up) make this pretty standard fare. Local advantage is only really acted upon with guides for transportation. But hey - almost anyone can do that. Deploying results in real time does not look likely.

SLAM! Sports

Canadians are big on their snow sports. So is Slam! Nothing too thrilling here. They've got a whole heap of columnists on board but be aware that their views will probably be Canook-centric and may not be totally objective. May be of good service to their local communities.

The Sporting News

More of a fun approach taken here. Content is thinner than at other sites with less background detail but the personality is stronger at The Sporting News making it worth the occasional visit to stay up with the play.

Sportsweb

Basically a Reuters newfeed for Nagano. Good for a quick fix if you don't like downloading lots of pics or pretty Java applets. Interface design leaves a bit to be desired with a frame in the middle of the page.

USA Today

Plenty of depth here but as usual the site is very US-centric keeping tabs as it is on American athletes' chances and prospects at the games. There is plenty of background info on the games and Nagano itself and the Graphic Scrapbook is a cool interactive feature that gives some insight into how certain events will be contested and how equipment like the Bobsleigh works.

OTHER - ALMANAC SITES ETC
Britannica
Olympic Almanac