Albertville (French pronunciation: [al.bɛʁ.vil]; Arpitan: Arbèrtvile) is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.
The town is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics.
Albertville is situated on the Arly River, close to the confluence with the Isère River. Its altitude is between 345 and 2,037 metres (1,132 and 6,683 ft).
Nearby mountains include: Belle Etoile, Dent de Cons, Négresse, Roche Pourrie, Mirantin, Pointe de la Grande Journée, and Chaîne du Grand Arc.
Nearby mountain ranges include: the Bauges; the Beaufortain; and the beginning of the Vanoise.
Albertville is also the one of the two subprefectures of the Savoie department, with Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
The modern city of Albertville was formed in 1836 by King Charles Albert of Sardinia, who merged the medieval town of Conflans, which has buildings dating back to the 14th century, with the town of L'Hôpital. Since then, Albertville has developed trade between France, Italy and Switzerland. Industries such as paper mills and hydroelectricity can be found along its river.
Albertville may refer to:
The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games (French: Les XVIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Olympics to be held the same year as the Summer Olympics, and the first where the Winter Paralympics were held at the same site. Albertville was selected as host in 1986, beating Sofia, Falun, Lillehammer, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Anchorage and Berchtesgaden. The games were the third Winter Olympics held in France, after Chamonix in 1924 and Grenoble in 1968, and the fifth Olympics overall in the country.
Only some of the skating and the opening and closing ceremonies took place in Albertville, while the rest of the events took place in the villages of Courchevel, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Les Menuires, Les Saisies, Méribel, Pralognan-la-Vanoise, Tignes and Val d'Isère. Sixty-four nations with 1,801 athletes participated in the games, including the Unified Team which represented non-Baltic former Soviet republics. Germany participated as a unified team, while five newly independent European countries debuted, as did six "warm-weather" countries. Short track speed skating, moguls and women's biathlon made their debut as an Olympic sport. The games were the last Winter Games until 2014 to have demonstration sports, consisting of curling, aerials, ski ballet and speed skiing. It was the last Olympics to have an outdoor speed skating rink. The games were succeeded by the 1992 Winter Paralympics from 25 March to 1 April.