Kyrgyzstan competed in the Winter Olympic Games as an independent nation for the first time at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. The Kyrgyz team did not arrive in time for the opening ceremony, and the Kyrgyz flag was carried into the Olympic arena by the designated Norwegian volunteer called Torkel Engeness. Biathlete Yevgeniya Roppel was the only competitor in Lillehammer for Kyrgyzstan.