Winter Olympics details

The Winter Olympic Games are a major international sporting event held once every four years for sports performed on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, in 1924, were held in Chamonix, France.

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The Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894, which led to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority. The original five sports (divided into nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of military patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and figure skating (consisting of speed skating and figure skating).

The Winter Olympic Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, interrupted in 1940 and 1944 due to World War II, and resumed in 1948. Until 1992, the Winter and Summer Olympic Games were held in the same years, but in accordance with the decision taken by the International Olympic Committee in 1986 to place the Summer and Winter Games in separate four-year cycles alternating with equal years, the next Winter Olympic Games after 1992 was in 1994.

The Winter Olympic Games have evolved since their inception. Sports and competitions have been added, and some, such as alpine skiing, luge racing, short-track speed skating, freestyle skiing, skeleton (head-first sled racing), and figure skating, have received special attention on the Olympic program.

Other sports, such as curling and bobsleigh, were discontinued and reintroduced; others, such as military parades, were permanently discontinued, although the biathlon descends from them. Others, such as bandy and skijoring, were promotional sports but were never incorporated into the Olympic Games.

The rise of television as a global communication medium enhanced the image of the Games. Television generated revenue through the sale of broadcasting rights and advertising, which became lucrative for the IOC. This allowed outside interests, such as television companies and co-sponsors, to exert influence. The IOC has had to deal with significant criticism over the years, such as internal scandals, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Olympians, and political boycotts of the Olympic Games. Nations have used the Winter Olympics and the Winter Games to project the superiority of their political systems.

The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted on three continents by twelve different countries. The Olympic Games have been held four times in the United States (1932, 1960, 1980, and 2002), three times in France (1924, 1968, and 1992), and twice in Austria (1964 and 1976), Canada (1988 and 2010), Japan (1972 and 1998), Italy (1956 and 2006), Norway (1952 and 1994), and Switzerland (1928 and 1948).

The Winter Olympics have also been held only once each in Germany (1936), Yugoslavia (1984), Russia (2014) and South Korea (2018).

The International Olympic Committee has selected Beijing, China, to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo to host the 2026 Winter Olympics. As of 2018, no city in the Southern Hemisphere had applied to host the cold-weather Winter Olympics, which take place in February at the height of the Southern Hemisphere's summer.

Twelve countries have participated in every Winter Olympic Games to date: Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

On the other hand, six of these countries have won medals at every Winter Olympic Games: Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The United States is the only country to have won a gold medal at every Winter Olympic Games.

Norway tops the Winter Olympic medal table. When disintegrating nations are included, Germany (including the former states of West and East Germany) leads, followed by Norway and Russia (including the former Soviet Union).

In the 20th century 1900 to 1912 The Nordic Games, a precursor to the Winter Olympics, were organized by General Victor Gustaf Balk in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1901 and held again in 1903 and 1905 and then every four years thereafter until 1926.

Gustav Balk was a charter member of the Olympic Committee and a close friend of the founder of the Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin.

He attempted to add winter sports, specifically figure skating, to the Olympic program but failed until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. Four figure skating events were contested, with Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Sears winning the individual titles.

Three years later, Italian Count Eugenio Brunetta d'Asso proposed that the International Olympic Committee start a week of winter sports included as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.

Organizers opposed this idea because they wanted to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games and were concerned about the lack of facilities for winter sports.

The idea was revived for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin, Germany. A winter sports week was planned, including speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey, and Nordic skiing, but the 1916 Olympics were canceled after the outbreak of World War I.

Meanwhile, the first post-war Summer Olympics, the 1920 Summer Olympics, were held in Antwerp, Belgium, and featured figure skating and ice hockey tournaments.

Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey were barred from competing in the Games. At the IOC Congress held the following year, it was decided that the host nation of the 1924 Summer Olympics, France, would host a separate International Winter Sports Week under the auspices of the IOC. Chamonix was chosen to host the events for this week (for 11 days).

The 1924 Games in Chamonix proved to be a success, with over 250 athletes from 16 nations competing in 16 events. Athletes from Finland and Norway won 28 medals, more than the rest of the participating nations combined. Charles Guitero of the United States won the first gold medal in the 500-meter sprint. Sonja Henie of Norway, just 11 years old, competed in the women's figure skating and, despite finishing last, became a popular figure skater.

Sweden's Gillis Grafström defended his 1920 gold medal in men's figure skating, becoming the first Olympian to win gold medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Germany remained banned until 1925 and instead hosted a series of games called the German Combat Games, beginning with the 1922 winter edition (which preceded the first Winter Olympics). In 1925, the IOC decided to create a separate winter event, and the 1924 Games in Chamonix were selected as the first Winter Olympics.

St. Moritz, Switzerland, was chosen by the International Olympic Committee to host the second Winter Games in 1928. The changeable weather challenged the hosts.

The opening ceremony was held in a snowstorm, while the sporting events suffered from warm weather conditions throughout the rest of the Games. Due to the weather, the 10,000-meter speed skating event was officially canceled. The weather wasn't the only noteworthy aspect of the 1928 Games; Sonja Henie of Norway returned to the Winter Olympics and made history when she won the women's figure skating event at the age of 15.

She became the youngest Olympic champion in history, a distinction she held for 70 years, and went on to defend her title at subsequent Winter Olympics. Gillis Grafström won his third gold medal in figure skating, taking silver in 1932, making him the most decorated figure skater to date.

The next Winter Olympics, held in Lake Placid, New York, were the first to be hosted outside Europe. Seventeen nations and 252 athletes participated. This participation was lower than in 1928, as the trip to Lake Placid was too long and expensive for some European nations, which were facing financial difficulties in the midst of the Great Depression.

Athletes competed in fourteen events across four sports. Virtually no snow fell for two months before the Games, and there wasn't enough snow to hold all the events until mid-January.

Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title, and Eddie Egan of the United States, the 1920 Olympic boxing champion, won the gold medal in the men's bobsleigh event, joining Gillis Grafström as the only athletes to win gold medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Egan holds the distinction of being the only Olympian, as of 2020, to achieve this feat in multiple sports.