The Winter Olympic Games are a winter multi-sport event held every four years. They feature winter sports held on snow or ice, such as Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ice skating, bobsledding, and ice hockey.
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC), as with the Summer Olympics, enters athletes to compete against other NOC's athletes for gold, silver, and bronze medals. Fewer countries participate in the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics, due largely to the reduced availability of winter sports in many countries nearer to the Equator, and where access to winter sport training facilities are quite limited or non-existent. Also areas in which the Winter Olympics are usually held, are required to be near a mountain range where it snows - for the Alpine skiing events. Outdoor natural snow is also a necessity for cross-country skiing.
Early years
When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was established in 1894, one of the sports proposed for the program was ice skating. However, no skating was conducted at the Olympics until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, which featured four figure skating events. Ulrich Salchow (10 time World champion) and Madge Syers (first competitive woman figure skater) won the individual titles with ease.
Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week with winter sports as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. The organizers opposed this idea, wanting to promote the Nordic Games, a winter sports competition held every four years.[citation needed] However, this same idea was again proposed for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin. A winter sports week with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing was planned, but the 1916 Olympics were cancelled after the outbreak of World War I in 1914
The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Games in Antwerp, again, featured figure skating, while ice hockey made its Olympic debut. At the IOC Congress held the following year, it was decided that the organizers of the 1924 Olympics (France) would also host a separate "International Winter Sports Week", under the patronage of the IOC. This "week" (it actually lasted 11 days) of events in Chamonix proved to be a great success, attracting more than 200 athletes from 16 nations, competing in 16 events. The first event on the program was 500 m speed skating won by U.S. athlete Charlie Jewtraw, who thereby became the first Olympic Winter Games champion, though not the first winter Olympic champion, since figure skating and ice hockey were held in 1908 and 1920. Overall, in 1924, Finnish and Norwegian athletes dominated events.
In 1925 the IOC decided to create separate Olympic Winter Games[citation needed] , and in 1926, at the 24th IOC Session in Lisbon, the 1924 events in Chamonix were retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics.[1]
St. Moritz was appointed by the Swiss organisers to host the second Olympic Winter Games, held from February 11 to February 19 in 1928. Curling and military patrol were no longer medal sports (although the latter was demonstrated) while skeleton made its first Olympic appearance. Warm weather conditions plagued the Olympics on the fourth day. The 10000 m speed skating was abandoned in the 5th pair, and the 50 km cross-country event ended with a temperature of 77 °F (25 °C), forcing a third of the field to abandon competition.
The next Olympics came to North America for the first time. However, fewer athletes participated than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid, New York was a long and expensive one for most competitors, and there was little money for sports in the midst of the Great Depression. On top of that, these games too were marred by warm weather, which eventually made it necessary to extend them for two more days. The Games opened on February 4 and closed on February 15. Eddie Eagan, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920, won the gold in the men's bobsled event during these games to become the first and so far only Olympian to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.
The Bavarian twin towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organize the 1936 edition of the Winter Games, held from February 6-16. Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut in Germany, but skiing teachers were barred from entering, as they were considered to be professionals. This decision caused the Swiss and Austrian skiers to boycott the Olympics.[2] The cross-country relay was also held for the first time, while the military patrol and ice stock sport were demonstration sports.
[edit] World War II
The Second World War interrupted the celebration of the Winter Olympics. The 1940 Winter Olympics had originally been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but were given back in 1938, because of the Japanese invasion of China in the Sino-Japanese War. Subsequently, St. Moritz, Switzerland was chosen by the IOC to host the 1940 Winter Olympics, but three months later the IOC withdrew St. Moritz from the Games, because of quarrels with the Swiss organizing team. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the hosts of the previous games, stepped in to host the Games again, but the Games were cancelled in their entirety in November 1939 following Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1st.
The 1944 Winter Olympics, scheduled to take place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, were canceled in the Summer of 1941, again, due to the still-raging World War II.
[edit] Post-war
The Swiss town of St. Moritz, untouched by the war because of Switzerland's neutrality, became the first place to host the Winter Olympics for the second time in 1948. Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland from January 30 to February 8, although athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited. Alpine skiing events were expanded to include the slalom and downhill. Skeleton returned to the programme after 20 years, but once more, the sport disappeared after the St. Moritz games, not to return again until 2002.
In 1952, the Winter Games came to Norway, the country considered the birthplace of modern skiing. As a tribute, the Olympic Flame was lit in the fireplace of the home of skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim. The programme in Oslo, from February 14 to February 25, was expanded with the first ever cross-country event for women, while the alpine combined was replaced with the giant slalom. Bandy, a popular sport in the Nordic countries, was held as a demonstration sport. Germany returned to the Olympic Games after 16 years, although only represented by West German athletes.
After not being able to host the Games in 1944 due to the war, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy was able to organise the 1956 Winter Olympics, held from January 26 to February 5. At the first Winter Games to be televised, the programme was extended with two events in cross-country skiing. The most important development was the debut of the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics. They immediately showed their potential by winning more medals than any other nation.
In the late 1950s when the Olympics were awarded to Squaw Valley for 1960, this resort town in California founded by Alexander Cushing was a ghost town. After being awarded the games, there was a rush to construct roads, hotels, restaurants, and bridges, as well as the ice arena, the speed skating track, ski lifts, and the ski jumping hill. By 1960, everything was in place. There was a fear of lack of snow, but late snowfall prevented a disaster.[3] The Games were held from February 18 to the 28th. While bobsleighing was absent (the organizing committee found it expensive as only 9 nations would take part), biathlon was first contested at the Olympics, and women first took part in speed skating.
The Tyrolean city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964. Despite being a traditional winter sports resort, there was a lack of snow and ice during the Games and the Austrian army was called in to bring snow and ice to the sport venues.[4] Bobsleigh returned to the Olympics, while a new event was added to ski jumping and women's cross-country skiing. Luge was first contested in the Olympics, although the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.
Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic Games in which East and West Germany participated as separate countries.[5] Until 1964, they had competed in a combined German team. One new event was added for the Grenoble Games: the 4 × 10 km relay in biathlon. Another first in these Olympics were doping and sex tests.[6]
The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, Japan, were the first to be held outside North America or Europe. These Games were surrounded by several professionalism issues. Three days before the Olympics, IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar a large number of top alpine skiers from competing because they did not comply with the amateurism rules. Eventually, only Austrian star Karl Schranz, who earned most of all skiers, was not allowed to compete. On a historical note, the 1972 Games were the last Olympic Winter Games where a skier would win the gold medal using all-wooden skis. After this, all top-level cross-country skiing would take place with the athletes using skis made mostly of fibreglass synthetics.
Originally, the 1976 Winter Games had been awarded to Denver, but in 1972 the residents of Denver and of Colorado expressed unwillingness to host the Games through a city plebiscite and a state referendum. Whistler, British Columbia was also offered the Games as they had bid earlier, but the new government there rejected the offer. Innsbruck, which still had the venues of 1964 in good shape, was chosen in 1973 to replace Denver.[7] Because it was the second time the Austrian town hosted the Games, two Olympic flames were lit. New events on the programme included ice dancing and the men's 1000 m in speed skating. The 1976 Games also featured the first combination bobsleigh and luge track in neighboring Igls.
[edit] 1980 - 1998
The Olympic Winter Games returned to Lake Placid, which had earlier hosted the 1932 edition. The People's Republic of China made its debut at the Winter Olympics. Because of this, the Republic of China (Taiwan) was forced by the IOC to compete under the name of Chinese Taipei. The Taiwanese refused, and thus became the only nation to boycott the Olympic Winter Games. The threat of the American boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics was also clouding these Olympics, as much of the debate about doing so fell during the Winter Games. Fortunately, there were also many sporting highlights. Speed skater Eric Heiden set world records in each of the 5 events he competed in. For the Americans, however, the highlight of the Games was the Olympic ice hockey tournament. In a match later dubbed the "Miracle on Ice", the home team upset the favoured Soviet Union, and went on to win the title.
Sarajevo was quite a surprising choice for the 1984 Winter Olympics, as no Yugoslavian athlete had ever won an Olympic medal in the Winter Games. This gap was filled by alpine skier Jure Franko, who won a silver medal in the giant slalom. There was only one new event at the Sarajevo Games, a 20 km cross-country event for women.
The city of Calgary, Alberta hosted the first Winter Olympics to span 16 days, in 1988. New events were added in ski jumping and speed skating, while future Olympic sports curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing made their appearance as demonstration sports. In alpine skiing, the Super G was added for the first time, while the combined event was reinstated after a 40-year absence from the Olympics. For the first time, the speed skating events were held indoors, on the Olympic Oval. Dutch skater Yvonne van Gennip beat the favoured East German, winning three gold medals and setting two new world records. Her total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all events in his sport. Not all athletes making the headlines were winning medals: British ski jumper Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards, who came in last, and Jamaica's first ever bobsleigh team also received plenty of attention, including being the subject of the film Cool Runnings starring actor John Candy.
In 1986, the IOC decided to reschedule the Summer and Winter Games by alternating between them every 2 years: each would still be held in four-year cycles, but two years apart from one another. The 1992 Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games. They were held in the French Haute Savoie region; Albertville itself only hosted 18 events. Two new sports, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing were on the programme. Women's biathlon was also included for the first time. Curling, speed skiing and two freestyle skiing events were demonstrated. Political changes of the time were reflected in the Olympic teams appearing in France. Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the two German countries ceased competing as a unified team following the 1964 Games, and former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debut. Most of former Soviet republics still competed as a single team, under the name of Unified Team, but the Baltic States made independent appearances, for the first time since before World War II. Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion. New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger made history with a silver medal in the women's slalom, becoming the first Winter Olympic medallist from the Southern Hemisphere.
The Lillehammer Games in 1994 were the first Winter Olympics to be held without the Summer Games in the same year; in a non-leap, even year. The event programme was again extended, adding two new events each in freestyle skiing and short track speed skating. After the split-up of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debut in Lillehammer, as did several former Soviet republics. A lot of media attention, especially in the United States, went to the women's figure skating competition, as American skater Nancy Kerrigan had been injured on January 6 in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding. Both skaters competed in the Games, but neither of them won the gold medal, which went to Oksana Baiul, who won Ukraine's first Olympic title. Kerrigan would ultimately win the silver medal.
For the first time, more than 2000 winter athletes competed in the 1998 Winter Olympics, held in the Japanese city of Nagano. Two new sports were conducted—snowboarding and curling—while women's ice hockey was also included. The men's ice hockey tournament was open to all players for the first time, making Canada and the United States favourites for the gold with their many NHL professionals. However, neither nation won any medals, losing to the Czech Republic. Speed skating saw a wave of new world records thanks to the use of the revolutionary clap skate.
[edit] 2002 - present
The 19th Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, United States. Prior to the opening of the Games, it was found that Salt Lake organisers had bribed several IOC members in order to be elected. This resulted in a change of the host city election procedures and several IOC members resigned or were punished. Again, the programme was expanded. Skeleton made its return on the Olympic podium after 54 years, while new events were added in biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and short track speed skating.
All Olympics since September 11, 2001 have required a higher level of security to avoid any terrorist attack. The Olympic Games in Salt Lake City were the first Olympics since then, and thus the first to implement the new measures. During the opening ceremonies, Dr. Jacques Rogge, presiding over his first Olympics as IOC president, told the athletes of the host country that their nation was overcoming the "horrific tragedy" of that day and the IOC stands united with them in promoting the committee's ideals.[8][9] In addition, the opening ceremonies of those games also saw signs of the aftermath of that tragic day.
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