Winter Olympic Games.

1. Winter Olympic Games.

2. Winter Olympic Games. • The Winter Olympic Games are a multi-sport event held every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. Some of the original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating. Other events have been added, and some of them, such as luge, short track speed skating, and freestyle skiing have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic programme. Others, such as speed skiing, bandy, and skijoring, were demonstration sports but were never incorporated as Olympic sports. 1924

3. Winter Olympic Games. • The Games were held every four years from 1924 until 1936 when they were interrupted by World War II. The Olympics resumed in 1948 and were celebrated every four years until 1992. At that point the governing body for the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), decided to place the Summer and Winter Games on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years. Parade 1948

4. Winter Olympic Games. • The Winter Olympics have been hosted on three continents, but never in a country in the southern hemisphere. The United States has hosted the Games four times. France has been the host three times. Austria, Canada, Italy, Japan, Norway, and Switzerland have hosted the Games twice. In 2014 Sochi will be the first Russian city to host the Winter Olympics.

5. Winter Olympic Games. • The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Games in Antwerp, Belgium, featured figure skating and ice hockey. At the IOC Congress held the following year, it was decided that the host nation of the 1924 Summer Olympics, France, would also host a separate "International Winter Sports Week", under the patronage of the IOC. Chamonix was chosen to host this "week" (actually 11 days) of events. The Games proved to be a success when more than 250 athletes from 16 nations competed in 16 events.Athletes from Finland and Norway won 28 medals, which was more than the rest of the participating nations combined. In 1925 the IOC decided to create a separate Olympic Winter Games, and the 1924 Games in Chamonix was retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics. 1924

6. Winter Olympic Games. • The next Winter Olympics was the first to be hosted outside of Europe. Seventeen nations and 252 athletes participated. This was less than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid, United States, was a long and expensive one for most competitors and there was little money for sports in the midst of the Great Depression. The athletes competed in fourteen events in four sports. Warm weather was also a problem at the 1932 Olympics. Virtually no snow fell for two months before the Games. It was not until mid-January that there was enough snow to hold all the events.

7. Winter Olympic Games. • The Second World War interrupted the celebration of the Winter Olympics. The 1940 Winter Olympics had originally been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but the decision was rescinded in 1938 because of the Japanese invasion of China. St. Moritz, was chosen by the IOC to host the Games, but three months later the IOC withdrew its selection because of quarrels with the Swiss organising committee.

8. Winter Olympic Games. • St. Moritz was selected to host the first post-war Games in 1948. Because of Switzerland's neutrality, the town had been untouched by World War II. Since most of the venues were already constructed for the 1928 Games, St. Moritz was a logical choice to become the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice. Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland, but athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited. The Games were marred by controversy and theft. Badge for guests

9. Winter Olympic Games. • In 1986, the IOC voted to separate the Summer and Winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years starting in 1994. These Games were the first Winter Olympics to be held without the Summer Games in the same year. American skater Nancy Kerrigan had been injured on January 6, 1994, in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding. Both skaters competed in the Games, but neither won the gold medal, which went to OksanaBaiul, who won Ukraine's first Olympic title.

10. Winter Olympic Games. Freestyle • Since 1992 a number of new sports have been added to the Olympic programme. These sports include short track speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle and moguls skiing. The addition of these events has broadened the appeal of the Winter Olympics beyond Europe and North America. While European powers such as Norway and Germany still dominate the traditional Winter Olympic sports, countries such as South Korea, Australia, and Canada are finding success in the new sports that have been introduced in the last two decades. The results are more parity in the national medal tables, more interest in the Winter Olympics, and higher global television ratings. Snowboarding Moguls skiing Short track speed skating.

11. Winter Olympic Games. • The decision for the location of the 2014 Winter Olympics was made on July 4, 2007. Sochi, Russia, was elected as the host city over the other two finalists: Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. This will be the first time that Russia will host a Winter Olympics. The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium will be located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues will be 50 kilometres (30 mi) away in the alpine region known as KrasnayaPolyana. The host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics has yet to be determined. Pyeongchang, South Korea, Munich, Germany and Annecy, France, have all indicated an interest in hosting the Games. A final vote by the IOC on the location of the 2018 Games will be held in July 2011. If Munich wins the bid, it will become the first city to ever host both a Summer and Winter Olympics.

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