The Winter Olympic Games is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BCE to 394 CE. The Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 1,500 years later in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority. The original five Winter Olympic Sports were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing, and skating. The Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, interrupted in 1940 and 1944 by World War II, and resumed in 1948. Until 1992, the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games were held in the same year. A decision to change this was made in 1986, when during the 91st International Olympic Committee session, IOC members decided to alternate the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games on separate four-year cycles in even-numbered years. Also, at that same congress it was decided that 1992 Winter Olympics would be the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games and that to change the rotation, the games that would be held in 1996 would be brought forward by two years, being scheduled to 1994. After those games, the next were to be held in 1998 when the four-year Olympic Cycle resumed.
Renate Titzia Groenewold is a Dutch former long track speed skater and road bicycle racer.
Lidiya Pavlovna Skoblikova is a retired Russian speed skater and coach. She represented the USSR Olympic team during the Olympic Winter Games in 1960, 1964 and 1968, and won a total of six gold medals, a record she shares with Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst. She also won 25 gold medals at the world championships and 15 gold medals at the USSR National Championships in several distances. She was also the first athlete to earn six gold medals in the Winter Olympics and the first to earn four gold medals at a single Olympic Winter Games. She was the most successful athlete at the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics, sharing the honour for 1960 Games with her compatriot Yevgeny Grishin.
Cindy Klassen, is a Canadian retired long track speed skater. She is a six-time medallist having achieved one gold, two silver, three bronze at the Winter Olympics.
Canada has competed at every Winter Olympic Games, and has won at least one medal each time. By total medals, the country's best performance was in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games where Canadian athletes won 29 medals. Canada set a new record for most gold medals won by a country in a single Winter Olympics with 14 at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. This achievement surpassed the previous record of 13 gold medals held by the Soviet Union (1976) and Norway (2002). Both Germany and Norway matched the record total of 14 gold medals in Pyeongchang in 2018. This record has since been surpassed by Norway with 16 at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Irene Karlijn (Ireen) Wüst is a Dutch former long track speed skater of German ancestry. Wüst became the most successful speed skating Olympian ever by achieving at least one gold medal in each of five consecutive Winter Olympic appearances. Wüst is the second athlete to win a gold medal at five consecutive Olympics, Summer or Winter, and the first to do so in individual events.
Kristina Nicole Groves is a Canadian retired speed skater. She is Canada's most decorated skater in the World Single Distances Championships with 13 career medals in this event. She won four Olympic medals: she won two silver medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, in the 1,500 meters and team pursuit, and she won the silver medal in the 1500 m event and the bronze medal in the 3000 m event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
Gerard Kemkers is a former speed skater from the Netherlands, who represented his native country at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. There he won the bronze medal in the 5000 metres.
This article contains a chronological summary of major events from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Brittany Starr Bowe is an American speed skater and former inline skater and basketball player. She has won eight gold, one silver, and two bronze medals from the world inline speedskating championships. From her junior years, she has another 21 world championship medals. She also has a gold medal from the combined sprint event in roller skating at the 2007 Pan American Games.
The Netherlands competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia from 7 to 23 February 2014. The Dutch team was the largest Dutch delegation at a Winter Olympics, with 41 competitors that participated in bobsleigh, short track speed skating, snowboarding, and speed skating.
Jorien ter Mors is a retired Dutch speed skater on both short track and long track. She was the Olympic champion in the 1500 metres and team pursuit at the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 1000 metres at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The women's 3000 metres speed skating competition of the 2014 Sochi Olympics was held at Adler Arena Skating Center on 9 February 2014 at 15:30 MSK. The competition was won by Ireen Wüst from the Netherlands, who previously won the same distance at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Martina Sáblíková from the Czech Republic, the defending champion, finished second, while Olga Graf won the bronze medal.
Olga Borisovna Graf is a Russian speed skater. Graf competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where she won bronze medals both in the 3000 metres event and in the team pursuit.
Carlijn Achtereekte is a Dutch former speed skater and current road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike. Achtereekte won three silver medals in the 5000 metres at the Dutch Single Distance Championships. At the 2015 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen, she won the silver medal at the 5000 metres event behind Martina Sáblíková. Currently Achtereekte is a professional cyclist, competing for Team Jumbo–Visma.
The Netherlands competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, between 9 and 25 February 2018. Speed skater Jan Smeekens was appointed as flag bearer for the opening ceremony, which was attended by King Willem Alexander, Queen Máxima and Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who also observed the sporting events that featured Dutch competitors.
The women's 1500 metres speed skating competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held at the Gangneung Oval in Gangneung on 12 February 2018.
The women's 1500 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 7 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands won the distance. She set a new Olympic record and won her sixth Olympic gold medal, thereby becoming the first person to win individual gold medals at five different Olympics. Miho Takagi of Japan won silver, and Antoinette de Jong of the Netherlands bronze.
