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 the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 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.
Arnold Clas ("Classe") Robert Thunberg was a Finnish speed skater who won five Olympic gold medals – three at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924 and two at the 1928 Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz. He was the most successful athlete at both of these Winter Olympics, sharing the honour for 1928 Winter Olympics with Johan Grøttumsbraaten of Norway. No other athlete ever won such a high fraction of all Olympic events at a single Games. He was born and died in Helsinki.
Speed skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics, was held from 5 to 14 February. Nine events were contested at Eisschnelllaufbahn Innsbruck. This was the first Olympics which included the men's 1000 metres, and the first change to the men's program at the Olympics since the elimination of the all-round event in 1928.
Speed skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics, was held from 4 to 12 February. Eight events were contested at Makomanai Open Stadium in Sapporo, Japan. This was the first Olympics at which electronic times were recorded to the hundredth of a second.
Speed skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics, was held from 14 to 28 February. Ten events were contested at Olympic Oval. For the first time, all the Olympic speed skating events were held at an indoor venue and the women contested a 5000-metre race, the longest distance contested by women in speed skating.
Short track speed skating at the 1994 Winter Olympics was held from 22 to 26 February. Six events were contested at the Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre. In short track speed skating's second Olympic appearance, two events were added, the 500 metres for the men and the 1000 metres for the women.
Lee Kyou-hyuk is a South Korean retired long track speed skater who specializes in the 500 and 1,000 meters. He was the 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 World Sprint Speed Skating Champion and the 2011 World Champion for 500 m. He is one of four men to have won the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships four times.
Lee Sang-hwa is a South Korean retired speed skater who specialises in the sprint distances. She is a two-time Olympic champion in 500 metres and the 2010 World Sprint champion. She is the current world record holder in women's 500 metres with the time of 36.36 seconds set in Salt Lake City on 16 November 2013, and also holds the South Korean record on 1000 metres. She has also won three World Championships medals in 500 metres, and has placed in the top three in World Cup events four times in this distance. Her first World Cup victory, however, came on the non-Olympic distance 100 metres. On the 1000 metres, however, she has never placed higher than fifth in international events.
Singapore has sent athletes to most Summer Olympics held since 1948, when it was established as a separate British Crown Colony from the Straits Settlements just over three months before the commencement of the 1948 Summer Olympics. It continued to send a team to the Games until 1964 when Singapore was part of Malaysia, which sent a combined team. Upon Singapore's full independence from Malaysia in 1965, the country continued to participate in all subsequent editions of the Summer Olympics except in 1980 when the country participated in a large Olympic boycott. Singapore made their Winter Olympics debut at the 2018 Winter Olympics, with speed skater, Cheyenne Goh, competing in the short track speed skating event. Ethnic Chinese from Singapore had also competed for China at the Olympics as part of their football team, namely Chua Boon Lay in 1936, and Chia Boon Leong and Chu Chee Seng in 1948.
Originally having participated in Olympics as the delegation of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1924 to 1976, China competed at the Olympic Games under the name of the People's Republic of China (PRC) for the first time in 1952, at the Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland, although they only arrived in time to participate in one event. That year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed both the PRC and ROC to compete, although the latter withdrew in protest. Due to the dispute over the political status of China, the PRC did not participate in the Olympics again until the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, United States. Their first appearance at the Summer Olympic Games after 1952 was the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. The People's Republic of China staged boycotts of the Games of the XVI Olympiad in Melbourne Australia, Games of the XVII Olympiad in Rome Italy, Games of the XVIII Olympiad in Tokyo Japan, Games of the XIX Olympiad in Mexico City Mexico, Games of the XX Olympiad in Munich Germany, and Games of the XXI Olympiad in Montreal Canada. China also boycott the Games of the XXII Olympiad in Moscow USSR due to the American-led boycott and the ongoing Sino-Soviet split, together with the other countries.
China participated at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, sending its largest delegation at a Winter Olympics with 94 athletes. China had its best ever Winter Olympics medal finish, winning five gold medals and eleven in total, finishing seventh in the medal standings.
This article contains a chronological summary of major events from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Lee Seung-hoon is a South Korean speed skater. He won a gold medal in the 10,000 metres, a silver medal in the 5000 meters at the 2010 Winter Olympics, becoming the first and only Asian man to ever achieve these feats, a gold medal in mass-start at the 2018 Winter Olympics, a gold medal in the mass start at the 2016 World Championships in Kolomna, and a bronze medal in mass-start at the 2022 Winter Olympics. He was a short track speed skater, winning the 2008 World Championship 3000 m super-final and three gold medals at the 2009 Winter Universiade. Lee converted to long track in September 2009, as he failed to earn his spot on the South Korea national short track team in the national trials.
Mo Tae-bum is a South Korean speed skater. He is the 2010 Olympic Champion and the 2012 and 2013 World Champion in 500 m. He started speedskating while in the third grade. Prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics, Mo won two distances at the 2006 World Junior Speed Skating Championships. He has competed on the national level since 2004 and has competed internationally since 2005.
At the 1997 East Asian Games, the athletics events were held at the Busan Gudeok Stadium in Busan, South Korea between 10 and 19 May. Forty-three events were contested, 23 by male athletes and 20 by females.
Noh Seon-yeong is a South Korean speed skater who holds the national record for the women's long track speed skating 1500 metres. She represented her country at four Winter Olympic Games.
Kim Bo-reum is a South Korean speed skater. She is the current South Korean record holder in the women's long track speed skating 3000 and 5000 metres. She is a two-time Olympian and specialises in the women's mass start.
Speed skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics was held at the Adler Arena, Sochi, Russia, between 8 and 22 February 2014.
The men's 500 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 12 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. The event was won by three Asians, Gao Tingyu of China, the 2018 bronze medalist, who set a new Olympic record, Cha Min-kyu of South Korea, replicating his 2018 success, and Wataru Morishige of Japan, his first Olympic medal.
