The Winter Olympic Games (French: Jeux olympiques d'hiver)[a], also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 (consisting of nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol,[b]cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating).[c] 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.[2][3]
The Winter Olympic Games have evolved since their inception. Sports and disciplines have been added and some of them, such as alpine skiing, luge, short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, skeleton, and snowboarding, have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic program. Some others, including curling and bobsleigh, have been discontinued and later reintroduced; others have been permanently discontinued, such as military patrol, though the modern Winter Olympic sport of biathlon is descended from it.[b] Still others, such as speed skiing, bandy and skijoring, were demonstration sports but never incorporated as Olympic sports. The rise of television as a global medium for communication enhanced the profile of the Games. It generated income via the sale of broadcast rights and advertising, which has become lucrative for the IOC. This allowed outside interests, such as television companies and corporate sponsors, to exert influence. The IOC has had to address numerous criticisms over the decades like internal scandals, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Winter Olympians, as well as a political boycott of the Winter Olympic Games. Countries have used the Winter Olympic Games as well as the Summer Olympic Games to proclaim the superiority of their political systems.
As of 2022[update], twelve countries have participated in every Winter Olympic Games–Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Also, Czechoslovakia participated in all Winter Olympic Games before its dissolution and its successors, Czech Republic and Slovakia have participated in all Winter Games thereafter. Six of these countries have won medals at every Winter Olympic Games–Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The only country to have won a gold medal at every Winter Olympic Games is the United States. Norway leads the all-time medal record for the Winter Olympic Games. When including defunct states, Germany (comprising the former countries of West Germany and East Germany) leads, followed by Norway, Russia (including the former Soviet Union), and the United States.
A predecessor, the Nordic Games, were organised by General Viktor Gustaf Balck in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1901 and were held again in 1903 and 1905 and then every fourth year thereafter until 1926.[10] Balck was a charter member of the IOC and a close friend of Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertin. He attempted to have winter sports, specifically figure skating, added to the Olympic programme but was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.[10] Four figure skating events were contested, at which Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles.[11][12]
Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week of winter sports included as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The organisers opposed this idea because they desired to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games and were concerned about a lack of facilities for winter sports.[13][14][15]
Sonia Henie's Olympic gold medal, St. Moritz 1928.
The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Summer Olympics, were held in Antwerp, Belgium,[16] and featured figure skating[17] and an ice hockey tournament. Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were banned 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 patronage of the IOC. Chamonix was chosen to host this week (actually 11days) of events.
The 1924 games in Chamonix proved to be a success when more than 250 athletes from 16 nations competed in 16 events.[18] Athletes from Finlandand Norway won 28 medals, more than the rest of the participating nations combined.[19] The first gold medal awarded was won by Charles Jewtraw of the United States in the 500-meter speed skate. Sonja Henie of Norway, at just 11 years old, competed in the ladies' figure skating and, although finishing last, became popular with fans. Gillis Grafström of Sweden defended his 1920 gold medal[17] in men's figure skating, becoming the first Olympian to win gold medals in both Summer and Winter Olympics.[20] Germany remained banned until 1925, and instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele, starting with the winter edition of 1922 (which predated the first Winter Olympics). In 1925 the IOC decided to create a separate winter event and the 1924 games in Chamonix were retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics.[14][18]
St. Moritz, Switzerland, was appointed by the IOC to host the second Winter Games in 1928.[21] Fluctuating weather conditions challenged the hosts. The opening ceremony was held in a blizzard while warm weather conditions plagued sporting events throughout the rest of the games.[22] Because of the weather the 10,000metre speed-skating event had to be abandoned and officially cancelled.[23] The weather was not the only noteworthy aspect of the 1928 games: Sonja Henie of Norway returned to the Winter Olympics to make history when she won the ladies' figure skating at the age of 15. She became the youngest Olympic champion in history, a distinction she held for 70years, and went on to defend her title at the next two Winter Olympics.[24]Gillis Grafström won his third consecutive figure skating gold[25] and went on to win silver in 1932,[26] becoming the most decorated men's figure skater to date.
The next Winter Olympics, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States was the first to be hosted outside of Europe. Seventeen nations and 252 athletes participated.[27] This was less than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid was too long and expensive for some European nations that encountered financial problems in the midst of the Great Depression. The athletes competed in fourteen events in four sports.[27] Virtually no snow fell for two months before the Games, and there was not enough snow to hold all the events until mid-January.[28] Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title,[26] and Eddie Eagan of the United States, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920,[29] won the gold medal in the men's bobsleigh event[30] to join Gillis Grafström as the only athletes to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.[27] Eagan has the distinction as the only Olympian as of 2020 to accomplish this feat in different sports.[31]
The German towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organise the 1936 Winter Games, held from 6–16 February.[32] This was the last time the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same country in the same year. Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut, but skiing teachers were barred from entering because they were considered to be professionals.[33] Because of this decision the Swissand Austrian skiers refused to compete at the games.[33]
World War II interrupted the Winter Olympics. The 1940 games had been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but the decision was rescinded in 1938 because of the Japanese invasion of China. The games were then to be held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, but the 1940 games were cancelled following the German invasion of Poland in 1939.[34] Due to the ongoing war, the 1944 games, originally scheduled for Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, were cancelled.[35]
1948 to 1962
The opening ceremonies of the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo
St. Moritz was selected to host the first post-war games, in 1948. Switzerland's neutrality had protected the town during World War II, and most venues from the 1928 games remained in place, which made St. Moritz a logical choice. It became the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice.[36] Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland, but athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited.[37] Controversy erupted when two hockey teams from the United States arrived, both claiming to be the legitimate U.S. Olympic hockey representative. The Olympic flag presented at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp was stolen, as was its replacement. There was unprecedented parity at these games, during which 10 countries won gold medals—more than any games to that point.[38]
The Olympic Flame tradition was introduced at the 1952 games in Oslo, when the flame was lit in the fireplace by Norwegian skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim and the first Winter torch relay was conducted by 94 torchbearers entirely on their skis.[39][40]Bandy, a popular sport in the Nordic countries, was featured as a demonstration sport, though only Norway, Sweden, and Finland fielded teams. Norwegian athletes won 17 medals, which outpaced all the other nations.[41] They were led by Hjalmar Andersen who won three gold medals in four events in the speed skating competition.[42]
After not being able to host the games in 1944, Cortina d'Ampezzo was selected to organise the 1956 Winter Olympics. At the opening ceremonies the final torchbearer, Guido Caroli, entered the Olympic Stadium on ice skates. As he skated around the stadium his skate caught on a cable and he fell and burned his arm, nearly extinguishing the flame. He was able to recover and light the cauldron.[43] These were the first Winter Games to be televised, and the first Olympics ever broadcast to an international audience, though no television rights were sold until the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[44] The Cortina games were used to test the feasibility of televising large sporting events.[44]
The Soviet Union made its Olympic debut and had an immediate impact, winning more medals than any other nation.[45] The Soviets' immediate success might be explained by the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete". The USSR entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train full-time.[46][47]Chiharu Igaya won the first Winter Olympics medal for Japan and the continent of Asia when he placed second in the slalom.[48]
The IOC awarded the 1960 Olympics to Squaw Valley, United States.[49] the announcement of its selection came as a shock as the resort was undeveloped and unknown outside the United States.About US$80,000,000 was spent over four years to build the completely non-existent infrastructure.[50][51] The opening and closing ceremonies were the firsts produced by Walt Disney Company.[52] The Squaw Valley Olympics was the first Winter Games to have a dedicated athletes' village,[53][54] the first to use a computer (courtesy of IBM) to tabulate results, and the first to feature female speed skating events. This edition is the only one to date to not have bobsleigh competitions, as the number of countries registered in the event was insufficient and the costs of building the track were too high for the Organizing Committee.To replace the event, an extra edition from the FIBT World Championship was held.[52]
The Austrian city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964. For the first time, the Olympic torch of the Winter Olympic Games was lit at the traditional ritual held in the temple of Olympia.Although Innsbruck was a traditional winter sports resort, unprojected warm weather caused a lack of snow and organisers were unable to save enough snow to be used during the Games, and the Austrian army was enlisted to transport snow and ice from other places to the sports venues.[52]Soviet speed-skater Lidia Skoblikova made history by winning all four-speed skating events. Her career total of six gold medals set a record for Winter Olympics athletes.[52] Also, for the first time Luge was added to the Olympic program, but the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.[55][56]
Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic Games to be broadcast in colour. There were 1,158 athletes from 37 nations competing in 35 events.[57]French alpine ski racer Jean-Claude Killy became only the second person to win all the men's alpine skiing events. Due the high interest around the world, the organising committee sold television rights for US$2million, which was more than twice the cost of the broadcast rights for the Innsbruck Games.[58] For the first time, the organizers chose to decentralize the Games to save costs and the events were spread across three long distances clusters, which led to the need to build three Olympic Villages.Along the high costs, the organisers claimed that this was necessary to accommodate technological advances, however, critics disputed this, alleging that the layout would incorporate the best possible venues for television broadcasts at the athletes' expense.[58]
The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, Japan,[59] were the first to be hosted on a continent other than North America or Europe. The issue of professionalism was disputed during these Games when a number of alpine skiers were found to have participated in a ski camp at Mammoth Mountain in the United States; three days before the opening ceremony, IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar the skiers from competing in the Games as he insisted that they were no longer amateurs having benefited financially from their status as athletes.[60] Eventually only AustrianKarl Schranz, who earned more than the other skiers, was excluded from the competition.[61] Canada boycotted the 1972 and the 1976 ice hockey tournaments in protest at not being able to use players from professional leagues.[62] Canadian authorities also accused the Soviet Union of using state-sponsored athletes, who were de facto professionals.[63]Francisco Fernández Ochoa became the first and, as of 2022, the only Spaniard to win a Winter Olympic gold medal when he triumphed in the slalom.[64]
The 1976 Winter Olympics had initially been awarded in 1970 to Denver, Colorado in the United States. These Games would have coincided with the year of Colorado's centennial and the United States Bicentennial. However, the increasing costs of the event and the oil crisis led to a local plebiscite held in November 1972, that resulted in the city withdrawing from hosting the Games, as the people of Colorado voted against public funding of the Games by a 3:2 margin.[65][66] The IOC responded by offering the Games to Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia in Canada, which had previously been a finalist bid for the 1976 Games. However, a change in the provincial government resulted in an administration that did not support the Olympic bid, so the IOC's offer was rejected.[67]
Salt Lake City, previously a candidate for the 1972 Winter Olympics, then put itself forward, but a tense political situation led IOC to invite Innsbruck to host the 1976 Games, as all the infrastructure used during the 1964 Games had been maintained. Despite only having half the usual time to prepare for the Games, Innsbruck accepted the invitation to replace Denver in February 1973.[67] During the opening ceremonies, two cauldrons were lit because it was the second time that the Austrian town had hosted the Winter Games.[67] The 1976 Games featured the first combination bobsleigh-and-luge track, in neighbouring Igls.[64] The Soviet Union won its fourth consecutive ice hockey gold medal.[67]
In 1980 the Winter Olympics returned to Lake Placid, which had hosted the 1932 Games.Unlike previous editions, Lake Placid had no competitors in this bid process. Cyprus made their Olympic debut at the games. People's Republic of China and the first tropical nation Costa Rica competed for the first at the Winter Games. The Republic of China boycoted the Games, in protest of the IOC's recognition of the People's Republic of China as the only "China", and its request for the Republic of China to compete as "Chinese Taipei". The PRC, on the other hand, returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1952 and made its Winter Olympic debut.[68][69]
American speed-skater Eric Heiden set either an Olympic or World record in every one of the five events in which he competed, winning a total of five individual gold medals and breaking the record for most individual golds in a single Olympics (both Summer and Winter).[70]Hanni Wenzel won both the slalom and giant slalom and her country, Liechtenstein, became the smallest nation to produce an Olympic gold medallist.[71] In the "Miracle on Ice", the American hockey team composed of college players beat the favoured seasoned professionals from the Soviet Union, and progressed to eventually win the gold medal.[72][d]
1984 to 1998
Alberto Tomba, winner of five Olympic medals in Calgary, Albertville and Lillehammer
Sapporo, Japan, and Gothenburg, Sweden, were front-runners to host the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was therefore a surprise when Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, was selected as host.[74] The Games were well-organised and not affected by the run-up to the war that engulfed the country eight years later.[75] A total of 49 nations and 1,272 athletes participated in 39 events. Host nation Yugoslavia won its first Olympic medal when alpine skier Jure Franko won silver in the giant slalom. Another sporting highlight was the free dance performance of British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean; their Boléro routine received unanimous perfect scores for artistic impression, earning them the gold medal.[75]
In 1988, the Canadian city of Calgary hosted the first Winter Olympics to span three weekends, lasting for a total of 16 days.[76] New events were added in ski-jumping and speed skating, while future Olympic sports curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing made their debut appearance as demonstration sports. The speed skating events were held indoors for the first time, on the Olympic Oval. Dutch skater Yvonne van Gennip won three gold medals and set two world records, beating skaters from the favoured East German team in every race.[77]
Her medal total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all three events in his sport. Alberto Tomba, an Italian skier, made his Olympic debut by winning both the giant slalom and slalom. East German Christa Rothenburger won the women's 1,000metre speed skating event. Seven months later she would earn a silver in track cycling at the Summer Games in Seoul, to become the only athlete to win medals in both a Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year.[76] The 1988 games are well remembered in popular culture from two films based on its events: Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsled team; and Eddie the Eagle about British ski jumper Michael Edwards, who finished last but set a British record of 73.5 metres.
The 1992 Winter Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games.[78] They were hosted in the French Savoie region, with 18 events held in the city of Albertville and the remaining events spread out over the Savoie.[78] Political changes of the time were reflected in the composition of the Olympic teams competing in France: this was the first Games to be held after the fall of Communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1964 Games.[79]
Former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debuts as independent nations; most of the former Soviet republics still competed as a single team known as the Unified Team, but the Baltic States made independent appearances for the first time since before World War II.[79] At 16years old, Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion.[80]New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger became the first Winter Olympic medallist from the southern hemisphere when she won a silver medal in the women's slalom.
The 1994 Winter Olympics, held in Lillehammer, Norway, were the first Winter Games to be held in a different year from the Summer Games. This change resulted from the decision reached in the 91st IOC Session (1986) to separate the Summer and Winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years.[81] Lillehammer is the northernmost city to ever host the Winter Games. It was the second time the Games were held in Norway, after the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, and the first time the Olympic Truce was observed. As a result, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debuts.[82]
The women's figure skating competition drew media attention when American skaterNancy Kerrigan was injured on 6 January 1994, in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding.[83] Both skaters competed in the Games, but the gold medal was narrowly won by Oksana Baiul who became Ukraine's first Olympic champion, while Kerrigan won the silver medal.[84][85]Johann Olav Koss of Norway won three gold medals, coming first in all of the distance speed skating events.[86]
13-year-old Kim Yoon-Mi became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medallist when South Korea won the women's 3,000-metre speed skating relay. Bjørn Dæhli of Norway won a medal in four out of five cross-country events, becoming the most decorated Winter Olympian until then. Russia won the most events, with eleven gold medals, while Norway achieved 26 podium finishes, collecting the most medals overall on home ground. Juan Antonio Samaranch described Lillehammer as "the best Olympic Winter Games ever" in his closing ceremony speech.[87]
The Canadians appeared to have skated well enough to win the competition, yet the Russians were awarded the gold. The French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, awarded the gold to the Russians. An investigation revealed that she had been pressured to give the gold to the Russian pair regardless of how they skated; in return, the Russian judge would look favourably on the French entrants in the ice dancing competition.[94]
The IOC decided to award both pairs the gold medal in a second medal ceremony held later in the Games.[95]AustralianSteven Bradbury became the first gold medallist from the southern hemisphere when he won the 1,000metre short-track speed skating event.[96]
The Italian city of Turin hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. It was the second time that Italy had hosted the Winter Olympic Games. South Korean athletes won 10 medals, including 6 gold in the short-track speed skating events. Sun-Yu Jin won three gold medals while her teammate Hyun-Soo Ahn won three gold medals and a bronze.[97] In the women's Cross-Country team pursuit CanadianSara Renner broke one of her poles and, when he saw her dilemma, Norwegian coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen decided to lend her a pole. In so doing she was able to help her team win a silver medal in the event at the expense of the Norwegian team, who finished fourth.[97][98]
On winning the Super-G, Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway became the most decorated ski racer of all time with 4 gold and 8 overall medals. He is also the only ski racer to have won the same event at three Olympics, winning the Super-G in 1992, 2002, and 2006. Claudia Pechstein of Germany became the first speed skater to earn nine career medals.[97]
In February 2009, Pechstein tested positive for "blood manipulation" and received a two-year suspension, which she appealed. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld her suspension but a Swiss court ruled that she could compete for a spot on the 2010 German Olympic team.[99] This ruling was brought to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which overturned the lower court's ruling and precluded her from competing in Vancouver.[100]
In 2003, the IOC awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, thus allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics. With a population of more than 2.5million people Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games.[101] Over 2,500 athletes from 82 countries participated in 86 events.[102] The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies resulted in the Whistler Sliding Centre changing the track layout on safety grounds.[103]
Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen won five medals in the six cross-country events on the women's programme. She finished the Olympics with three golds, a silver and a bronze.[104] For the first time, Canada won a gold medal at an Olympic Games it hosted, having failed to do so at both the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. In contrast to the lack of gold medals at these previous Olympics, the Canadian team finished first overall in gold medal wins,[105] and became the first host nation—since Norway in 1952—to lead the gold medal count, with 14 medals. In doing so, it also broke the record for the most gold medals won by a NOC at a single Winter Olympics (the previous was 13, set by the Soviet Union in 1976 and matched by Norway in 2002).[106]
The Vancouver Games were notable for the poor performance of the Russian athletes. From their first Winter Olympics in 1956 to the 2006 Games, a Soviet or Russian delegation had never been outside the top five medal-winning nations, but in 2010 they finished sixth in total medals and eleventh in gold medals. PresidentDmitry Medvedev called for the resignation of top sports officials immediately after the Games.[107] Russia's disappointing performance at Vancouver is cited as the reason behind the enhancement of an already existing doping scheme alleged to have been in operation at major events such as the 2014 Games at Sochi.[108]
The success of Asian countries stood in stark contrast to the under-performing Russian team, with Vancouver marking a high point for medals won by Asian countries. At the Albertville Games in 1992 the Asian countries had won fifteen medals, three of which were gold. In Vancouver, the total number of medals won by athletes from Asia had increased to thirty-one, with eleven of them being gold. The rise of Asian nations in Winter Olympics sports is due in part to the growth of winter sports programmes and the interest in winter sports in nations such as Kazakhstan, South Korea, Japan and China. These results increased the chances of an Asian city hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics that would be held the following year.[109][110]
Sochi, Russia, was selected as the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics over Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. This was the first time that Russia had hosted a Winter Olympics.[111] The Games took place from 7 to 23 February 2014.[112] A record 2,800 athletes from 88 countries competed in 98 events. The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium were located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues were 50 kilometres (31mi) away in the alpine region known as Krasnaya Polyana.[111] The Games were the most expensive until the date, with a cost of £30 billion (US$51 billion).
On the snow, Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen took two golds to bring his total tally of Olympic medals to 13, overtaking his compatriot Bjørn Dæhlie to become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time. Another Norwegian, cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen took three golds; her total of ten Olympic medals tied her as the female Winter Olympian with most medals, alongside Raisa Smetanina and Stefania Belmondo. Snowboarder Ayumu Hirano became the youngest medallist on snow at the Winter Games when he took a silver in the halfpipe competition at the age of fifteen.[111]
On the ice, the Netherlands team dominated the speed skating events, taking 23 medals, four clean sweeps of the podium places and at least one medal in each of the twelve medal events. Ireen Wüst was their most successful competitor, taking two golds and three silvers. In figure skating, Yuzuru Hanyu became the first skater to break the 100-point barrier in the short programme on the way to winning the gold medal. Among the sledding disciplines, luger Armin Zöggeler took a bronze, becoming the first Winter Olympian to secure a medal in six consecutive Games.[111]
Following their disappointing performance at the 2010 Games, and an investment of £600 million in elite sport, Russia initially topped the medal table, taking 13 gold and 33 total medals.[113] However, Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian national anti-doping laboratory, subsequently claimed that he had been involved in doping dozens of Russian competitors for the Games, and that he had been assisted by the Russian Federal Security Service in opening and re-sealing bottles containing urine samples so that samples with banned substances could be replaced with "clean" urine.[114]
A subsequent investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency led by Richard McLaren concluded that a state-sponsored doping programme had operated in Russia from "at least late 2011 to 2015" across the "vast majority" of Summer and Winter Olympic sports.[115] On 5 December 2017, the IOC announced that Russia would compete as the Olympic Athletes from Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics[116] and by the end of 2017 the IOC Disciplinary Commission had disqualified 43 Russian athletes, stripping thirteen medals and knocking Russia from the top of the medal table, thus putting Norway in the lead.[117][118][119] However, nine medals were later returned, meaning that Russia reclaimed first place in the overall medal table, and joint first place with Norway in terms of gold medals.
On 6 July 2011, Pyeongchang, South Korea, was selected to host the 2018 Winter Olympics over Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France.[120] This was the first time that South Korea had been selected to host a Winter Olympics and it was the second time the Olympics were held in the country overall, after the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. The Games took place from 9 to 25 February 2018.[121] More than 2,900 athletes from 92 countries participated in 102 events. The main venue cluster was the Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-myeon, while the ice events are held at Gangneung Olympic Park in Pyeongchang's neighbouring sea-city of Gangneung.
The Games saw the addition of big air snowboarding, mass startspeed skating, mixed doubles curling, and mixed team alpine skiing to the programme. Like four years early, the Netherlands again dominated speed skating, winning gold medals in seven of the ten individual events. Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer won gold in the men's 5000m event, becoming the only male speed skater to win the same Olympic event three times. On the snow, Norway led the medal tally in cross-country skiing, with Marit Bjørgen winning bronze in the women's team sprint and gold in the 30-kilometre classical event, bringing her total Olympic medal haul to fifteen, the most won by any athlete (male or female) in Winter Olympics history.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway became the youngest ever male to win an Olympic gold in cross-country skiing when he won the men's sprint at age 21. Noriaki Kasai of Japan became the first athlete in history to participate in eight Winter Olympics when he took part in the ski jumping qualification the day before the opening of the Games. Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic won gold in the skiing super-G event and another gold in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom, making her the first female athlete to win Olympic gold medals in two sports at a single Winter Games.
Norway led the total medal standings with 39, the highest number of medals by a nation in any Winter Olympics, followed by Germany's 31 and Canada's 29. Host nation South Korea won seventeen medals, five of them gold, its highest medal haul at a Winter Olympics.
Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, was elected as the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics on 31 July 2015 at the 128th IOC Session. Beijing became the first city ever to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Like the Summer Olympics held six months earlier in Tokyo, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the implementation of strict health and safety protocols, including restrictions on public attendance at the Games. The Games included a record 109 events over 15 disciplines in seven sports with seven new medal events, including mixed team competitions in freestyle skiing aerials, ski jumping, and snowboard cross. The Games were held between 4 and 20 February 2022 at venues in Beijing and Zhangjiakou which for the first time were run entirely on renewable energy. Several of the events were impacted by temperatures as low as minus 20 Celsius and strong wind.
The first gold medal of the Games was won by Therese Johaug of Norway in the women's skiathlon. Johaug had been excluded from the 2018 Winter Olympics in a controversial decision after having used a banned cream for sunburned lips. She went on to also win the women's 10km and 30km cross-country distances. In the women's snowboard cross, Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States won the gold, having lost the gold 16 years earlier at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino due to a brutal fall. On the ice, the Netherlands dominated with a total of six gold medals and Irene Schouten winning the women's mass start, 3,000m and 5,000m distances. Nils van der Poel of Sweden won the men's 5,000m and 10,000m distances, setting new Olympic records in both distances. Kamila Valieva of Russia was allowed to compete in the women's figure skating despite a failed doping test in December 2021. She failed, however, to win an individual medal after falling in her final routine. Russia's team gold medal remained in limbo for two years, pending investigation into Valieva's positive drug test, before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) disqualified Valieva for four years retroactive to 25 December 2021, leading the ISU to re-allocate the medals, upgrading the United States to gold and Japan to silver while downgrading the ROC to bronze.[122]Finland claimed its first ice hockey gold, having beaten the Russian Olympic Committee in the men's final on the last day of the Games.
Norway was first in the overall medal standings, claiming 37 medals in total and 16 gold medals, the highest number of gold medals of any country in a single Winter Olympics. This was the ninth time Norway claimed the highest number of gold medals at the Winter Games.
Future
The amount by which greenhouse gas emissions are reduced is forecast to substantially affect the number of Winter Olympic Game venues that will have reliably cold conditions.
Juan Antonio Samaranch, former IOC president, who was in charge of the Olympic movement for more than 20 years
The process for awarding host city honours came under intense scrutiny after Salt Lake City had been awarded the right to host the 2002 Games.[127] Soon after the host city had been announced it was discovered that the organisers had engaged in an elaborate bribery scheme to curry favour with IOC officials.[127] Gifts and other financial considerations were given to those who would evaluate and vote on Salt Lake City's bid. These gifts included medical treatment for relatives, a college scholarship for one member's son and a land deal in Utah. Even IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch received two rifles valued at $2,000. Samaranch defended the gift as inconsequential since, as president, he was a non-voting member.[128]
The subsequent investigation uncovered inconsistencies in the bids for every Olympics (both Summer and Winter) since 1988.[129] For example, the gifts received by IOC members from the Japanese Organising Committee for Nagano's bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics were described by the investigation committee as "astronomical".[130] Although nothing strictly illegal had been done, the IOC feared that corporate sponsors would lose faith in the integrity of the process and that the Olympic brand would be tarnished to such an extent that advertisers would begin to pull their support.[131]
The investigation resulted in the expulsion of 10 IOC members and the sanctioning of another 10. New terms and age limits were established for IOC membership, and 15 former Olympic athletes were added to the committee. Stricter rules for future bids were imposed, with ceilings imposed on the value of gifts IOC members could accept from bid cities.[132][133][134]
Host city legacy
According to the IOC, the host city for the Winter Olympics is responsible for "...establishing functions and services for all aspects of the Games, such as sports planning, venues, finance, technology, accommodation, catering, media services, etc., as well as operations during the Games".[135] Due to the cost of hosting the Games, most host cities never realise a profit on their investment.[136] For example, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, cost $3.6billion to host. By comparison, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, cost $12.5billion.[137] The organisers of the Nagano Games claimed that the cost of extending the bullet train service from Tokyo to Nagano was responsible for the large price tag.[137]
The organising committee had hoped that the exposure gained from hosting the Winter Olympics, and the improved access to Nagano from Tokyo, would benefit the local economy for years afterwards. In fact, Nagano's economy did experience a post-Olympic boom for a year or two, but the long-term effects have not materialised as anticipated.[137] The likelihood of heavy debt is a deterrent to prospective host cities, as well as the prospect of unused sports venues and infrastructure saddling the local community with upkeep costs with no appreciable post-Olympic value.[138]
The Winter Olympics has the added problem of the alpine events requiring a mountain location; the men's downhill needs an 800-metre altitude difference along a suitable course. As this is a focal event that is central to the Games, the IOC has previously not agreed to it taking place a long way from the main host city,[139] in contrast to the Summer Games, where sailing and horse sports have taken place more than 1,000 kilometres (620mi) away. The requirement for a mountain location also means that venues such as hockey arenas often have to be built in sparsely populated areas with little future need for a large arena and for the hotels and infrastructure needed for all Olympic visitors. Due to cost issues, fewer and fewer cities are willing to host. Both the Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010 Games, which were hosted in countries where large cities are located close to suitable mountain regions, had lower costs since more venues, hotels and transport infrastructure already existed. In contrast, the Sochi 2014 games had large costs as most installations had to be built.
The IOC has tried to mitigate these concerns. Firstly, it has agreed to fund part of the host city's budget.[140] Secondly, the qualifying host countries are limited to those that have the resources and infrastructure to successfully host an Olympic Games without negatively impacting their region or nation; this rules out a large portion of the developing world.[141] Finally, any prospective host city is required to add a "legacy plan" to their proposal, with a view to the long-term economic and environmental impact that hosting the Olympics will have.[142]
Beginning with the 2022 Winter Games, the IOC is allowing a longer distance between the alpine events and other events. The Oslo bid had 220 kilometres (140mi) to the Kvitfjell downhill arena, while eventual host Beijing had venues 220km away from the city as well. For the 2026 Winter Games, Stockholm's unsuccessful bid proposed to hold the alpine event in Åre, 620 kilometres (390mi) away by road.
Doping
In 1967 the IOC began enacting drug testing protocols. They started by randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics.[143] The first Winter Games athlete to test positive for a banned substance was Alois Schloder, a West German hockey player,[144] but his team was still allowed to compete.[145] During the 1970s testing outside of competition was escalated because it was found to deter athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs.[146] The problem with testing during this time was a lack of standardisation of the test procedures, which undermined the credibility of the tests. It was not until the late 1980s that international sporting federations began to coordinate efforts to standardise the drug-testing protocols.[147] The IOC took the lead in the fight against steroids when it established the independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 1999.[148][149]
The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin became notable for a scandal involving the emerging trend of blood doping, the use of blood transfusions or synthetic hormones such as Erythropoietin (EPO) to improve oxygen flow and thus reduce fatigue.[150] The Italian police conducted a raid on the Austrian cross-country ski team's residence during the Games where they seized blood-doping specimens and equipment.[151] This event followed the pre-Olympics suspension of 12 cross-country skiers who tested positive for unusually high levels of haemoglobin, which is evidence of blood doping.[150]
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi's Russian Doping Scandal has resulted in the International Olympic Committee to begin disciplinary proceedings against 28 (later increased to 46) Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, acting on evidence that their urine samples were tampered with.[152][153][154][155][156]
Cold War
The Winter Olympics were an ideological front in the Cold War since the Soviet Union first participated at the 1956 Winter Games. It did not take long for the Cold War combatants to discover what a powerful propaganda tool the Olympic Games could be. The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.[46] Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism until the '90s.[47]
The Cold War created tensions amongst countries allied to the two superpowers. The strained relationship between East and West Germany created a difficult political situation for the IOC. Because of its role in World War II, Germany was not allowed to compete at the 1948 Winter Olympics.[37] In 1950, the IOC recognised the West German Olympic Committee, and invited East and West Germany to compete as a unified team at the 1952 Winter Games.[157] East Germany declined and instead sought international legitimacy separate from West Germany.[158]
In 1955, the Soviet Union recognised East Germany as a sovereign state, thereby giving more credibility to East Germany's campaign to become an independent participant. The IOC agreed provisionally to accept the East German National Olympic Committee on condition that East and West Germans compete as one team.[159] The situation became tense when the Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany in 1961 to stop migration of its citizens and Western European nations began refusing visas to East German athletes.[160] The uneasy compromise of a unified team held until the 1968 Grenoble Games when the IOC split the teams and threatened to reject host-city bids from any country that refused entry visas to East German athletes.[161]
Boycott
The Winter Games have had only one national team boycott when Taiwan decided not to participate in the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid. Prior to the Games, the IOC agreed to allow China to compete in the Olympics for the first time since 1952. China was given permission to compete as the "People's Republic of China" (PRC) and to use the PRC flag and anthem. Until 1980 the island of Taiwan had been competing under the name "Republic of China" (ROC) and had been using the ROC flag and anthem.[69] The IOC attempted to have the countries compete together but when this proved to be unacceptable the IOC demanded that Taiwan cease to call itself the "Republic of China".[162][163]
The IOC renamed the island "Chinese Taipei" and demanded that it adopt a different flag and national anthem, stipulations to which Taiwan would not agree. Despite numerous appeals and court hearings, the IOC's decision stood. When the Taiwanese athletes arrived at the Olympic village with their Republic of China identification cards they were not admitted. They subsequently left the Olympics in protest, just before the opening ceremonies.[69] Taiwan returned to Olympic competition at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo as Chinese Taipei. The country agreed to compete under a flag bearing the emblem of their National Olympic Committee and to play the anthem of their National Olympic Committee should one of their athletes win a gold medal. The agreement remains in place to this day.[164]
Sports
The Olympic Charter limits winter sports to "those sports which are practised on snow or ice".[165] Since 1992 a number of new sports have been added to the Olympic programme, which 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 these new sports. The results are more parity in the national medal tables, more interest in the Winter Olympics, and higher global television ratings.[166]
Men's: snowboard cross, parallel, half-pipe, slopestyle, big air. Women's: snowboard cross, parallel, half-pipe, slopestyle, big air. Mixed snowboard cross.
Demonstration sports have historically provided a venue for host countries to attract publicity to locally popular sports by having a competition without granting medals. Demonstration sports were discontinued after 1992.[182] Military patrol, a precursor to the biathlon, was a medal sport in 1924 and was demonstrated in 1928, 1936 and 1948, becoming an official sport in 1960.[183] The special figures figure skating event was only contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics.[184]Bandy (Russian hockey) is a sport popular in the Nordic countries and Russia. In the latter it is considered a national sport.[185] It was demonstrated at the Oslo Games.[186]
A map of Winter Olympics locations. Countries that have hosted one Winter Olympics are shaded green, while countries that have hosted two or more are shaded blue.
↑ "French and English are the official languages for the Olympic Games".[1]
1 2 3 The official website of the IOC now treats Men's Military Patrol at the 1924 Games as a separate discipline, without mixing it with the sports of Skiing or Biathlon.[4][5] However, the 1924 Official Report treats it as an event and discipline within what was then called Skiing and is now called Nordic skiing.[6][7]
↑ At the closing of the 1924 Games a prize was also awarded for 'alpinisme' (mountaineering), a sport that did not lend itself very well for tournaments: Pierre de Coubertin presented a prize for 'alpinisme' to Charles Granville Bruce, the leader of the expedition that tried to climb Mount Everest in 1922.
↑ The US beat the Soviets as part of a medal round that also included Finland and Sweden, so they did not actually win the gold medal until beating Finland a few days later.[73]
1 2 This office is technically not head of state in and of itself, but is the presiding officer of the Federal Council which collectively acts as head of state.
1 2 Unlike the Summer Olympics, the cancelled 1940 Winter Olympics and 1944 Winter Olympics are not included in the official Roman numeral counts for the Winter Games. While the official titles of the Summer Games count Olympiads, the titles of the Winter Games only count the Games themselves.
↑ The IOC site for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games gives an erroneous figure of 77 participated teams; however, one can count 78 participated nations looking through Official Report of the XIX Olympic Winter Games. This error probably resulted from the fact that Costa Rica's delegation of one athlete joined the Games after the Opening Ceremony, so 77 nations participated in the Opening Ceremony and 78 nations participated in the Games.
↑ The IOC site for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games does not include United Korean (COR) women's ice hockey team as separate "nation" when counting participating nations. Nevertheless, the IOC shows the Korean team in the Pyeongchang 2018 Ice Hockey Women's Tournament Results. Thus, 92 national teams plus 1 team composed of athletes from both South Korea and North Korea participated in the Games.
1 2 On 29 November 2023, the IOC entered "targeted dialogue" with both a joint bid from the French Alps as the preferred city for the 2030 Winter Games, as well as Salt Lake City for the 2034 Winter Games. Both decisions were finalized in 2024. The IOC also entered "privileged dialogue" with Switzerland for the 2038 Winter Games.[191][192]
Related Research Articles
The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948, were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the first to be celebrated after World War II; it had been twelve years since the last Winter Games in 1936.
The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as St. Moritz 1928, were an international winter multi-sport event that was celebrated from 11 to 19 February 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter Olympics, the first being in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo; Italy had also hosted the Summer Olympics in 1960 in Rome.
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Having lost the bid for the 1992 Winter Olympics to Albertville in France, Lillehammer was awarded the 1994 Winter Games on 15 September 1988, two days before the 1988 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies at the 94th IOC Session in Seoul, South Korea. Due to the calendar changes made in 1986, this was the only time that the Winter Olympics took place two years after the previous Winter Games, and the first to be held in a different year from the Summer Olympics. This was also the first Winter Olympics to be held during the Commonwealth Games and FIFA World Cup year. This was the second Olympic Games of any type hosted in Norway — the first being the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo — and the fourth Olympics overall to be held in a Nordic country, after the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, and the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Lillehammer is the northernmost city ever to host the Olympic Games.
The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Albertville '92, were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and around Albertville, France. Albertville won the bid to host the Winter Olympics in 1986, beating Sofia, Falun, Lillehammer, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Anchorage, and Berchtesgaden. The 1992 Winter Olympics were the last winter games held in the same year as the Summer Olympics. The Games were the fifth Olympic Games held in France and the country's third Winter Olympics, after the 1924 Winter Games in Chamonix and the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble. This games was the first of two consecutive Olympic games to be held in Western Europe, preceding the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Sarajevo '84, were a winter multi-sport event held between 8 and 19 February 1984 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. It was the first Winter Olympic Games held in a Slavic language-speaking country, as well as the only Winter Olympics held in a communist country before the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. It was the second consecutive Olympic Games held in a communist country, after the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Oslo 1952, were a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 1952 in Oslo, the capital of Norway.
The 1960 Winter Olympics were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort in Squaw Valley, California, United States. The resort was chosen to host the Games at the 1956 meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Squaw Valley was an undeveloped resort in 1955, so the infrastructure and all of the venues were built between 1956 and 1960 at a cost of US$80,000,000. The layout was designed to be intimate, allowing spectators and competitors to reach most of the venues on foot.
The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956, were a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956.
The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was already an Olympic candidate, unsuccessfully bidding to host the 1960 Games. Innsbruck won the 1964 Games bid, defeating the cities of Calgary in Canada and Lahti in Finland. The sports venues, many of which were built for the Games, were located within a radius of 20 km (12 mi) around Innsbruck. The Games included 1,091 athletes from 36 nations, which was a record for the Winter Games at the time. Athletes participated in six sports and ten disciplines which bring together a total of thirty-four official events, seven more than the 1960 Winter Olympic Games. The luge made its debut on the Olympic program. Three Asian nations made their Winter Games debut: North Korea, India and Mongolia.
The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the XI Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Sapporo 1972, were a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe and North America.
The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games, and known at the time as Semaine Internationale des Sports d'Hiver, was a winter multi-sport event held in Chamonix, France, from 25 January to 5 February 1924. Norway topped the table, collecting seventeen medals in total, including four gold, three of which were won by Thorleif Haug in the Nordic combined and cross-country skiing events. Norway also achieved two podium sweeps, winning all three medals in both the 50 km cross-country skiing and the Nordic combined. This remained a record at the Winter Olympics until 2014.
The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as PyeongChang 2018, were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with the opening rounds for certain events held on 8 February, a day before the opening ceremony.
The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games, took place in Oslo, Norway, from 14 to 25 February 1952. A total of 694 athletes representing 30 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Games, taking part in 22 events from 6 sports.
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.
The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (北京2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas with competition in selected events beginning 2 February 2022. It was the 24th edition of the Winter Olympic Games.
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held in Sochi, Russia, from 7 to 23 February. A total of 2,873 athletes from 88 nations participated in 98 events in 7 sports across 15 different disciplines.
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The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held in Pyeongchang County, South Korea, from 9 to 25 February, with preliminary events in some sports beginning on 8 February. A total of 2,833 athletes representing 92 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated. The games featured 102 events in 15 sports, making it the first Winter Olympics to surpass 100 medal events. Four new disciplines in existing sports were introduced to the Winter Olympic Games program in Pyeongchang: big air snowboarding, mixed doubles curling, mass start speed skating, and mixed team alpine skiing.
Ukraine competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022, in its eighth appearance as an independent nation.
↑ Official Report (1924), p.646: Le Programme ... II. — Epreuves par équipes - 12. Ski: Course militaire (20 à 30 kilomètres, avec tir). (The Programme ... II. — Team events - 12. Skiing: Military Race (20 to 30 kilometres, with shooting)).
↑ Official Report (1924), p.664: CONCOURS DE SKI - Jurys - COURSE MILITAIRE. (Skiing Competitions - Juries - Military Race)
↑ Lund, Mortund (December 2001). "The First Four Olympics". Skiing Heritage Journal. International Skiing History Association: 21. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
↑ "Yvonne van Gennip". The Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
↑ Hunt, Thomas M. (2007). "Sports, Drugs, and the Cold War"(PDF). Olympika, International Journal of Olympic Studie. 16 (1). International Centre for Olympic Studies: 22. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
↑ "Freestyle Skiing History". The National Post. Toronto. CBC Sports. 4 December 2009. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
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