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History of the Winter Olympic Games

  • First Winter Games - The Nordic Games

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Olympic_Games#Early_years First multi-sport winter games were the Nordic Games held in Sweden in 1901 and was originally organized by General Viktor Gustaf Balck.
  • Period: to

    Span of the Winter Games- From Nordic Games to Winter Olympics

  • The Nordic Games

    The Nordic Games were held in 1903 and 1905 and every fourth year thereafter until1926
  • The First Olympic Events

    The First Olympic Events
    In 1908, Gustaf Balck of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) successfully entered the first winter olympic game into the Nordic Games after many years of attempting to do so. The only event was figure skating but this sparked the idea of the Winter Olympics for years to come.
  • Proposal of Winter Olympic Games

    Italian Count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC dedicate one week of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden to winter games. This idea failed due to the IOC wanting to preserve the purtiy of the Nordic Games.
  • Winter Olympic Events were to be included with Summer Olympics, outbreak of World War I

    In 1916, Count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux's idea of including one week of Winter Olympic Games in the Summer Olympic Games was resurrected. The events speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing were to be included in one week of the Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The games were cancelled however, due to the start of World War I.
  • Winter Games Events included with Summer Olympics

    After the World War I, the first Summer Olympics in Antwerp featured winter events for the first time in history, paving the road to a seperate Winter Olympics. These games featured figure skating and icfe hockey.
  • First Winter Olympic Games

    First Winter Olympic Games
    The first winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924, starting on January 25 and ending on February 5.
  • Second Winter Olympic Games

    Second Winter Olympic Games
    <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928_Winter_Olympics The Second Winter Olympic Games were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland from February 11to the 19. 464 athletes from 25 nations competed in 14 events in 6 sports. The games were opened by President Edmund Schulthess adn were the first true Winter Olympics that were not held at the same time as the Summer Olympics. These games were known for their wacky weather ranging from blizzards to 77 degree warm spells.
  • Third Winter Olympic Games

    Third Winter Olympic Games
    <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1932_Winter_Olympics The 1932 Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid, New York, United States from February 4-15. 252 athletes from 17 participated in 14 events from 4 sports. The games were opened by Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. These games won the United States 12 medals, winning the US the medal count for the only time until the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
  • Fourth Winter Olympic Games

    Fourth Winter Olympic Games
    <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Winter_Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympic Games were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany from February 6-16. 646 athletes from 28 nations participated in 17 events in 4 sports. The games were opened by Adolf Hitler. These Olympics gave out the heaviest and largest medals ever awarded with a 100mm diameter, a thickness of 4mm and a weight of 324 grams.
  • Japan gives 1940 Winter Olympic Games back to IOC

    Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan was given the honor of hosting the 1940 Winter Olympic Games from February 3-12. However, Japan gave the games back to the IOC in July of 1938 due to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
  • IOC gives 1940 Winter Olympics to Germany

  • IOC gives 1944 Winter Olympic Games to Italy

  • 1940 Winter Olympic Games Cancelled

    After three exchanging of the games between host nations, the 1940 games were cancelled due to the start of World War II triggered by Germany's invasion of Austria.
  • 1944 Winter Olympic Games Cancelled

  • Fifth Winter Olympic Games

    Fifth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_Winter_Olympics The 1948 Olympics were the first WWII and were held in St Moritz, Switzerland. The games began on January 30 1948 and ended February 8. They were opened by President Enrico Celio and 28 nations with a total of 669 athletes competed in 22 events in 4 sports.
  • Sixth Winter Olympic Games

    Sixth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_Winter_Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympic Games were held in Oslo, Norway from February 14 to the 25. The games had 22 events in 6 sports in which 694 athletes from 30 nations participated. The games were officially opened by Princess Ragnhild. One of the highlights in these games was the tie win in slalom skiing between Othmar Schneider and Antoin Miliordos, who crossed the finish line backwards after falling 18 times on his run.
  • Seventh Winter Olympic Games

    Seventh Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Winter_OlympicsThe 1956 Winter Olympics were held Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy from January 26 to February 5. 821 athletes from 32 nations competed in 24 events in 4 sports. The games were opened by President Giovanni Gronchi. These games had the greatest number of nations competing until that point and unlike any of the other games, all the events except one were within walking distance of each other. Also the figure skating event was held outdoors for the last time while the Soviet Union made its Olympic debut.
  • Eighth Winter Olympic Games

    Eighth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Winter_Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics were held in Squaw Valley, California, United States from February 18 to the 28. Opened by Vice President Richard Nixon, 665 athletes from 30 nations competed in 27 events in 4 sports. These games were the first to have the modern-day Olympic torch design, designed by Disney artist John Hench. All torch designs thereafter wouldb be based on that one.
  • Ninth Winter Olympic Games

    Ninth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Winter_OlympicsThe 1964 Winter Olympic Games were celebrated in Innsbruck Austria from January 29 to February 9. Officially opened by President Adolf Scharf, these games had the largest number of participants yet with 1091 athletes from 36 nations competing in 34 events in 6 sports. The games took a heavy blow by the deaths of Austrian alpine skier Ross Milne and British luge slider Kazimierz KaySkrzpeski and the deaths of the entire US figure skating team and family members 3 years earlier.
  • Tenth Winter Olympic Games

    Tenth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Winter_Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics were held in Grenoble France between February 6 to the 18. The games had another record number of participants with 1158 athletes from 37 nations competing in 35 events in 6 sports. The 1968 Olympics were opened by President Charles de Gaulle and are credited to making the Olympics popular in the United States. The games also marked the first time that the IOC ordered drug and gender tests of the athletes.
  • Eleventh Winter Olympic Games

    Eleventh Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Winter_Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics were celebrated in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan from February 3 to the 13. Opened by HIM Emperor Showa, 1006 athletes from 35 nations competed in 35 events in 6 sports. These Olympics marked the first time the Winter Olympics were ever held outside North America and Europe. Sapparo was the largest host city of the Winter Olympics at that time.
  • Twelveth Winter Olympic Games

    Twelveth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Winter_Olympics The 1976 Winter Games were held for the second time in the games' history in Innsbruck, Austria. 1123 athletes from 37 nations competed in 37 events in 6 sports from February 4 to the 15. President Rudolf Kirchschlager opened the games, which followed the Munich Masscre, causing the security to be particularly tight. Also, the bobsled and luge events competed on the same track for the first time in the Winter Olympics' history.
  • Thirteenth Winter Olympic Games

    Thirteenth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Winter_Olympics Held in Lake Placid, New York, United States, the 1980 Winter Olympics were opened by Vice President Walter Mondale on February 13 and ended on the 23. The games marked the first time artificial snow was used in the Winter Olympics and is probably best known for the men's dramatic ice hockey victory against the Soviet Union, now known commonly as "Miracle on Ice".
  • Fourteenth Winter Olympic Games

    Fourteenth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Winter_Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics were celebrated in Sarajevo,Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina). From February 7 to the 19, a new record of 1272 athletes from 49 nations competed in 49 events in 6 sports. Opened by Mika Spiljak, the closing ceremony was held indoors for the last time until the 2010 Olympics. Also, Lamine Gueye of Senegal became the first black African skier to compete in the Winter Games.
  • Winter Olympics voted to be seperated from the Summer Olympics schedule

    Since 1924, the Winter Olympic Games had been held in the same year as the Summer Olympics Games. In 1986, the IOC decided to place the Winter Olympics in alternating even-numbered years to the Summer Olympics, starting in 1994.
  • Fifteenth Winter Olympic Games

    Fifteenth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Winter_Olympics Opened by Governor General Jeanne Sauve on February 13 1988, the 1988 Winter Olympics were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and ended on February 28. A new record of 1423 athletes from 57 nations competed in 46 events in 6 sports. These games marked the last year that the Winter Paralympics and the Olympics were held in seperate cities. East Germany and the Soviet Union dominated the games, yet both ceased to exist by the next Winter Olympics.
  • Sixteenth Winter Olympic Games

    Sixteenth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Winter_OlympicsThe 1992 Winter Games were celebrated in Albertville, France from February 8 to the 23. Opened by President Francois Mitterrand, a whopping 1801 athletes from 64 nations competed in 57 events within 7 sports. These games were the last to be held in the same year as the summer Olympics; therefore causing the games to be held again just two years after to get the new cycle started. Freestyle skiing of moguls, short-track speedskating and women's biathlon made their debuts as medal disciplines.
  • Seventeenth Winter Olympic Games

    Seventeenth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Winter_OlympicsThe 1994 Winter Olympics were held in Lillehammer, Norway. and were the first Winter Olympics to be held in seperate years to the Summer Olympics. Beginning on February 12, 1992, the games were officially opened by King Harald V of Norway and ended on February 27. The games of Lillehammer ranked the most-watched Olympics in the US and were the first Olympic Games to have an Olympic truce in effect. The games had 1737 athletes from 67 nations competing in 61 events in 6 sports.
  • Eighteenth Winter Olympic Games

    Eighteenth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Winter_Olympics The 1998 Winter Games were celebrated in Nagano, Japan between February 7 to the 22. The games were officially opened by HIM Emperor Akihito and had another new record (this record only kept being broken in the following years) of 2176 athletes from 72 nations competing in 72 events in 7 sports. It was in these games that Azerbaijan, Kenya, the Republic of Macedonia, Uruguay and Venezuela made their Winter Olympic debuts.
  • Nineteenth Winter Olympic Games

    Nineteenth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Winter_Olympics Opened by President George W. Bush, the 2002 Winter Olympiccs were celebrated in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The games lasted from February 8 to February 24 and had 2399 athletes from 78 nations competing in 78 events in 7 sports. Salt Lake City became the most populated area to host a Winter Olympics. These games marked the first appearances of extreme sports such as snowboarding, moguls, aerials, etc.
  • Twentieth Winter Olympic Games

    Twentieth Winter Olympic Games
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Winter_Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics were held Turin ('Torino'), Italy from February 10 to the 26.Opened by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, 2508 athletes from 80 nations competed in 84 events in 7 sports. The motto of the games was"Passion Lives Here" and its official logo had the name 'Torino', Turin's Italian name.
  • Twenty-first Winter Olympic Games

    Twenty-first Winter Olympic Games
    http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=d28c5c66-fc4c-40d6-972a-4024ef5f8458.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Winter_Olympicshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzyt0e_fJII' The 2010 Winter Olympic Games were celebrated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from February 12th to the 28th. Officially opened by Governor General Michaelle Jean, the Winter games had its most ever participants of 2662 athletes from 82 nations competing in 86 events in 7 sports. The 2010 Winter Olympics got off to a grim start with the tragic death of luge slider Nodar Kumaritashvili during a practice run on the world's fastest track. The 2010 Olympics had many momentous victories though
  • The Twenty-second Winter Olympic Games will be held in Sochi, Russia

    The Twenty-second Winter Olympic Games will be held in Sochi, Russia
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Winter_Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia from February 7 to the 23. Its motto is "Gateway to the Future".