The Nordic Games were the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and were held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden's Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of Athletics, and more specifically by Viktor Balck, a member of that association and one of the five original members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was, in many ways, a precursor to the modern Winter Olympic Games, whose success was a contributing factor to the Nordic Games's discontinuation in the 1920s.

Viktor Gustaf Balck KVO KCMG was a Swedish Army officer and sports personality who was one of the original members of the International Olympic Committee, president of the International Skating Union for 30 years, the driving force behind the Nordic Games, and who is often called "the father of Swedish sports".