Winter Olympic Games

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Olympic Winter Games
The Olympic flame in Sochi during the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Games
1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
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Alpine skiing Biathlon Bobsleigh Cross‑country skiing Curling Figure skating Freestyle skiing Ice hockey Luge Nordic combined Short track speed skating Skeleton Ski jumping Snowboarding Speed skating

The Olympic Winter Games (official name) (French: Jeux olympiques d'hiver)^{[nb 1]} is a major international sporting event held once every four years, for sports practised on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Winter Olympics, was held in Chamonix, France, the original five sports (broken into nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol,^{[nb 2]} cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating).^{[nb 3]} 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 Winter and Summer Olympic Games were held in the same years, but in accordance with a 1986 decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to place the Summer and Winter Games on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years, the next Winter Olympics after 1992 was in 1994.

The Winter 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 programme. 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.^{[nb 2]} 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 several criticisms, internal scandals, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Winter Olympians, as well as a political boycott of the Winter Olympics. Nations have used the Winter Games to proclaim the superiority of their political systems.

The Winter Olympics has been hosted on three continents by eleven different countries, the Games have been held in the United States four times (1932, 1960, 1980, 2002); in France three times (1924, 1968, 1992); and in Austria (1964, 1976), Canada (1988, 2010), Japan (1972, 1998), Italy (1956, 2006), Norway (1952, 1994), and Switzerland (1928, 1948) twice. Also, the Games have been held in Germany (1936), Yugoslavia (1984), and Russia (2014) once. The IOC has selected Pyeongchang, South Korea, to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and Beijing, China, to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. As of 2017^[update] no city in the southern hemisphere had applied to host the cold-weather-dependent Winter Olympics, which are held in February at the height of the southern hemisphere summer.

As of 2017^[update] twelve countries – Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States – have sent athletes to every Winter Olympic Games. Six of those – Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United States – have earned medals at every Winter Olympic Games, and only one – the United States – has earned gold at each Games. Norway leads in terms of number of gold medals and overall number of medals. Germany and Japan have been banned at times from competing in the Games.

Sports[edit]

The Olympic Charter limits winter sports to "those ... which are practised on snow or ice."^[5] 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 the new sports, the results are more parity in the national medal tables, more interest in the Winter Olympics and higher global television ratings.^[6]

Current sports[edit]

^ Note 1. Figure skating events were held at the 1908 and 1920 Summer Olympics.
^ Note 2. A men's ice hockey tournament was held at the 1920 Summer Olympics.
^ Note 3. The IOC's website now treats Men's Military Patrol at the 1924 games as an event within the sport of Biathlon.^{[nb 2]}

Demonstration events[edit]

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.^[22] 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,^[23] the special figures figure skating event was only contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics.^[24] Bandy (Russian hockey) is a sport popular in the Nordic countries and Russia. In the latter it's considered a national sport,^[25] it was demonstrated at the Oslo Games.^[26] Ice stock sport, a German variant of curling, was demonstrated in 1936 in Germany and 1964 in Austria.^[27] The ski ballet event, later known as ski-acro, was demonstrated in 1988 and 1992.^[28] Skijöring, skiing behind dogs, was a demonstration sport in St. Moritz in 1928.^[26] A sled-dog race was held at Lake Placid in 1932.^[26] Speed skiing was demonstrated in Albertville at the 1992 Winter Olympics.^[29] Winter pentathlon, a variant of the modern pentathlon, was included as a demonstration event at the 1948 Games in Switzerland. It included cross-country skiing, shooting, downhill skiing, fencing and horse riding.^[8]

History[edit]

Early years[edit]

Ulrich Salchow
at the 1908 Olympics.

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.^[30] Balck was a charter member of the International Olympic Committee (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, United Kingdom.^[30] Four figure skating events were contested, at which Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles.^[31][32]

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.^[33][34][35] The idea was resurrected for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin, Germany. A winter sports week with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing was planned, but the 1916 Olympics was cancelled after the outbreak of World War I.^[34]

The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Summer Olympics, were held in Antwerp, Belgium, and featured figure skating and an ice hockey tournament.^[34] 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 11 days) of events. The Games proved to be a success when more than 250 athletes from 16 nations competed in 16 events.^[36] Athletes from Finland and Norway won 28 medals, more than the rest of the participating nations combined.^[37] 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 Olympic Winter Games and the 1924 Games in Chamonix was retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics.^[34][36]

St. Moritz, Switzerland, was appointed by the IOC to host the second Olympic Winter Games in 1928.^[38] 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.^[39] Because of the weather the 10,000 metre speed-skating event had to be abandoned and officially cancelled.^[40] The weather was not the only noteworthy aspect of the 1928 Games: Sonja Henie of Norway made history when she won the figure skating competition at the age of 15. She became the youngest Olympic champion in history, a distinction she held for 74 years.^[41]

The next Winter Olympics was the first to be hosted outside of Europe. Seventeen nations and 252 athletes participated,^[42] this was less than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid, United States, was long and expensive for most competitors, who had little money in the midst of the Great Depression. The athletes competed in fourteen events in four sports.^[42] Virtually no snow fell for two months before the Games, and there was not enough snow to hold all the events until mid-January.^[43] Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title, and Eddie Eagan, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920, won the gold medal in the men's bobsleigh event to become the first, and so far only, Olympian to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.^[42]

The German towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organise the 1936 edition of the Winter Games, held on 6–16 February,^[44] 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.^[27] Because of this decision the Swiss and Austrian skiers refused to compete at the Games.^[27]

World War II[edit]

World War II interrupted the holding of 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.^[45] Due to the ongoing war, the 1944 Games, originally scheduled for Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, were cancelled.^[46]

1948 to 1960[edit]

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 of the venues were in place from the 1928 Games, which made St. Moritz a logical choice, it became the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice.^[47] Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland, but athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited.^[48] 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.^[49]

The Olympic Flame for the 1952 Games in Oslo, was lit in the fireplace by skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim, and the torch relay was conducted by 94 participants entirely on skis.^[50][51] 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,^[52] they were led by Hjalmar Andersen who won three gold medals in four events in the speed skating competition.^[53]

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 torch bearer, Guido Caroli, entered the Olympic Stadium on ice skates. As he skated around the stadium his skate caught on a cable and he fell, nearly extinguishing the flame, he was able to recover and light the cauldron.^[54] 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,^[55] the Cortina Games were used to test the feasibility of televising large sporting events.^[55] The Soviet Union made its Olympic debut and had an immediate impact, winning more medals than any other nation.^[56] Chiharu Igaya won the first Winter Olympics medal for Japan and the continent of Asia when he placed second in the slalom.^[57]

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 true 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 full-time.^[58] Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism.^[59]

The IOC awarded the 1960 Olympics to Squaw Valley, United States, since the village had no facilities, there was a rush to construct infrastructure and sports facilities including an ice arena, speed-skating track, and a ski-jump hill.^[60][61] The opening and closing ceremonies were produced by Walt Disney,^[62] the Squaw Valley Olympics was the first winter Olympics to have a dedicated athletes' village^{[citation needed]}, the first to use a computer (courtesy of IBM) to tabulate results, and the first to feature female speed skating events. The bobsleigh events were absent for the only time due to the cost of building a bobsleigh run.^[62]

1964 to 1980[edit]

The Herb Brooks Arena
in Lake Placid (c. 2007), site of the "Miracle on Ice" in 1980

The Austrian city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964, although Innsbruck was a traditional winter sports resort, warm weather caused a lack of snow during the Games and the Austrian army was asked to transport snow and ice to the sport venues.^[62] Soviet speed-skater Lidia Skoblikova made history by sweeping all four speed-skating events. Her career total of six gold medals set a record for Winter Olympics athletes.^[62] Luge was first contested in 1964, although the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.^[63][64]

Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic Games to be broadcast in colour. There were 37 nations and 1,158 athletes competing in 35 events.^[65] Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy became only the second person to win all the men's alpine skiing events. The organising committee sold television rights for US$2 million, which was more than twice the price of the broadcast rights for the Innsbruck Games.^[66] Venues were spread over long distances requiring three athletes' villages, the organisers claimed this was required to accommodate technological advances. Critics disputed this, alleging that the layout was necessary to provide the best possible venues for television broadcasts at the expense of the athletes.^[66]

The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, Japan, were the first to be hosted outside North America or Europe, the issue of professionalism became contentious during the Sapporo Games. Three days before the Games IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar a number of alpine skiers from competing because they participated in a ski camp at Mammoth Mountain in the United States. Brundage reasoned that the skiers had financially benefited from their status as athletes and were therefore no longer amateurs.^[67] Eventually only Austrian Karl Schranz, who earned more than all the other skiers, was not allowed to compete.^[68] Canada did not send teams to the 1972 or 1976 ice hockey tournaments in protest at not being able to use players from professional leagues.^[69] Francisco Fernández Ochoa became the first (and as of 2017 only) Spaniard to win a Winter Olympic gold medal; he triumphed in the slalom.^[70]

The 1976 Winter Olympics had been awarded in 1970 to Denver, United States, but in November 1972 the voters of the state of Colorado voted against public funding of the games by a 3 to 2 margin.^[71][72] The IOC turned to offer the Games to Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia, which had been a candidate for the 1976 Games. However, a change in provincial government brought in an administration which did not support the Olympic bid, so the offer was rejected. Salt Lake City, a candidate for the 1972 Games, offered itself, but the IOC opted to ask Innsbruck, which had maintained most of the infrastructure from the 1964 Games, despite only having half the time to prepare for the Games, Innsbruck accepted the invitation to replace Denver in February 1973.^[73] Two Olympic flames were lit because it was the second time the Austrian town had hosted the Games,^[73] the 1976 Games featured the first combination bobsleigh and luge track, in neighbouring Igls.^[70] The Soviet Union won its fourth consecutive ice hockey gold medal.^[73]

In 1980 the Olympics returned to Lake Placid, which had hosted the 1932 Games. The first boycott of a Winter Olympics took place in 1980, when Taiwan refused to participate after an edict by the IOC mandated that they change their name and national anthem,^[74] the IOC was attempting to accommodate China, who wished to compete using the same name and anthem used by Taiwan.^[74] American speed-skater Eric Heiden set either an Olympic or world record in each of the five events he competed in.^[75] Hanni Wenzel won both the slalom and giant slalom and her country, Liechtenstein, became the smallest nation to produce an Olympic gold medallist.^[76] In the "Miracle on Ice" the American hockey team beat the favoured Soviets, and then went on to win the gold medal.^{[77][nb 4]}

1984 to 1998[edit]

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,^[80] the Games were well-organised and not affected by the run-up to the war that engulfed the country eight years later.^[81] 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 a silver in the giant slalom. Another sporting highlight was the free dance performance of British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, their performance to Ravel's Boléro earned the pair the gold medal after achieving unanimous perfect scores for artistic impression.^[81]

The Olympic Torch from the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary

In 1988 the Canadian city of Calgary hosted the first Winter Olympics to span 16 days.^[82] New events were added in ski-jumping and speed skating; while future Olympic sports curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing made their appearance as demonstration sports. For the first time the speed skating events were held indoors, 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,^[83] 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 1,000 metre 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.^[82]

The 1992 Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games,^[84] they were hosted in the French Savoie region in the city of Albertville, though only 18 events were held in the city. The rest of the events were spread out over the Savoie.^[84] Political changes of the time were reflected in the Olympic teams appearing 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; 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.^[85] At 16 years old, Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion.^[86] 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.

In 1986 the IOC had voted to separate the Summer and Winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years, this change became effective for the 1994 Games, held in Lillehammer, Norway, which became the first Winter Olympics to be held separately from the Summer Games.^[87] After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debuts.^[88] The women's figure skating competition drew media attention when American skater Nancy Kerrigan was injured on 6 January 1994, in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding.^[89] Both skaters competed in the Games, but the gold medal was won by Oksana Baiul, she became Ukraine's first Olympic champion.^[90][91] Johann Olav Koss of Norway won three gold medals, coming first in all of the distance speed skating events.^[92] Russia won the most gold medals with 11 overall, closely followed by Norway with 10. Juan Antonio Samaranch described Lillehammer as the best Olympic Winter Games ever in his closing ceremony speech.

The 1998 Winter Olympics were held in the Japanese city of Nagano and were the first Games to host more than 2,000 athletes,^[93] the men's ice hockey tournament was opened to professionals for the first time. Canada and the United States, with their many NHL players, were favoured to win the tournament.^[93] Neither won any hockey medals however; the Czech Republic prevailed.^[93] Women's ice hockey made its debut and the United States won the gold medal.^[94] Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway won three gold medals in Nordic skiing, becoming the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete, with eight gold medals and twelve medals overall.^[93][95] Austrian Hermann Maier survived a crash during the downhill competition and returned to win gold in the super-g and the giant slalom.^[93] New world records were set in speed skating because of the introduction of the clap skate.^[96]

2002 to 2010[edit]

Olympic flame during the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City

The 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, United States, hosting 77 nations and 2,399 athletes in 78 events in 7 sports,^[97] these games were the first to take place since the September 11 attacks of 2001, which meant a higher degree of security to avoid a terrorist attack. The opening ceremonies of the games saw signs of the aftermath of the events of that day, including the flag that flew at Ground Zero, NYPD officer Daniel Rodríguez singing "God Bless America", and honour guards of NYPD and FDNY members.

German Georg Hackl won a silver in the singles luge, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to win medals in the same individual event in five consecutive Olympics.^[97] Canada achieved an unprecedented double by winning both the men's and women's ice hockey gold medals.^[97] Canada became embroiled with Russia in a controversy that involved the judging of the pairs figure skating competition. The Russian pair of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze competed against the Canadian pair of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier for the gold medal. The Canadians appeared to have skated well enough to win the competition, yet the Russians were awarded the gold, the judging broke along Cold War lines with judges from former Communist countries favouring the Russian pair and judges from Western nations voting for the Canadians. The only exception was the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, who 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.^[98] The IOC decided to award both pairs the gold medal in a second medal ceremony held later in the Games.^[99] Australian Steven Bradbury became the first gold medallist from the southern hemisphere when he won the 1,000 metre short-track speed skating event.^[100]

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.^[101] In the women's Cross-Country team pursuit Canadian Sara 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.^[101][102] Claudia Pechstein of Germany became the first speed skater to earn nine career medals.^[101] 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.^[103] This ruling was brought to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which overturned the lower court's ruling and precluded her from competing in Vancouver.^[104]

A memorial to Nodar Kumaritashvili in Whistler, photographed on 20 March 2010

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 2.5 million people Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games.^[105] Over 2,500 athletes from 82 countries participated in 86 events,^[106] 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.^[107] 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,^[108] 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; in 2010 they finished sixth in total medals and eleventh in gold medals. President Dmitry Medvedev called for the resignation of top sports officials immediately after the Games.^[109] 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; 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 South Korea, Japan and China.^[110][111]

2014[edit]

Sochi, Russia, was selected as the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics over Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. This was the first time that Russia hosted a Winter Olympics,^[112] over 2800 athletes from 88 countries participated in 98 events. The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium were located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues were 50 kilometres (31 mi) away in the alpine region known as Krasnaya Polyana.^[112]

The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially the XXII Olympic Winter Games, or the 22nd Winter Olympics, took place from 7 to 23 February 2014.^[113] A record 2,800 participants from 88 countries competed, the Games were the most expensive so far, with a cost of £30 billion. Following their disappointing performance at the 2010 Games, and an investment of £600 million in elite sport, the host nation topped the medal table, taking 33 medals including 13 golds,^[114] 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 had the assistance of the Russian Federal Security Service in opening and re-sealing bottles containing urine samples so samples with banned substances could be replaced with "clean" urine. 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 2011 to 2015 across the "vast majority" of Summer and Winter Olympic sports.^[115] 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 15, on ice, the Dutch dominated the speed skating events, taking 23 medals, four clean sweeps of the podium places and at least one medal in each of the 12 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.^[112]

Future[edit]

On 6 July 2011, the IOC selected the city of Pyeongchang, South Korea to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.^[116]

The host city for the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, also known as the 2022 Winter Olympics, is Beijing, elected on 31 July 2015, at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur. Beijing will be the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

Controversy[edit]

Juan Antonio Samaranch, former IOC president, was implicated in a bidding scandal for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

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.^[117] 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.^[117] 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,^[118] the subsequent investigation uncovered inconsistencies in the bids for every Games (both summer and winter) since 1988.^[119] 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",^[120] 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.^[121] 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.^{[122][123][124]}

Host city legacy[edit]

According to the IOC, the host city 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."^[125] Due to the cost of hosting an Olympic Games, most host cities never realise a profit on their investment,^[126] for example, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, cost $12.5 billion. By comparison the Torino Games of 2006 cost $3.6 billion to host.^[127] The organisers claimed that the cost of extending the bullet train service from Tokyo to Nagano was responsible for the large price tag.^[127] The organising committee hoped that the exposure of the Olympic Games, and the expedited access to Nagano from Tokyo, would be a boom to the local economy for years afterward. Nagano's economy did experience a two-year post-Olympic spurt, but the long-term effects have not materialised as planned,^[127] the possibility of heavy debt, coupled with unused sports venues and infrastructure that saddle the local community with upkeep costs and no practical post-Olympic value, is a deterrent to prospective host cities.^[128]

To mitigate these concerns the IOC has enacted several initiatives. First it has agreed to fund part of the host city's budget for staging the Games.^[129] Secondly, the IOC limits the qualifying host countries to those that have the resources and infrastructure to successfully host an Olympic Games without negatively impacting the region or nation, this eliminates a large portion of the developing world.^[130] Finally, cities bidding to host the Games are required to add a "legacy plan" to their proposal, this requires prospective host cities and the IOC, to plan with a view to the long-term economic and environmental impact that hosting the Olympics will have on the region.^[131]

Doping[edit]

In 1967 the IOC began enacting drug testing protocols, they started by randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics.^[132] The first Winter Games athlete to test positive for a banned substance was Alois Schloder, a West German hockey player,^[133] but his team was still allowed to compete.^[134] During the 1970s testing outside of competition was escalated because it was found to deter athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs,^[135] 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,^[136] the IOC took the lead in the fight against steroids when it established the independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 1999.^[137][138]

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,^[139] 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.^[140] 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.^[139]

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi's Russian Doping Scandal has resulted in the International Olympic Committee to begin disciplinary proceedings against 28 Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, acting on evidence that their urine samples were tampered with, and making it all but certain that Russia will lose its first-place standing in the medals table from those Games.^{[141][142][143][144][145]}

Commercialisation[edit]

Avery Brundage, as president of the IOC from 1952 to 1972, rejected all attempts to link the Olympics with commercial interests as he felt that the Olympic movement should be completely separate from financial influence.^[146] The 1960 Winter Olympics marked the beginning of corporate sponsorship of the Games,^[146] despite Brundage's strenuous resistance the commercialisation of the Games continued during the 1960s, and revenue generated by corporate sponsorship swelled the IOC's coffers.^[147] By the Grenoble Games, Brundage had become so concerned about the direction of the Winter Olympic Games towards commercialisation that, if it could not be corrected, he felt the Winter Olympics should be abolished.^[148] Brundage's resistance to this revenue stream meant that the IOC was unable to gain a share of the financial windfall that was coming to host cities, and had no control over the structuring of sponsorship deals. When Brundage retired the IOC had $2 million in assets; eight years later its accounts had swelled to $45 million. This was due to a shift in ideology among IOC members, towards expansion of the Games through corporate sponsorship and the sale of television rights.^[146]

Brundage's concerns proved prophetic, the IOC has charged more for television broadcast rights at each successive Games.^[149] At the 1998 Nagano Games American broadcaster CBS paid $375 million, whereas the 2006 Turin Games cost NBC $613 million to broadcast.^[150] The more television companies have paid to televise the Games, the greater their persuasive power has been with the IOC,^[149][151] for example, the television lobby has influenced the Olympic programme by dictating when event finals are held, so that they appear in prime time for television audiences. They have pressured the IOC to include new events, such as snowboarding, that appeal to broader television audiences, this has been done to boost ratings, which were slowly declining until the 2010 Games.^[152][153]

In 1986 the IOC decided to stagger the Summer and Winter Games. Instead of holding both in the same calendar year the committee decided to alternate them every two years, although both Games would still be held on four-year cycles,^[154] it was decided that 1992 would be the last year to have both a Winter and Summer Olympic Games.^[87] There were two underlying reasons for this change: first was the television lobby's desire to maximise advertising revenue as it was difficult to sell advertising time for two Games in the same year;^[154] second was the IOC's desire to gain more control over the revenue generated by the Games. It was decided that staggering the Games would make it easier for corporations to sponsor individual Olympic Games, which would maximise revenue potential, the IOC sought to directly negotiate sponsorship contracts so that they had more control over the Olympic "brand".^[155] The first Winter Olympics to be hosted in this new format were the 1994 Games in Lillehammer.^[84]

Politics[edit]

Cold War[edit]

A postage stamp issued by East Germany in 1968 in commemoration of their first Winter Olympics as an independent country

The Winter Olympics have been 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.^[58] Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism.^[156]

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;^[48] 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 the invitation 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 at the Olympics. The IOC agreed to provisionally accept the East German National Olympic Committee with the condition that East and West Germans compete on one team,^[159] the situation became tenuous when the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1962 and western 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 officially split the teams and threatened to reject the host-city bids of any country that refused entry visas to East German athletes.^[161]

Boycott[edit]

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.^[74] 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 that Taiwan would not agree to. 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.^[74] 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]

All-time medal table[edit]

According to official data of the International Olympic Committee.

No.	Nation	Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway (NOR)	22	118	111	100	329
2	United States (USA)	22	96	102	84	282
3	Germany (GER)	11	78	78	53	209
4	Soviet Union (URS)	9	78	57	59	194
5	Canada (CAN)	22	62	56	52	170
6	Austria (AUT)	22	59	78	81	218
7	Sweden (SWE)	22	50	40	54	144
8	Switzerland (SUI)	22	50	40	48	138
9	Russia (RUS)	6	49	40	35	124
10	Finland (FIN)	22	42	62	57	161
11	East Germany (GDR)	6	39	36	35	110
12	Netherlands (NED)	20	37	38	35	110
13	Italy (ITA)	22	37	34	43	114
14	France (FRA)	22	31	31	47	109
15	South Korea (KOR)	17	26	17	10	53
16	China (CHN)	10	12	22	19	53
17	West Germany (FRG)	6	11	15	13	39
18	Japan (JPN)	20	10	17	18	45
19	Great Britain (GBR)	22	10	4	12	26
20	Unified Team (EUN)	1	9	6	8	23
21	United Team of Germany (EUA)	3	8	6	5	19
22	Czech Republic (CZE)	6	7	9	8	24
23	Poland (POL)	22	6	7	7	20
24	Belarus (BLR)	6	6	4	5	15
25	Australia (AUS)	18	5	3	4	12
26	Croatia (CRO)	7	4	6	1	11
27	Estonia (EST)	9	4	2	1	7
28	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	16	2	8	15	25
29	Slovenia (SLO)	7	2	4	9	15
30	Liechtenstein (LIE)	18	2	2	5	9
31	Slovakia (SVK)	6	2	2	1	5
32	Ukraine (UKR)	6	2	1	4	7
33	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	6	1	3	3	7
34	Bulgaria (BUL)	19	1	2	3	6
35	Belgium (BEL)	20	1	1	3	5
36	Spain (ESP)	19	1	0	1	2
37	Uzbekistan (UZB)	6	1	0	0	1
38	Latvia (LAT)	10	0	4	3	7
39	Yugoslavia (YUG)	14	0	3	1	4
40	Hungary (HUN)	22	0	2	4	6
41	Luxembourg (LUX)	8	0	2	0	2
42	North Korea (PRK)	8	0	1	1	2
43	Denmark (DEN)	13	0	1	0	1
43	New Zealand (NZL)	15	0	1	0	1
45	Romania (ROU)	20	0	0	1	1

List of Winter Olympic Games[edit]

Games	Year	Host	Opened by	Dates	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Disci- plines	Events	Top Nation	Ref
						Total	Men	Women
I	1924	Chamonix, France	Undersecretary Gaston Vidal	25 January – 5 February	16	258	247	11	6	9	16	Norway (NOR)	[2]
II	1928	St. Moritz, Switzerland	President Edmund Schulthess	11–19 February	25	464	438	26	4	8	14	Norway (NOR)	[3]
III	1932	Lake Placid, United States	Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt	4–15 February	17	252	231	21	4	7	14	United States (USA)	[4]
IV	1936	Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany	Chancellor Adolf Hitler	6–16 February	28	646	566	80	4	8	17	Norway (NOR)	[5]
1940		Awarded to Sapporo, Japan; cancelled because of World War II
1944		Awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy; cancelled because of World War II
V	1948	St. Moritz, Switzerland	President Enrico Celio	30 January – 8 February	28	669	592	77	4	9	22	Norway (NOR)  Sweden (SWE)	[6]
VI	1952	Oslo, Norway	Princess Ragnhild	14–25 February	30	694	585	109	4	8	22	Norway (NOR)	[7]
VII	1956	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	President Giovanni Gronchi	26 January – 5 February	32	821	687	134	4	8	24	Soviet Union (URS)	[8]
VIII	1960	Squaw Valley, United States	Vice President Richard Nixon	18–28 February	30	665	521	144	4	8	27	Soviet Union (URS)	[9]
IX	1964	Innsbruck, Austria	President Adolf Schärf	29 January – 9 February	36	1091	892	199	6	10	34	Soviet Union (URS)	[10]
X	1968	Grenoble, France	President Charles de Gaulle	6–18 February	37	1158	947	211	6	10	35	Norway (NOR)	[11]
XI	1972	Sapporo, Japan	Emperor Hirohito	3–13 February	35	1006	801	205	6	10	35	Soviet Union (URS)	[12]
XII	1976	Innsbruck, Austria	President Rudolf Kirchschläger	4–15 February	37	1123	892	231	6	10	37	Soviet Union (URS)	[13]
XIII	1980	Lake Placid, United States	Vice President Walter Mondale	13–24 February	37	1072	840	232	6	10	38	Soviet Union (URS)	[14]
XIV	1984	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia	President Mika Špiljak	8–19 February	49	1272	998	274	6	10	39	East Germany (GDR)	[15]
XV	1988	Calgary, Canada	Governor General Jeanne Sauvé	13–28 February	57	1423	1122	301	6	10	46	Soviet Union (URS)	[16]
XVI	1992	Albertville, France	President François Mitterrand	8–23 February	64	1801	1313	488	6	12	57	Germany (GER)	[17]
XVII	1994	Lillehammer, Norway	King Harald V	12–27 February	67	1737	1215	522	6	12	61	Russia (RUS)	[18]
XVIII	1998	Nagano, Japan	Emperor Akihito	7–22 February	72	2176	1389	787	7	14	68	Germany (GER)	[19]
XIX	2002	Salt Lake City, United States	President George W. Bush	8–24 February	78[165]	2399	1513	886	7	15	78	Norway (NOR)	[20]
XX	2006	Turin, Italy	President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi	10–26 February	80	2508	1548	960	7	15	84	Germany (GER)	[21]
XXI	2010	Vancouver, Canada	Governor General Michaëlle Jean	12–28 February	82	2566	1522	1044	7	15	86	Canada (CAN)	[22]
XXII	2014	Sochi, Russia	President Vladimir Putin	7–23 February	88	2873	1714	1159	7	15	98	Russia (RUS)	[23]
XXIII	2018	Pyeongchang, South Korea	President Moon Jae-in (expected)	9–25 February		Future event			7	15	102		[24]
XXIV	2022	Beijing, China		4–20 February	Future event				Future event	Future event	Future event		[25]

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.

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.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Winter Olympics.

• Olympic Winter Sports IOC official website
• Winter Olympic Games Venues on Google Maps