Winter Olympic Games

Winter Olympic Games

The Olympic flame in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics

Games

1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1940 • 1944 • 1948 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1994 • 1998 • 2002  2006 • 2010 • 2014 • 2018 • 2022

Sports (details)

Alpine skiing • Biathlon • Bobsled Cross‑country skiing • Curling • Figure skating Freestyle skiing • Ice hockey • Luge Nordic combined • Short track speed skating Skeleton • Ski jumping • Snowboarding Speed skating

The Winter Olympic Games are a winter multi-sport event held every four years. They feature winter sports held on snow or ice, such as alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, and ice hockey. These sports along with Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been competed at every Winter Olympics since 1924. Other events have been added as the Games have progressed, and some of them, such as luge, short track speed skating, and freestyle skiing have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic programme. Others, like speed skiing, bandy, and skijöring were demonstration sports but never incorporated officially as Olympic sports.

Fewer countries participate in the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics. The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Prior to this, figure skating and ice hockey had been events at the Summer Olympics. The Games were held every four years from 1924 until 1940 when they were interrupted by World War II. The Winter and Summer Games resumed in 1948 and were celebrated on the same year as the Summer Olympics until 1992. Starting in 1994 the Winter Olympics were held in their own year, separate from the Summer Games. They continue to be celebrated every four years.

The Winter Games have undergone significant changes since their inception. The rise of television as a global medium for communication has enhanced the profile of the Games. It has also created an income stream via the sale of broadcast rights and advertising, which has become very lucrative for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This has allowed outside interests, such as television companies and corporate sponsors, to influence various aspects of the Games. The IOC has had to address several internal scandals, and the use of performance enhancing drugs by Winter Olympians. There has been one political boycott at the Winter Olympics. Nations have also used the Winter Games to their own political ends, and to showcase the claimed superiority of their political systems.

The Winter Olympics have been hosted on three continents, but never in a country in the southern hemisphere. The United States has hosted the Games four times. France has been the host three times. Austria, Canada, Italy, Japan, Norway, and Switzerland have hosted the Games twice. The next Winter Olympics will be hosted by Sochi, in 2014, making it the first time a Russian city will host the Winter Olympic Games.

The first international multi-sport event specifically for winter sports was the Nordic Games held in Sweden in 1901, and was organised by General Viktor Gustaf Balck.^[1] The event was held again in 1903 and 1905, and then every four years until 1926.^[1] Balck was a charter member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and a close personal friend of Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertin. He attempted to have winter sports, specifically figure skating, added to the Olympic programme.^[1] Balck was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, which featured four figure-skating events.^[2] Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles.^[3]

Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week with winter sports as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. The organizers opposed this idea; their reasoning was two-fold: they desired to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games, and they were concerned about a lack of facilities for winter sports.^[4][5][6] The idea was resurrected for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin. A winter sports week with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing was planned, but the 1916 Olympics were cancelled after the outbreak of World War I.^[5]

The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Games in Antwerp, featured figure skating and ice hockey.^[5] At the IOC Congress held the following year, it was decided that the host nation of the 1924 Summer Olympics, France, would also 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 as more than 250 athletes from 16 nations competed in 16 events.^[7] Finnish and Norwegian athletes dominated the events.^[8] In 1925 the IOC decided to create a separate Olympic Winter Games,^[5] and the 1924 Games in Chamonix were retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics.^[5][7]

St. Moritz was appointed by the IOC to host the second Olympic Winter Games in 1928.^[9] Fluctuating weather conditions made these Olympics memorable. The opening ceremony was held in a blizzard.^[10] In contrast, warm weather conditions plagued the Olympics for the remainder of the Games. Because of the weather, the 10,000 metre speed-skating event had to be abandoned and officially cancelled with no winner.^[11] The 50 kilometre cross-country event was officially contested but ended early when the temperature rose to 25 °C (77 °F), which caused significant problems with snow and waxing conditions.^[11] The weather was not the only note-worthy 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 would hold for 74 years.^[12]

The next Winter Olympics was the first to be hosted outside of Europe. Fewer athletes participated than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid was a long and expensive one for most competitors and there was little money for sports in the midst of the Great Depression. These Games were also marred by warm weather. Virtually no snow fell for two months before the Games. It was not until mid-January that there was enough snow to hold all the events.^[13] Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title,^[14] and Eddie Eagan, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920, won the gold in the men's bobsled event to become the first, and so far only, Olympian to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.^[14]

The Bavarian towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organise the 1936 edition of the Winter Games, held on February 6–16.^[15] In 1936, the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same country, Germany, for the last time. Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut in Germany, but skiing teachers were barred from entering because they were considered to be professionals.^[16] Because of this decision, the Swiss and Austrian skiers refused to compete at these Games.^[16]

The Second World War interrupted the celebration of the Winter Olympics. The 1940 Winter Olympics had originally been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but the decision was rescinded in 1938 because of the Japanese invasion of China. St. Moritz, Switzerland, was chosen by the IOC to host the Games, but three months later the IOC withdrew its selection because of quarrels with the Swiss organizing committee. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the hosts of the previous Olympics, stepped in to host the Winter Games again, but both Summer and Winter Olympics were cancelled in November 1939 following Germany's invasion of Poland.^[17] The 1944 Winter Olympics, scheduled to take place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, were cancelled in the summer of 1941 because of the continuing World War.^[18][19]

St. Moritz was selected to host the first post-war Games in 1948. Because of Switzerland's neutrality, the town had been untouched by World War II. Since most of the venues were already constructed for the 1928 Games, St. Moritz was a logical choice to become the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice.^[20] Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland, but athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited.^[21] The Games were marred by controversy, and theft. Two hockey teams from the United States arrived. Both claimed to be the legitimate U.S. Olympic hockey representative. The Olympic flag presented at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp was stolen, and its replacement was stolen. There was unprecedented parity at these Games, during which 10 countries won gold medals, more than any Games to that point.^[22]

The city of Oslo was invited to host the 1952 Winter Olympics. The Olympic Flame was lit in the fireplace of the home of skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim.^[23] The torch relay was conducted by 94 participants entirely on skis.^[23][24] Bandy, a popular sport in the Nordic countries, was featured as a demonstration sport, though only Norway, Sweden, and Finland fielded teams.^[24]

After not being able to host the Games in 1944 because of the war, 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 rink, his skate caught on a cable and he fell, nearly extinguishing the flame. He was able to recover and lit the cauldron.^[25] These were the first Winter Games to be televised, though no television rights would be sold until the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.^[26] The Cortina Games were used as an experiment on the feasibility of televising sporting events on such a large scale.^[26] These Games marked the debut of the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics. The Soviet team had an immediate impact, winning more medals than any other nation.^[27]

The IOC awarded the 1960 Olympics to Squaw Valley. Since the village was underdeveloped, there was a rush to construct roads, hotels, restaurants, and bridges, as well as the ice arena, the speed-skating track, ski lifts, and the ski jump hill.^[28][29] The opening and closing ceremonies were produced by Walt Disney.^[30] These Games were the first to have a dedicated athletes' village and the first to use a computer (courtesy of IBM) to tabulate results.^[30] The bobsled events were absent for the first and only time because the organising committee found it too expensive to build the bobsled run. Women first took part in speed skating at these Games.^[30]

The Tyrolean city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964. Despite being a traditional winter sports resort, warm weather caused a lack of snow during the Games and the Austrian army was called in to bring snow and ice to the sport venues.^[30] 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 the most gold medals won by a Winter Olympics athlete.^[30] Luge was first contested in these Olympics, although the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.^[31][32]

Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics was the first Olympic Games to be broadcast in colour.^[33] Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy became only the second person to sweep all the men's alpine skiing events.^[33] The effects of television began to show at the Grenoble Games. The organising committee sold the television rights for $2 million, a significant increase over the price of the broadcast rights for the Innsbruck Games, which totaled $936,667.^[34] Venues were spread over long distances requiring three athletes' villages at these Games. 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.^[34]

The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, were the first to be hosted outside North America or Europe. The issue of professionalism became very contentious during these Games. Three days before the Olympics, IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar a large 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.^[35] Eventually, only Austrian Karl Schranz, who earned more than all the other skiers, was not allowed to compete.^[36] Canada did not send teams to the 1972 or 1976 ice hockey tournaments in protest of their inability to use players from professional leagues.^[37] Francisco Ochoa became the only Spaniard to ever win a Winter Olympic gold medal, when he triumphed in the slalom.^[38]

Originally, the 1976 Winter Games had been awarded to Denver, but in 1972 the voters of Colorado, the state Denver is located in, expressed unwillingness to host the Games through a state referendum.^[39] Innsbruck, which still had maintained the infrastructure from the 1964 Games, was chosen in 1973 to replace Denver.^[40] Two Olympic flames were lit because it was the second time the Austrian town had hosted the Games.^[40] The 1976 Games also featured the first combination bobsled and luge track in neighbouring Igls.^[38] The Soviet Union won its fourth straight ice-hockey gold medal at these Games.^[40]

The Olympic Winter Games returned to Lake Placid, which had hosted the 1932 Games. Rumours of a boycott at the 1980 Summer Olympics by the United States and its allies clouded the Winter Olympics.^[41] American speed-skater Eric Heiden set either an Olympic or world record in each of the five events he competed in.^[42] Hanni Wenzel won both the slalom and giant slalom. Her country, Liechtenstein, became the smallest nation to produce an Olympic gold medallist.^[14] In the "Miracle on Ice", the American hockey team beat the favoured Soviets and went on to win the gold medal.^[43] The Republic of China boycotted the 1980 Olympics because of a conflict with China over the use of the name "Republic of China".^[44]

The cities of Sapporo, and Gothenburg, were front-runners to host the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was therefore a surprise when Sarajevo was chosen to host the Games.^[45] The Games were well-organized and displayed no indication of the war that would soon engulf the country.^[46] Yugoslavia also won its first Olympic medal when alpine skier Jure Franko won a silver medal in the giant slalom.^[46] 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 unanimous perfect scores in artistic impression, and the gold medal.^[46]

In 1988, the Canadian city of Calgary hosted the first Winter Olympics to span 16 days.^[47] 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 in speed skating, beating skaters from the favoured East German team in every race.^[48] Her medal total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all three events in his sport.^[47] Alberto Tomba, an Italian skier, made his Olympic debut at these Games by winning both the giant slalom and slalom.^[47] 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.^[47] She became the first and only athlete to win medals in both a Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year.^[47]

The 1992 Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games.^[49] They were hosted in the French Savoie region. The town of Albertville was the host city though only 18 events were held in the city. The rest of the events were spread out over the Savoie.^[49] 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 dismantling of the Berlin Wall.^[50] Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1964 Games, and former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debut as independent nations.^[50] 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.^[50] At 16 years old, Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion.^[51] New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger became the first Winter Olympic medalist from the southern hemisphere when she won a silver medal in the women's slalom.^[51]

In 1986, the IOC voted to separate the Summer and Winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years starting in 1994. These Games were the first Winter Olympics to be held without the Summer Games in the same year.^[52] After the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debut in Lillehammer.^[53] The women's figure skating competition garnered significant media attention. American skater Nancy Kerrigan had been injured on January 6, 1994, in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding.^[54] Both skaters competed in the Games, but neither won the gold medal, which went to Oksana Baiul, who won Ukraine's first Olympic title.^[55][56]

The 1998 Winter Olympics was the first Games to host more than 2,000 athletes.^[57] The Games were held in the Japanese city of Nagano. The men's ice hockey tournament was open to professionals for the first time. Canada and the United States, with their many NHL players, were favoured to win the tournament.^[57] However, neither won any hockey medals, as the Czech Republic prevailed.^[57] Women's ice hockey made its debut at these Games, with the United States winning the gold medal.^[58] Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway won three gold medals in Nordic skiing. He became the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete with eight gold medals and twelve medals overall.^[57] Austrian Hermann Maier survived a crash during the downhill competition and returned to win gold in the super-g and the giant slalom^[57] A wave of new world records were set in speed skating because of the introduction of the clap skate.^[59]

The 19th Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City. German Georg Hackl won a silver in the singles luge, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to medal in the same individual event in five consecutive Olympics.^[60] Canada achieved an unprecedented double by winning both the men's and women's ice hockey gold medals.^[60] Canada also 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 the exception of 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.^[61] The IOC decided to award both pairs the gold medal in a second medal ceremony held later in the Games.^[62] Australian Steven Bradbury became the first gold medallist from the southern hemisphere when he won the 1,000 metre short-track speed skating event.^[63]

The Italian city of Turin hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. It was the second time that Italy hosted the Winter Olympic Games. South Korean athletes dominated the short-track speed skating events at these Games. Sun-Yu Jin won three gold medals while her teammate Hyun-Soo Ahn won three gold medals and a bronze.^[64] In the women's Cross-Country team pursuit Canadian Sara Renner broke one of her poles. 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.^[64][65] Claudia Pechstein of Germany became the first speed skater to earn nine career medals.^[64] In February of 2009, Pechstein tested positive for "blood manipulation", 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.^[66] She lost her final appeal to lift her suspension on January 26, 2010, which precluded her from competing in Vancouver even if she had made the German team.^[67]

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.^[68] The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies cast a pall over the Games. His death also forced officials at the Whistler Sliding Centre to change the track in order to make it safer.^[69] Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen dominated the women's cross-country events. Of the six women's races on the programme, Bjørgen medalled in five, earning three golds, a silver and a bronze.^[70] These Games were also notable for the poor performance of the Russian athletes. From their first Winter Olympics in 1956 until 2006, 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. This caused great concern at the highest levels of the Russian government. President Dmitry Medvedev called for the resignation of top sports officials immediately after the Games.^[71]

The decision for the location of the 2014 Winter Olympics was made on July 4, 2007. Sochi, Russia, was elected as the host city over the other two finalists: Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. Sochi will be the first city with a subtropical climate to host the Winter Games.^[72] The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium will be located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues will be 50 kilometres (30 mi) away in the alpine region known as Krasnaya Polyana.^[72] The host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics has yet to be determined. Pyeongchang, Korea, Munich, Germany and Annecy, France, have all indicated an interest in hosting the Games. A final vote by the IOC on the location of the 2018 Games will be held in July 2011.^[73] If Munich wins the bid, it will become the first city to ever host both Summer and Winter Olympics, having hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics.^[73]

As president of the IOC from 1952 to 1972, Avery Brundage rejected all attempts to link the Olympics with commercial interests. He felt that the Olympic movement should be completely separate from financial influence.^[74] The 1960 Winter Olympics marked the beginning of corporate sponsorship of the Games.^[74] Despite his strenuous resistance, the commercialization of the Games continued during the 1960s, and revenue generated by corporate sponsorship swelled the IOC's coffers.^[75] By the Grenoble Games, Brundage had become so concerned about the direction of the Winter Olympic Games towards commercialization that if they could not be corrected, then he felt the Winter Olympics should be abolished.^[76] Brundage's resistance to this revenue stream meant the IOC was slow to seek a share of the financial windfall that was coming to host cities and was unable to control how sponsorship deals would be structured.^[74] When Brundage retired, the IOC had $2 million in assets; eight years later IOC accounts had swelled to $45 million.^[74] This was primarily due to a shift in ideology among IOC members toward expansion of the Games through corporate sponsorship and the sale of television rights.^[74]

Brundage's concerns proved prophetic. The IOC has charged more for television broadcast rights at each successive Games. At the 1998 Nagano Games, American broadcaster CBS paid $375 million, whereas the 2006 Turin Games cost NBC $613 million to broadcast.^[77] The more television companies have paid to televise the Games, the greater their persuasive power with the IOC. 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 also pressured the IOC to include new events like snowboarding that appeal to broad television audiences. This has been done to boost ratings, which were slowly declining until the 2010 Games.^[78][79]

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. Both Games would still be held on four-year cycles. The rationale given by the IOC for this change was that it would give more prominence to the Winter Olympic Games.^[80] It was decided that 1992 would be the last year to have both a Winter and Summer Olympic Games.^[52]

Two groups pushed for this change. One was the television lobby, which had applied pressure to reschedule the Games because of the difficulty of raising advertising revenue for two Games in the same year.^[80] Television studios would now be able to emphasize story-lines and generate interest for each separate Games, thereby maximizing viewership and consequently profit.^[81] The second was the IOC's desire to gain more control over the revenue generated by the Games. The financial success of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which created a surplus of $227 million, showed the importance of maximizing television rights and corporate sponsorships. The IOC also realized that under the current structure they had little access to the corporate sponsorship funds raised by individual host cities. The committee determined that staggering the Games would make it more likely that corporations would sponsor individual Olympic Games, which would maximize revenue potential. The IOC also sought to directly negotiate sponsorship contracts so that they had more control over the Olympic "brand".^[82] The first Winter Olympics to be hosted in this new format was the 1994 Games in Lillehammer.^[49]

The Winter Olympics have not been immune to improprieties. One recent scandal occurred around the 2002 Winter Olympics. After Salt Lake City had been awarded the right to host the 2002 Games, it was discovered that the organisers had engaged in an elaborate bribery scheme to curry favour with IOC officials. 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.^[83] He also indicated that the rifles would go on display at the Olympic Museum.^[84] The subsequent investigation resulted in the expulsion of 10 members of the IOC and the sanctioning of another 10 members.^[85] The investigation also uncovered inconsistencies in the bids for every Games (both summer and winter) since 1988.^[86] For example, the gifts received by IOC members from the Japanese Organizing Committee in exchange for their support of Nagano's bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics were described by the investigation committee as "astronomical".^[87] 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.^[88] The results of the investigation were stricter rules for future bids; ceilings were put into place for how much IOC members could accept from bid cities; new term and age limits were established for IOC membership, and 15 former Olympic athletes were added to the committee.^[89][90]

In 1967 the IOC began enacting drug testing protocols. They started randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics.^[91] The first Winter Games athlete to test positive for a banned substance was Alois Schloder, a West German hockey player who had ephedrine in his system. He was disqualified from the rest of the tournament but his team was still allowed to compete.^[92][93] During the 1970s, testing outside of competition was escalated because it was found to deter athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs.^[94] The problem with testing during this time was a lack of standardisation of test procedures, which undermined the credibility of the tests. It was not until the late 1980s that international sporting federations, of which the IOC was a member, began to coordinate efforts to standardise the drug-testing protocols.^[95] The IOC decided to take a leadership role in the fight against steroids when it established the independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 1999.^[96][97] The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin became notable for a scandal involving the emerging trend of blood doping, which is the use of blood transfusions or synthetic hormones like Erythropoietin (EPO), to improve oxygen flow in order to reduce fatigue.^[98] The Italian police conducted a raid during the Games on the Austrian cross-country ski team's residence. They seized blood-doping specimens and equipment.^[98][99] This event followed the pre-Olympics suspension of 12 cross-country skiers who tested positive for unusually high levels of hemoglobin, which is evidence of blood doping.^[98] This particular method of cheating has been used by cross-country athletes before. At the 2002 Games three skiers were stripped of their medals after they tested positive for blood doping.^[98]

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. Soviet and American politicians used the Olympics, and other international sporting events, as an opportunity to prove the perceived superiority of their respective political systems.^[100] The successful Soviet athlete was feted and honoured. Irina Rodnina, three-time Olympic gold medallist in figure skating, was awarded the Order of Lenin after her victory at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.^[101] With the award came monetary compensation from $4,000 to $8,000 depending on the prestige of the sport. A world record was worth an additional $1,500.^[102] The United States responded to the propaganda pressure of the Soviet Union. In 1978, the U.S. Congress passed legislation completely reorganising the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). This sort of political intrusion in a sports federation was unheard of in a democratic country. It was done in response to the increasing international profile of the Olympic Games.^[103] Several National Olympic Committees currently pay their athletes for winning Olympic medals. The USOC pays $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.^[104]

The Cold War also created tensions among 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.^[21] In 1950, the IOC recognized the West German Olympic Committee,^[105] and a West German team represented Germany at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. The East Germans were invited to cooperate as a unified team in 1952 but they declined.^[106] In 1955 the Soviet Union recognized 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 the East Germans compete as a unified team with the West Germans. This was done because the West Germans had adopted the Hallstein Doctrine, which forbade West Germany from entering into diplomatic relations with any country that recognized East Germany.^[107] The situation became tenuous when the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1962. Many western countries, including France and the United States, refused visas to East German athletes competing in world championships in their countries.^[108] 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.^[109]

While their Summer counterpart has experienced several boycotts, the Winter Games have had only one national team boycott. The Republic of China, also known as Taiwan, decided to boycott the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid. The reason for the boycott was that the IOC had agreed to allow China to compete in the Olympics for the first time since 1952. They were allowed to compete as the People's Republic of China and to use the Chinese flag and anthem. Until 1980, the island of Taiwan had been competing under the name, "Republic of China" and had been using the Chinese flag and anthem.^[44] Initially 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".^[110][111] The IOC also renamed the island "Chinese Taipei and forced it to adopt a different flag and national anthem. Taiwan would not concede to the IOC's demands that it be renamed and use different national symbols. 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.^[44] 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. Chinese Taipei continues to participate under the same compromise.^[112]

Chapter 1, article 6 of the 2007 edition of the Olympic Charter defines winter sports as "sports which are practised on snow or ice."^[113] Through the years, the number of sports and events conducted at the Winter Olympic Games has increased. There have also been Demonstration sports, which are contested during the Games but for which no medals are awarded.

^ Note 1. Figure skating events were also held at the 1908 and 1920 Summer Olympics.
^ Note 2. A men's ice hockey tournament was also held at the 1920 Summer Olympics.

• Military patrol, a precursor to the biathlon, was a medal sport in 1924. It was also demonstrated in 1928, 1936 and 1948, and in 1960 biathlon became an official sport.^[130]
• The special figures figure skating event was only contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics.^[131]

• Bandy, a sport described as ice hockey with a ball, very popular in the Nordic countries, was demonstrated at the Oslo Games.^[132]
• Ice stock sport, a German variant to curling, was demonstrated in 1936 in Germany and in 1964 in Austria.^[16]
• The ski ballet event, later known as ski-acro, was demonstrated in 1988 and 1992. The sport has significantly declined in popularity in recent years. The International Ski Federation ceased all formal competition of this sport after 2000.^[133]
• Skijöring, skiing behind dogs, was a demonstration sport in St. Moritz in 1928.^[132]
• Sled-dog racing contests were displayed at Lake Placid in 1932.^[132]
• Speed skiing was demonstrated in Albertville at the 1992 Winter Olympics.^[134]
• Winter pentathlon, a variant to the modern pentathlon, was included as a demonstration event at the 1948 Games in Switzerland. It was composed of cross country skiing, shooting, downhill skiing, fencing, and horse riding.^[116]

Games	Year	Host	Dates	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Events	Ref
					Total	Men	Women
I	1924	Chamonix, France	25 January – 5 February	16	258	247	11	6	16	[7]
II	1928	St. Moritz, Switzerland	11–19 February	25	464	438	26	6	14	[12]
III	1932	Lake Placid, United States	4–15 February	17	252	231	21	5	14	[14]
IV	1936	Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany	6–16 February	28	646	566	80	6	17	[16]
1940		Originally awarded to Sapporo, Japan, cancelled because of World War II.
1944		Originally awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, cancelled because of World War II.
V	1948	St. Moritz, Switzerland	30 January – 8 February	28	669	592	77	4	22	[21]
VI	1952	Oslo, Norway	14–25 February	30	694	585	109	4	22	[23]
VII	1956	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	26 January – 5 February	32	821	687	134	4	24	[27]
VIII	1960	Squaw Valley, United States	18–28 February	30	665	521	144	4	27	[135]
IX	1964	Innsbruck, Austria	29 January – 9 February	36	1091	892	199	6	34	[31]
X	1968	Grenoble, France	6–18 February	37	1158	947	211	6	35	[33]
XI	1972	Sapporo, Japan	3–13 February	35	1006	801	205	6	35	[136]
XII	1976	Innsbruck, Austria	4–15 February	37	1123	892	231	6	37	[40]
XIII	1980	Lake Placid, United States	13–24 February	37	1072	840	232	6	38	[137]
XIV	1984	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia	8–19 February	49	1272	998	274	6	39	[46]
XV	1988	Calgary, Canada	13–28 February	57	1423	1122	301	6	46	[47]
XVI	1992	Albertville, France	8–23 February	64	1801	1313	488	7	57	[49]
XVII	1994	Lillehammer, Norway	12–27 February	67	1737	1215	522	6	61	[52]
XVIII	1998	Nagano, Japan	7–22 February	72	2176	1389	787	7	68	[57]
XIX	2002	Salt Lake City, United States	8–24 February	77	2399	1513	886	7	78	[60]
XX	2006	Turin, Italy	10–26 February	80	2508	1548	960	7	84	[64]
XXI	2010	Vancouver, Canada,	12–28 February	83	2629	–	–	7	86	[138]
XXII	2014	Sochi, Russia	7–23 February	future event
XXIII	2018	TBD (2011)	9-25 February	future event
XXIV	2022	TBD (2015)	TBD	future event

Note: 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 actually count Olympiads (which occur even if the Games do not), the official titles of the Winter Games only count the Games themselves.

• Summer Olympic Games
• List of multiple Winter Olympic medalists
• List of participating nations at the Winter Olympic Games
• Olympic Games ceremony
• Olympic Games scandals and controversies
• Paralympic Games

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• Olympic.org IOC official website
• Wintergames.AP.org Associated Press Olympic Wintergames website