Winter Olympic Games

The First Olympic Winter Games were inaugurated on January 25, 1924 in Chamonix, France, although at the time they were not yet called Olympic Winter Games. Only in 1926, the Games were called thus. Since then, the Games have been held every four years, with the exception of the 1940 and 1944. Since 1994, the Winter Games are no longer held in the same year as the Games of the Olympiad (or Summer Olympics). The most recent Winter Games were the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, held in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Medal sports

• Alpine skiing, including downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super-G, combined
• Biathlon
• Bobsled
• Cross-country skiing
• Curling
• Figure skating, including single, pairs, ice dancing
• Freestyle skiing, including moguls, aerial
• Ice hockey
• Luge
• Nordic combined
• Skeleton
• Ski jumping
• Snowboarding, including slalom, halfpipe
• Speed skating, including short track speed skating

Olympic medals 1924-1998 (Top 10)

Past Winter Olympics

1924 Winter Olympic Games: Chamonix , France

1928 Winter Olympic Games: St. Moritz[?], Switzerland

Sonja Henie, Norway, figure skating

1932 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Lake Placid, USA

Sonja Henie, Norway, figure skating

1936 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Garmisch-Partenkirchen[?], Germany

Sonja Henie, Norway, figure skating (third gold medal)

1940: not held due to WWII; scheduled for Sapporo, Japan

1944: not held due to WWII; scheduled for Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

1948 Winter Olympic Games: St. Moritz [?] , Switzerland

Dick Button[?], USA, figure skating

1952 Winter Olympic Games: Oslo, Norway

Stein Eriksen[?], Norway, giant slalom

Dick Button[?], USA, figure skating

1956 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Cortina d'Ampezzo[?], Italy

1960 Winter Olympic Games: Squaw Valley, USA

Carol Heiss[?], USA, figure skating

USA Men's ice hockey, Gold Medal

1964 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Innsbruck, Austria

1968 Winter Olympic Games: Grenoble, France

Jean-Claude Killy, France, three alpine skiing gold medals

Peggy Fleming[?], USA, figure skating

1972 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Sapporo, Japan

1976 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Innsbruck, Austria

Franz Klammer[?], Austria, skiing (gold medal, downhill)

Dorothy Hamill[?], USA, figure skating

1980 Winter Olympic Games: Lake Placid, USA

The U.S. Men's Hockey Team (the "Miracle on Ice")

Eric Heiden, U.S., five speed-skating gold medals

1984 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

Katarina Witt, East Germany, figure skating

Torvill and Dean[?], U.K., ice dancing

1988 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Calgary, Canada

Alberto Tomba[?], Italy, skiing

Katarina Witt, East Germany, figure skating

The Jamaican bobsled team

Britain's "Eddy The Eagle Edwards", soars

1992 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Albertville, France

Kristi Yamaguchi, USA, figure skating

1994 Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer, Norway

Tommy Moe[?], USA, skiing

Oksana Baiul[?], Ukraine, figure skating (with USA skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding providing a memorable sideshow)

1998 Winter Olympic Games: Nagano, Japan

Georg Hackl, Germany, luge (third consecutive gold medal)

Czech Republic, led by Dominik Hasek[?] win men's hockey gold.

2002 Winter Olympic Games: Salt Lake City, USA

Georg Hackl, Germany, luge (fifth consecutive medal)

Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Norway, Biathlon

Simon Amman[?], Switzerland, Ski Jumping

Two sets of gold medals awarded in pairs figure skating because of judging scandal.

Canada: Gold medal in men's and women's ice hockey

Future Winter Olympics

2006 Winter Olympic Games[?]: Turin (Torino), Italy

2010 Winter Olympics: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

see also International Olympic Committee, Olympic Games scandals, sport

External links:

• The official website: http://www.saltlake2002.com
• History of the Olympics: an interesting site, http://www.janecky.com/olympics/, features medal counts and other information