Olympic Winter Games
Olympic Winter Games
CHAMONIX 1924
I Olympic Winter Games
In 1921, the International Olympic Committee voted to stage "International Sports Week 1924" in Chamonix, France. This event was a complete success and was retroactively named the First Olympic Winter Games. The first event to be decided in Chamonix was the men's 500m speed skating. The first gold medal went to Charles Jewtraw of the United States. A. Clas Thunberg of Finland earned medals in all five speed skating events: three gold, one silver and one bronze. Norway's Thorleif Haug dominated Nordic skiing, winning both cross-country races and the Nordic combined. The Canadian ice hockey team won all five of their matches, outscoring their opponents 110 to 3.
16 NOCs (Nations)
258 athletes (11 women, 247 men)
16 events
ST. MORITZ 1928
II Olympic Winter Games
The 1928 Winter Games, hosted by St. Moritz, Switzerland, were the first to be held in a different nation than the Summer Games of the same year. A new event was contested: the skeleton, which is like luge except that the athletes descend headfirst. Speed skater A. Clas Thunberg added two more gold medals to the three he had won in 1924. Johan Grottumbraten of Norway won the 18km cross-country event and the Nordic combined. Another Norwegian, Sonja Henie, caused a sensation by winning the women's figure skating at the age of fifteen. Her record as the youngest winner of an individual event stood for 74 years. In men's figure skating, Gillis Grafstrom of Sweden won his third straight gold medal. Canada again dominated the ice hockey tournament, winning their three matches 11-0, 14-0 and 13-0.
25 NOCs (Nations)
464 athletes (26 women, 438 men)
14 events
LAKE PLACID 1932
III Olympic Winter Games
The third Winter Olympics, in 1932, were held in Lake Placid, New York State, a town of fewer than 4,000 people. Faced with major obstacles raising money in the midst of a depression, the president of the organizing committee, Dr. Godfrey Dewey, donated land owned by his family to be used for construction of a bobsleigh run. Sonja Henie defended her figure skating title, as did the French pair of Andree and Pierre Brunet. However Gillis Grafstrom was thwarted in his attempt at winning a fourth gold medal, placing second behind Austrian Karl Schafer. Billy Fiske of the United States won a second gold medal in the four-man bobsleigh. One member of Fiske's team was Eddie Eagan, who had won the light-heavyweight boxing championship at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. Eagan remains the only person in Olympic history to earn gold medals in both Summer and Winter sports.
17 NOCs (Nations)
252 athletes (21 women, 231 men)
14 events
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN 1936
IV Olympic Winter Games
The 1936 Games were held in the twin Bavarian towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen. An efficient bus service allowed 500,000 people to attend the final day's events. Alpine skiing events were included for the first time, and this led to a major controversy. The IOC, overruling the International Ski Federation (FIS), declared that ski instructors could not take part in the Olympics because they were professionals. Incensed, the Austrian and Swiss skiers boycotted the events. The dispute carried on after the Games and it was decided that skiing would not be included in the 1940 Olympics. Sonja Henie earned her third gold medal and Karl Schafer his second. Speed skater Ivan Ballangrud of Norway won three of the four races, including the 500m, the shortest race, and the 10,000m, the longest. Great Britain upset Canada in ice hockey, but it should be noted that ten of the twelve British players lived in Canada.
28 NOCs (Nations)
646 athletes (80 women, 566 men)
17 events
ST. MORITZ 1948
V Olympic Winter Games
The 1940 Winter Olympics were scheduled for Sapporo, Japan. War with China forced the Japanese to admit, in July 1938, that they would be unable to host the Games. St. Moritz was chosen as an alternative site, but the continuing dispute about ski instructors led the Swiss to withdraw as well. The Germans volunteered Garmisch-Partenkirchen in July 1939, but four months later the reality of World War II forced the cancellation of the Olympics. The first postwar Games were held in St. Moritz in 1948. Germany and Japan were barred from competing, but everyone else took part eagerly, and it was clear that the Winter Olympics had successfully survived the 12-year hiatus. For the first time, North Americans won gold medals in figure skating. Barbara Ann Scott of Canada took the women's title and Dick Button of the United States the men's. In general, athletic success was evenly divided. Although 22 events were contested, only French Alpine skier Henri Oreiller and Swedish Nordic skier Martin Lundstrom were able to win two gold medals.
28 NOCs (Nations)
669 athletes (77 women, 592 men)
22 events
OSLO 1952
VI Olympic Winter Games
In 1952, the Olympics were finally held in Norway, the birthplace of modern skiing. The Olympic flame was lit in the hearth of the home of Sondre Nordheim, the first famous skier, and relayed by 94 skiers to Oslo. Speed skater Hjalmar Andersen starred for the home team, winning three gold medals. His winning margins in the 5,000m and the 10,000m were the largest in Olympic history. In Alpine skiing, the combined event was dropped and replaced by the giant slalom. Andrea Mead Lawrence won both the giant slalom and the slalom even though she was only nineteen years old. Canada won the ice hockey tournament for the fifth time, bringing their cumulative Olympic record to 37 wins, 1 loss and 3 ties. In those 41 games they scored 403 goals while conceding only 34. For the first time, a cross-country skiing event was held for women. The winner was Lydia Wideman of Finland.
30 NOCs (Nations)
694 athletes (109 women, 585 men)
22 events
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO 1956
VII Olympic Winter Games
The 1956 Winter Olympics, held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, were most notable for the first appearance by a team from the USSR. The Soviets immediately won more medals than any other nation. Their speed skaters won three of the four events, while their ice hockey team ended Canada's domination. Pavel Kolchin became the first non-Scandinavian to earn a medal in cross-country skiing. Anton Sailer won all three men's races in Alpine skiing - the first clean sweep in Olympic history. Madeleine Berthod celebrated her birthday by winning the downhill by an amazing 4.7 seconds. The United States began to emerge as a definite power in figure skating as Tenley Albright won the women's title and Hayes Alan Jenkins led an American medal sweep on the men's side. The Cortina Games were the first to be televised and the last at which the figure skating competitions were held outdoors.
32 NOCs (Nations)
821 athletes (134 women, 687 men)
24 events
SQUAW VALLEY 1960
VIII Olympic Winter Games
The 1960 Squaw Valley Games were preceded by a controversy when the organizing committee refused to build a bobsleigh run because only nine nations had indicated an intention to take part. This was the only time that bobsledding was not included in the Olympic programme. As the Games were held in California, it seemed fitting that the chairman of the Pageantry Committee in charge of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies was none other than Walt Disney. A new sport, biathlon (a combination of cross-country skiing and shooting) was added to the Olympic programme. The first race was won by Klas Lestander of Sweden. Women competed in speed skating for the first time. Male speed skater Yevgeny Grishin gained victories in the 500m and the 1,500m, just as he had in 1956. The United States ice hockey team won an unexpected championship, upsetting both Canada and the USSR.
30 NOCs (Nations)
665 athletes (144 women, 521 men)
27 events
INNSBRUCK 1964
IX Olympic Winter Games
The 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck were threatened by a lack of snow. The Austrian army rushed to the rescue, carving out 20,000 ice bricks from a mountain top and transporting them to the bobsled and luge runs. They also carried 40,000 cubic meters of snow to the Alpine skiing courses. When rain caused further havoc ten days before the Opening Ceremony, the army packed down the slopes by hand and foot. Politically, the Games were notable because East and West Germany entered a combined team. Lydia Skoblikova won all four women's speed skating events to become the first athlete to win four gold medals in one Winter Olympics. Klavdiya Boyarskikh earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing and, on the men's side, Eero Mantyranta won two. Sisters Christine and Marielle Goitschel finished first and second in both the slalom and the giant slalom. Ski jumping gained a second event, and the sport of luge made its Olympic debut.
36 NOCs (Nations)
1,091 athletes (199 women, 892 men)
34 events
GRENOBLE 1968
X Olympic Winter Games
At the 1968 Grenoble Games, sex tests for women were introduced. French hero Jean-Claude Killy swept the men's Alpine events, but only after the greatest controversy in the history of the Winter Olympics. Killy's rival, Karl Schranz, claimed that a mysterious man in black crossed his path during the slalom race, causing him to skid to a halt. Given a restart, Schranz beat Killy's time. However, a Jury of Appeal disqualified Schranz and gave the victory to Killy. There was also controversy in the women's luge when the three East German entrants, who had finished first, second and fourth, were disqualified for heating their runners. Toini Gustafsson starred in women's cross-country skiing, winning both individual races and earning a silver medal in the relay. Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, an elegant married couple, successfully defended their pairs figure skating title. Eugenio Monti piloted his two-man and four-man bobsleighs to gold medals.
37 NOCs (Nations)
1,158 athletes (211 women, 947 men)
35 events
SAPPORO 1972
XI Olympic Winter Games
The 1972 Sapporo Games in Japan were the first to be held outside Europe or the United States. The subject of amateurism stirred controversy when skier Karl Schranz was banned for receiving payment from ski product manufacturers, but full-time ice hockey players from Communist nations were allowed to compete. Galina Kulakova of the USSR won all three cross-country skiing events for women. Ard Schenk of the Netherlands took three golds in speed skating. In Alpine skiing, little-known Marie-Theres Nadig of Switzerland won both the downhill and the giant slalom. Norway's Magnar Solberg won the 20km race to become the first repeat winner in an individual biathlon event. Before the Sapporo Games, Japan had never won a gold medal in the Winter Olympics, but in the normal hill ski jumping event, three Japanese jumpers, led by Yukio Kasaya, swept the medals.
35 NOCs (Nations)
1,006 athletes (205 women, 801 men)
35 events
INNSBRUCK 1976
XII Olympic Winter Games
The 1976 Winter Olympics were awarded to the U.S. city of Denver, but the people of the state of Colorado voted to prohibit public funds from being used to support the Games. Innsbruck stepped in and hosted the Games only 12 years after its last Olympics. Rosi Mittermaier won two of the three Alpine skiing events and almost became the first woman to sweep all three events. But in the final race, Kathy Kreiner beat her by 12 hundredths of a second. The ice hockey team from the USSR won its fourth straight gold medal. A new figure skating event, ice dancing, was added to the programme and, like the pairs, it was dominated by Russian couples. The most memorable image of the Games was Franz Klammer flying wildly down the downhill course, barely keeping control, on his way to a gold medal.
37 NOCs (Nations)
1,123 athletes (231 women, 892 men)
37 events
LAKE PLACID 1980
XIII Olympic Winter Games
The 1980 Winter Games, held in Lake Placid, New York, were filled with impressive performances. The great Swedish skier, Ingemar Stenmark, won both the giant slalom and the slalom. Hanni Wenzel did the same in the women's races and her nation, Liechtenstein, became the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion. Ulrich Wehling won the Nordic combined for the third time and pairs skater Irina Rodnina did the same in her event. In the biathlon relay, Aleksandr Tikhonov earned his fourth straight gold medal. Nikolay Zimyatov earned three gold medals in cross-country skiing. In an unprecedented achievement, Eric Heiden of the United States won all five speed skating races, from 500m all the way up to 10,000m. Nonetheless, for the home crowd, the highlight was the unexpected victory of the US ice hockey team.
37 NOCs (Nations)
1,072 athletes (232 women, 840 men)
38 events
6,703 volunteers
SARAJEVO 1984
XIV Olympic Winter Games
In 1984, the Winter Games took place in a Socialist country for the first and only time. The people of Sarajevo gained high marks for their hospitality, and there was no indication of the tragic war that would engulf the city only a few years later. Skier Jure Franko brought joy to the host nation by earning Yugoslavia's first Winter Olympics medal : a silver in the giant slalom. Marja-Liisa Hamalainen won all three individual cross-country races for women. In speed skating, Gaetan Boucher and Karin Enke each won two gold medals. Biathlete Eirik Kvalfoss earned a complete set of medals. Twin brothers Phil and Steve Mahre took first and second place in the slalom. The highlight of the figure skating competitions was the free dance performance of Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean. Their interpretation of Ravel's Bolero earned across-the-board perfect scores for artistic impression.
49 NOCs (Nations)
1,272 athletes (274 women, 998 men)
39 events
10,450 volunteers
7,393 media (2,363 written press, 5,030 broadcasters)
CALGARY 1988
XV Olympic Winter Games
For the first time, the Winter Olympics were extended to 16 days, including three weekends. The Alpine events were expanded from three to five with the inclusion of the super giant slalom and the Alpine combined. Team events were added in Nordic combined and ski jumping. Jumper Matti Nykanen took advantage of this new programme to win three gold medals. The speed skating races were held indoors. Yvonne van Gennip surprised the favourites with three victories. Christa Rothenburger won the 1,000m. Seven months later she earned a silver medal in cycling to become the only athlete ever to win medals in the Winter and Summer Olympics in the same year. Figure skater Katarina Witt defended her Olympic title, while on the men's side Brian Boitano edged Brian Orser in an extremely close decision. Charismatic skier Alberto Tomba made his first Olympic appearance, winning both the giant slalom and the slalom.
57 NOCs (Nations)
1,423 athletes (301 women, 1,122 men)
46 events
9,498 volunteers
6,838 media (2,477 written press, 4,361 broadcasters)
ALBERTVILLE 1992
XVI Olympic Winter Games
The 1992 Albertville Olympic Games were the last Winter Games to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games. Only 18 of the 57 events were held in Albertville itself, while nearby resorts hosted the rest. Freestyle skiing and short-track speed skating made their debuts as medal disciplines, as did women's biathlon. Norwegian skiers won every cross country skiing race, as Bjorn Daehlie and Vegard Ulvang each won three gold medals. Speedskater Bonnie Blair won the 500m and 1,000m events, while Gunda Niemann took both of the longest races. At age 16, ski jumper Toni Nieminen became the youngest male winner of a Winter event. Alpine skier Petra Kronberger won both the combined event and the slalom. Ki-hoon Kim earned gold medals in both short track events.
64 NOCs (Nations)
1,801 athletes (488 women, 1,313 men)
57 events
8,647 volunteers
5,894 media (2,271 written press, 3,623 broadcasters)
LILLEHAMMER 1994
XVII Olympic Winter Games
In 1986 the IOC voted to change the schedule of the Olympic Games so that the Summer and Winter Games would be held in different years. To adjust to this new schedule, the Lillehammer Games were held in 1994, the only time that two Games have been staged two years apart. The 1994 Games were extremely well organised and the Norwegian host' natural love of winter sports added a refreshing purity of spirit. Local hero Johann Koss won three speed skating events and set a world record in every one. Vreni Schneider won a complete set of medals in alpine skiing and Manuela Di Centa earned medals in all five cross-country events. Myriam Bedard won both women's individual biathlon races. Gustav Weder and Donat Acklin became the first repeat winners of the two-man bobsled. Pairs skaters Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov returned to repeat their Olympic victory of 1988.
67 NOCs (Nations)
1,737 athletes (522 women, 1, 215 men)
61 events
9,054 volunteers
6,633 media (2,615 written press, 4,018 broadcasters)
NAGANO 1998
XVIII Olympic Winter Games
In 1998 the Winter Olympic Games returned to Japan after 26 years. Snowboarding debuted as an official discipline. Curling was returned to the Olympic Winter programme this time with a tournament for both men and women. For the first time, the men's ice hockey tournament was opened to all professionals and women's ice hockey was introduced to the Olympic programme. The inspired team from the Czech Republic scored a surprise victory. Bjorn Dahlie won three gold medals in Nordic skiing to become the first winter athlete to earn eight career olympic gold medals and twelve total medals. Tara Lipinski won the women's figure skating title to become, at 15, the youngest champion in an individual event in the history of the Winter Olympics. The spirit of the Games was exemplified by Alpine skier Hermann Maier. Maier survived a spectacular fall in the downhill, recovered and earned gold medals in both the super-G and the giant slalom.
72 NOCs (Nations)
2,176 athletes (787 women, 1,389 men)
68 events
32,000 volunteers
8,329 media (2,586 written press, 5,743 broadcasters)
SALT LAKE CITY 2002
XIX Olympic Winter Games
The Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games saw the expansion of the Olympic programme to 78 events, including the return of skeleton and the introduction of women's bobsleigh. Athletes from a record 18 nations earned gold medals. Canadian teams won both the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen earned gold medals in all four biathlon events and Samppa Lajunen in all three Nordic combined competitions. Alpine skier Janica Kostelic won three gold medals and one silver. Simon Ammann scored unexpected victories in both individual ski jump events. Speedskater Claudia Pechstein earned her third straight gold medal in the 5,000m race and also won at 3,000m. By taking the silver medal in singles luge, Georg Hackl became the first person in Olympic history to earn a medal in the same individual event five times in a row. Short track speedskater Yang Yang (A) became the first Chinese athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Games. Competing in the women's bobsleigh, Vonetta Flowers became the first black athlete to earn winter gold, while ice hockey player Jarome Iginla followed as the first black male winner.
77 National Olympic Committees (Nations)
2,399 athletes (886 women, 1,513 men)
78 events
22,000 volunteers
8,730 media (2,661 written press, 6,069 broadcasters)
TURIN 2006
XX Olympic Winter Games
A record 2,508 athletes from 80 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed at the Turin Winter Games, and 26 NOCs took home medals, another record.
Austrians dominated Alpine skiing, gaining 14 of the 30 medals awarded. South Korea displayed equal success in short-track speed skating (gaining 10 medals of the 24 awarded). On the women's side, Sun-Yu Jin earned three gold medals, and for the men Hyun-Soo Ahn won three golds and one bronze. The other triple-gold winner was Michael Greis in biathlon. Cindy Klassen earned medals in five of the six women's speed skating events. Another speed skater, Claudia Peschstein, won a gold and a silver to become the first athlete in her sport to earn nine career medals. With his victory in the Super G, Kjetil Andre Aamodt became the first Alpine skier to earn four medals in the same event and the first to win four gold medals in total. At the age of 39, skeleton specialist Duff Gibson became the oldest athlete in the history of the Olympic Winter Games to win a gold medal in an individual event. Andre Lange drove to victory in the two-man bobsleigh and then defended his Olympic championship in the four-man event. During the cross-country skiing team sprint, Sara Renner of Canada broke one of her poles. Norwegian head coach Bjornar Hakensmoen, seeing her struggle, gave her one of his (albeit 12 cm too long). This allowed Renner to help her team win silver medals, and dropped Norway out of the medals. Bjornar Hakensmoen's display of fair play clearly demonstrates true sportsmanship.
80 National Olympic Committees (Nations)
2,508 athletes (960 women, 1,548 men)
84 events
18 000 volunteers
2010
XXI Olympic Winter Games
February 12 – 28
Total 2 621 athletes (1 558 men и 1 063 women) from 82 countries competed for the medals in Vancouver.
86 sets of medals were played in 15 winter sports.
Belarus was represented by 49 athletes (38 men и 14 women). They participated in 6 sports.
Belarusian athletes won 3 medals. Alexei Grishin (Freestyle Skiiing) claimed gold, Sergei Novikov (Biathlon) won silver and Darya Domracheva took bronze medal.
Best results of the Olympiad were shown by Canadian team. It won 14 gold medals, more than any other host nation in the Olympic history and enough to put the hosts at the top of the medals table. German athletes shown second result with 30 medals overall. The USA claimed 37 medals and finished third.
Total 26 teams were success and won the Olympic medals.
In the non official gold medals event Belarus finished seventeenth. By total amount of won medals Belarus took eighteenth place.
The Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver were the fifth in the history of Belarus. Over it Winter Olympiads brought 9 medals overall to Belarus including 4 in Freestyle Skiiing, 4 in Biathlon and 1 in Speed Skating.
XXI Olympic Winter Games
Vancouver, Canada
February 12 – 28, 2010
Total 2 621 athletes (1 558 men ? 1 063 women) from 82 countries competed for the medals in Vancouver.
86 sets of medals were played in 15 winter sports.
Belarus was represented by 49 athletes (38 men ? 14 women). They participated in 6 sports.
Belarusian athletes won 3 medals. Alexei Grishin (Freestyle Skiiing) claimed gold, Sergei Novikov (Biathlon) won silver and Darya Domracheva took bronze medal.
Best results of the Olympiad were shown by Canadian team. It won 14 gold medals, more than any other host nation in the Olympic history and enough to put the hosts at the top of the medals table. German athletes shown second result with 30 medals overall. The USA claimed 37 medals and finished third.
Total 26 teams were success and won the Olympic medals.
