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I Winter Olympic Games
Chamonix, France In 1924 in Chamonix , France, a Winter Sports Week took place . This event was a great success, attracting 10,000 spectators, and was retrospectively named the First Olympic Winter Games.
The Opening Ceremony was very bright. During the parade of the delegations during the Opening Ceremony, many athletes marched with their equipment on their shoulder (skis, hockey sticks, etc.) -
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Winter Olympic Games
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II Winter Olympic Games
St. Moritz, Switzerland
These Winter Games were the first to be held in a different place from the Summer Games of the same year. They also marked the participation of Japanese athletes for the first time. A new event was contested: the skeleton.
Aged just 15, Sonja Henie of Norway caused a sensation by winning women’s figure skating. -
III Winter Olympic Games
Lake Placid, USA
Mr Godfrey Dewey, President of the Organizing Committee, donated a plot of land belonging to his family for the construction of the bobsleigh track.
Hockey was played in a covered hall. -
IV Winter Olympic Games
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
The Gameswere opened by Chancellor Adolf Hitler. But people remember them not because of that fact.
The games were unforgettable because a symbolic fire was lit during the Olympic Winter Games for the first time.
Fireworks were set off at the Closing Ceremony.
Alpine skiing, (downhill and slalom) was added to the programme, with events for both men and women. -
V Winter Olympic Games
St. Moritz, Switzerland
After a 12-year break, caused by World War II, these Games were named the "Games of Renewal".
28 countries took part in the Games. 669 athletes came to St. Moritz to compete in 22 sport events. -
VI Winter Olympic Games
Oslo, Norway
Computers were used for the first time in figure skating, to calculate the scores awarded by the different judges for the compulsory and free programmes.
The Games were opened by Princess Ragnhild.
For the first time New Zealand & Portugal sent their delegations to Winter Olympic Games.
At the Opening Ceremony, the members of the British delegation wore a black armband to pay tribute to King George VI, who had died some days earlier. -
VII Winter Olympic Games
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
The VII Games were special for our country because it was the first Winter Olympiad for our team. We are proud that our athletes won more medals than any other national team! Pavel Kolchin, Lyubov Baranova, Yevgeny Grishin were our first champions of Winter Olympic Games. -
VIII Winter Olympic Games
Squaw Valley, California, USA
We were really surprised to learn that in 1955 the resort did not even exist ! A. Cushing who put forward Squaw Valley's bid to the International Olympic Committee, was the only
inhabitant and homeowner in the whole place. But in 5 years Squaw Valley was ready to host Winter Games which gave birth to "instant replay", metal skies ,men's biathlon and women's speed skating. -
IX Winter Olympic Games
Innsbruck, Austria
There was a serious problem during the Games because there was no snow. The Austrian army had to transport blocks of snow from the mountins down to the luge and bobsleigh tracks.
A very beautiful tradition appeared in Innsbruck. For the first time in the Winter Games, the Flame was lit in Olympia. Since then, it has always been lit there. -
X Winter Olympic Games
Grenoble, France
The organisers used a non-official mascot called "Schuss" portrayed as a little cartoon-like character on skis.
The Grenoble Games were the first Winter Olympic Games to be broadcast in colour.
In 1967, the engineers responsible for the speed skating track discovered that using frozen demineralised water produced a faster track than tap water. -
XI Winter Olympic Games
Sapporo, Japan
These were the first Olympic Winter Games organised in Asia.
Japan won their first medal in Winter Olympics.
But the heroine of the Games was a cross country skier Galina Kulakova from the USSR, who won the 5km and 10km events and a team relay. -
XII Winter Olympic Games
Innsbruck, Austria -
XIII Winter Olympic Games
Lake Placid, USA
This was the second time the Games were held in Lake Placid, the first being in 1932.
Many snow machines were used to ensure that the competitions took place in the best possible conditions.
In the biathlon relay, Aleksander Tikhonov from the USSR earned his fourth straight gold medal, while his compatriot Nikolay Zimyatov earned three gold medals in cross country skiing. -
XIV Winter Olympic Games
Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
These were the first Games under the presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch.
Marja-Liisa Kirvesmiemi-Hämäläinen from Finland became the only woman to have competed in six Olympic Winter Games. She dominated all three women’s cross country skiing events. -
XV Winter Olympic Games
Calgary, Canada
Canada hosted the Olympic Winter Games for the first time.
The number of events increased from 39 in Sarajevo to 46 in Calgary.
Curling appeared on the programme as a demonstration sport.
It' interesting that these were the first Smoke-Free Games. -
XVI Winter Olympic Games
Albertville, France
The former Soviet republics formed the so-called Unified Team (EUN).
Lyubov Egorova a skier from the Russian Federation won 3 gold medals & became one of the best during the Games.
Women competed in biathlon for the first time. -
XVII Winter Olympic Games
Lillehammer, Norway
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. So, the Lillehammer Games were held in 1994.
Based on respect for the environment, these Games were baptised the "White-Green Games" by President Samaranch. -
XVIII Winter Olympic Games
Nagano, Japan
The Olympic Winter Games returned to Japan after 26 years.
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.
Official staff uniforms were made from fully recyclable materials. -
XIX Winter Olympic Games
Salt Lake City, USA
The Games were opened by President G. Bush.
The Games saw the expansion of the Olympic programme to 78 events. Athletes from 18 countries earned gold medals, including first-ever golds for China and Australia. -
XX Winter Olympic Games
Turin, Italy
With a population of more than 900,000, Turin became the largest city ever to host the Olympic Winter Games. More than 2,000 athletes from 80 countries competed and 26 NOCs won medals.
The Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games witnessed very serious anti-doping controls. 1,219 tests were administered. -
XXI Winter Olympic Games
Vancouver, Canada
The Games lasted 17 days.
2566 athletes from 82 countries came to Canada to take part in the XXI Winter Games.
Besides 10,000 media representatives worked during the Games.
3 billion people all over the world watched the Games on TV. -
XXII Winter Olimpic Games
Sochi, Russia
These Games will be the first Winter Olympic Games held in Russia.
We are sure that they'll be the most beautiful, the most memorable, the most spectacular games ever!
