-
Charmonix 1924,France
Chamonix 1924The first Winter Olympic Games were actually called “The International Winter Sports Week” and went on for 11 days in the French Alps, 60 miles northeast of Grenoble.
American speed skater Charles Jewtraw won the first event of the Games with an upset in the 500 meters. But the most remarkable U.S. medal was the bronze won by Anders Haugen in the ski jump. Due to a scoring error at the time he didn't receive it until 1974 – when he was 83 years old. -
Period: to
Chronology of Winter Olympic Games
-
St.Moritz,Switzerland
The Games held in Switzerland witnessed the introduction of a new event 'Skeleton' and at the same time 10,000 m speed skating was cancelled owing to the condition of the ice.
These Winter Games were the first to be held in a different nation from the Summer Games of the same year. They also marked the participation of Japanese athletes for the first time. -
Lake Placid,the USA
The Winter Games are hosted in North America for the first time
For the first time the flag-bearer was a woman from a small, all female team of just four figure skaters from Great Britain, Mollie Phillips, who had the honour of carrying the British flag into the stadium at the Opening ceremony. -
Garmish-Partenkirchen,Germany
Garmish PartenkirchenThe Germans saw these Winter Games as a prelude to the Summer Games in Berlin. An attempt by German immigrants in the United States for a national boycott failed. Great Britain's hockey team toppled the Canadian hold on gold. Sonja Henie (Norway) won her third consecutive gold medal, making her the most successful individual woman figure skater. -
St. Moritz,Switzerland
After a 12-year break, the Olympic Winter Games take place for the first time since World War II.
The discipline of skeleton was returned to the programme. It would not reappear again until 54 years later at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. -
Oslo,Norway
Germany and Japan were allowed to compete for the first time since World War II. The Oslo Games marked the first time the Olympics were held in a Scandinavian country. Andrea Mead (United States) was victorious in the slalom and giant slalom, becoming the first U.S. athlete to win two golds in a Winter Olympics. -
Cortina D'Ampezzo,Italy
An Italian television station provided the first Winter Olympic live coverage. "Eurovision" allowed parts of central Europe to watch competition. The United States swept the men's figure skating competition. Gold went to Hayes Alan Jenkins, silver to Ronald Robertson and bronze to David Jenkins, younger brother of Hayes. The new Soviet hockey team upset Canada in the finals and took the gold undefeated. -
Squaw Walley,the USA
he opening and closing ceremonies were stage-managed by Walt Disney, chairman of the Olympic Pageantry Committee. South Africa was represented for the first and last time until 1994. Figure skating events moved indoors. The U.S. hockey team defeated Canada and captured gold for the first time. -
Innsbruk,Austria
Computers helped officials time and judge events. Mild weather prompted the Austrian military to truck in snow. Luge made its Olympic debut. Ortun Enderlein (Germany) won gold in the first women's Olympic luge event. -
Grenoble,France
For the first time there were two separate German teams competing in an Olympics. Peggy Fleming (United States) took home the gold in women's figure skating. U.S. speed skaters Mary Meyers, Dianne Holum and Jennifer Fish triple-tied for silver in the 500-meter event. Jean-Claude Killy (France), the host coun-try's favorite son, won gold medals in all three Alpine skiing events. The Games were dubbed the "Killympics." -
Sapporo,Japan
Prior to these games, Japan had never won a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. These Games are the last where a skier won the gold medal using all-wooden skis. Since this time, top-level cross-country skiiers use skis made mostly of fibreglass synthetics. -
Innsbruk,Austria
The most memorable image of the Games was local hero Franz Klammer flying wildly down the downhill course, barely in control, on his way to a gold medal. Rosi Mittermaier of West Germany won two of the three Alpine skiing events and almost became the first woman to win all three. But in the final race, Canada’s Kathy Kreiner beat her by 12 hundredths of a second. -
Lake Placid,the USA
Lake hosted the Winter Olympic Games the second time.37 nations participated with 1072 athletes present. Lake Placid 1980 marked the first use of artificial snow in Olympic competition. Although they did not get any medals, the People's Republic of China entered the Olympics Games for the first time after the IOC agreed to designate the Republic of China "Chinese Taipei". -
Sarayevo,Yugoslavia
For the first and only time so far, the Winter Olympic Games took place in a socialist country. 49 nations participated in the XIV Winter Olympic Games.
Historic performer Marja-Liisa Kirvesmiemi-Hämäläinen from Finland became the only woman to have competed in six editions of the Olympic Winter Games. She dominated all three women’s cross country skiing events, winning by at least 10 seconds each time. She also won a bronze medal in the 4 x 7.5km relay. -
Calgary,Canada
Canada hosts the Olympic Winter Games for the first time.
For the first time the super giant slalom was on the programme and the Nordic combined also returned to the programme (absent since 1948).
Curling appeared on the programme as a demonstration sport. -
Albertville,France
nd of the line
The 1992 Albertville Olympic Games were the last Winter Games to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games.
Freestyle skiing, short-track speed skating and women’s biathlon debuted as official disciplines. Croatia and Slovenia participated for the first time as independent nations. -
Lillehammer,Norway
The first and only times the Olympic Winter Games were staged two years apart. -
Nagano,Japan
Nagano
Snowboarding debuted as an official discipline. Curling 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. -
Salt Lake City,the USA
The judges put to use technology in the games as they used instant video replay in figure skating. China and Australia also made history at the games as they earned their first gold medals in Winter Olympics.
Russian figure skating pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the gold over Canadian pair.But a French judge said that she had pressured to favor the Russian pair.
This lead to a a change in the scoring system and both countries werw given a gold medal. -
Turin,Italy
Turin was the first Italian city to host the Olympics since the 1960 Rome games, warmly greeted 2,508 athletes who competed in 84 events in seven sports. The games were kicked off by a magnificent opening ceremony at the reconstructed Stadio Olimpico, which was originally built for the 1934 FIFA World Cup. Italian Olympic hero Stefania Belmondo, a ten-time medalist in cross-country skiing, lit the Olympic torch. -
Vancouver,Canada
The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games events in Vancouver included curling, figure skating, ice hockey, sledge hockey, short-track speed skating and wheelchair curling.
Speed skating took place in Richmond, while the snowboard and freestyle skiing events were hosted at Cypress Mountain in the District of West Vancouver. The Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony, were staged indoors at BC Place in Vancouver -
Sochi,Russia
The International Olympic committee has granted the XXII Winter Olympic Games to Sochi, Russia. The Russian city won votes against Salzburg, Austria and PyeongChang, Republic of Korea.
