Winter Olympic Games

Winter Olympic Games

The Olympic flame at Turin during the 2006 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, bobsledding and ice hockey. The events at the Winter Games have evolved over the years. Cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have all been competed at every Winter Olympics since 1924. Other athletic events have been added as the Games have progressed. Some of these events, 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 have been demonstration sports but never incorporated officially as an Olympic sport.

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC), enters athletes to compete against athletes from around the world for gold, silver, and bronze medals. Fewer countries participate in the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics. The Winter Olympics officially began in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Ice skating and ice hockey had been events at the Summer Olympics prior to 1924. 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 continued until 1992. At that time they split from the Summer Olympics and have been held on alternating even years. The first Winter Olympics to be held on this new schedule were the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

The Winter Games have undergone significant changes since their inception. The rise of television as a medium for communication and advertising has greatly enhanced the profile of the Games. It has also created an income stream, in the form of the sale of broadcast rights, which has become very lucrative. This has also allowed outside interests, such as television companies and corporate sponsors, to influence the various aspects of the Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has had to address several scandals and the use of performance enhancing drugs by Winter Olympic athletes. The Winter Games have also been used by countries to demonstrate the superiority of their political system. Cold War tensions played out during the Winter Games and resulted in one boycott at the 1980 Games in Lake Placid.

The United States has hosted the Games four times, more than any other country. France has hosted the Games three times. Several countries including Italy, Japan, and Austria have hosted the Games twice. The next host city will be Vancouver, Canada in 2010. The Games will then be hosted by Sochi, Russia in 2014. This will be the first time that Russia has hosted a Winter Olympic Games.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early years 1.2 World War II 1.3 1948–1960 1.4 1964–1980 1.5 1984–1998 1.6 2002–present 1.7 The future 2 Commercialization 3 Controversy 3.1 Steroids 4 Politics 4.1 The Cold War 4.2 Boycott 5 Sports 5.1 Current sport disciplines 5.2 Discontinued sports or disciplines 5.3 Demonstration events 6 List of Winter Olympic Games 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links

History

Early years

The first international multi-sport event specifically for winter sports were the Nordic Games, first held in 1901 in Sweden. The Nordic Games were organized by General Viktor Gustaf Balck.^[1] The Nordic Games were held again in 1903, then in 1905, and then every four years there after 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] He 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 that could accommodate winter sports.^[4][5] The idea was again proposed 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 in 1914.^[4]

The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Games in Antwerp featured figure skating with the addition of ice hockey.^[4] At the IOC Congress held the following year, it was decided that the organizers of the 1924 Summer Olympics, France, would also host a separate "International Winter Sports Week", under the patronage of the IOC. This "week" (it actually lasted 11 days) of events in Chamonix proved to be a great success, attracting more than 200 athletes from 16 nations, competing in 16 events.^[6] Less than 15 of the athletes were women and they only competed in figure skating events.^[4] Finnish and Norwegian athletes dominated the events.^[7] In 1925 the IOC decided to create a separate Olympic Winter Games,^[4] and the 1924 events in Chamonix were retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics.^[4][8]

St. Moritz was appointed by the IOC to host the second Olympic Winter Games, held from February 11 to 19, 1928.^[9] Fluctuating weather conditions made these Olympics memorable. The opening ceremonies were held in a blizzard.^[10] In contrast, warm weather conditions plagued the Olympics for the remainder of the Games. Due to the weather the 10,000&nsbp;metre speed skating event had to be abandoned and officially cancelled with no winner.^[11] The 50 km cross-country event was officially contested but ended with a temperature of 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 created a sensation 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 came to North America for the first time. Fewer athletes participated than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid, United Sates, 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. There had been virtually no snow fall for the two months preceding the Games. It was not until mid-January that enough snow fell to hold all the events.^[13] The Games opened on February 4 and closed on February 15. Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title.^[14] Eddie Eagan, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920, won the gold in the men's bobsled event during these Games to become the first, and so far only, Olympian to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.^[14]

The Bavarian twin towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organize the 1936 edition of the Winter Games, held from February 6–16.^[15] 1936 marked the last year that the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same country. Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut in Germany, but skiing teachers were barred from entering, because they were considered to be professionals.^[16] This decision caused the Swiss and Austrian skiers to refuse to compete in the Olympics.^[17]

World War II

The Second World War interrupted the celebration of the Winter Olympics. The 1940 Winter Olympics had originally been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but was rescinded in 1938, because of the Japanese invasion of China in the Sino-Japanese War. Subsequently, St. Moritz, Switzerland, was chosen by the IOC to host the 1940 Winter Olympics, but three months later the IOC withdrew St. Moritz from the Games, because of quarrels with the Swiss organizing team. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the hosts of the previous Games, stepped in to host the Games again, but the Olympics were cancelled in their entirety in November 1939 following Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1.^[18] The 1944 Winter Olympics, scheduled to take place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, were cancelled in the Summer of 1941, due to the continuing World War.^[19]

1948–1960

When the Olympics returned in 1948, the IOC looked to the Swiss town of St. Moritz to host the Games. St. Moritz was untouched by the war because of Switzerland's neutrality. Since most of the venues were already constructed for the 1928 Games it was a logical choice to become the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice.^[20] Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland from January 30 to February 8. 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 claiming to be the legitimate U.S. Olympic hockey representative. The iconic Olympic flag presented at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, was stolen. Its replacement was also stolen. The Games were declared a success, due mainly to the fact that they were the most competitive in history. Ten countries won gold medals at these Games, more than any Games to that point.^[22]

The city of Oslo, Norway, was selected to host the 1952 Winter Olympics. The Olympic Flame was lit in the fireplace of the home of skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim.^[24] The torch relay was conducted by 94 participants and held entirely on skis.^[24][25] Bandy, a popular sport in the Nordic countries, was held as a demonstration sport though only Norway, Sweden, and Finland fielded teams.^[26]

After not being able to host the Games in 1944 due to the War, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, was selected to organize the 1956 Winter Olympics, held from January 26 to February 5. 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.^[27] These Games were the first to be televised, though no television rights would be sold until the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.^[28] The Cortina Games were used as an experiment on the feasibility of televising sporting events on such a large scale.^[28] These Games marked the debut of the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics. They made an immediate impact by winning more medals than any other nation.^[29] The IOC awarded the 1960 Olympics to Squaw Valley, United States. Since the village was underdeveloped,^[30] 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 jumping hill.^[31] The opening and closing ceremonies were produced by Walt Disney.^[32] These Games were the first to have a dedicated athlete's village, and the first to use a computer (courtesy of IBM) to tabulate results.^[32] The Games were held from February 18 to 28. The bobsled events were absent for the first and only time because the organizing committee found it too expensive. Women first took part in speed skating at these Games.^[32]

1964–1980

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.^[32] Soviet speed skating star Lidia Skoblikova made history by sweeping all four speed skating events. Her career total of six gold medals was the most by a Winter Olympics athlete until that time.^[32] Luge was first contested in these Olympics, although the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.^[33][34]

Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics was the first Olympic Games to be broadcast in color.^[35] Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy became only the second person to sweep all the men's alpine skiing events.^[36] The effects of television began to show at the Grenoble Games. The organizing committee sold the television rights for USD 2 million, a significant increase over the price of the broadcast rights for the Innsbruck Games, which totaled USD 936,667.^[37] Venues were spread over long distances requiring three athletes' villages at these Games. The organizers claimed this was required to accommodate technological advances. Critics disputed this and said layout was necessary to provide the best possible venues for television broadcasts at the expense of the athletes.^[38]

The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, Japan, 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.^[39] Eventually, only Austrian star Karl Schranz, who earned more than all the other skiers, was not allowed to compete.^[40] Francisco Ochoa became the only Spaniard to win a Winter Olympic gold medal, when he triumphed in the slalom.^[41] Canada did not send teams to the 1972 or 1976 ice hockey tournaments in protest of their inability to use players from professional leagues.^[42]

Originally, the 1976 Winter Games had been awarded to Denver, United States, but in 1972 the residents of Colorado expressed unwillingness to host the Games through a city plebiscite and a state referendum.^[43] Innsbruck, which still had the venues of 1964 in good shape, was chosen in 1973 to replace Denver.^[44] Two Olympic flames were lit because it was the second time the Austrian town had hosted the Games.^[44] The 1976 Games also featured the first combination bobsled and luge track in neighbouring Igls.^[41] The Soviet Union won its fourth straight ice hockey gold medal.^[44]

The Olympic Winter Games returned to Lake Placid, which had earlier hosted the 1932 Games. The threat of a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics also clouded these Olympics, due to the fact that much of the debate regarding this eventuality took place during the Winter Games.^[45] There were many sporting highlights. American Speed skater Eric Heiden set either an Olympic or world record in each of the 5 events he competed in.^[46] 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 team beat the favoured Soviets and went on to win the gold medal.^[47]

1984–1998

The cities of Sapporo, Japan, and Gotheburg, Sweden, were front-runners to host the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was therefore a surprise when Sarajevo, Yugoslavia was chosen to host the Games.^[48] They were held without a hitch and displayed no indication of the war that would soon engulf the country.^[49] The Yugoslavians also won their first Olympic medal when alpine skier Jure Franko won a silver medal in the giant slalom.^[49] Another sporting highlight was the free dance performance of British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. Their performance to Ravel's Bolero earned the pair perfect scores in artistic impression from all the judges, and the gold medal.^[49] The Republic of China boycotted the 1980 Olympics due to a conflict with China over the use of the name "Republic of China". They returned to the 1984 Games after an agreement was reached that the athletes would compete under the new name "Chinese Taipei", and use a special flag and national anthem.^[50]

In 1988 the Canadian city of Calgary, hosted the first Winter Olympics to span 16 days.^[51] 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 work records, in speed skating, beating the skaters from the favoured East German team in every race.^[52] Her total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all the events in his sport.^[51] Alberto Tomba, an Italian skier made his Olympic debut at these Games winning both the Giant Slalom and Slalom.^[53] East German Christa Rothenburger won the women's 1000 metre speed skating event. Seven months later, she would earn a silver in track cycling at the Summer Games in Seoul.^[51] She became the first and only athlete to win medals in both a Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year.^[51] Not all athletes making the headlines were winning medals: British ski jumper Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards became famous for his personality rather than his athletic prowess.^[54] These Games also debuted Jamaica's first ever bobsled team, who received plenty of attention, including being the subject of the film Cool Runnings.^[55]

The 1992 Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games.^[56] They were held in the French Savoie region. The town of Albertville was the host city though it only hosted 18 events. The rest of the events were spread out over the Savoie.^[56] 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.^[57] Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1964 Games, and former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debut.^[57] Most of 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.^[57] At 16 years old, Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion.^[58] New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger became the first Winter Olympic medallist from the southern hemisphere when she won a silver medal in the women's slalom.^[58]

In 1986, the IOC voted to separate the Summer and Winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years starting in 1994. The Lillehammer Games in 1994 were the first Winter Olympics to be held without the Summer Games in the same year.^[59] After the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debut in Lillehammer, Norway.^[60][61] A lot of media attention, went to the women's figure skating competition, as American skater Nancy Kerrigan had been injured on January 6 in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding.^[62] Both skaters competed in the Games, but neither of them won the gold medal, which went to Oksana Baiul, who won Ukraine's first Olympic title.^[63][64]

The 1998 Winter Olympics was the first Games to host more than 2,000 athletes.^[65] The Games were held in the Japanese city of Nagano. The men's ice hockey tournament was open to all players for the first time, making Canada and the United States favourites for the gold with their many NHL professionals.^[65] However, neither nation won any medals, as the Czech Republic prevailed to win the gold.^[65] Women's ice hockey made its debut at these Games. The United States won the gold medal.^[66] 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.^[65] Austrian Hermann Maier survived a crash during the downhill competition and returned to win gold in the super-G and the giant slalom^[65] A wave of new world records were set in speed skating due to the use of the clap skate.^[67]

2002–present

The 19th Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, United States. German Georg Hackl won a silver in the singles luge, by doing this he became the first athlete in Olympic history to medal in the same individual event in five consecutive Olympics.^[68] Canada achieved an unprecedented double by winning both the men's and women's Ice Hockey gold medals.^[68] Canada 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.^[69] The IOC decided to award both pairs the gold medal in a second medal ceremony held later in the Games.^[70] Australian Steven Bradbury became the first gold medallist from the Southern Hemisphere when he won the 1,000 metre short-track speed skating event.^[71]

The Italian city of Turin (Torino in Italian) hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. It was the second time that Italy held the Winter Olympic Games, following Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956. 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.^[72] 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. Norway finished fourth.^[72][73] Duff Gibson of Canada became the oldest athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold medal in an individual event. He won the skeleton event at 39 years of age.^[74]

The future

In a 2003 IOC vote, the 2010 Winter Olympics were awarded to Vancouver, thus allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics as well as being the first for the province of British Columbia. Vancouver will be the largest city to host a Winter Olympics, with a population of more than 2.5 million people in the greater Vancouver metropolitan area.^[75] Vancouver is a low-altitude, seaport city with a relatively mild oceanic climate. The competition venues will be located at buildings in the Vancouver metropolitan area, with the alpine and sliding events to be held in and around Whistler.^[76]

The decision for the location of the 2014 Winter Olympics was made on 4 July 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 ever to host the Winter Games.^[77] 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.^[77]

Commercialization

The power and influence of the television lobby has expanded as the cost of the broadcast rights for each successive Games has increased. At the 1998 Nagano Games CBS paid USD 375 million, whereas the 2006 Turin Games NBC paid USD 613 million for the broadcast rights.^[78] Their influence has been used to determined, the Olympic programme by dictating when event finals were held so that they would appear in prime time for television audiences.^[79] 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.^[80] The 1960 Winter Olympics marked the beginning of corporate sponsorship of the Games. Brundage saw this as an unwelcome development.^[80] He resisted any efforts to commercialize the Games, but as the decade of the 1960s continued the revenue generated by corporate sponsorship swelled.^[81] 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.^[82] 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 also slow to control how sponsorship deals would be structured.^[80] When Brundage retired, the IOC had USD 2 million in assets, eight years later the IOC coffers had swelled to USD 45 million.^[80] 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.^[80]

In 1986, the IOC decided to stagger the Summer and Winter Games on separate years. Instead of holding both Games in the same calendar year, it was decided to alternate them every two years. Both Games would still be held on four-year cycles. The rationale for this change was in order to give more prominence to the Winter Olympic Games.^[83] It was decided that 1992 would be the last year to have both a Winter and Summer Olympic Games.^[59]

There were two groups pushing for this change. One was the television lobby, who had applied pressure to reschedule the Games due to the difficulty in raising advertising revenue for two Games in the same year.^[83] Television studios would now be able to emphasize story-lines and generate interest for each separate Games, thereby maximizing viewership and consequently profit.^[84] 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 USD 227 million, exposed 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. They determined that by staggering the Games, corporations would be more likely to sponsor individual Olympic Games thereby maximizing revenue potential. The IOC also sought to directly organize sponsorship contracts so that they had more control over the Olympic "brand".^[85] The first Winter Olympics to be hosted in this new format was the 1994 Games in Lillehammer.^[56]

Controversy

The Winter Olympics have not been immune to improprieties. Two of the more recent controversies occurred around the 2002 Winter Olympics. The first happened prior to the Games. After Salt Lake City had been awarded the right to host the 2002 Games it was discovered that the organizers had engaged in an elaborate scheme to bribe IOC officials in order to win favour and ultimately the bid to host the Games. Gifts were given to IOC officials. 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 USD $2,000. Samaranch defended the gift as inconsequential since as president he was a non-voting member.^[86] He also indicated that the rifles would go on display at the Olympic museum.^[87] The subsequent investigation resulted in the expulsion of ten members of the IOC and the sanctioning of another ten. ^[88] It also uncovered irregularities in every bid process for every Games (both summer and winter) since 1988.^[89] It was discovered, for example, that the gifts received by IOC members from the committee for the Nagano Games were described simply as astronomical.^[90] Although nothing strictly illegal had been done, the fear was that corporate sponsors would lose faith in the integrity of the IOC, and that the Olympic brand would be tarnished to such an extent that advertisers would begin to pull their support.^[91] Stricter rules were adopted for future bids and ceilings were put into place as to how much IOC members could accept from bid cities. Additionally new term and age limits were put into place for IOC membership, and fifteen former Olympic athletes were added to the committee.^[92][93]

Steroids

In 1967 the IOC began enacting drug testing protocols. They started randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics.^[94] 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.^[95][96] During the 1970s, testing out of competition was escalated and found to be a useful deterrent to athletes.^[97]. The problem with testing during this time was a lack of standardization of test procedures. This undermined the credibility of the test process. It was not until the late 1980s that international sporting federations, of which the IOC was a member, began to coordinate efforts to standardize the entire drug testing process.^[98] The IOC decided to take a leadership role in the fight against steroids when they established an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 1999.^[99][100] 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.^[101] 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.^[101][102] 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.^[101] 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.^[101]

Politics

The Cold War

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 advantages of their respective political systems.^[103] 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.^[104] Beyond the award would come monetary compensation anywhere from USD 4,000–8,000 depending on the prestige of the sport. A world record was worth USD 1,500.^[105] The United States responded to the propaganda pressure of the Soviet Union. In 1978, the U.S. Congress passed legislation completely reorganizing the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). This sort of political intrusion in a sports federation was unheard of in a democratic country. It was a direct response to the increasing international profile that television gave to the Olympic Games.^[106] The USOC also pays its athletes for Olympic medals won; USD 25,000 for gold, USD 15,000 for silver and USD 10,000 for bronze. Multiple medals garner multiple amounts of money.^[107]

The Cold War also created tensions among countries allied to the two super powers. A particularly thorny issue for the IOC to navigate was the question of how to recognize both East and West Germany. Germany was not allowed to compete at the 1948 Winter Olympics.^[108] In 1950, the IOC recognized the West German Olympic Committee.^[109] It was a West German team who 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 this offer.^[110] In 1955 the Soviet Union recognized East Germany as a sovereign state, thereby giving more credibility to the East German's campaign to become an independent participant at the Olympics. The IOC agreed to provisionally accept the East Germany National Olympic Committee with the condition that they 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.^[111] 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.^[112] The uneasy compromise of a unified team held until the Grenoble Games of 1968 when the IOC officially split both teams and threatened to reject the host city bids of any country that refused entry visas to East German athletes.^[113]

Boycott

While their Summer counterpart has experienced several boycotts, the Winter Games have had only one national team boycott. Taiwan decided to boycott the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid. The reason for the boycott was due to the fact 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.^[114] As part of their decision, the IOC demanded that Taiwan cease to call itself the "Republic of China".^[115] Instead the IOC renamed it Chinese Taipei and forced it to adopt a different flag and national anthem. The IOC initially attempted to have the countries compete together, but this proved to be unacceptable.^[116] Taiwan would not accept the IOC's demand 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.^[117]

Sports

Chapter 1, article 6 of the 2007 edition of the Olympic Charter defines winter sports as "sports which are practised on snow or ice."^[118] Through the years, the number of sports and events conducted at the Winter Olympic Games has increased. Demonstration sports, in which contests were held but for which no medals were awarded, have also taken place.

Current sport disciplines

Sport	Years	# of events	Medal events scheduled for 2010[119]
Alpine skiing	Since 1936	10	Men's and women's downhill, super giant slalom, giant slalom, slalom and Alpine combined.[120]
Biathlon	Since 1960	10	The Sprint (men: 10 km; women: 7.5 km), the individual (men: 20 km; women: 15 km), the pursuit (men: 12.5 km; women: 10 km), the relay (4x7.5 km), and the mass start (men: 15 km; women: 12.5 km).[121]
Bobsled	1924–1956 1964–present	3	Four-man race, two-man race and two-woman race.[122]
Cross-country skiing	Since 1924	12	Men's sprint, team sprint, 30 km pursuit, 15 km, 50 km and 4x10 km relay; women's sprint, team sprint, 15 km pursuit, 10 km, 30 km (women) and 4x5 km relay.[123]
Curling	1924 1998–present	2	Men's and women's tournaments.[124]
Figure skating	Since 1924[Note 1]	4	Men's and women's singles; pairs; and ice dancing.[125]
Freestyle skiing	Since 1992	6	Men's and women's moguls, aerials and skicross.[126]
Ice hockey	Since 1924[Note 2]	2	Men's and women's tournaments.[127]
Luge	Since 1964	3	Men's and women's singles, men's doubles.[128]
Nordic combined	Since 1924	3	Men's 10 km individual normal hill, 10 km individual large hill and team.[129]
Short track speed skating	Since 1992	8	Men's and women's 500 metres, 1000 metres, 1500 metres; women's 3000 metre relay; and men's 5000 metre relay.[130]
Skeleton	1924; 1948 Since 2002	2	Men's and women's events.[131]
Ski jumping	Since 1924	3	Men's individual large hill, individual small hill and team large hill.[132]
Snowboarding	Since 1998	6	Men's and women's parallel giant slalom, half-pipe and snowboard cross.[133]
Speed skating	Since 1924	12	Men's and women's 500 metres, 1000 metres, 1500 metres, 5000 metres and team pursuit; women's 3000 metres; men's 10000 metres.[134]

^ 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.

Discontinued sports or disciplines

• 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.^[135]
• The special figures figure skating event was only contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics.^[136]

Demonstration events

• Bandy, a sport briefly described as ice hockey with a ball, very popular in the Nordic countries, was demonstrated at the Oslo Games.^[137]
• Ice stock sport, a German variant to curling, was demonstrated in 1936 in Germany and in 1964 in Austria.^[16]
• The so-called 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.^[137]
• Skijöring, skiing behind dogs, was a demonstration sport in St. Moritz in 1928.^[137]
• Sled-dog racing contests were displayed at Lake Placid in 1932.^[137]
• Speed skiing demonstrated in Albertville at the 1992 Winter Olympics.^[138]
• 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.^[139]

List of Winter Olympic Games

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.

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	[6]
II	1928	St. Moritz, Switzerland	11–19 February	25	464	438	26	4	14	[12]
III	1932	Lake Placid, United States	4–15 February	17	252	231	21	4	14	[14]
IV	1936	Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany	6–16 February	28	646	566	80	4	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	[140]
VI	1952	Oslo, Norway	14–25 February	30	694	585	109	4	22	[24]
VII	1956	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	26 January – 5 February	32	821	687	134	4	24	[29]
VIII	1960	Squaw Valley, United States	18–28 February	30	665	521	144	4	27	[141]
IX	1964	Innsbruck, Austria	29 January – 9 February	36	1091	892	199	6	34	[33]
X	1968	Grenoble, France	6–18 February	37	1158	947	211	6	35	[36]
XI	1972	Sapporo, Japan	3–13 February	35	1006	801	205	6	35	[142]
XII	1976	Innsbruck, Austria	4–15 February	37	1123	892	231	6	37	[44]
XIII	1980	Lake Placid, United States	13–24 February	37	1072	840	232	6	38	[143]
XIV	1984	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia	8–19 February	49	1272	998	274	6	39	[49]
XV	1988	Calgary, Canada	13–28 February	57	1423	1122	301	6	46	[51]
XVI	1992	Albertville, France	8–23 February	64	1801	1313	488	7	57	[56]
XVII	1994	Lillehammer, Norway	12–27 February	67	1737	1215	522	6	61	[59]
XVIII	1998	Nagano, Japan	7–22 February	72	2176	1389	787	7	68	[65]
XIX	2002	Salt Lake City, United States	8–24 February	77	2399	1513	886	7	78	[68]
XX	2006	Turin, Italy	10–26 February	80	2508	1548	960	7	84	[72]
XXI	2010	Vancouver, Canada	12–28 February	future event
XXII	2014	Sochi, Russia	7–23 February	future event
XXIII	2018	TBD (2011)	TBD	future event
XXIV	2022	TBD (2015)	TBD	future event

See also

• List of participating nations at the Winter Olympic Games
• Olympic Games ceremony
• Olympic Games scandals
• Paralympic Games

Notes

References

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• Cashmore, Ernest (2003). Sports culture. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18169-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=_hI9mH25E7gC&pg=PA369&dq=2002+winter+olympics+bid+scandal&lr=&ei=mbrHSa_RKI6WkQTk662EBQ#PPA370,M1. Retrieved on 2009-03-23. 
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External links

• Olympic.org IOC official website
• Olympic.org - IOC overview of the Olympic Games

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