Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics

History Of the Winter Olympics

How did the Olympics Begin?

• The modern Olympic Games were made to revive the ancient Olympic Games, when cities-states from Ancient Greece all gathered to compete against each other in the city of Olympia (hence the name).

In Olympics, teams are formed by athletes from a same country who compete in different sports. The objective of the modern Olympic Games was that of creating a competition that would bring all countries of the world together.

The first Olympic Games were celebrated in Athens, capital of Greece, during the summer of 1896. Just like the ancient games, the following editions were celebrated every 4 years: Athens 1896, Paris 1900, San Luis 1904, London 1908, Stockholm 1912, Berlin 1916, Antwerp 1920, …

• At the Olympics in Paris, 1924, the problem of celebrating the games in Summer was made clear: sports that were practiced on ice or snow could not be played.

• This is how the idea arose: celebrating a “International Winter Sports week”, held in early 1924 in the French town of Chamonix, near the Alps.

First Ever Winter Olympics...

On January 25, 1924, the first Winter Olympics began in the Alpine town of Chamonix (France). The various events were held at the foot of Mont Blanc and had the participation of 16 countries and 258 athletes.

• After 100 years of history, the competition has gone through a great deal of changes in its organization.

• Some sports have remained the same throughout the 23 editions, such as speed skating, ski jumping or curling, one of the most curious disciplines in the Winter Olympics that counts with millions of supporters in the Nordic Countries.

New WO Sports

• However, new sports have also appeared, like snowboard, ski with acrobatics or “luge” sledding, where the athlete slides through an ice track reaching speeds of up to 87 mph.

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