When the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) was established in 1894, one of the
sports proposed for the programme was
ice
skating. However, no skating was conducted at the Olympics until the
1908 Summer Olympics in
London, which
featured four
figure skating events.
Ulrich Salchow (10-fold World champion) and
Madge
Syers (the first competitive woman figure skater) won the individual titles
with ease.
Three years later, Italian count
Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed to the IOC to stage a week with winter
sports as part of the
1912 Summer Olympics in
Stockholm.
The organisers opposed this idea, wanting to promote the
Nordic
Games, a winter sports competition held every four years between competitors
from the Nordic
countries. However, this same 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.
The first Olympics after the war, the
1920 Games in
Antwerp again featured figure skating, while ice hockey made its Olympic
debut. At the IOC Congress held the next year, it was decided that the
organisers of the next Olympics (France) would also host a separate "International
Winter Sports Week", under patronage of the IOC. This week proved a great
success, and in 1925 the IOC decided to create separate Winter Olympic Games,
not connected to the Summer Olympics. The 1924 events were retroactively
designated as the first Winter Olympics at the 1926 IOC Session.
1924 Winter Olympics
The French town of
Chamonix in
the
Haute-Savoie was the host of the first Olympic Winter Games. From
January 25
to February
5, more than 200 athletes from 16 nations competed in 16 events. The first
event on the programme was the 500 m speed skating, which was won by American
Charlie Jewtraw, thereby becoming the first Winter Olympic champion.
Finnish and Norwegian athletes dominated the events. Finnish speed skater
Clas
Thunberg won three gold medals, while Norwegian
Thorleif Haugruby was the great skater. also won three golds. He won both
cross-country skiing events, as well as the
Nordic combined. Furthermore he placed third in the
ski
jumping contest, but 50 years later it was discovered that a counting error
had been made and that the bronze should have been awarded to American
Anders Haugen, who received it in a special ceremony at age 83.
1928 Winter Olympics
St.
Moritz was appointed by the Swiss organisers to host the second Olympic
Winter Games, held from
February
11 to
February 19 in 1928.
Curling and
military patrol
were no longer medal sports (although the latter was demonstrated) while
skeleton made its first Olympic appearance. The American Heaton brothers won
first and second place.
Clas Thunberg won two more Olympic gold medals, bringing his total to five.
Johan Grøttumsbråten also won two golds, winning the 18 km cross-country and
the Nordic combined events.
Gillis Grafström won his third consecutive figure skating title. His female
counterpart was Norwegian
Sonja
Henie, only 15 years old at the time. It would turn out this was also the
first of three titles for her.
Warm weather conditions plagued the Olympics on the fourth day. The 10000 m
speed skating was abandoned in the 5th pair, and the 50 km cross-country ended
with a temperature of 25 °F (−4 °C), forcing a third of the field to abandon
competition.
1932 Winter Olympics
For the first time, the Winter Olympics came to North America. However, fewer
athletes participated than in 1928, as the journey to
Lake Placid,
New York
was a long and expensive one for most competitors, and there was little money
for sports in the midst of the
Great Depression. On top of that, these games too were marred by warm
weather, which eventually made it necessary to extend them for two more days.
The Games opened on
February 4
and closed on
February
15.
The two-man bobsleigh event was scheduled for the first time, while the speed
skating events were conducted in mass start format, as was common in North
America. This gave the American and Canadian skaters an advantage from which
they benefited by winning all but two of the available skating medals. (Bernt
Evensen from
Norway won silver on the 500 m., and his fellow countryman
Ivar Ballangrud did the same on the 10000 m.)
Jack Shea
and
Irving Jaffee shared the gold between them, winning two gold medals each.
There were three demonstration sports in Lake Placid:
sled dog racing, curling and women's speed skating.
Swedish figure skater Gillis Grafström didn't manage to win his fourth
straight Olympic gold, being defeated by Austria's
Karl
Schäfer. Sonja Henie (figure skating) and
Billy
Fiske (bobsleigh) successfully defended their titles. One of the members of
Fiske's gold medal-winning sled was
Eddie
Eagan, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920.
As of 2004,
he is the only Olympian to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter
Olympics.
1936 Winter Olympics
The Bavarian
twin towns of
Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organise the 1936 edition of the Winter
Games, held from
February 6
to 16.
Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut in Germany, but skiing teachers were barred
from entering, as they were considered to be professionals. This decision caused
the Swiss and Austrian skiers to boycott the Olympics. The cross-country relay
was also held for the first time, while the military patrol and
ice stock sport were demonstration sports.
Norwegian
Ivar Ballangrud dominated the speed skating events, winning three of them,
and placing second in the fourth. His compatriot, Sonja Henie won her third
straight title, and turned professional after the Games. Another Norwegian, Birger
Ruud attempted a rare double, competing in both ski jumping and alpine
skiing. He led the alpine combined event after the downhill, but dropped to
fourth place in the slalom. He did win the ski jumping event, held one week
later.
An upset occurred in the ice hockey tournament, where
Canada was
defeated for the first time, and lost the gold medal to Great Britain. However,
most of the British players were born in, or lived in, Canada.
World War II
The Second World War interrupted the celebration of the Winter Olympics. The
1940 Winter Olympics had originally been awarded to
Japan, and were
supposed to be held in
Sapporo, but
Japan had to give the Games back in 1938, because of the Japanese invasion of
China in the
Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
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
organisation team.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany)
stepped in to organise the Games again, but the Games were cancelled in November
1939, because
Germany invaded
Poland in September 1939.
The
1944 Winter Olympics, scheduled to take place in
Cortina d'Ampezzo, were cancelled in the Summer of 1941.
1948 Winter Olympics
The Swiss town of
Sankt-Moritz, untouched by the war because Switzerland remained neutral,
became the first place to organise the Winter Olympics for the second time.
Twenty-Eight countries competed in Switzerland from
January 30
to February
8, although athletes from
Germany and
Japan were not
invited.
Skeleton returned on the programme after 20 years. Remarkably, American
John Heaton won the silver, as he had done in 1928. The sport disappeared
again after the Sankt Moritz games, returning again in 2002. Four new alpine
skiing events were also held, allowing Frenchman
Henri Oreiller to win three medals, including golds in the downhill and the
combined event. Swedish cross-country skier
Martin Lundström also won two golds. A major upset occurred in the Nordic
combined. This event had been dominated by Norway, which had won all medals from
1924 to 1936. But the best Norwegian only placed 6th in 1948, and the title went
to
Heikki Hasu of Finland.
A strange incident occurred in ice hockey. Because of a dispute, two American
ice hockey teams arrived in Sankt Moritz: one sanctioned by the
American Olympic Committee (AOC), and one sanctioned by the
American Hockey Association (AHA). The IOC voted to bar both teams from
competing, but Swiss allowed the AHA team to compete anyway, while the AOC team
marched in the opening ceremonies. After the IOC threatened to annul the entire
competition, the AHA team was removed from the standings and lost its fourth
position.
1952 Winter Olympics
In 1952, the Winter Games came to
Norway,
considered to be the birthplace of modern skiing. As a tribute, the
Olympic Flame was lit in the fireplace of the home of skiing pioneer
Sondre Nordheim. The programme in
Oslo, from
February
14 to
February 25, was expanded with the first ever cross-country event for women,
while the alpine combination was replaced with the giant slalom.
Bandy, a popular
sport in the Nordic countries, was held as a demonstration sport.
Speed skater
Hjalmar Andersen excited the home crowd by winning gold medals in three of
the four speed skating events. Germany returned to the Olympic Games after 16
years, although only represented by West German athletes. German bobsledder
Andreas Ostler steered his crews to two gold medals. His 4-man crew weighed
a record 472 kg,
while the international bobsleigh federation had just decided before the Games
that the weight limit would be 400 kg in the future. Nineteen-year-old
Andrea Mead Lawrence won two gold medals in alpine skiing, winning both the
slalom and the giant slalom.
1956 Winter Olympics
After not being able to host the Games in 1944 due to the war,
Cortina d'Ampezzo,
Italy was able to
organise the 1956 Winter Olympics, held from
January 26
to February
5. At the first Winter Games to be televised, the programme was extended
with two events in cross-country skiing.
Most important development was the debut of the
Soviet
Union at the Winter Olympics. They immediately showed their potential by
winning more medals than any other nation. In speed skating, Soviet skaters won
three out of four events, with
Yevgeni Grishin winning the 500 and 1500 m (the latter shared with
compatriot
Yuri Sergeyev). They ended Canada's dominance over the Olympic ice hockey
tournament, and the first non-Nordic medallist in cross-country skiing was also
a Russian.
Star of the Games, however, was Austrian skier
Toni
Sailer. He won all three alpine events, the first time this occurred in the
Olympics. Cross-country skier
Sixten Jernberg won four medals for Sweden, but only one gold medal.
1960 Winter Olympics
At the time the Olympics were awarded to Squaw Valley, a
resort town
created by
Alexander Cushing, near
Lake Tahoe
in
California. By 1960, this had changed, although there was no bobsleigh run.
The organising committee found it too expensive as only 9 nations would take
part. There was a fear of lack of snow, but late snowfall prevented a disaster.
The Games were held from
February
18 to
28. While bobsleighing was absent,
biathlon
was first contested at the Olympics, and women first took part in speed skating.
Only two athletes managed to win more than one gold medal in Squaw Valley,
both Soviet speed skaters.
Yevgeni Grishin repeated his 1956 performance by winning both the 500 and
1500 m. Even more remarkable was that he again tied for the gold in the 1500,
this time with Norwegian
Roald Aas. Fellow Russian
Lidia Skoblikova won the two longest distances in the inaugural women's
races. She would add four more titles in 1964. The men's 10000 m saw
Knut Johannesen glide to the gold in a time 46 seconds under the world
record.
35-year-old
Veikko Hakulinen of Finland won a complete set of medals in these Games,
including a narrow win in the 4 x 10 km relay. A surprise occurred in ice
hockey, where the home team surprisingly defeated the favoured Soviets,
Canadians and Czechs.
1964 Winter Olympics
The Tyrolean
city of
Innsbruck was the host in 1964. Despite being a traditional winter sports
resort, there was a lack of snow and ice during the Games, and the Austrian army
was called in to bring snow and ice to the sport venues. Bobsleigh returned to
the Olympics, while a new event was added to ski jumping and women's
cross-country skiing.
Luge was first contested in the Olympics, although the sport got bad
publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.
Two Soviet athletes were very successful at these Games. Speed skater
Lidia Skoblikova swept all four women's events, while her compatriot
Klavdia Boyarskikh did the same in women's cross-country, winning three
golds. Two other cross-country skiers,
Eero Mäntyranta and
Sixten Jernberg, took home two gold medals.
The French sisters
Marielle and
Christine Goitschel took the first two places in both the slalom and the
giant slalom event, each sister winning once. Also remarkable was
Eugenio Monti, who leant a spare part of his bobsleigh to British
competitors
Tony Nash and
Robin Dixon, enabling them to win the gold medal in the 2-man event.
1968 Winter Olympics
Held in the French town of
Grenoble,
the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic Games in which East and West
Germany participated as separate countries. Until 1964, they had competed in a
combined German team. One new event was added for the Grenoble Games: the 4 x 10
km relay in biathlon. Another first in the Olympics were doping and sex tests.
Alpine skier
Jean-Claude Killy lead the home team's good performances. By winning all
three alpine events, he equalled
Toni
Sailer's 1956 performance. Killy's third gold medal was slightly
controversial however, as Austrian
Karl Schranz was disqualified. He had been allowed to re-ski his second run
after he was interrupted by spectators. The jury later ruled Schranz had missed
a gate before the interruption, and disqualified him as a winner. Another
controversy arose in the women's luge. The East German women had finished first,
second and fourth, but were subsequently disqualified for heating their sledge's
runners, which is illegal in lugeing.
Other successful athletes were Italian bobsleigh driver
Eugenio Monti, who won both bobsleigh events after a long Olympic career,
and
Toini Gustafsson of Sweden, who won both individual events in cross-country,
and added a silver with the Swedish relay team. Her male colleagues of Norway,
Ole
Ellefsæter and
Harald Grønningen, also won two gold medals.
1972 Winter Olympics
The 1972 Winter Games were the first to be held outside North America or
Europe. The Games in
Sapporo,
Japan, were
surrounded by several professionalism issues. Three days before the Olympics,
IOC president
Avery Brundage threatened to bar a large number of top alpine skiers from
competing because they did not comply with the amateurism rules. Eventually,
only Austrian star
Karl Schranz, who earned most of all skiers, was not allowed to compete.
Also, the Canadian ice hockey team was absent, protesting the Eastern European
"state amateurs", who, according to the Canadians, were in fact professionals.
Major stars of the Games were, without a doubt, Dutch speed skater
Ard Schenk
and Soviet cross-country skier
Galina Kulakova. Schenk won three of the four skating events (falling in the
500 m), while Kulakova won all three events she entered. Switzerland's
Marie Thérès Nadig and
Vyacheslav Vedenin (USSR) both returned home with two Olympic gold medals.
Sapporo also brought several surprising winners. In ski jumping,
Wojciech Fortuna from Poland won his country first gold medal, while the
host nation performed a clean sweep of the other ski jumping event, also winning
its first Olympic winter gold. In alpine skiing, Spaniard
Francisco Fernández Ochoa was the surprise winner of the slalom event.
On a historical note, the 1972 Games were the last Olympic Winter Games where
a skier would win the gold medal using all-wooden skis. After this, all
top-level cross-country skiing would take place with the athletes using skis
made mostly of
fibreglass
synthetics.
1976 Winter Olympics
Originally, the 1976 Winter Games had been awarded to
Denver, but in
a 1972 plebiscite, the city's inhabitants voted against organising the Games.
Innsbruck,
which still had the venues of 1964 in good shape, was chosen in 1973 to replace
Denver. Because it was the second time the
Austrian town
hosted the Games, two Olympic flames were lit. New events on the programme were
ice dancing and the men's 1000 m in speed skating.
No athlete managed to win three gold medals, but a few came close. West
German alpine skier
Rosi Mittermaier won two gold medals, and came within 12 hundredths of a
second of winning a third. Soviet cross-country skier
Raisa Smetanina also won two golds and a silver, while her compatriot
Tatyana Averina won two golds and two bronzes in speed skating.
East German bobsledders Nehmer and Germeshausen collected two gold medals,
winning both the 2- and 4-man events. Russian biathlete
Nikolay Kruglov also won two golds.
1980 Winter Olympics
The Olympic Winter Games returned to
Lake Placid, New York, which had earlier hosted the 1932 edition. The
People's Republic of China made its debut at the Winter Olympics. Because of
this, the
Republic of China (Taiwan) was forced by the IOC to compete under the name
of
Chinese Taipei. The Taiwanese refused, and thus became the only nation to
boycott the Olympic Winter Games. The threat of the American boycott of the
1980 Summer Olympics was also clouding these Olympics, as the decision to do
so fell during the Games.
Fortunately, there were also many sporting highlights. Nordic combiner
Ulrich Wehling and figure skater
Irina
Rodnina both won their third consecutive gold medals in the same event,
while biathlete
Aleksander Tikhonov won his fourth one in the relay. Speed skater
Eric
Heiden equalled
Lidia Skoblikova's achievement from 1964 by winning all speed skating
events. However, where Skoblikova won four, Heiden won five gold medals, which
made him the first to ever win five gold medals in individual events during a
single Olympics (a record equalled by
Vitaly Scherbo in the
1992 Summer Olympics).
In alpine skiing, Liechtenstein's
Hanni
Wenzel won two gold medals, as did
Ingemar Stenmark from Sweden. For the Americans, however, the highlight of
the Games was the Olympic ice hockey tournament. In a match later dubbed the "Miracle
on Ice", the home team upset the favoured
Soviet
Union, and went on to win the title.
1984 Winter Olympics
Sarajevo
was quite a surprising choice for the Winter Olympics, as no Yugoslavian athlete
had ever won an Olympic medal in the Winter Games. This gap was filled by alpine
skier
Jure Franko, who won a silver medal in the giant slalom. There was only one
new event at the Sarajevo Games, a 20 km cross-country event for women.
Finnish skier
Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen took advantage of this new event, which allowed her
to win three gold medals, winning all individual events. She added a bronze in
the relay event. Other well scoring athletes were skaters
Gaétan Boucher (Canada) and
Karin Enke (East Germany), who both won two gold medals. Enke also won two
silver medals in the other two women's speed skating events, which where
completely dominated by East Germany, winning all gold and silver medals.
In figure skating, British ice dancers
Jayne
Torvill and
Christopher Dean were popular with the audience and the jury, who gave them
perfect scores for their free dance programme. East German figure skater
Katarina Witt also won many hearts with her gold performance.
1988 Winter Olympics
The Canadian
city of Calgary,
Alberta
hosted the first Winter Olympics to span 16 days. New events had been added in
alpine skiing, 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 indoor, on the
Olympic
Oval. Dutch skater
Yvonne van Gennip beat the favoured
East
German, winning three gold medals and setting two new world records. Her
total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper
Matti
Nykänen, who won all events in his sport.
Other stars of the Games include flamboyant Italian skier
Alberto Tomba, East German figure skater
Katarina Witt and Swedish cross-country skier
Gunde Svan.
Not all athletes making the headlines were winning medals: British ski jumper
Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards, who came in last, and the
Jamaica's
first ever bobsleigh team also received plenty of attention.
1992 Winter Olympics
The 1992 Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games.
They were held in the French
Haute
Savoie region;
Albertville itself only hosted 18 events. Two new sports, short track speed
skating and freestyle skiing were on the programme. Women's biathlon was also
included for the first time. Curling, speed skiing and two freestyle skiing
events were demonstrated.
Political changes of the time were reflected in the Olympic teams appearing
in France.
Germany
competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1930s, and former
Yugoslavian republics
Croatia and
Slovenia
made their debut. The
Soviet
Union still competed as a single team, under the name of
Unified
Team, but the
Baltic States made independent appearances, for the first time since World
War II.
Norway won all cross-country events for men, with
Bjørn
Dæhlie and
Vegard Ulvang each winning three gold medals. Several athletes won two gold
medals, such as
Petra Kronberger (skiing),
Bonnie
Blair,
Gunda
Niemann (both speed skating) and
Kim Ki-Hoon (short track). Finnish ski jumper
Toni
Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion.
New
Zealand skier
Annelise Coberger made history with a silver medal in the women's slalom,
becoming the first Winter Olympic medallist from the Southern Hemisphere.
1994 Winter Olympics
In 1986, the IOC decided to separate the Summer Games and Winter Games and
reschedule them on four-year cycles two years apart. The
Lillehammer Games were the first Winter Olympics to be held in a different
year. The winter sports-minded Norwegians organised the Olympics extremely well,
and many still consider them to be the best organised to date. The event
programme was again extended, adding two new events each in freestyle skiing and
short track speed skating. After the split-up of
Czechoslovakia in 1993, the
Czech Republic and
Slovakia
made their Olympic debut in Lillehammer, as did several former Soviet republics.
Johann Olav Koss emulated
Hjalmar Andersen's achievement of 1952, winning speed skating's three
longest distances for his home audience - Koss set a new world record in each of
the distances as well. Italian cross-country skier
Manuela di Centa won five medals out of five events, including two gold
medals;
Lyubov Yegorova won three gold medals in the same sport. US speed skater
Bonnie
Blair won the fourth and fifth gold medal of her career, including the third
straight gold in the 500 m, while Canadian biathlete
Myriam Bédard won both individual events in her sport. Another American
speed skater,
Dan Jansen,
ended years of Olympic frustration by winning gold in the 1000 m.
A lot of media attention, especially in the United States, went to the
women's figure skating competition. American skater
Nancy Kerrigan had been injured some months before the Games in an assault
planned by the ex-husband of opponent
Tonya
Harding. 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.
1998 Winter Olympics
For the first time, more than 2000 winter athletes competed in the Winter
Olympics, Japan's second Winter Olympics, held in the city of
Nagano. Two new
sports were conducted - snowboarding and curling - while women's ice hockey was
also included.
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. However, neither nation medalled and the Czech Republic
captured the gold instead. Speed skating saw a wave of new world records thanks
to the use of the revolutionary
clap skate;
Dutch skaters
Gianni
Romme and
Marianne Timmer each won two golds. Bjørn
Dæhlie won three gold medals, bringing his all-time total to 12 medals,
including 8 golds. The Russian women swept the cross-country events, with
Larisa Lazutina winning three titles. German luger Georg
Hackl won his third straight singles title, while Austria's
Hermann Maier won two gold medals in alpine skiing, after a spectacular fall
in the downhill event.
Snowboarding's introduction into the Olympics did not come without a scandal,
as gold medallist
Ross Rebagliati (Canada) was initially disqualified for
cannabis use, but his disqualification was overturned later.
2002 Winter Olympics
The 19th Olympic Winter Games were held in
Salt Lake City, Utah,
United States. Prior to the opening of the Games, it was found that
Salt Lake organisers had bribed several IOC members in order to be elected.
This resulted in a change of the host city election procedures and several IOC
members resigned or were punished. Again, the programme was expanded. Skeleton
made its return on the Olympic podium after 54 years, while new events were
added in biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and short
track speed skating.
The Salt Lake City Olympics had many stars.
Ole Einar Bjørndalen won all four biathlon events, while
Samppa Lajunen took all three Nordic combined medals. Croatia's
Janica Kostelic won four medals in alpine skiing, of which three were gold.
Simon
Ammann won both individual ski jumping events, while
Georg
Hackl won his fifth consecutive medal in the same event (luge singles), a
feat never before achieved by any Olympian. In speed skating, the high altitude
of the skating rink assured several new world records.
Jochem Uytdehaage broke three world records, winning two golds and a silver;
Claudia Pechstein won the 5000 m for the third time in a row, while also
winning the 3000 m. Canadians jubilated as both their men's and their women's
hockey teams defeated the United States to win the gold; the men's team thus
ended a medal drought that had lasted 50 years to the day.
The men's 1000 m short track speed skating event saw one of the unlikeliest
results in sports history.
Australian
Steven Bradbury, who would have been eliminated in the quarterfinals but for
the disqualification of
Marc
Gagnon, advanced to the final when the four other competitors in his
semifinal collided on the final lap. In the final, Bradbury was fifth going into
the final lap, when another collision left him the last man standing. Bradbury
was able to avoid the pileup, becoming the first Winter Olympic gold medallist
from the Southern Hemisphere. Many Australians saw this as a painfully humorous
example of the country's struggle for competitiveness in winter sports, being
that it took for all other competitors to crash for an Aussie to win. The phrase
"to do a Bradbury" has since entered the Australian lexicon meaning to succeed
through the failure of others.
Alisa
Camplin won Australia's second gold medal in
freestyle skiing without the need for such incredible luck.
A major scandal evolved around the pair figure skating contest. Canadians
Jamie Sale
and
David Pelletier initially placed second. However, it was decided that a
French jury member had favoured the winning Russian pair, and the IOC and the
International Skating Union decided to award both pairs the gold medal, after
much discussion. Combined with several other referee decisions that came out
negatively for Russian athletes, there was a brief threat by the Russians of
withdrawing from the Games.
Cross-country skiers accounted for a second scandal, as
Johann Muehlegg (Spain) and
Olga
Danilova and
Larissa Lazutina (both Russia), who had already medalled in earlier events,
where shown to have used doping. As of 2004 they had all been officially
stripped of all medals won at the 2002 Games.
Future Olympics
The Italian city of
Turin (Torino)
will host the
2006 Winter Olympics. It will be the second time Italy hosts the Winter
Olympic Games, after Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956. In a 2003 IOC vote, the
2010 Winter Olympics were awarded to
Vancouver,
allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics as well. The host city for
2014 will be chosen in July 2007 in
Guatemala City among the cities of:
Almaty (Kazakhstan),
Borjomi (Georgia),
Jaca (Spain),
PyeongChang (Republic
of Korea),
Salzburg (Austria),
Sochi (Russia),
Sofia (Bulgaria).
Statistics
Games overview
| Year |
Host city |
Country |
Held |
Nations |
Participants |
Events |
|
1924 |
Chamonix |
France |
January
25 -
February 5 |
16 |
292 |
18 |
|
1928 |
St.
Moritz |
Switzerland |
February 11 -
February
19 |
25 |
464 |
14 |
|
1932 |
Lake
Placid |
United States |
February 4 -
February
15 |
17 |
252 |
14 |
|
1936 |
Garmisch-Partenkirchen |
Germany |
February 6 -February
16 |
28 |
668 |
17 |
|
1948 |
St.
Moritz |
Switzerland |
January
30 -
February 8 |
28 |
669 |
22 |
|
1952 |
Oslo |
Norway |
February 14 -
February
25 |
30 |
694 |
22 |
|
1956 |
Cortina d'Ampezzo |
Italy |
January
26 -
February 5 |
32 |
820 |
24 |
|
1960 |
Squaw Valley |
United States |
February 18-February
28 |
30 |
665 |
27 |
|
1964 |
Innsbruck |
Austria |
January
29-February
9 |
36 |
1091 |
34 |
|
1968 |
Grenoble |
France |
February 6-February
18 |
37 |
1158 |
35 |
|
1972 |
Sapporo |
Japan |
February 3-February
13 |
35 |
1006 |
35 |
|
1976 |
Innsbruck |
Austria |
February 4-February
15 |
37 |
1123 |
37 |
|
1980 |
Lake
Placid |
United States |
February 13-February
24 |
37 |
1072 |
38 |
|
1984 |
Sarajevo |
Yugoslavia |
February 8-February
19 |
49 |
1272 |
39 |
|
1988 |
Calgary |
Canada |
February 13-February
28 |
57 |
1423 |
46 |
|
1992 |
Albertville |
France |
February 8-February
23 |
64 |
1801 |
57 |
|
1994 |
Lillehammer |
Norway |
February 12-February
27 |
67 |
1739 |
61 |
|
1998 |
Nagano |
Japan |
February 7-February
22 |
72 |
2176 |
68 |
|
2002 |
Salt Lake City |
United States |
February 8-February
24 |
77 |
2399 |
78 |
|
2006 |
Torino |
Italy |
February 10-February
26 |
|
|
|
|
2010 |
Vancouver |
Canada |
February 12-February
28 |
|
|
|
All-time Winter Olympic medal table
| Rank |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
All Medals |
| 1 |
Combined totals:
Soviet
Union+CIS+Russia |
117 |
83 |
78 |
278 |
| |
Soviet
Union (1956-1988) |
78 |
57 |
59 |
194 |
| |
Unified
Team-CIS (1992) |
9 |
6 |
8 |
23 |
| |
Russia
(1908, since 1994) |
30 |
20 |
11 |
61 |
| 2 |
Combined totals:
Germany
(1928-2002) |
108 |
104 |
88 |
300 |
| |
Germany
(1928-1936, 1992-) |
54 |
51 |
38 |
143 |
| |
East
Germany (1952-1988) |
39 |
36 |
35 |
110 |
| |
West
Germany (1952-1988) |
14 |
17 |
15 |
46 |
| 3 |
Norway |
96 |
90 |
75 |
261 |
| 4 |
United
States |
69 |
72 |
52 |
193 |
| 5 |
Austria |
42 |
57 |
63 |
162 |
| 6 |
Finland |
41 |
52 |
49 |
142 |
| 7 |
Sweden |
39 |
30 |
39 |
108 |
| 8 |
Switzerland |
32 |
33 |
38 |
103 |
| 9 |
Italy |
31 |
31 |
28 |
90 |
| 10 |
Canada |
31 |
28 |
37 |
96 |
| 11 |
Netherlands |
22 |
28 |
19 |
69 |
| 12 |
France |
22 |
22 |
28 |
72 |
| 13 |
South
Korea |
11 |
5 |
4 |
20 |
| 14 |
Japan |
8 |
10 |
13 |
31 |
| 15 |
Great
Britain |
8 |
4 |
14 |
26 |
| 16 |
Croatia |
3 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
| 17 |
Spain |
3 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
| 18 |
China |
2 |
12 |
8 |
22 |
| 19 |
Czechoslovakia
(until 1992) |
2 |
8 |
15 |
25 |
| 20 |
Czech
Republic (since 1994) |
2 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
| 21 |
Liechtenstein |
2 |
2 |
5 |
9 |
| 22 |
Australia |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
| 23 |
Poland |
1 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
| 24 |
Kazakhstan |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
| 25 |
Belgium |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
| 26 |
Bulgaria |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
| 27 |
Estonia |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| 28 |
Ukraine |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| 29 |
Uzbekistan |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 30 |
Yugoslavia |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
| 31 |
Hungary |
0 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
| 32 |
Belarus |
0 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
| 33 |
Luxembourg |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
| 34 |
North
Korea |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 35 |
Denmark |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| 36 |
New
Zealand |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| 37 |
Slovenia |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
| 38 |
Romania |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| |
Total |
688 |
688 |
678 |
2054 |
Note:
Adding the tallies for East and West Germany between 1952 and 1988 together,
Germany has 107 Gold, 104 Silver, 88 Bronze and a total of 299 medals.
See also:
All-time Summer Olympic medals
Top ten athletes
| Name |
Nat. |
Sport |
Years |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
| Bjørn Dæhlie |
Norway |
Cross-country skiing |
1992–1998 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
|
Lyubov Yegorova |
Russia |
Cross-country skiing |
1992–1994 |
6 |
3 |
0 |
|
Lidia Skoblikova |
Soviet Union |
Speed skating |
1960–1964 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
|
Larissa Lazutina |
Russia |
Cross-country skiing |
1992–2002 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
| Clas Thunberg |
Finland |
Speed skating |
1924–1928 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
|
Ole Einar Bjørndalen |
Norway |
Biathlon |
1998–2002 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
| Bonnie Blair |
United States |
Speed skating |
1988–1994 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
| Eric
Heiden |
United States |
Speed skating |
1980 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
|
Raisa Smetanina |
Soviet Union |
Cross-country skiing |
1976–1992 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
|
Sixten Jernberg |
Sweden |
Cross-country skiing |
1956–1964 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
Bibliography
- Volker Kluge, Olympische Winterspiele - Die Chronik
- David Wallechinsky, The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics
| 2006 Winter Olympics
medal count |
| Pos |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
| 1 |
Germany |
11 |
12 |
6 |
29 |
| 2 |
United States |
9 |
9 |
7 |
25 |
| 3 |
Austria |
9 |
7 |
7 |
23 |
| 4 |
Russia |
8 |
6 |
8 |
22 |
| 5 |
Canada |
7 |
10 |
7 |
24 |
| 6 |
Sweden |
7 |
2 |
5 |
14 |
| 7 |
Korea |
6 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
| 8 |
Switzerland |
5 |
4 |
5 |
14 |
| 9 |
Italy |
5 |
0 |
6 |
11 |
| 10 |
France |
3 |
2 |
4 |
9 |
| Netherlands |
3 |
2 |
4 |
9 |
| 12 |
Estonia |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| 13 |
Norway |
2 |
8 |
9 |
19 |
| 14 |
China |
2 |
4 |
5 |
11 |
| 15 |
Czech Republic |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| 16 |
Croatia |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
| 17 |
Australia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| 18 |
Japan |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 19 |
Finland |
0 |
6 |
3 |
9 |
| 20 |
Poland |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 21 |
Belarus |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Bulgaria |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Great Britain |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Slovakia |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| 25 |
Ukraine |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
| 26 |
Latvia |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| |
|
84 |
84 |
84 |
252 |
|