I.

Introduction

Winter Olympics, popular designation for the quadrennial Olympic Winter Games, the winter sports competitions forming a separate cycle of the Olympic Games.

II.

Organization

The Olympics organization is headed by a president, elected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members for an initial period of eight years. The present office-holder is the Belgian Jacques Rogge, who succeeded Juan Antonio Samaranch in July 2001. The term of office for members of the IOC is also eight years. At the end of January 2006 there were 110 members, 24 honorary members, and 3 honour members. The IOC maintains headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, and currently recognizes 202 national Olympic committees. In 1999 it was hit by the worst scandal in its history after finding six of its members guilty of accepting improper gifts from cities bidding to host the Games. Known as the Salt Lake City affair after the Games in question, the subsequent inquest, which uncovered a “culture of improper gift giving”, resulted in the members being expelled and new reform measures being adopted.

The venue for the Winter Games, like those of the Summer Olympics, is usually chosen six or seven years in advance by the IOC. The 2006 Games were held in Turin, Italy. In July 2003, Vancouver (Canada) was chosen as the host city for 2010; the next milestone is July 2007, when the venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics will be decided.

III.

History

The first full-scale Winter Olympic Games were staged in 1924 at Chamonix, France. Previously there had been winter events held, at random, at the Summer Games, most notably the figure skating and ice hockey competitions that were associated with the 1920 Summer Games at Antwerp, Belgium. Since then the contests have been held regularly, with the exception of 1940 and 1944, at different sites chosen by the International Olympic Committee: St Moritz, Switzerland (1928 and 1948), Lake Placid, US (1932 and 1980), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (1936), Oslo, Norway (1952), Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy (1956), Squaw Valley, US (1960), Innsbruck, Austria (1964 and 1976), Grenoble, France (1968), Sapporo, Japan (1972), Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (1984), Calgary, Canada (1988), Albertville, France (1992), Lillehammer, Norway (1994), Nagano, Japan (1998), Salt Lake City, US (2002), and Turin, Italy (2006). From the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, the winter and summer games began to be alternated in even-numbered years. At the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, about 2,500 athletes from 85 countries participated. In the history of the Winter Olympics, Germany has won most medals overall, though it had teams from the Federal Republic and the Democratic Republic competing alongside each other from 1956 to 1988. The most gold medals have been won by Russia, though it competed as the Soviet Union from 1956 to 1992. Norway comes third in the gold medal list and the overall medals table.

IV.

Sports

Alpine skiing, for men and women, has been part of the Olympic programme since 1948: the events are the downhill, the slalom, the giant slalom (since 1952), the super giant slalom or super-G (since 1988), and the combined event (downhill and slalom), which has been staged intermittently since 1936. Famous alpine skiing gold medallists have included Toni Sailer, Jean-Claude Killy, Franz Klammer, Ingemar Stenmark, Alberto Tomba, Kjetil Andre Aamodt, Christl Cranz, Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Vreni Schneider, and Katja Seizinger.

Nordic skiing is the term that covers cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and nordic combined (cross-country skiing and ski-jumping events combined). Nordic events have traditionally been dominated by Scandinavian, Soviet, and German competitors. The cross-country skiing events range in distance up to 50 km and divide into two specific styles: the classical and the freestyle; the combined pursuit uses both styles in a single race. In cross-country skiing there are men’s, women’s, and relay events. Biathlon was introduced in 1960 (1992 for women) and is a sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Skiing distances range up to 20 km (for men) and there are also relay events. Ski jumping, the most dramatic of all events, was introduced into the Games in 1924. Competitors (men-only) jump from two hills, a normal hill measured at 90 m and a large hill at 120 m, and are given points based on distance and style. A team event was introduced in 1988. Two of the most famous competitors have been Matti Nykänen and Jens Weissflog. The nordic combined discipline is also reserved for men only.

Traditionally, Dutch, Soviet, Norwegian, German, and US skaters have dominated the speed skating events, where competitors (in pairs) race to set the fastest time over a set distance of 500 m to 10,000 m. Women skaters race in events up to 5,000 m. Men’s speed skating was introduced at the inaugural Winter Olympics; the women had to wait until 1960 for their inclusion. Famous gold-medal-winning speed skaters include Eric Heiden, Bonnie Blair, Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann, Johann Koss, and Hjalmar Andersen.

In 1992 short-track speed skating was introduced to the Olympics. In this sport skaters race together over a short circular track only just over 100 m in circumference. The skating is fast and frequently aggressive, especially the relay and sprint events; the leading nations are China, South Korea, Japan, Canada, and the United States.

Figure skating has been an ever-present event at the Games with the men’s and women’s figures; the pairs was introduced in 1908 and the ice dance in 1976. Gillis Gräfström of Sweden (with three consecutive titles: 1920-1928), Karl Schäfer of Austria (1932, 1936), and Dick Button of the US (1948, 1952) are the only male skaters to retain their titles. Other gold medallists have included Jeannette Altwegg, John Curry, Robin Cousins, and Brian Boitano. In the women’s event German skater Katarina Witt achieved two consecutive gold medals (1994, 1998) , but the honour of the greatest Olympic figure skater goes to Norwegian Sonja Henie, who won the women’s title on three consecutive occasions from 1928 to 1936. The pairs title has been won exclusively by Russian/Soviet skaters since World War II, as has the ice dance, except for the notable exception of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean in 1984 and latterly the French couple of Marina Assinina and Gwendal Peizerat in 2002.

Three of the most spectacular Olympic events are the luge, bobsleigh, and skeleton competitions. Luging entered the Olympic repertoire in 1964 and has been dominated by German participants; men compete for singles and doubles events, while women vie for singles only. Georg Hackl is arguably the Games most successful luger, with three gold medals and two silvers to his name from five Olympic appearances. Bobsleighing or tobogganing was instituted in 1924 (the four-man version); the two-man version was introduced in 1932. Swiss and German squads have won more gold medals than any other nation. The women’s bob event was new for the 2002 Games. The bob skeleton event was first run in 1928, then again in 1948 after a gap, but was then abandoned as too dangerous a sport until its revival at the 2002 Games, when women took part in the sport for the first time also. In the 1940s Nino Bibbia was the most famous name in the sport.

An ever-present Olympic competition has been the ice hockey tournament. Once an amateur sport, since 1998 professional players from North American club sides have been able to compete. Mario Lemieux played in the winning Canadian side at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Canadian, US, and Soviet teams have traditionally dominated the sport. Women’s ice hockey was introduced in 1998 with a US team victory. In 2002, Canada won the women’s gold medal.

In recent Winter Olympics a number of new sports have been introduced. Curling, despite originating in the 15th century, only became part of the Games in 1998. Freestyle skiing (introduced in 1992), comprises ballet, aerial, and mogul events of which aerials and moguls (or snow bumps) are Olympic disciplines for both men and women. Another new sport derived from extreme sports is snowboarding, which was introduced in 1998. Disciplines include the parallel giant slalom, the snowboard cross, and the half-pipe—a sport akin to that of skateboarding.

V.

Sporting Achievers

The competitor with the greatest number of medals to his name is Björn Daehlie of Norway, who won 12 medals in total, 8 gold and 4 silver in the cross-country events. He is followed by fellow cross-country skiers Raisa Smetanina of Russia with 10 medals and Sixten Jernberg of Sweden with 9. Speed skater Eric Heiden won five golds in speed skating at the Lake Placid Games of 1980 and Bonnie Blair won three gold medals in consecutive games at the same event—the 500 m. The first alpine skier to take four medals at a single Games was Janica Kostelić of Croatia who won three golds (the slalom, the combined, and the giant slalom) and one silver (Super-G) at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Previously, Toni Sailer and Jean-Claude Killy had held the record with three golds apiece.