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The I Winter Olympic games
Chamonix 1924
Chamonix, France This event was a great success, attracting 10,004 paying spectators, and was retrospectively named the First Olympic Winter Games. -
The II Winter Olympic Games
St. Moritz 1928St. Moritz Switzerland
Aged just 15, Sonja Henie of Norway caused a sensation by winning women’s figure skating. Her record as the youngest winner of an individual event stood for 74 years. In the men’s event, Sweden’s Gillis Grafström won his third consecutive gold medal, despite suffering from a badly swollen knee. -
The III Winter Olympic games
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Lake Placid, United States For the first and only time in Olympic history, the American group race method was used in the speed skating competition. This involved mass starts and athletes racing against all other competitors, in contrast to the European system of heats where two participants compete against each other and the clock. -
The IV Winter Olympic Games
[video](Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936)
Garmisch-Partenkirchen One of the greatest speed skaters in the early history of the Winter Games was Ivar Ballangrud. The Norwegian won three speed skating golds in the 500m, 5,000m and 10,000m. He also claimed silver in the 1500m, his seventh Olympic medal in total. -
The V Winter Olympic Games
St. Moritz, Switzerland
After a 12-year break, the Olympic Winter Games take place for the first time since World War II . French first Henri Oreiller won two Olympic titles. The skier from Val d'Isère won both the downhill and the combined, becoming the first Frenchman to win Olympic Winter titles. -
The VI Winter Olympic Games
Technological progress
Oslo, Norway
Computers were used for the first time in figure skating, to calculate the scores awarded by the different judges for the compulsory and free programmes. This enabled an athlete’s score to be given immediately.
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The VII Winter Olympic Games
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Golden Soviet debut These Games marked the debut of the USSR team, which immediately won more medals than any other nation. Their speed skaters won three of the four events, while their ice hockey team ended Canada’s domination. -
The VIII Winter Olympic Games
Squaw Valley, United States Debuts and firsts Men's biathlon and women's speed skating made their Olympic debuts. Frenchman Jean Vuarnet became the first skier to win a medal on metal skis, instead of the traditional wooden ones. -
The IX Winter Olympic games
Innsbruck, Austria
Keep it in the family Eighteen-year-old Marielle Goitschel of France finished in second place behind her older sister Christine Goitschel in the women's slalom. Two days later, Marielle got her revenge and finished ahead of her big sister in the giant slalom. -
The X Winter Olympic games
Grenoble, France 100m barrier broken The USSR’s Vladimir Belousov and Czechoslovakia’s Jiri Raska won gold and silver in the large hill ski jump. In doing so, they both jumped further than a 100m for the first time in the history of the Games. Jiri Raska also won the normal hill ski jump event. -
The XI Winter Olympic Games
Sapporo, Japan
The Sapporo Games are the first to be held outside Europe or the United States. Spanish first The biggest surprise of the Games was the victory of 21-year-old "Paquito" Fernandez Ochoa, who won the slalom by a full second. His gold medal was the first ever to be won by a Spanish athlete in the Olympic Winter Games.
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The XII Winter Olympic Games
Innsbruck, Austria Elegant and athletic British figure skater John Curry tended to emphasise grace and artistic expression over athleticism, an approach that had cost him points with the judges in the past. But in Innsbruck he combined his natural elegance with a series of stunning jumps and was rewarded with the highest points total in the history of men's figure skating.
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The XIII Winter Olympic games
Lake Placid, United States Ice Dancing, Free Dance - Natalia Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov of the Soviet Union edged out their major rivals, Hungary's Regoczy & Sallay, for the Gold Medal here.
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The XIV Winter Olympic Games
Sarajevo, Yugoslavia A perfect bolero British figure skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean mesmerised the judges and the world with their interpretation of Maurice Ravel's Bolero. The judges awarded them perfect scores across-the-board for artistic impression.
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The XV Winter Olympic Games
Calgary, Canada Flying Finn Finnish ski jumper Mat Nykänen dominated both individual events, winning both by huge margins. This made him the first ski jumper to win two gold medals at the same Games. He then led the Finnish team to victory in the large hill team event and brought his career total to four gold medals and one silver medal. -
The XVI Winter Olympic Games
Albertville, France Memorable champions American speed skater Bonnie Blair won the 500m and 1000m events, while Gunda Niemann of Germany took both of the longest races. Alpine skier Petra Kronberger of Austria won both the combined event and the slalom. Ki-hoon Kim of South Korea earned gold medals in both short track events. Toni Nieminen of Finland won the men’s ski jump title to become, at 16, the youngest male winner of a winter event.
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The XVII Winter Olympic Games
Lillehammer, Norway Olympic spirit Although the Games took place during the Bosnian War, the Bosnia and Herzegovina four-man bob team consisted of one Croatian, two Bosnians and a Serbian - the best possible example of the Olympic spirit at the worst of times.
Marvel at the speed the men build up in the alpine skiing downhill event at the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympic Games. -
The XVIII Winter Olympic Games
Nagano, Japan
Snowboarding debuted as an official discipline. Curling returned to the Olympic Winter programme, this time with a tournament for both men and women.
Ice hockey 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. -
The XIX Winter Olympic Games
Salt Lake City, United States Nordic gold Samppa Lajunen of Finland became the first Nordic combined athlete to win three gold medals at one Games. He entered the 15km cross-country phase of the individual event in third place and easily made up ground to win the gold. In the team event, he anchored Finland to victory, then added another gold in the sprint. -
The XX Winter Olympic Games
Turin, Italy
Albania, Madagascar and Ethiopia were all represented for the first time. Claudia Pechstein of Germany became the first speed skater to earn nine career medals, and with his victory in the Super G, Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway became the first Alpine skier to earn four medals in the same event and the first to win four gold medals in total. -
The XXI Winter Olympic Games
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. -
XXII Winter Olympic games
Sochi, Russia
07-23.02.2014
