Beijing 2022. When were the first Winter Olympics held?

The history of the Winter Olympics dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, but they have been officially under this name since 1924. The first games were held in Chamonix. Since then, efforts have been made to hold the Games every four years, which was not successful, for example, during World War II.

Beijing 2022. When were the first Winter Olympics held?

The prototype of the Winter Olympics were the so-called nordic games. Their originator was Victor Gustaf Back, and the first place where the competition was organized was Stockholm (1901). The next ones were held in 1903, and the next two years later. It was not until 1905 that the principle of organizing the Games every four years was introduced.

The first official Winter Olympics were held in the French town of Chamonix. The program of the Games included 16 sports competitions with a total of 314 competitors (including 13 women) from 19 countries.

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The organizers of the Olympic Games assumed that winter competitions would also be held in the same year. This plan functioned until 1992. Six years earlier, the decision was taken to break down these cycles and run them separately. Since then, the most important sporting events are held alternately every four years. That is why the next Winter Olympics in Lillehammer were held in 1994, and not in 1996 – as in the case of the summer ones. Another breach from this rule occurred relatively recently due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, the Summer Olympic Games were held in Tokyo, and only a few months later the athletes started competing at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

The athletes compete in 15 disciplines. At the beginning there were nine of them: curling, ice hockey, military patrol (predecessor of the later biathlon), cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, figure skating and speed skating. During the ongoing ZIO 2022, athletes also compete in biathlon, alpine skiing, free skiing, tobogganing, skeleton and snowboarding.

Winter Olympics. History. Medals of Poles

Poland is one of the countries that sent representatives to each of the Winter Olympics. In total, in 23 starts at the Winter Olympics, Poles won 22 medals (seven gold, seven silver and eight bronze). The most titled Polish Olympian at the Winter Olympics is Kamil Stoch, who won three gold medals and one bronze

• Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 – 1 brown
• Squaw Valley 1960 – 1 silver, 1 brown
• Sapporo 1972 – 1 zloty
• Salt Lake City 2002 – 1 gold, 1 brown
• Turin 2006 – 1 zloty, 1 bronze
• Vancouver 2010 – 1 gold, 3 silver, 2 brown
• Sochi 2014 – 4 gold, 1 silver, 1 brown
• Pyongyang 2018 – 1 gold, 1 bronze
• Beijing 2022 – 1 brown