History: Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympic Games is a winter multi-sport event held every four years and features winter sports held on snow or ice like skiing, figure skating, bobsledding and ice hockey. The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France but maybe many people are asking how the Winter Olympics started.
It is said that the first multi-sport event particularly for winter sports were the Nordic Games organized by General Viktor Gustaf Balck. Balck was a charter member of the International Olympic Committee and a close personal friend of Pierre de Coubertein, founder of the Olympic Games. Balck tried to have winter sports added to the Olympic programme but was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London which featured four figure skating events.
After three years, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d’Usseaux proposed that the International Olympic Committee put on a week with winter sports as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics. However, his proposal was opposed by the organizers because they want to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games and they were concerned about the lack of facilities that could accommodate winter sports.
The idea for winter sports was finally realized to be included in the 1916 Olympic Games but the 1916 Olympics were cancelled because of World War II.
After the Second World War, figure skating and ice hockey was added to the 1920 Olympics. After a year, the International Olympic Committee decided that the organizers of the 1924 Olympics, France would host a separate International Winter Sports Week and this week of events held in Chamonix was retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics due to is success. This decision by the International Olympics Committee to create a separate Winter Olympic Games was finalized in 1925.