Winter Olympics Part I: History

The first in a three (or more) part series on the upcoming Winter Olympics.

The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics will open on Friday, February 7th and I, for one, am very excited. The Olympics are one of the greatest stages in the world to see international history, culture, and politics.

Olympic Rings (From Wikipedia.com)

Compared to the Summer Games, the Winter Olympics have a much shorter history. While they don't stretch back to Ancient Greece, the idea for the Winter Olympics is more than a hundred years old.

Figure Skating became part of the Summer Olympics (if you can believe it) in 1908. The International Olympic Committee considered creating a separate Winter Games in 1912, but Sweden, who was hosting the games, already had a popular Nordic Competition and declined. A separate Winter Games was again proposed in 1916 in Berlin, but both were cancelled due to World War I.

Ice Hockey was added to the Summer Games in 1920 and, in 1924, an agreement was reached to host an International Winter Sports Week in Chamonix, in the French Alps.

Poster of the Chamonix 1924 Winter Olympic Games (From Wikipedia)

In 1928, the 2nd Official Winter Olympics were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, making the Chamonix Games the 1st Official Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics were then held every four years, except for 1940 and 1944 (due to World War II).

Until 1992, the Winter Olympics were held the same year as the Summer Olympics. Since 1994, the Winter Olympics have been held every four years, two years after the Summer Olympics.

The Sochi Olympics are the 22nd Olympic Winter Games.

For more information on the Sochi Olympics, check out the Official Sochi 2014 Olympics website.
For a schedule of the Olympic events in the US, check out NBC Olympics.

Check back next week for Part II: Sochi, Russia