The idea of holding separate competitions in winter and summer sports came up shortly after the first Olympic Games. However, for some time this competition was replaced by the Nordic Games, which were regularly held in Sweden. The beginning of the countdown of the Olympic Winter Forums was 1928, after which the games were held 21 times, and the cities of nine countries on three continents became their masters.
At the time of the first Winter Games, the athletes did not even suspect that they were participating in the Olympics. In February 1924, they gathered in the small French town of Chamonix for the International Winter Sports Week, organized by the hosts of the Paris Summer Olympics. The following year, the International Olympic Committee decided to hold the Winter Games on a regular basis and declared the competition held in Chamonix the first Winter Olympics. This is how American speed skater Charles Jewtraw learned to his surprise that he was the first champion in the history of the winter games.
The second games have already been held according to all the rules - a competition of cities took place, and at the opening ceremony in the winning Swiss St. Moritz, the Olympic flame was lit. Before the break in the Olympics caused by the Second World War, the Winter Games were held in the American Lake Placid (1932) and the German Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1936). The first post-war winter competitions were again held in the Swiss St. Moritz (1948), but the athletes who lost the war in Germany and Japan were not invited to them.
In 1956, the Winter Olympics finally came to the server of Europe, whose states always get the lion's share of medals. The 6th games took place in the Norwegian capital, Oslo. After 46 years, Norway once again hosted the Winter Olympics - the 17th games were held in Lillehammer. Strange as it may seem, no other Nordic country has hosted Winter Olympics to date. But in the USA they took place four times (1932, 1960, 1980, 2002), in France - three (1924, 1968, 1992). The games were played twice in Japan (1972, 1998), Austria (1964, 1976), Canada (1988, 2010) and Italy (1956, 2006). Once the Winter Forum of the Olympians was held in Yugoslavia (1984). In 2014, Russia should be added to this list, having received the right to host the XXII Games, and four years later - South Korea, which will become the host of the XXIII Winter Olympics.
