For a long time, the Winter and Summer Olympic Games were held in the same year with a difference of several months. Starting in 1994, by the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the winter types of the Olympics began to be carried out with a shift of two years relative to the summer. Currently, the program includes 7 sports.
For obvious reasons, there were no winter competitions in ancient Greece. Therefore, when Baron de Coubertin and his associates revived the Olympic Games, at first it was only about a few summer sports. But the immense popularity of the Olympics prompted the IOC members to think that it would be good to give the opportunity to compete to athletes who are "winter roads". At first, such competitions were the so-called "Nordic Games", which took place in Sweden from 1901 to 1926. And in 1924 in the city of Chamonix (France) the "International Sports Week on the occasion of the VII Olympiad" was held. This event was a great success, and it became known as the "First Winter Olympics".
Over the past decades, the program of the Winter Olympics has changed significantly. Some sports that were once very popular have been excluded or modified. For example, the famous biathlon had its predecessor called the Military Patrol. The men, armed with a 7.62 mm combat carbine, had to ski the distance, hitting targets along the way. In 1960, this weapon was replaced by a much lighter and more comfortable small-bore sports rifle, thanks to which women could also engage in biathlon, because the recoil force from shots became much less.
Winter sports are clearly divided into two groups: those associated with the movement of athletes on the snow, and those associated with the movement of athletes on ice. The first group includes: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, freestyle, snowboarding and the already mentioned biathlon. The second group includes: speed skating, short track speed skating, figure skating, luge, bobsleigh, skeleton, ice hockey and curling. Despite the great popularity in many countries of ball hockey ("Russian hockey", or "bandy"), this sport has not yet been included in the program of the Olympics. There is a chance that he will become Olympic in 2018.
