The Milan-Cortina Olympics were the third Winter Olympic Games held in Italy, following the VII Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956 and the XX Winter Olympics in Turin in 2006.
The Winter Olympics were first held in Chamonix, France, in 1924, 102 years ago. Organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Winter Olympics were held in the same year as the Summer Olympics until 1992. The 1996 edition of this major international sporting event, held every four years, was moved to 1994. Since then, the competition has been held every four years in even-numbered years when the Summer Olympics are not held. In other words, since 1994, sports fans have been witnessing the Olympic Games (one summer, one winter) every two years.
In cities and towns such as St. Maurice, Switzerland (1928, 1948), Lake Placid, USA (1932, 1980), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (1936), Oslo, Norway (1952), Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy (1956), Squaw Valley, USA (1960), Innsbruck, Austria (1964, 1976), Grenoble, France (1968), Sapporo, Japan (1972), Sarajevo, then Yugoslavia (1984), Calgary, Canada (1988), Albertville, France (1992), Lillehammer, Norway (1994), Nagano, Japan (1996), Salt Lake City, USA (2002), Turin, Italy (2006), Vancouver, Canada (2010), Sochi, Russia (2014), Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea (2018), Beijing, China (2022) The Winter Olympics were not held in 1940 and 1944 due to World War II.
12 countries were represented at all Olympics
Twelve countries have participated in all 24 previous Olympics: Austria, Norway, Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, France, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland. The Winter Olympics, which are held above the equator, have seen an increasing number of participants from the southern hemisphere in recent years.
NHL hockey players will be competing in the Winter Olympics for the first time since Sochi 2014. At the same time, the summer of 2025 will be the first Olympic Games under the leadership of the he newly elected president of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry.
