The 1952 Winter Olympics (Norwegian: Vinter-OL 1952), formally known as the VI Olympic Winter Games (French: Les VIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were held from February 14 to 25, 1952, in Oslo, Norway. A total of 993 athletes from 21 countries participated in the events offered at four sports disciplines: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, Nordic skiing, and snowboarding.
Oslo was chosen as the host city for the 1952 games after a vote by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The city had previously hosted the 1912 Summer Olympics. Oslo is the capital of both Norway and its most populous region, Oslo Metropolis. It is located on the southern shore of a large inlet of the Baltic Sea called Oslo Fjord. The surrounding area is rich in natural resources including oil and natural gas.
The opening ceremony was held at the Storting Hall on February 14, with King Haakon VII of Norway in attendance. The first event was the men's downhill race, which was won by Norwegian Ole Kristian Skaug with a record margin of 20 seconds over second place. The women's giant slalom was next, with Swiss Grete Waitz winning by a margin of 38 seconds over fellow countrywoman Liv Tyler. In figure skating, Norwegian Sonja Henie won three gold medals in ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.
Winter Olympics in 2002 The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were held from February 8 to February 24, 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. There were over 2,400 athletes from 77 countries. They participated in 78 different events. In total, these games represented the largest winter sports festival in history. The opening and closing ceremonies were held at Rice-Eccles Stadium on February 7 and February 25, respectively. These were followed by 22 days of competition in 14 different sports.
Salt Lake City was chosen as the host city on March 4, 1998. This decision was made at the 125th IOC Session in Jerusalem. The Games were successfully delivered on time and under budget with no major incidents occurring during the ceremony or competition phases of the event. The total cost was $1 billion with the National Hockey League (NHL) contributing $60 million of that amount. NHL players accounted for about one-third of all athletes participating in the Olympics for the first time since 1960. The other two-thirds were made up of athletes from 57 different countries.
The XXI Olympic Winter Games will be held in Beijing China from February 9 to February 18, 2008. It will be the first time that a Chinese city has hosted the event more than once. In fact, Beijing has already been selected as the host city for the second time after hosting in 2008.
The 1968 Winter Olympics, formally known as the Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver (French: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held in Grenoble, France, on February 6, 1968. Thirty-seven countries took part. In the main Olympic stadium, the Games were attended by 50,000 people. Around one million people visited the city during the competition, making it at the time the most popular non-theatre sport event in Europe.
Grenoble was chosen to host the games after a vote by national Olympic committees. The decision was made at a meeting of the IOC in Rome on December 15, 1967. Grenoble defeated other candidates Zürich and Milan by a vote of 7-3-1. The games were originally scheduled to be held from January 9 to January 25, but heavy snowfall delayed the start of events until two weeks later than planned. This is because most sports require either ice or snow for their competitions, which cannot be played if it is too early or too late in the year.
In 1968, the Winter Olympics were limited to those sports that could be staged without any impact on the weather conditions. The lack of snow in some parts of Europe meant that certain events could not be held as planned, including alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, and short track speed skating.
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