10 Winter Olympics facts!
Find out about this hair-raising international event…
Grab your skis gang, it’s time for the Winter Olympics! Snow lovers from around the world are gathering for this frosty festival of sport, so let’s check out some Winter Olympics facts…
PSSSST!
The next Winter Olympics are happening from 4-20 February 2022. Don’t miss it!
Winter Olympics facts…
1. All the events at the Winter Olympics take place in snow and ice!
These frosty competitions include ice skating, skiing, snowboarding and more. Some intrepid athletes venture high into the mountains on amazing cross-country ski races, while others compete indoors at specially-built venues.
2. The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924.
Around 250 athletes from 16 countries competed in Chamonix, France. There were 16 events, including cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and ice hockey!
3. The Winter Olympics traditionally take place two years after the Summer Olympics.
However, since the Summer Olympic games of 2020 were moved to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beijing Winter Olympics of 2022 are following close behind their sunny sibling!
4. Animals once participated in the Winter Olympics!
While they haven’t been invited to join in with official sports, horses and dogs have both played a role in ‘demonstration events‘. Dog-sledding featured in the 1932 Winter Olympics, while in the 1928 Olympics, horses demonstrated skijoring – an event that involves athletes being towed on skis behind riderless horses. Don’t try that at home, gang!
5. Athletes competing in skeleton bobsleigh hurtle down slopes at up to 140kmph!
Sliding on boards the width of their body, these athletes balance on their bellies and navigate around tight turns on a hair-raising course made of ice. Yikes!
6. In the first Winter Olympics, women were only allowed to compete in figure skating.
This continued until 1948, when skiing also became a competitive women’s sport. Thankfully, women can now compete in all sports at the Winter Olympics!
7. Marit Bjørgen from Norway has won the most medals of any Winter Olympian.
This amazing cross-country skier has won a whopping 15 medals. She secured her title at the 2014 Winter Olympics, by winning three gold medals!
8. Snow and ice once had to be brought in by the army!
In 1964, the Winter Olympics were set to take place in Innsbruck, Austria – but as the event loomed, the officials realised that there wasn’t enough snow! So, the Austrian army headed into the nearby mountains and carted down more than 38,200 cubic metres of snow and 20,000 blocks of ice!
9. Walt Disney was in charge of the opening and closing ceremonies for one memorable Winter Olympics!
These took place in the Squaw Valley, California, USA in 1960. In a quest to make the opening ceremony the most impressive yet, Disney’s performance included a whopping 3,700 musicians, 2,000 doves, and more than 30,000 balloons!
10. Only one person has ever won gold in both the Winter and Summer Olympics.
American Eddie Eagan grabbed a gold medal in boxing during the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Germany. Then, more than 10 years later, he scored another in the 1932 Winter Olympics, as part of a four-man bobsled team. Wow!
Did you enjoy these Winter Olympics facts? Let us know in the comments below!
Likes
More Like General History
The life of Nelson Mandela
LEAVE A COMMENT
THANK YOU
Your comment will be checked and approved shortly.
WELL DONE,
YOUR COMMENT
HAS BEEN ADDED!
COMMENTS
thx you have helped me a lot with my newspaper report
AMAZING
I love this website its AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cool I was in the Olympics competing for China
Interesting facts
Awesome!
Very good facts. It helped me with my project and me and my friend are very intruiged by this information. THANKIESSS <333333
those facts are interesting.
I love the Summer and Winter Olympics! My fave's are Equestrian Show jumping and Figure Skating!
Interesting :)
Loved it got top marks from my English teacher thanks so much.
very good information
Thank you for the cool facts,now i know some other stuff now i also have an idea for my project.
I Love the winter Olympics.
cool
These facts are very interesting and I am very intrigued. #awsome
Thank you for the facts. I needed them for my olypics project for my school sugermill Elementry. We are Eagles!
This is SO awsome! Go Nat Geo!
These are really interesting facts!
wow this is amazing
nice facts
I love the WINTER OLYMPICS
can you do figure skating facts pls?!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
very cool 10/10
I love winter sports
that was very help for my progect
cool
cool
I would like the winter olympics i love snow
I needed to do a winter Olympics project and these facts were brilliant
Awesome & COOL Facts
COOL!
So cool
cool
thanks
these fact are so helpful for my parigrafe
that was amasin
WOW
This is really good
WOW THAT COOL INFORMATION
so cool
thanks for the information
it was very fun
Good information, i learned a lot.
WOW
super cool
Thank you for all of the information
amazing
amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you so much you helped me on my test!!!!!
cool
nice
WOW
like it
WOW
fun
Nice
The winter time is fun
I learned a lot and got a lot of information for My quest speech
Cool facts!
Wow
WOW SO COOL!
This was really awsome and this makes me want to be in the winter olympics
Nice to know.
Love these fun facts! Great for students Thanks NAT GEO!
that is so cool!I want to be there in real life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cool!
i like this and this is awesome!
these are coool
It was pretty good
WOW
this is amazing
NICE!
this is so cool!
That was very cool (get it)
I would choose skijorning because you can play in it with animals. I think it would be really fun because i like the snow. I also like dogs as well and it would be easy to train. I can also use horses which would also be very fun. I like horses and i think it would be exciting to compete with horses. I think i would be good at the Winter Olympics because i know how to ride horses. I also know how to control dogs. I think it would be pretty easy to win. I would be good at riding with horses and would be fast. I also like the cold so i would not have to be slowing down because of the cold.
This is very cool
wow
I loved the facts and do some more.
cant wait to learn
wow so cool
this is cool
This is a cool website
This was really cool and good information
Cool!
Thank you so much this helped with a school project you are the best website ever also really interesting
Cool
nice
wow
This is awesome thank you for this lesson!
I LOVE THE OYMPICS
Amazing!!!!!!
I love this
i love this
Wow Excellent!
wow
i like this parrt cuz i like skiing
this is cool
amazing
love all the information
CUSTOMIZE YOUR AVATAR