When and where will the first Winter Olympics be held?

Competition date:1924 65438+1October 25th-February 5th;

Host city: Chamonix;

Participating countries and regions:16;

Number of athletes: 258, including women 13;

Competition events: 4 events (14 events) and 2 performance events.

Chamonix is located in Haute Savoie, a small town near the border between Switzerland and Italy. Chamonix Valley under Mont Blanc in the Alps. It is about1037m above sea level. Chamonix, with its low temperature, long winter and short summer, is a famous resort and winter sports center in France and the largest ski resort in Europe at that time. It has the largest ski platform in Europe, an ideal cross-country ski venue and an indoor skating hall for ice hockey and figure skating competitions.

(a) is not the first first.

Winter sports were first popular in Nordic countries. According to historical records, figure skating was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland on 1642, and there was a skating competition in Finland on 1802. Speed skating was initiated by 1823 in Britain. By 1850, skating has become a common winter sport in Europe. 190 1 year, Scandinavian countries held the Nordic Games. Later, this competition formed a tradition and didn't end until 1926. 1892 When the International Skating Federation was founded in Finland, there were already 32 member countries, including the United States and Canada. Therefore, skating has established an international sports organization before the Olympic Games and developed into an international sport.

Coubertin had long envisaged holding the Winter Olympics alone, and the International Olympic Committee had also discussed this. However, Coubertin's proposal was strongly opposed by Scandinavian countries. Representatives of Sweden, Norway and other countries believe that since there is already a traditional Nordic Games, there is no need to hold a parallel Winter Olympics. In addition, there were no winter events in the ancient Olympic Games. These countries threatened not to take part in the Winter Olympics if the IOC forced it. It goes without saying that if Sweden, Norway and other countries with relatively popular and high level of ice and snow sports did not participate in the Winter Olympics, they would lose their representativeness and people's interest in it. Therefore, the issue of hosting the Winter Olympics alone was put on hold for some time.

Figure skating was first included in 1908 London Olympic Games. At that time, 24 male and female athletes from seven countries participated in the artificial ice palace in London. Aroused great interest. At that time, Austria established a figure skating school in Vienna and trained many talents. By the time of the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games, there will be ice hockey competitions in addition to figure skating. There were not many spectators in all the competitions of this Olympic Games, except figure skating and ice hockey, which attracted thousands of ice sports enthusiasts. This shows that the audience is very fond of this kind of events, prompting the issue of holding the Winter Olympics alone to be put on the agenda again. During the Prague meeting of the International Amateur Athletics Federation in 192 1, representatives from Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Canada and other countries discussed the Winter Olympics and put forward relevant plans. At the International Olympic Committee 1922 Paris Conference, Coubertin tried his best to persuade the opponents, and finally succeeded, and decided to hold this kind of competition before the 1924 Summer Olympic Games. But avoided the word "Olympic Games". It is called "the Eighth Olympic Winter Sports Week". The host country of the 8th Olympic Games is France. Therefore, the International Olympic Committee also entrusted France to host this Winter Sports Week, and the venue was set in Chamonix.

Chamonix is a small town in France, a famous resort and winter sports center, and the largest ski resort in Europe at that time. For this competition, France has specially built a skating rink, which can ski and play ice hockey. Due to the success of this competition, the International Olympic Committee officially recognized the achievements and records of this competition as part of the Eighth Olympic Games at the 24th annual meeting held in Prague, Czech Republic in 1925. However, due to the negligence of the secretariat, it was mistakenly recorded as 1 Winter Olympics in the minutes of the meeting. Later, the International Olympic Committee only regarded it as the first Winter Olympics. At the same time, it was decided to hold the Winter Olympics every four years.

(B) beyond people's expectations

Norway, which has a high level of ice and snow sports, participated in this winter sports week. Finland, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Britain, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Yugoslavia, 16 countries and regions, with 258 participants, there are four major events, 14 minor events. They are 18, 50km cross-country, ski jumping, biathlon (18km cross-country and ski jumping), 500, 1500, 5000,10000m speed skating, all-around (total speed skating score), men's and women's singles and men's and women's. As the Winter Sports Week, this competition was unexpectedly attended by so many countries and athletes and set up so many events. Compared with 1896/modern Olympic Games (1 245 athletes from 3 countries and regions participated), it is quite international.

The opening ceremony of this Winter Sports Week was presided over by French Minister of Education Gaston Vidal. According to the Olympic tradition, 16 teams entered the stadium in French, with Austria as the leader and France as the host. When the athletes take the oath, each team sends a representative to repeat the oath. But at that time, no one would have thought that this championship would become the first Winter Olympics in history.